WEBVTT 00:00:17.752 --> 00:00:19.076 How you'all doing, Justin here. 00:00:19.076 --> 00:00:22.230 In this lesson today we're checking out whole arm vibrato. 00:00:22.262 --> 00:00:23.798 Now I'm going to be honest. 00:00:23.829 --> 00:00:27.463 This is a type of vibrato that I ignored for probably fifteen years or more. 00:00:28.273 --> 00:00:32.187 It was something that just didn't ever feel right to me when I tried to play it. 00:00:32.235 --> 00:00:36.323 I think the reason it didn't feel right was cause I hadn't practiced it enough. 00:00:36.323 --> 00:00:41.471 i had always done the traditional vibrato which is where you put a finger down to 00:00:41.631 --> 00:00:46.723 use as a pivot point on the side of your hand like you were doing string bending. 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:53.490 And that's kind of the most common way of doing vibrato. 00:00:54.486 --> 00:00:58.634 But I was seeing Eric Johnson and Eric Clapton doing this other vibrato and 00:00:58.650 --> 00:01:00.532 it sounded different. 00:01:00.532 --> 00:01:03.908 And I guess there must have been value in it if those guys were doing it that way 00:01:03.908 --> 00:01:08.195 so I set about learning to do it. I did it by a lot of watching, really, to be 00:01:08.195 --> 00:01:13.035 honest, and experimenting myself. I got some great advice from my buddy 00:01:13.035 --> 00:01:16.774 Dario Cortese, which is watching videos of the guys that you like doing the technique 00:01:16.774 --> 00:01:19.355 you want to learn, with the sound off 00:01:19.426 --> 00:01:23.962 Because when the sound is on, our ears are really overtaking things a little bit 00:01:23.962 --> 00:01:25.678 You concentrate on that a bit more. 00:01:25.688 --> 00:01:29.455 But when you turn the sound off, you can get a good look at what they're doing. 00:01:29.455 --> 00:01:35.595 That was really interesting for me to see. And it really is a whole arm vibrato. 00:01:35.646 --> 00:01:40.240 The idea really is that with a traditional vibrato, you're gripping the neck 00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:43.885 quite solidly and you're using a pivot point at the bottom of the neck, but 00:01:43.885 --> 00:01:47.889 with this sort of vibrato, if we start off I'm putting my first finger in the eighth 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:50.330 fret of the second string. 00:01:50.330 --> 00:01:56.853 When you play that note, you're actually pushing and pulling with your whole arm. 00:01:56.853 --> 00:02:01.925 If I just turn sort of sideways so that you can see this part of my arm here 00:02:01.945 --> 00:02:08.704 That's the motion. And what I found was that keeping your hands, not tense, not 00:02:08.704 --> 00:02:16.561 angry tense, but locked into the same position so the fingers around the note 00:02:16.601 --> 00:02:21.770 Also for some reason, poking the thumb up the back of the guitar neck is something 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:24.912 all of the greats do and it does seem to make it easier. I don't know why. 00:02:24.912 --> 00:02:29.826 In theory it shouldn't matter really if you hang everything off, but when it's 00:02:29.856 --> 00:02:36.641 in a line a bit, the thumb's up the top and the fingers are hanging down 00:02:36.651 --> 00:02:41.967 it seems to make it a little easier. And it's definitely a nice vibrato, this type. 00:02:41.997 --> 00:02:52.203 This one doesn't sound as natural to me now that I've been practicing this one. 00:02:52.203 --> 00:02:55.029 It seems to sing a little more, or something. 00:02:55.029 --> 00:02:58.804 And you also get this sort of, I'm not sure if it'll do it now. 00:02:58.804 --> 00:03:02.418 There is this sort of scratchy thing that happens, like that. 00:03:02.418 --> 00:03:05.886 So you can get this other type of scratchy thing that I don't really 00:03:05.886 --> 00:03:09.349 understand either, to be completely honest, but I just wanted to explain 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:14.918 to you this idea. First finger, eighth fret, second string, making sure that 00:03:14.918 --> 00:03:19.053 you get your thumb poking out the top of the guitar 00:03:19.053 --> 00:03:22.602 The motion is very much up and down. If you'd try and do it side to side, 00:03:22.602 --> 00:03:25.560 like that, it doesn't really do as much. 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.932 There is a very mild vibrato there, but it is not the type of vibrato that you want 00:03:28.932 --> 00:03:32.684 if you are trying to copy the Eric Clapton style. 00:03:32.684 --> 00:03:36.137 The first finger is quite locked. It is solidly in place. 00:03:36.167 --> 00:03:40.827 Your hand is a little bit tense, not angry tense, but holding its shape. 00:03:40.837 --> 00:03:48.944 And then just start by pulling up and down slowly with your arm. 00:03:48.994 --> 00:03:53.312 Really slowly pushing down and then pushing up. 00:03:53.312 --> 00:03:57.825 It almost feels like it's kind of bouncey 00:03:57.825 --> 00:04:05.826 Just don't worry about the speed, just trying to get it kind of flowing and even. 00:04:05.826 --> 00:04:09.332 I do find that mine still sometimes kind of goes from slow to fast 00:04:09.332 --> 00:04:15.851 Particularly if I think about it too much. It's really a great one to practice. 00:04:15.851 --> 00:04:19.718 First finger is definitely easiest, so. I recommend that you get that one down 00:04:19.728 --> 00:04:23.508 first and when you're cool, you can have a go using the other fingers as well. 00:04:23.508 --> 00:04:26.867 It does work. It just doesn't feel quite as comfortable for me. 00:04:26.867 --> 00:04:30.497 And I do notice most of the guys who are doing it are using the first finger 00:04:30.497 --> 00:04:33.648 most of the time. Not all of the time, but most of the time. 00:04:33.648 --> 00:04:41.561 So just starting real slow. Remember it's the arm. That's the position of it. 00:04:41.561 --> 00:04:51.569 Your whole arm is pushing down. Try it on different parts of the guitar. 00:04:51.579 --> 00:04:56.212 Because it feels different. Like here, I end up doing little circles when I'm 00:04:56.212 --> 00:05:00.560 more down this end, I think because my hand is further away from my body 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:05.239 It's a little bit more awkward to pull straight down. It's possible, but if feels 00:05:05.239 --> 00:05:08.618 a lot more awkward than here where the whole weight of my arm is like doing a 00:05:08.618 --> 00:05:15.086 bicep curl. It's a lot easier to get it nice that way. 00:05:15.086 --> 00:05:19.964 It feels again different up at the top and there is another interesting thing that 00:05:19.964 --> 00:05:23.104 happens as well, which is on the thinnest string. 00:05:23.104 --> 00:05:27.574 If you just do it regular on the thinnest string, it just pulls the string off the 00:05:27.594 --> 00:05:34.004 end. So when you do it on the thinnest string, you have to be thinking of 00:05:34.004 --> 00:05:37.110 pushing it up a little bit more. 00:05:37.110 --> 00:05:45.001 It's a great vibrato. It's got that Freddie King thing that seems to work 00:05:45.001 --> 00:05:47.783 for that style of older blues as well. 00:05:47.783 --> 00:05:50.969 It's a really interesting vibrato. It takes a bit of practice. 00:05:50.969 --> 00:05:54.896 The other thing you want to be aware of is string noise. I'm doing some stuff here 00:05:54.896 --> 00:05:58.498 with my pick hand, which I should explain. When I'm doing it on the second 00:05:58.498 --> 00:06:05.124 string, this hand, my third finger is grabbing the thinnest string. 00:06:05.124 --> 00:06:10.220 It's just touching the thinner string. And my pick is resting on the third string 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:16.369 Cuz if I take that hand away, you get all of these other notes ringing out. 00:06:16.369 --> 00:06:22.174 The strings on either side because they're getting touched by the motion of your hand 00:06:22.174 --> 00:06:27.565 You get all of that stuff. So you want ... nice clean notes. I'm just using the pick 00:06:27.565 --> 00:06:32.997 on the third string and either my second or third finger on the thinnest string 00:06:32.997 --> 00:06:35.793 To keep everything nice and quiet. 00:06:35.793 --> 00:06:42.774 On the thinnest string, I'm using my pick and the edge of my thumb is resting on 00:06:42.774 --> 00:06:50.527 all of the strings, really making sure that those other strings stay quiet. 00:06:50.527 --> 00:06:55.791 Kind of an important part of this type of vibrato. It is important in the other 00:06:55.791 --> 00:07:03.592 traditional style of vibrato as well but it's not as obviously bad. 00:07:03.592 --> 00:07:07.369 So, I hope you have a bit of fun with the whole arm vibrato. I love it. 00:07:07.369 --> 00:07:11.369 I think it's great and I wish that I had started practicing it 15 years ago instead 00:07:11.369 --> 00:07:13.125 of a couple of years ago. 00:07:13.125 --> 00:07:17.796 Have fun. Take care. I'll see you for another lesson very soon. Bye bye.