Vibrato Question

So I’ve noticed whenever I use vibrato I don’t do the pivot motion most people do. Instead, I wiggle the joints of my fingers/ move my fingers toward and away from my palm, if that makes sense. I like the way it sounds and am perfectly willing to keep doing it, but I wondered if this could lead to any joint pain in the future. Also, I haven’t seen anyone else do this type of motion are there any other guitarists who do this?

It’s hard to be sure without seeing what you’re doing. Video is always the best way to help us to help you.

If you’re flexing your fingers from your primary flexors (in your forearm), and letting the string pull itself back to it’s starting positon, it’s probably fine. I don’t think it has much utility on the high strings (high E and B), but I’ve seen it done very well on the lower strings. Guthrie Govan has used it and discussed it before.

2 Likes

Yeah if it’s what I’m imaging (like Tom said, we need video) the limitation I can see is being able to apply it to the high strings, particularly when they’re bent. And that’s one of the coolest things we can do on the instrument IMO - bend a note, add vibrato.

1 Like

The technique that you describe sounds slow and difficult, and as a consequence, it may not be flexible enough for large classes of music. That said, post a video! :grinning: