Vibrato
Hold a note perfectly still and it sounds a little cold; add a tiny, regular wobble and it comes alive. The first lesson of Voice and Guitar is about vibrato: a regular wave in pitch, roughly five to seven times per second in classical singing, used by singers, violinists and cellists on most sustained notes, and by guitarists with a finger or a whammy bar. Hear it slow and fast, narrow and wide; see how a violinist rocks the fingertip and a singer uses the larynx and breath; learn why it makes a tone richer and helps a solo voice stand out, and why Baroque specialists use it sparingly. Then tell vibrato (pitch) from tremolo (volume), even though Fender swapped the names. Every sound is our own synthetic demonstration.
In this lesson you'll
- Hear and describe vibrato: a regular, periodic wave in pitch (roughly five to seven times per second in classical singing), and tell a straight tone from a note with vibrato.
- Explain how vibrato is made and used: violinists rock the fingertip, singers use the larynx and breath, guitarists bend or shake the string or use a whammy bar; it makes a tone richer and helps a solo voice stand out, while Baroque specialists use it sparingly as an ornament.
- Tell vibrato (pitch wobble) from tremolo (volume wobble), including the Fender naming mix-up, and sing a held note straight for 4 beats, then with a gentle vibrato, slow and fast.
Music in this lesson
- Vibrato in classical singing and stringssingers · violinists · cellists (general; not reproduced: our own synthetic demonstrations)
- Guitar vibrato and the whammy barfinger vibrato · whammy bar (general; our own synthetic demonstrations)
- The Fender "tremolo" arm and amp "vibrato"Fender · naming mix-up (no music played)
Remember
Vibrato is a regular, periodic variation of pitch, a few times per second: roughly five to seven in classical singing. You can change its speed (waves per second) and its width (how far the pitch swings).
A violinist rocks the fingertip back and forth on the string; singers use the larynx and breath; guitarists bend or shake the string, and the whammy bar does it mechanically. It makes a tone richer (tone colour = timbre, lesson 50) and helps a solo voice stand out from an orchestra; Baroque specialists use it more sparingly, as an ornament; pitch correction (lesson 63) flattens it.
Vibrato moves the pitch, tremolo moves the volume. Fender called its pitch-bending arm a "tremolo" arm and its amp volume effect "vibrato": technically the other way round.