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An Exploration of Vibrato Techniques

This use of vibrato is obviously a very critical guitar style. To begin with, there are several kinds of vibrato, some of which are more suited to certain situations than others.

In this lesson, I’ll give a quick demonstration and overview of these different approaches and how they should be properly created, pointing out along the way how so many players do these the wrong way.

We will explore the three great vibrato styles: classical, blues, and the already bent vibrato (bend and release). Styles of folks such as B.B. King, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and others will be focused upon as some of the great exponents of these various vibrato approaches.

I’ve made the use of vibrato a study for as long as I can remember, so you’ll really be getting the proper technique here, including how to help the vibrato with other fingers, similar to bending. It’s all about the tone and expression here, as we work on one of the most vocal of all guitar techniques!—Arlen Roth

Click here to check out the '59 Les Paul Standard VOS that Arlen's playing!
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