Technique 301 - Vibrato

More than just about any other technique, vibrato is the one that is closest to your voice.  The way you touch the strings is audible, and it is the fingerprint of you sound.

The best players in the world can typically be identified within a few notes - meaning the note choices themselves are virtually insignificant. 

Think Carlos Santana, SRV, Eddie Van Halen, B.B. King, etc. 

These guys sound like themselves no matter what guitar or gear they are playing through, and it’s their vibrato, or how their hands actually play notes, that is the core reason.  Therefore, you should spend a lot of time and energy developing your vibrato, as the goal is ultimately to sound more like “you” than your favorite players.

Here are the basic forms of vibrato:

The shake - up and down. This yields a sound that increases pitch and then returns to base pitch in an even way. 

• The circle - literally “drawing” a circle around the note. Has elements of raising and lowering the pitch. 
• Back and forth - moving from head to bridge in a fret. Very dynamic and very easy to lower and raise pitch a little at a time. 

Practice these different techniques and try to think just as much about how you are playing a note as you do which note to play.