vibrato on fretted bass... how does this work?

[bass player 48]

I always thought that on violin, cello, fretless bass guitar that vibrato was made by "rolling" your finger quickly back and forth... ever so slightly changing your string stopping position and creating the wavering vibrato effect.

Obviously, this doesn't carry over to fretted bass.

I do play four string fretted and I've been at it for a while. I play hard, and I can add some serious vibrato if I want to.

This is following a conversation with my young son who studied cello for a couple of years...

The question is, physically, what is happening to make vibrato on a fretted bass?

I know that you can bend the strings along the fret, and you can do that quickly to get a vibrato like effect, but it's not the same. It's very hard to do that quickly enough to pas for usable vibrato, and also, the picth only bends up - never down... I DON'T think that's what I'm doing to get my vibrato.

Honestly, I think that what I'm doing is bending the neck. I play hard, I love to dig in, and when I do get my vibrato going, I basically fret my note, I hold it hard and shake the hell out of my left hand to achieve a lovely vibrato... I CAN hold the note and just push with my left hand and hear the note bend flat, and I think that when I get my vibrato working I am really bending the neck quickly to make the pitch waver and achieve my vibrato.

I don't think I'm bending the string along the fret at all, but maybe I'm wrong.

Does this vibrato really come from bending the neck, AND - is this normal?

[BigOldHarry]

Vibrato on a fretted instrument is quite a bit different than a fretted (as you clearly understand). Since you can't get vibrato in the traditional way you do a cello, you have to bend the string rapidly rather than rock the note-finger as you might on a cello.

My first teacher, many moons ago, told me to try to play with *no* vibrato on my fretted bass - I think he was trying to get me to play solid notes, which was good. I developed my "vibrato technique", such as it is, just by playing and playing and playing. It's hard to describe, but what I recall teaching *my* students (back when I taught) was to experiment with very small bends, repeated very quickly - - and when actually performing, don't over do it. Bent bass notes are not as useful as bent guitar notes, usually.

So, rather than shake your hand, focus on bending the note a very small amount very quickly.

does that help?

[Jerose]

I can do it as well, but I think it has more to do with you bending the string slightly with the rolling of your finger. While the motion is lateral, you are still causing the string to slightly bend every time your finger rolls back and forth.

It is possible to get your finger to bend the string quickly enough to create vibrato and it's a technique I use quite a bit now that I can do it at a usable speed. Both rolling your finger and bending up and down slightly but quickly have two very different sounds, so I like being able to do them both.

[HaVIC5]

Believe it or not, "back and forth" vibrato, or vertical vibrato works on fretted instruments, and you see classical guitarists do it all the time. It's much more subtle than on fretless instruments, but its a lot more natural than bending the string across the neck.

[RockinRoyster]

I find shaking the instrument works very well for me, my impression is that it creates a flex in the neck (string tension change) and induces additional vibration in the string. Plus it's physicaly expressive, my style.

Shaking/rolling finger and rapid shallow bends works also, but to me, not as dramatic.

My opinion re: why rolling works on fretted instrument, minor change in contact point between string and fret changes string length, vs bending changing tension.

[ogrossman]

I'm pretty sure vibrato on a fretted instrument works by changing the string tension. You can prove this by playing a fretted note while you watch your electronic tuner; then pull back on the string with your finger tip (toward the nut). You should be able to see (and hear) the note go sharp. If this had anything to do with finger position the string would effectively get longer as you move your finger tip toward the nut and make the note flat; but that's not what happens. You can also show that it has nothing to do with the neck bending. Play an open string while you pull a different (silent) string toward the nut. The ringing open string will not change its pitch.

[duo8675309]

Originally Posted by ogrossman

I'm pretty sure vibrato on a fretted instrument works by changing the string tension. You can prove this by playing a fretted note while you watch your electronic tuner; then pull back on the string with your finger tip (toward the nut). You should be able to see (and hear) the note go sharp. If this had anything to do with finger position the string would effectively get longer as you move your finger tip toward the nut and make the note flat; but that's not what happens. You can also show that it has nothing to do with the neck bending. Play an open string while you pull a different (silent) string toward the nut. The ringing open string will not change its pitch.

+1

The fret controls what interval is played, the string tension is what controls the pitch

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by ogrossman

I'm pretty sure vibrato on a fretted instrument works by changing the string tension. You can prove this by playing a fretted note while you watch your electronic tuner; then pull back on the string with your finger tip (toward the nut). You should be able to see (and hear) the note go sharp. If this had anything to do with finger position the string would effectively get longer as you move your finger tip toward the nut and make the note flat; but that's not what happens. You can also show that it has nothing to do with the neck bending. Play an open string while you pull a different (silent) string toward the nut. The ringing open string will not change its pitch.

This is exactly right, and very well explained. This type of vibrato is (I believe) a classical guitar vibrato technique. John Pattitucci uses it, and that's where I learned it.

[bass player 48]

Thanks for the discussion guys - I really didn't know why I was getting vibrato when I "shake my hand" I just knew I was, and that it was something different than when I quickly bend the string along the fret. I think ogrossman explained exactly what was going on with this type of vibrato and why it works - and that's what I wanted. I already knew it worked, and now I know why!

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally Posted by HaVIC5

Believe it or not, "back and forth" vibrato, or vertical vibrato works on fretted instruments, and you see classical guitarists do it all the time. It's much more subtle than on fretless instruments, but its a lot more natural than bending the string across the neck.

+1

[bassguy74]

Originally Posted by bass player 48

I always thought that on violin, cello, fretless bass guitar that vibrato was made by "rolling" your finger quickly back and forth... ever so slightly changing your string stopping position and creating the wavering vibrato effect.

Obviously, this doesn't carry over to fretted bass.

I do play four string fretted and I've been at it for a while. I play hard, and I can add some serious vibrato if I want to.

This is following a conversation with my young son who studied cello for a couple of years...

The question is, physically, what is happening to make vibrato on a fretted bass?

I know that you can bend the strings along the fret, and you can do that quickly to get a vibrato like effect, but it's not the same. It's very hard to do that quickly enough to pas for usable vibrato, and also, the picth only bends up - never down... I DON'T think that's what I'm doing to get my vibrato.

Honestly, I think that what I'm doing is bending the neck. I play hard, I love to dig in, and when I do get my vibrato going, I basically fret my note, I hold it hard and shake the hell out of my left hand to achieve a lovely vibrato... I CAN hold the note and just push with my left hand and hear the note bend flat, and I think that when I get my vibrato working I am really bending the neck quickly to make the pitch waver and achieve my vibrato.

I don't think I'm bending the string along the fret at all, but maybe I'm wrong.

Does this vibrato really come from bending the neck, AND - is this normal?

Even as a beginner bassist, I can already tell you how this works. LOL The type of vibrato you're referring to is called radial vibrato (axial is where you bend the string up and down, I think). Anyway, when you do radial vibrato by sliding your finger back and forth, it is lessening the length of the string in each direction as you slide, which causes the pitch to get slightly higher for a moment. Sliding back and forth quickly like that therefore makes the vibrato! That's all vibrato is: uniform variation of a musical pitch, up and down.