Another tip, practice your bends and vibratos on dry clean sound (clean channel, low gain, no reverb, no delay). When you come back to bends and vibratos will feel much easier and tastier.
Warren dimartini on the first 2 ratt albums had a killer vibrato attack and excellent phrasing . A charvel man also.it almost is the guitarist "voice" so to speak.cam is also right on when he said the more you try to imitate your favorite musicians the more you sound like yourself. Music without vibrato is so boring.
Good Vibrato is everything imo. When listening to people playing at Guitar Center, that's the first thing I evaluate. Crappy Vibrato = Crappy playing from my experience. Great Video!
Hahaha, very true. Was at guitar center, played 2 bends and 1 vibrato and guy behind the desc star to hand me guitar after guitar, to see what I think and like about them. Reality is, I can only do this one trick :D
Great video man. I've been coming over to this vid several times when evaluating my approach to vibrato (playing for 6 years). Few questions I'd like to ask (if you happen to answer back). One is how do I mute the other strings while not choking out the bent one? That's one of the main issues I've been having with wide vibrato. A lot of times it tends to be very sloppy sounding with several strings ringing out. Not to mention that I have small hands, so it is fairly tricky to get a proper grip when doing the twist action, especially on the low E and A strings. My second question is can I use a metronome or click to work on controlling my vibrato? As a way of keeping the bends consistent, on time and on key, and to avoid mindlessly shaking your wrist like a madman and producing the "nasty mosquito" vibrato.
mark yeomans Thanks Mark. They're absolutely incredible guitars. Everybody should at least check out Stormshadow, many will be in for a surprise. They're incredible! :)
I never had a routine because that implied the idea of practicing which would probably mean I would have been less inclined to pick up the guitar at all. For me it was a simple was learning and playing what I like over and over and over again until I was satisfied.
Another great guitar player with killer vibrato is Doug Steele. His favorite guitar player, Brandon Ellis, also has excellent vibrato. Both of them have great channels.
Having a good vibrato is hard to achieve on frets that are low and unpolished, there is more resistance, that's why tall or jumbo frets are popular. I have several guitars with Stainless Steel, which makes it all that much easier like skating on ice, this is why a lot of guitarist like Eddie, Steve Morse, Guthrie Govan, etc. are using them, not to mention there durability
For me the high E string vibrato is tricky because it is only up movement. just for something to consider on the same topic. For a great vibrato I am lately impressed by Bonamassa's. At some point I was practicing some Van Halen solos and I found his vibrato very peculiar and demanding... Now I am suspecting he was using the tremolo, something you could know best. Sorry for stretching it too long, but I bet you are using 09 gauge. the trend seems moving toward heavier gauge and I got used to 10s and pretty heavy picking. I am not sure it is a good idea for fast and agressive styles of playin though...
@@CameronCooper yeah i here you. It is just practice. I can get it smooth but not as wide as you without losing the control on full step bends. It’s easy to do the wide ones without a bend but on the 1 or 1.5 step bends it is still a work in progress. In other commentary, great playing lately man. You are progressing to an unreal level truly. Probably the most stylish guitar player today and tons of it has to do with your signature vibrato and bending.
thanks for making this video mate you answered my question perfectly and i tend to use more than 1 finger quite often not just playing guitar if you catch my drift
Hi Cameron, Great lesson. Quick question: what gauge strings are you using? I'm on 9s and I'm struggling to get it as wide and awesome as you. I assume it is due to weakness since I haven't been playing much lately.
Blaine Hodder I use 9s and/or 10s depending on the guitar. It won't be down to a lack of practice. The way I see vibrato is like riding a bike, once you have cracked it, you never forget really. You might be finding that you are trying to bend the strings with the force of your fingers as opposed to your wrist. Also make sure you're using you're using more than one finger. Apart from that I don't really know what else to say apart from best of luck. It does take time....
Tip #1 can be applied to guitar playing in general, I think. It hit me recently that you see so many players on RU-vid that have great speed and general technical ability, but their bends and vibrato are really painful to listen to. Thanks for contributing to rid the world of that :) I'm thinking of starting my own channel, posting guitar related videos like you. Any chance you can tell me what I need to get started?
Cheers so much. To be honest you don't really need much at all to start off. Just a camera, a plan with regard to what you want to teach and some basic video editing software like Movie Maker. And then the rest takes care of itself. I'm sorry, I know that sounds rather patronising but that was my approach when I started out. The way I make the videos has stayed the same for the year and a half I have been going. I hope this helps. Best of luck, its great once you get going. :)
I value space and melody also. Speed is a tool and a very helpful one. Most people that talk down to players for playing slightly uptempo can't play fast even if they wanted to which is sad. They also forget about saxophonists, pianists, flautists, violinists, cellists that 'shred' on their chosen instrument for concertos which are celebrated and remembered centuries after they were composed. As much you value space, taste and melody, don't put down what you can't do. Just let it be.
In my opinion if people want get a get a metal vibrato, they should listen to Shencker, DeMartini, Friedman, Lynch, Jake E. Lee(especially in the song Rock and Roll rebel) and early Zakk. Those are some names I can think off right now, there are many more I know.
I’ve changed my answer from 2 months ago. John Sykes has the best. Wide as the English Channel. Listen to Crying in the Rain or Cold Sweat if you have doubts
I recorded myself playing a Satch cover and I hate how I did vibrato in that cover .. I’m fixing it because I hate that twitching style vibrato ... I’m sticking to the wider Vibrato sounds 10 x better .
My action is a medium action. It's just what I'm used to but I cannot stand a super low action. I can barely bend if the action on a guitar is too low. It just chokes out.
+Cameron Cooper thanks! Watching your videos have got me interested in Charvels. But there's nowhere near me that I can try one. Would you say the backs are contoured like a fender strat or squire? I have a squire classic vibe which is a decent guitar and I love the way it is smooth at the belly cut area.
Charvels are made by Fender in the same factories as Jackson and EVH Guitars and Fender guitars. They have exactly the same contouring as any Strat or Squire you pluck off the shelf. There's nothing too alien about Charvel guitars if you're use to Fenders already when trying them for the first time :)
I am trying to hold vibrato on double step bends. I suck. Well on my LTD is easier. My 10s on the strat ? My God. LMAO. Yes. I am not that good yet. I'm enjoying the learning leads. I can't believe I waited this long. Apmts made drums nearly no go.
FAVORITE THING ENDING VIBRATO . YAZ TEAR IT UP ON SPEED TO AWESOME TO YOU I CANT DO IT .ITS GENETIC ATTRIBUTE FOR THAT VAN H THING . BUT I CAN PLAY FAST IN A ROCKABILLY WAY.AND OWN WAY .LIKE YAZ SAYING . I NO ALL THE SCALES THEORY . BUT INTO ROCK BLUES AND PUTTING Y STUFF TOGETHER....SUB YA SO YOU'LL POP UP NOW ...AND YEA STEVE VAI IN INCREDIBLE IN ALL HE DOSE AND THAT CIRCLE VIBRATO IS WOW
As a new owner of a "pink" Charvel 2016 Pro Mod... I have come to really enjoy viewing your vids. I must say, your tone is always stunning... what are you using to create your tone on these vids??? Nice tutorial as well on "vib" :-)
oh ok I didn't see the R with the circle around it. And It looked different at bottom for truss rod. I love the color and guitar. I'm waiting for my Jackson Adrian Smith San dimas with maple headstock. Get it tommorow.