I don't like the sound of tremolo.

[Randi Gormley]

depending on the music, you might try triplets instead of tremolo, to go with arpeggios and turns and other filler. just a thought.

[marksmithhfx]

Well perhaps it is a terminology question. I thought vibrato was moving up and down the neck along the string - as a violin does to imitate the human voice doing the slight pulsation in the frequency of the pitch, and would clearly be pointless on a fretted instrument.

Pulling or pushing a string across the neck, parallel to the string I would call string bending.

I know this is an ancient thread, but as a listener (not a musician) I've just become aware of this in a piece I was listening to on guitar and wasn't sure if it was tremolo or something else. Actually (to my ear) it sounds like the strings are being bowed like a violin not picked like a guitar. I wonder what your take is? The part I am referring to starts about 8-9 seconds into this piece... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCJWo6WUyY8
PS I am aware this music won't be to everyone's taste... it was more the technique I was interested in, not something I have heard on a guitar very often. Cheers!

[JeffD]

Actually (to my ear) it sounds like the strings are being bowed like a violin not picked like a guitar.

What I hear is using the edge of the pick to scratch along the length of the string. I could be wrong. Its an interesting effect.

[Johnny60]

Agree with JeffD - it's an old and well-established rock guitar technique. You kind of drag the pick edge down one of the wound strings while performing a slight sawing

It's how Billy Idol's White Wedding starts. A far cry from country, Old Time and bluegrass!

[ralph johansson]

Tremolo is an effect to use sparingly on mandolin, and on the guitar it's very cheap. Something I really dislike is the repeated eighth notes that BG players often lapse into in those atrocious tempos. ANyway, one player who does use tremolo to great dramatic and dynamic effect is Sam Bush. Grisman and Stiernberg use it with great restraint and economy. And Flinner hardly uses it all.

it all -> it at all, of course. As I was reading through this old thread I found myself almost composing the same post again. As for the guitar, what I really dislike is the double stop tremolo favored by Don Reno. I also dislike the continuous tremolo I often hear in classical mandolin. Over the years I've tried to economize my use of tremolo, also I've found that a very light tremolo is enough to create the impression of sustain and decay.


But sometimes, when listening back to recordings of mine I cringe at the sometimes unmotivated use of tremolo.

In 1972 I made a very conscious effort to record a slow song without the use of tremolo, the Swedish gospel song O store Gud (How Great Thou Art):
http://www.mandohangout.com/myhangou...c.asp?id=22331
In retrospect I must confess that my treatment of the chorus and the improvisation over the verse was more successful than that of the verse. I would use a less complex approach today. (Incidentally, the chord sequence towards the end was inspired by the Osborne Brothers' version, issued in 1969).

On that same page there's a group performance (1969) of Bye Bye Blues, where, in the last two bars of my solo, I use tremolo to lead into the second guitar solo.

[Mandoplumb]

Everybody's different. I could listen to Reno play a guitar all day long, as well as Shufler. After about 3 songs Tony Rice starts sounding like the same thing over and over. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

[Bertram Henze]

What I hear is using the edge of the pick to scratch along the length of the string. I could be wrong. Its an interesting effect.

Many rock guitar effects are possible because the magnetic pickups only transmit the oscillation of the fretted string, as opposed to the whole-instrument oscillation radiating from an acoustic instrument. I've never heard a squealie from an acoustic guitar (not a good-sounding one, anyway), for instance. if the grass looks greener over there, it's because of many cans of green paint.

[JeffD]

Many rock guitar effects are possible because the magnetic pickups only transmit the oscillation of the fretted string, as opposed to the whole-instrument oscillation radiating from an acoustic instrument. I've never heard a squealie from an acoustic guitar.

I was thinking you could get one on a wound string maybe, but not on the others.

[marksmithhfx]

What I hear is using the edge of the pick to scratch along the length of the string. I could be wrong. Its an interesting effect.

Right after that part. Is it possible to pick fast enough to sound like a bow on a string... cause that's what I hear (I know what you mean about the scratching along the string, that's how that piece starts out... but just after that it doesn't sound like guitar playing anymore... it sounds like violin playing to me, and I was wondering "how the hell is she doing that?")

Thanks for the many comments. Interesting stuff.

Sort of like this sound, but on a guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E8rMLHIpag&t=18s

[Explorer]

Although people are talking about dragging a pick along a wound string, the string on which the harmonic squeals are being produced is a plain string, the high E string.

That tne has more to do with the high gain and the harmonics available through diatortion/feedback.

However... I did at some point use cut up pet flea combs as "bows" because the dragging of the teeth gave that bowed quality to the string. A flea comb is a few bucks at a pet store, but a Jellifish pick was about $10 each IIRC.

[Bertram Henze]

Jellifish pick

Why stop there, when you can get a better bargain...

[Bertram Henze]

the string on which the harmonic squeals are being produced is a plain string, the high E string.

The term "squeal" is used in several contexts, and I should have made myself clearer: I meant the harmonic pick squeal or pinch squeal as described here, and that's possible on wound and plain strings, but the effect is hardly audible on an acoustic instrument, and it doesn't help with the sustained tone problem adressed in this thread, of course.

[James Rankine]

Right after that part. Is it possible to pick fast enough to sound like a bow on a string... cause that's what I hear (I know what you mean about the scratching along the string, that's how that piece starts out... but just after that it doesn't sound like guitar playing anymore... it sounds like violin playing to me, and I was wondering "how the hell is she doing that?")

16th note alternate picking - it is the basis of shred guitar. She's very good -if you like that sort of thing, or even if you don't.

[Johnny60]

+1 James - She certainly is!

Pinched harmonics are usually used at the top end of the E or B stringing guitar - you kind of pick it with the tip of the pick and the fleshy side of your thumb at the same time - easier said than done, and you need to do it 50 times or so before you get it right - by which time your thumb is bleeding! Once you've nailed it, though, it's a technique that can be used on either electric or acoustic guitar.

The wound string "sawing and dragging" is a totally different technique. Sounds good (if you like it) on electric with the distortion and gain dialled up. Can sound awful on acoustic (in my opinion and experience).

[AlanN]

Here's some beautiful and expressive tremble by Jimmy Gaudreau. What's not to like?

[DavidKOS]

As a mandolin player of primarily Italian style originally, I find it difficult to conceive of liking the sound of the mandolin but not liking the sound of tremolo.

Tremolo is an important tool in the mandolin player's bag of tricks. Of course certain styles of music work better with little or no tremolo, but much of the music I love is based on using tremolo in an expressive way.

[ralph johansson]

Here's some beautiful and expressive tremble by Jimmy Gaudreau. What's not to like?

Well what's to really like is the subtle dynamics and rhythm, e.g., off-beat accents in places. In fact I find his mandolin playing a bit more refined than the fiddle solo - that's unusual

[JeffD]

Right after that part. Is it possible to pick fast enough to sound like a bow on a string... cause that's what I hear (I know what you mean about the scratching along the string, that's how that piece starts out... but just after that it doesn't sound like guitar playing anymore... it sounds like violin playing to me, and I was wondering "how the hell is she doing that?")

I think you are referring to "plain old" tremolo, on a guitar. Just very even very fast alternating picking. And while she is real good at it, I think its a pretty normal technique in that genre of guitar rock.

I think of it as mandolin envy

[Bertram Henze]

I think of it as mandolin envy

Retracing my own post 7 years ago in this thread, I must quote myself here: "...and the mandolin should provide - irconically - a good sustain of its own which the tremolo is supposed to keep alive, not to replace it if absent."
I guess the tremolo must be done the faster the less natural sustain the instrument has to sound smooth. Electric guitar players have so much sustain on their hands that the mandolin envy must be enourmous indeed to justify the effort of fast tremolo, for they don't really need it (what would Mr Clapton say to that?)

[AlanN]

Well what's to really like is the subtle dynamics and rhythm, e.g., off-beat accents in places. In fact I find his mandolin playing a bit more refined than the fiddle solo - that's unusual

Yes, JAG gets the ebb and flow in good stead here. And fiddle was Rickie Simpkins, who usually nails it pretty good. On this cut (and others on this 1989 release), he is a tad underdone. Maybe he was out of sorts a bit...it happens.

[red7flag]

I am one of those who does not, for the most part, especially when playing, like tremolo. I think that is one one reason I gravitate to oval holes to gain in sustain. I really liked that Jimmy Gaudreau tune, but for me that is an exception. I tend to use some of the techniques mentioned to add sustain to a slower tune, arpeggios especially. The band leader of the praise band really likes tremolo and is trying to get me up to speed. Since he is the leader...

[T.D.Nydn]

Did you have a bad tremolo experience when you were younger or something?...

[Relio]

Maybe tremolo doesn't like the sound of you. ;-) I play bluegrass so tremolo is one of my primary tools. Sometimes I will crosspick instead of tremolo on slow songs.

[jesserules]

, I simply have never liked the sound of tremolo.

Okay.

[catmandu2]

I use trem a lot, particularly if playing standards, rags, solo work, etc. (I just started playing mndln again, and made this observation). I also use it playing 12-str gtr, particularly as I occasionally lead sing-along stuff - trem allows more dynamics in codas, outros, etc.