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Re: Vibrato excercises?
Bent-note vibrato is really more a function of comfortable left hand positioning than it is an "exercise" you can perform. Let's look at your left hand and go from there.
First thing's first: make sure your left hand is comfortable on the neck. Grip the neck loosely (not to play, just wrap your hand comfortably around the neck as if you were getting ready to play something). Your thumb should rest gently against the center of the back of the neck. Your fingers should be at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the guitar; my fingers rest uniformly about 45 degrees to the neck, and point back towards my body.
When you go to make a bend, your thumb should rotate up to the top of the neck, if not make a slight hook over the top (some people hook further over, I don't, simply because hooking the neck too much slows you down). The palm of your hand where your index finger meets your palm should be on the bottom of the neck, and acts as a stabilizing point around which your vibrato will center. When you bend, bend clearly up to the note you want. If you're not in tune, your vibrato is moot (it'll all sound very bad).
Once you can accurately and quickly make a bend to the note you choose in tune, you must learn to lighten your touch. As you learn to bend up, I find my students tend to have a death-grip on the fretboard because they're concentrating so hard on making the bend in tune. You have to learn to make that bend first, but secondary to that, you have to learn to make it with a light touch. When you learn to lighten that touch, your vibrato will follow quickly. Bend up, again, with a the lightest pressure you can, then release the pressure a little more and try to let the string try to return to its rest position. This is one way your vibrato can be developed. Let the string do the work for you. It wants to release its energy, let it. But just as it begins to, force it back to the note you bent it to.
This is a very complicated explanation of a very simple thing.
1.) Learn to bend accurately to the note you desire
2.) Learn to perform that bend with a light touch
3.) Use physics against the guitar; the string wants to return to its neutral position. Let that work for you.
4.) As the string begins to release its energy, you're going to force it back to the note you bent up to.
That's really all there is to it. Or at least, all there is to it for me. Remember that light touch. "Visualize" the note you're going for. Make that mindful connection to your instrument and the rest follows with time and practice.
-Roger
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