Vibrato is a slight, even fluctuation in pitch. It’s created by rolling the left-hand fingers over the notes.
Why learn vibrato?
Vibrato gives longer notes a rich, singing quality. It’s great on slower tunes like waltzes, not as useful on fast things like jigs, reels and breakdowns.
Who should learn vibrato?
Vibrato can be challenging to learn, so if you’re a beginner, I recommend holding off on the full course. Wait until you’ve learned all the basic finger positions (including low first, fourth and raised third fingerings). However, you can start doing some of the basic hand motions now. That way, when you learn vibrato down the line, your hand will have a head start.
The Vibrato Journey
I’ve made a six-lesson series to help you learn this challenging skill. On each step I’ll be coaching you through the physical, practical and emotional challenges that arise.
In this lesson you’ll get the basic gist of how to learn and practice vibrato.Then we’ll get started with some exercises to train your hand. You’ll also learn a pre-cursor to vibrato: Chromatic Shifting.
Think of learning vibrato as a journey. Instead of seeking instant gratification, learn to enjoy the ride.
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Preparation for Vibrato
I suggest learning and practicing the chromatic scale and left-hand sliding. If you’re very comfortable with these, it will be easier to learn vibrato. Here are lessons to take or review:
Here’s the learning journey we’ll take. Though it seems like a linear progression, I encourage you to constantly return to simpler, more fundamental exercises. For example, if you’re in lesson 5, I recommend you still practice the basic hand motion without playing.
In each lesson, I’ll give you a series of exercises that will slowly train your hands and ears.
Vibrato 1 (this lesson): Overview, Basic Hand Motion, Chromatic Shifting
I’ve made some “Learning Chunks” to help you learn more easily. These focused exercises contain sheet music, tabs and mp3 snippets to guide you on your Vibrato journey.
Vibrato 1.1
Note: The dots indicate Staccato (stopping the bow). You can decide how pronounced you want to make this. The basic idea is to discretely move the finger from one position to the other. Next, you’ll practice Sliding, which is a continuous motion.
Vibrato 1.2
Variation: alternate between exercise 1.1 and 1.2 (between a discrete shift and a slide) using the same track. I call this a Practice Loop. Generally speaking, practice loops are a great way to practice anything.
Vibrato 1.3
Vibrato 1.4
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Vibrato 1.5
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Vibrato 1.6
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Vibrato 1.7
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Vibrato 1.8
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Vibrato 1.9
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Vibrato 1.10
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Vibrato 1.11
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Vibrato 1.12
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Vibrato 1.13
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Vibrato 1.14
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Vibrato 1.15
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Vibrato 1.16
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Vibrato 1.17
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Vibrato 1.18
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Vibrato 1.19
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Vibrato 1.20
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Vibrato 1.21
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Vibrato 1.22
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Vibrato 1.23
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Vibrato 1.24
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That’s an overwhelming number of exercises!
Sure is. But remember: quality of practice over quantity. I suggest staying with the D2 exercises for awhile, until you can play the in a relaxed manner with joy. 😀
The basic motion: practice without playing
I recommend you practice the basic motion without making any sound. You don’t even need your fiddle for some of these practices. Here’s what I go over in the video lesson:
Waving to yourself
Imagine you’re the Queen of England waving to people from a limousine.
Egg shaker
This is similar to waving to yourself.
Rolling in guitar position, not holding fiddle
Kind of like “air guitar”.
Train the wrist to relax into this motion.
Do this anywhere, any time of day!
Rolling in guitar position, holding fiddle
Roll the finger from the tip, back to the pad.
Slowly practice this motion every day.
Alternate between holding fiddle and not holding fiddle
Shake out the hand.
Rolling in Violin position, not holding fiddle
Notice that the motion is more restricted.
The Queen’s Wave 👑
Rolling in Violin position, holding fiddle
Separate the hand from the neck.
Alternate between holding fiddle and not holding fiddle
The Knuckle Twist: Rotate knuckles to pegs.
Continue to interleave the vibrato practice throughout a session. In fact, you can interleave vibrato practice throughout your entire day if you “Practice without playing.”
Chromatic Shifting
In the exercises above, you’ll practice shifting fingers a half step in a rhythmic pattern. For example, on the D string, you’ll practice shifting fro D2 to DL2. This is a small step towards moving your hand in the vibrato motion.
Take beaks from this to “practice without playing” (see notes above). Or just do something totally different like a tune. Then return to chromatic shifting.
Essential Fiddlosophy for learning vibrato
This is probably the most important part of the whole lesson.
Take the journey. For most folks, learning vibrato takes time. Just prepare for this mentally. And enjoy the ride. Lots of other things will improve as you work through these lessons, like your form, tone, tuning, chromatic scales and sliding.
The whole process will be less frustrating and more interesting with this attitude shift. Plus, it will carry over to everything else you learn and practice.
Consistent practice. More than ever, you’ll need to play every day. But that’s a good thing right? Your hands need time to slowly learn new skills…even when the brain after the brain gets bored. Just commit to working on vibrato for two minutes a day. See The Two-Minute Rule
Interleaving. Simply put, alternate between practicing vibrato and other things within a single session. Studies show that the brain learns better when you repeatedly move between new skills. This is also a form of kindness to yourself. Before you get too frustrated, just switch to something else. Then switch back to vibrato later in the session. Learn more here: Mix Up Your Music Practice With Interleaving
Enjoy the physical sensation of playing. This is an amazing way to make your practice fun and productive. We’ll start with some hand movements. See if you can be fully aware of these motions and take some pleasure in them. This will help you to relax. This powerful practice can transform the way you learn and play because it applies to all physical motion.
Keep returning to simpler steps. In each lesson we’ll layer on a new challenge. This doesn’t mean that you’re done with the earlier steps. In fact, even if you’re doing just fine with each new lesson, I still recommend you return to earlier steps and practice those exercises.
Full sheet music
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Are you ready to begin your fiddle journey? I’ll send you some free lessons tailored to your current skill level.
Here is a quick way for you to access the essential practice tools you need. Under each tab you'll find play-along tracks, tabs and condensed teachings to help you as you practice. This is an evolving idea, so let me know in a comment below if it could be better.
Here's a newer version of the Notefinder which is based on sheet music. If you're interested in learning to read, this will be an invaluable reference. I'll be posting lessons on this in 2020.
Note: the brackets indicate notes that are the same pitch but spelled differently. For example, AH3 (D#) sounds the same as AL4 (Eb). Without going into too much teory detail here, this will be determined by the key of the tune or piece you are playing.
Notefinder table
Here's he original table version of the Notefinder. Sometimes people learn in different ways...
Sawmill tuning Notefinder
This is used to find notes in Sawmill tuning (when the G string is tuned up to A and the D string is tuned up to E). If you're a beginner...best to ignore this! Learn more about sawmill tuning in the Appalachian Fiddle course.
Here are some common scales used in fiddle tunes. Each runs through a series of variations: two bows legato, two bows staccato, four bows, tucka (4 shorts, two longs), hoedown (1 long, two shorts), throwaway bow, triplets, tremolo.
D Major
G Major, starting on D3
A Major
D Dorian
A Dorian
Practice a tune with its scale (Kerry Polka is in G major, so practice a G major scale). Practice scales before, during and after practicing tunes.
Always return to a good sound, even if it means playing quarter notes on the D string. You can do this! You just have to remember to pause on practicing the challenging thing and just get a good sound on single notes.
Why do this? Because it will bring you deep joy. And it will build your confidence which will inspire further practice.
Here are a few technical reminders to remember as you practice.
Posture reminders
Curve left-hand and right-hand fingers.
Bend right thumb.
Bend right arm and wrist.
Use minimal energy.
Left-hand fingers land on tips, not pads. This makes for more precise playing.
Bowing tips
Take time to focus on bowing during each practice session.
Get the best possible sound on single notes using long bows, throwaway bow, rhythms. Even just a few minutes of this will drastically improve your sound.
Use less bow.
This is a rule of thumb for fiddle tunes, especially for when things are difficult.
Continue to practice long bows. This will improve your overall sound.
Play in the middle of the bow. This is the sweet spot.
Use no extra energy or force for double stops.
It's more a matter of getting the bow perfectly balanced between the two strings.
Again, playing with less bow will help with this.
Left-hand fingering tips
Keep fingers down when possible.
For example, if you are rapidly playing D1-2, it is easier if you keep D1 down while fingering D2.
Practice this on scales.
Practice Little Lift
Don't lift left-hand fingers too high. Let them just hover above the string.
This allows you to play faster, better in tune and with more ease.
If you notice you are tense and not breathing evenly, simply pause on what you're currently practicing and play a single note. Make it sound nice. See if your body is more relaxed now.
If you can play a single note with a relaxed body, then try more complex things: 2-note intervals, scales, simple tune phrases, whole tunes.
Keep returning to single notes as a way to center yourself, relax and enjoy the process.
Little pauses
If you find that sound is sloppy, try adding a little pause in between the notes. This gives your fingers time to find the next note. This is especially helpful with string crossing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you —— I’ve been waiting for this. This is soooo fine !!!!!!!
Gwych. Diolch.
FYI. Looks like the sound loops for 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 don’t match the score and are more advanced. Maybe the next lesson?
I don’t think 1.1, 1.2. 1.2 match the sound loops. Any chance they could be fixed?