My Contribution to the forum (Rio/JB Vibrato content)

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Here are a couple of clips I threw down after reading the vibrato thread. I think vibrato is extremely important, especially when playing blues. It can and should be practiced. The "B.B. King" style vibrato is very fast, and I've heard him go from a narrow to a wider vibrato. He is the master of this technique. Clapton is known for his slow (slowhand), wide vibrato. Listen to his early stuff. In the first clip, I show how I practice vibrato. The first lick is stolen straight from Hendrix, and is played in the 12th fret minor pent. "box" position. I try to bend the D note on the B string, 15th fret, up a whole step to E, and then shake it. I have three fingers on the string.

The second time I bend, vibrato, and then stop the vibrato while holding the bend to pitch. I am no master at this-as the title says, this is how I practice it. The rest of the clip has bent and unbent notes with vibrato. Sometimes, as mentioned in the previous thread, I play the note, pause, then start the vibrato. this does sound more "natural," the way a violinist or a singer would use vibrato.

This clip was done with a Hamer Special FM, Rio BBQ bridge and Texas neck, with a fulltone fulldrive II, slight analog delay, into a stock Blues Junior. The clip starts on the bridge BBQ, then i switch to the neck for a little, then back to the BBQ. This is a really well balanced set of pups.

http://www.soundclick.us/fastkG/10/02/freemp3/mattb+vibratopractice.mp3

 

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Re: My Contribution to the forum (Rio/JB Vibrato content)

This second clip is in the style of B.B. King. I am using fast vibrato with mainly my first finger. The trick is to angle your hand sideways and use the bottom part of your first finger to pivot against the neck. You can completely release the rest of the neck and make a fast "butterfly" like motion with your hand. BB extends his other three fingers when he does this and may even lift his thumb off the back of the neck (I do this). Check out a video of him to see how its done.

BTW, this was recorded with a Duncan JB in a mahogany hollow body tele through the exact same setup as the last clip (although I did add some of garage band's reverb to the last clip). Enjoy!

http://www.soundclick.us/fastkG/10/02/freemp3/mattb+bbkingstyle.mp3