Vibrato

[Tibby]

I was trying some stuff out on my mando last night, and just out of the blue tried a Vibrato, like I used to do on the guitar. It didn't work out.

I have a lonestar brand. Is it my Mando, or my skill level, or what?

[SteveW]

I was wondering about this lately as well. I got Thile's "Essential Techniques for the Mandolin" DVD for my birthday and noticed as I watched that he would move his fingers on the fretboard like he was trying to impart a vibrato. I couldn't tell that it provided any noticeable change in the tone or sustain. Is that just a quirk of his, or does doing so actually have some effect?

Steve

[mandocrucian]

I use electric guitar style vibrato all the time on 8-string mandolin. Because of the short scale length and the slightly relatively heavier string gauges, it takes more work and muscle. Consequently, a push vibrato where the string is pushed towards the bass side, instead of being pulled to the treble side, tends to give better results.

A very important factor in both vibrato and string bending on the mandolin is to eliminate all unnecessary downward finger pressure into the fretboard. If vibrato is similar (ideally) to sliding your foot on top of ice, how do you expect to get it if you mash your boot through the snow and then try to move it around? #

I would hate having to play without being able to use vibrato, microtonal choking and string bending. It's become a very important component in the way I play and the things I am able to play convincingly. #When you can make long notes sing you don't feel a need to try to fill in every iota of space with a lot of fast notes to cover up a long note that would otherwise just go q-u-a-c-k like a duck. And#that's the real reason you hardly ever hear a mandolin player play and hold a long note without tremolo - it's because the note doesn't sing without vibrato.

Look me up at a workshop and I'll show you an A/B comparison of with/without and you see and hear how much difference it makes.

Niles Hokkanen
Rhythm Mandolin Boot Camp, May 7-9, 2004 (http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/northern/adult.html#rhythmbootcamp)