How To Play Fast Solos On Guitar That Scream With Intensity Using Emotionally Expressive Vibrato

Adding vibrato to fast guitar solos transforms them from good to great. Vibrato technique is THE technique to use to give your playing intensity and power with an expressive voice-like quality (like that of a singer).

 

Learning how to master the technique and use it creatively makes your fast guitar solos stand out among a sea of other players who can play with speed, but lack musical expression skills.

Master The Fundamentals To Make Your Vibrato Sound Pro

Fact: a lot of guitar players never fully master vibrato, but don’t become aware of it for many years (or ever!). Don’t let this mistake cause your guitar soloing to sound amateur.

 

Here’s how to play perfect vibrato that makes your guitar playing sound expressive and emotional:

Fundamental Step One: Know How To Keep Your Vibrato In Tune

Keeping your vibrato in tune is critical for making your guitar playing sound as expressive and powerful as possible! Learn and master these fundamentals to do it:

 

  1. While bending the string to apply vibrato, always match the exact target pitch you bend up to and don’t stop in between. For example: While bending the 7th fret of the G string a whole step, make sure to match the pitch of the 9th
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  3. -While releasing the bend to return to the original pitch, always return it all the way.
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  6. -Completing these two steps ensures that your vibrato stays under control and doesn’t sound sloppy.
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Watch this video to see what amazing vibrato sounds like and learn how to play it for yourself:

How to practice to perfect this skill to play with perfectly controlled, fundamentally sound vibrato:

 

  1. Choose a fret you want to practice vibrato technique on.
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  3. Determine if you want to use vibrato of a half or whole step.
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  5. Prime your ears for playing with vibrato that is in-tune by picking the notes that you will be moving between while applying vibrato.
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For example: If you are using vibrato of a distance of one whole note starting on the 7th fret of the G string, pick the 7th and 9th frets several times to hear the exact notes you want to match. Then pick the string once and apply vibrato using what you just heard as a reference.

 

Use a metronome and apply vibrato twice per beat (eighth notes) to improve your technique faster. This is easy to do in just a few minutes per day to get great results!

Use Vibrato While Playing Fast Guitar Solos To End Them With A BANG

Vibrato technique has the potential to add tons of expressive power to your guitar solos in many different ways. This means more than simply using vibrato whenever possible.

 

Developing different phrasing strategies using vibrato gives you a variety of expressive options to choose from.

 

Use this vibrato phrasing approach to add explosive TNT to the end of your fast guitar solos so you end them with a bang:

 

Play any fast scale run that begins low and ends high, like this:

Add sequences to the scale to give it a sense of building tension, like this:

Once you reach the highest note, add heavy vibrato to it to release the tension and end the lick with a BANG!

How to practice this to make fast guitar solo runs sound awesome:

 

Practice the lick above by breaking it down into smaller segments. Do this by playing only the notes of two strings at a time perfectly before adding the next string. Keep adding notes until you are able to play the entire lick without vibrato.

 

Practice the vibrato separately at first, then focus on playing the vibrato perfectly together with the lick.

Add Intense Expression To Your Soloing Using Wide Vibrato

How many different kinds of vibrato do you use in your guitar playing? Most guitarists always play it in the same way and miss out on tons of potential for musical expression.

 

Using different types creates variety in the way you express yourself while playing. Read about the different types below to begin integrating them into your solos to make them more emotionally diverse:

Wide vs narrow vibrato:

 

In general, wide vibrato refers to vibrato that fluctuates a whole step or more between the target note and the original note. This is commonly applied by bending the string.

 

Narrow refers vibrato that is usually a half step or less. Many times, narrow vibrato can be applied by simply fretting a note, holding your finger down and moving it side to side within that same fret.

 

Wide/fast: This is the most intense vibrato and sounds great when you apply it after building a lot of tension within a guitar solo or while playing over an intense section of music.

 

Narrow/fast: This has a buzzing sound and is best used in moderation (unless you want to sound just like B.B. King).

 

Wide/slow: This vibrato approach is best used in moderation or with specific musical intentions.

 

Narrow/slow: This vibrato is great for quiet or relaxed moments during a guitar solo. It also sounds great in general while being used to improve the quality of various notes throughout a solo.


How to practice vibrato to seamlessly integrate the different types into your guitar solos:

 

Practice improvising a very short lick while using different types of vibrato to create variations of that lick. Pay close attention to how each vibrato approach feels as you do this. Then solo freely to apply it into the context of your normal soloing.

Make Your Guitar Soloing Sound More Creative Using A Simple Delay

 

This is a creative guitar soloing secret that most players overlook.

 

You don’t always need to immediately apply vibrato technique to notes while soloing. There’s nothing wrong with this, but you give yourself more expressive options by delaying the vibrato for just a moment.

 

Most people apply vibrato instantly to the notes they play. This is usually because they never think of doing it any other way.

 

However, applying it too soon gives you no further options to add drama though musical expression to the end of the phrase. Applying it after just a one or two second delay creates tons of drama that makes the vibrato more impactful.

 

This video shows you how to do it:

How to practice this to add tons of drama into your guitar solos:

 

Practice delaying vibrato as shown in the video using just a single note at first. Then begin integrating it into your normal soloing until becomes natural.

Note: Add more expressive power by picking the note again, after you initially pick it and before you apply the vibrato (6:00 of video). Also know that you don’t have to do this every time you use vibrato. Mix up your approach to keep your soloing sounding fresh.

 

Now you know how to make fast guitar solos sound much more expressive and emotional. Learn more ways to play kickass solos while keeping your playing sparkling clean using this free guitar shred resource.