Badass Players With Shitty Vibratos, Vibrato Snobs, & More

[Elric]

I'm confused... The 'Badass' players are too busy ripping through sweep picked arpeggios to stop and shake da strings.

 

[D-Rock]

Yngwie is a good example of nice vibrato and incredible pitch control on his bends.

Yngwie's vibrato is what makes him a force.

A rising force.

A fookin' rising force.

 

[Racerxrated]

Shitty vibrato makes you sound like a shitty player. Poor Kirk Hammet is the best example I can think of. It's what puts your stamp on your playing...put some effort into doing it cool. I dunno.

Agreed. Kirk is an iconic player with dogshit vibrato. Cmon man, learn to do it right or at least be smooth. Apparently Satriani failed to teach him that.

 

[mooncobra]

SRV, his vibrato is searing, playing those giant strings, manhandling the note. damn, he has some great vibrato. Yngwie has surprisingly good vibrato. I agree, when some has bad vibrato, its a major deduction from their playing.

But don't forget Doug E Rapps, his vibrato is AMAZING!!! Watch him play, sometimes he eases his entire hand off the neck and just holds the string while executing vicious power vibrato, especially on the B and E strings.

 

[the rossness]

Satchel actually has a really good vibrato

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Epic thread. Vibrato is overlooked because people like to spend hours woodshedding arpeggios and fast ass runs. Thing is, it is a lot harder to vibrato slow, wide, and in time than people think it is. I have nothing more to add to this thread then when I blow my load over vibrato a few players come to mind:

Yngwie
Schenker
DeMartinni

Nothing worse than someone posting yet another post of an asian 13 year old wiz kid girl with awesome arpeggios and no movement on the single note (jazz style!)

 

[ras1988]

The Holdsworth and Lane style of subtle trem system assisted vibrato always got me, it's an extension of Jeff Beck's more wild trem abuse but still very tasty. It allows for a very even vibrato as well, you can also control the pitch modulation "shape" and rhythm with bar a bit more than with your fretting hand.

 

[gibson5413]

To me, vibrato shows control over the guitar. A critical and often times an overlooked technique with young players. Just my opinion.

Adding lesser known guitar players (so many great ones mentioned already)...I love John Nelson's (http://www.tonebenderrecords.com/x/John_Nelson#19) vibrato! He played for Eddie Money for years and a great session player. Shoot to the 2:29 mark. His vibrato is so smooth and controlled. To me it's perfection. Too bad someone didn't help him with his mom jeans though.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Epic thread. Vibrato is overlooked because people like to spend hours woodshedding arpeggios and fast ass runs. Thing is, it is a lot harder to vibrato slow, wide, and in time than people think it is. I have nothing more to add to this thread then when I blow my load over vibrato a few players come to mind:

Yngwie
Schenker
DeMartinni

Nothing worse than someone posting yet another post of an asian 13 year old wiz kid girl with awesome arpeggios and no movement on the single note (jazz style!)

Schenker is one of my all-time favorites. He definitely has some of the most tasty chops and a variety of vibratos.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Some of the best are Lynch, Yngwie, Schenker, Sykes, Niel Schon....yes that's right Mr. Schlong is/was a killer underrated player. SRV was always great.

Some of the worst. Kirk, CC Deville, Kerry King.

 

[Faded Abyss]

Good read.. Marty Friedman, Chris Poland, and Dime made me put vibrato as a priority but it's instinctive. Have you ever tried teaching someone that has been playing for years how to do vibrato?

Pick attack is another one. If every note is picked hard, no note is picked hard

Harmonics. A lot of people don't know how to pick a note and give it a slight glassy feel

 

[APO]

Not mentioned yet: I think circular vibrato sounds really interesting, although is difficult and rare. As far as I know Steve Vai invented circular vibrato; although I don't like his style much, I like the technique. Basically, circular vibrato mixes classical, or horizontal vibrato, with vertical type vibrato; it ends up going up and down in pitch, instead of sharp and back to the original pitch. When done right it really sounds cool, like the wet signal from a chorus almost. Even if you're unsuccessful in making the note go flat, it makes the rate of the vibrato sound more pleasing and controlled to me.

One interesting tidbit, regarding vibrato making a note sound sharp, is that Tom Sholz' solo tracks were doubled with one guitar without vibrato, and one with vibrato tuned 10 cents or so lower to not sound sharp; really makes the signal sound chorused.

I think using a variety of vibrato sounds/techniques can enhance a persons' playing a lot also; can really help to serve the song or give a solo dynamics.

One of my favorite vibratos is what Hendrix would do on unison bends, like the ascending part in the end of All Along The Watchtower; much easier to hear clearly on live versions by the way.

Jerry Cantrell's vibrato is also quite good, very steady; he also takes longer than usual to bend up to pitch, which sounds very unique.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Good read.. Marty Friedman, Chris Poland, and Dime made me put vibrato as a priority but it's instinctive. Have you ever tried teaching someone that has been playing for years how to do vibrato?

Pick attack is another one. If every note is picked hard, no note is picked hard

Harmonics. A lot of people don't know how to pick a note and give it a slight glassy feel

Marty Friedman does have incredible technique even in the vibrato department. Good mention.

 

[Racerxrated]

Some of the best are Lynch, Yngwie, Schenker, Sykes, Niel Schon....yes that's right Mr. Schlong is/was a killer underrated player. SRV was always great.

Some of the worst. Kirk, CC Deville, Kerry King.

Agreed. The Schlonger is or has been one of the most melodic rock players ever. And he can shred a bit too..

 

[SpiderWars]

Some of the best are Lynch, Yngwie, Schenker, Sykes, Niel Schon....yes that's right Mr. Schlong is/was a killer underrated player. SRV was always great.

Some of the worst. Kirk, CC Deville, Kerry King.

Agreed. The Schlonger is or has been one of the most melodic rock players ever. And he can shred a bit too..

As bad the production was, I always liked that live HSAS thing he did with Sammy.

Me and and old friend used to debate whether Robin Trower was using the tremolo or just hand vibrato on a few notes on the Live record from mid 70s. That dude could shake a note too.

 

[ghosty999]

Yngwie is a good example of nice vibrato and incredible pitch control on his bends.

Yngwie's vibrato is what makes him a force.

THIS! ^^^

It's another reason why I still like Yngwie over people who are 10x more technical. They can play faster but I don't care, Yng's speed is the feel as he's constantly furious (just heard he fired the support band on his current tour)

Vibrato makes or breaks all guitar playing. Man up and dig your fingers in and make that note sing

 

[ghosty999]

John Sykes has a very distinct vibrato. I love Jimmy Page, but I dislike his vibrato. His is the the same nervous and fast vibrato like Kossoff.

Also this ^

Sykes bends like crazy even when playing power chords like on the song "Riot" by Blue Murder, loads of slides, bending

 

[squealie]

Shitty vibrato makes you sound like a shitty player. Poor Kirk Hammet is the best example I can think of. It's what puts your stamp on your playing...put some effort into doing it cool. I dunno.

LOL! Hammett is a breath of fresh air IMO. Not a technique monster but still playing guitar in one of the biggest bands in the world. Makes the average hack (like me) feel like they have a chance, well, at least it did 20 years ago............and I highly doubt he's poor.

It's cool that you dig his playing. I dig some of it...I guess... Hell, I love Neil Young's playing but I'd never suggest it was 'good'.

I got no interest in ragging on the dude, and I wasn't trying to...just an observation that his vibrato sounds like a cat in a fanbelt.

 

[mrcak]

Some of the best are Lynch, Yngwie, Schenker, Sykes, Niel Schon....yes that's right Mr. Schlong is/was a killer underrated player. SRV was always great.

Some of the worst. Kirk, CC Deville, Kerry King.

Agreed. The Schlonger is or has been one of the most melodic rock players ever. And he can shred a bit too..

As bad the production was, I always liked that live HSAS thing he did with Sammy.

Me and and old friend used to debate whether Robin Trower was using the tremolo or just hand vibrato on a few notes on the Live record from mid 70s. That dude could shake a note too.

Trower had a WICKED vibrato back in the 70's, 80's. He's since changed it up, I attribute from getting older.
Alot of the old Trower stuff he didn't use a tremolo bar.

 

[ghosty999]

that is a real mans vibrato