vibrato

One of the tips to help new players create the vibrato is to slightly prebend the note before starting the throat tremolo (the motor for the vibrato). One you have a feel for this, stop this practice so that you can play that note in tune.

A reminder to all students that tremolos and flutters should not be locked to a specific rhythm. It's common to receive submissions where the student is playing all of these at the triplet rhythm (three pieces of the tremolo or flutter per beat). This is mechanical sounding... they should float. A general rule of the thumb is to have them be slightly faster than the triplet. This floating quality is what makes your music sound smooth, and when coupled with dynamics, emotional.

Tremolo is created at the vocal folds, opening and closing in a rhythmic fashion. This controlled muscle is also often used for articulation. In fact, it's the primary articulation (think slight cough) used for blow notes in post war Chicago blues (except for chugging, where the "T" and "K" articulations are more common). Though not common for draw notes, you can use it as well, especial for fast passages when tongue blocking (a lick in Little Walter's "Evan's Shuffle" comes to mind where I consciously used it, the 5 draw at 1:04).

Current blues harmonica players that can perform the vibrato well (Kim Wilson for example), choose not to use it to sound more classic. Since players like Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and George "Harmonica" Smith used tremolo, if a player is inspired by those players, they'll commonly choose to use their approach to tremolo as well.

Tremolo (change in amplitude) is what most of our classic blues harmonica players used (pre-1960). Vibrato (change in pitch) became popular in the lat 1960's. If a classic player used a vibrato they tended to have a strong vocal vibrato as well (Howlin' Wolf is a great example). Players that are heavily influenced by Paul Butterfield (many are) they'll tend to use a strong vibrato. continue reading...

The use of tremolo/vibrato is greatly emphasized in your lessons and submission critiques. It's used so much that it can be a dramatic effects to not use it. Listen to the opening of "Blue Midnight" by Little Walter and notice how hounting it sounds to not use it in the opening lines.

I'm off to camp through Sunday afternoon and then come in to do a lesson with Ryan Walker and record the last of the Masco Chronicles with Mark Overman. Have a great weekend everyone!

Though not usually taught as a way to produce a tremolo, using the diaphragm in a panting-like movement creates an interesting version of it. Jason Ricci uses this and demonstrates it in his interview on the site http://www.bluesharmonica.com/jason_ricci. Why is this not taught?... it takes less effort to produce a tremolo from the throat (vocal folds opening and closing) and is easier to produce a vibrato by actuating it from the throat. With this said, Jason makes it sound pretty good, so it is a valid option.

The most powerful vibrato/tremolo type I've heard came from the late-great William Clarke. He played an intense tremolo or vibrato (very fast tremolo or vibrato with large swing in pitch) and at the same time opened and closed his hands slower than the vibrato, creating a very cool and powerful oscillating effect. Take a listen to "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" from the Blowin' Like Hell release at 2:27. continue reading...

With all vibratos your mouth needs to be tuned to the reed you're playing, and with this type of vibrato you move your tongue in a Ya Ya Ya-like motion to change the pitch (jaw is stationary, only the tongue moves). This is similar to the idea of the Chewing Vibrato in the way that the throat is not used at all. continue reading...

The vibrato needs a bit of airflow to activate all of its moving parts, so it doesn't work at very low volumes. For this reason, practicing going from a low-volume tremolo into a vibrato is time well spent. The practice is straight forward, start playing a note as softly as possible, using a tremolo of course, and as the volume increases enough to use the vibrato, switch to a vibrato as smoothly as you can (not allowing the vibrato to kick start and start swing hard and fast... the goal is a smooth transition). continue reading...