OK, so I've been playing for decades but I can't do bending vibrato. To be honest I had to avoid it due to fingernail issues (which I could bore you with the details of). Anyway, various things having moved on, my problem nails are most of the time the most stable they have been, plus I have switched to using 8-38 strings which helps a lot.
So a while back I thought I would venture into that dark world. Bloody hell, it's impossible! I can't get anywhere near anything useable after trying on and off for a few weeks. I listen to other people and they make a beautiful sound. Mine just sounds utterly wrong. It is not helped by the fact that I have never had a good ear for music.
So, I was wondering how long it took some of you lot to get something that could be heard in public???
Comments
It might be a technique issue.
This takes a month of dedicated work to fix, max.
But then a lifetime to perfect.
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Football is rubbish.
Always get 3 fingers behind a bend if you can, using 3 fingers all taking the strain will result in more control.
I find the most control comes from having the thumb over the neck and I actually use my thumb to help generate the vibrato
As you are bending look at the string as it crosses the fret marker. Bend up the 15th fret of the B string until it's sat bang in the middle of the 17th fret marker circle .... on a Strat scale guitar that's a tone ... this means you can reliably pre bend exactly on pitch before you hit the note. You can use the markers for this all over the neck.
Now some say you're supposed to bend up to pitch then back off, back to pitch etc vibrato wise but it depends on what you're going for. Try this though and watch the bent string on the fret marker, bend it till it's in the middle, then back off till it's on the edge then back to the middle and keep doing this until it's steady and consistent.
Like anything practice makes perfect but as guitarist we do tend to not practice the things we can't do which is the opposite of real practicing. One of the biggest lightbulb moments for me in improving was learning how to practice rather than noodling about.
Certainly takes that to maintain it. Listening to my current SotM69 entry I'm thinking it might have become a bit too slow and operatic, but maybe that suits the piece. I think it initially took me over a year, but perhaps that was because there weren't the instructional videos then and I went up a few blind alleys.
Paul Kossoff was my early hero and I still can't match his vibrato.
Some good advice given in all the previous posts.
I have a wide vibrato that's pretty much that anyway.
Been playing for 20 years and only recently noticed that it was something I wasn't able to do.
Helps train and strengthen your hands (and you ear) in finding the target note around which you're going to base the vibrato.
I would think that smoother frets would help
I bend the string to pitch then rapidly release and bend a fraction, as best I can. Still only about 50% of Angus speed. Because I think bends holds and rotates his wrist somehow.
My bones and ligaments don't work that way, plus I'm ambidextrous/partially kackhanded so it's confusing as the best of times.
It's generally better to practice bands at a semitone flat, it's just easier and less wearing on the fingertips. As you build up strength and callouses bending in concert isn't a problem but start a semitone flat with 9's or 10's.
Youtube videos - I've looked a a fair few over the years but none really seem to show quite what I want. I'd like to see a close up of someones hand with them bending the same note a bunch of times in a row and adding vibrato - something that you can try and mimic at the same time. Yet to find that ...