The Steel Guitar Forum

Late-period Bechet (when he was a permanent resident) in France is THE stuff! Especially the record he did with the French-Algerian bebop pianist Martial Solal's quartet. Such assurance, power and that take-no-prisoners vibrato!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgaBWSDgiE

It was touched on above but I believe the reason vibrato slowed down with the advent of electrified instruments was because it wasn't needed as much. The reason for the rapid vibrato with acoustic instruments was to increase the sustain. With the aid of a foot volume, you could increase the sustain via that means on an electric guitar.

We can probably do without the crude comments from Niehaus & Kerr on this subject.

That's Mr. Niehaus.
My friends call me Erv.

Wally Pfeifer wrote: We can probably do without the crude comments from Niehaus & Kerr on this subject.

I'm too poor to have a first name and don't have any friends.

Erv Niehaus wrote:It was touched on above but I believe the reason vibrato slowed down with the advent of electrified instruments was because it wasn't needed as much. The reason for the rapid vibrato with acoustic instruments was to increase the sustain. With the aid of a foot volume, you could increase the sustain via that means on an electric guitar.

Yes, this is interesting to me, because we have a case where the mechanics of the instrument are driving technique, or at least opening up possibilities in technique not musically practical before.

I chose the Annie Kerr recording as an example because she could not have been but a few years removed from acoustic guitar, yet that slow, wide vibrato was likely not something she was doing before. (Though I'm speculating)

Scott,
I also believe that if the old Hawaiian players would have had pedals and levers like us, they would have used them to enhance their technique when playing.

Steffen Gunter wrote:The (for me) too wide vibrato of e.g. the '56 Sleep Walk recording of Santo Farina sounds, ah, different (don't wanna struggle with the Santo & Johnny Fans)

Something that Santo did that I like is that he would often continue to apply vibrato after the note had decayed and make a sort of sizzling, metallic, steel against string sound that made the recording sound very immediate, or "present".

Sorry, Mister Niehaus.
And,-Mister James Kerr,- I assume you or any of your friends or family are not afflicted with Parkinson's Disease. A bad attempt at humor.

I think that the vibrato should reflect the tempo subdivided as the player deems necessary. Let's say on a ballad, one can have the choice of moving the bar in sixteenth notes or even eighth note triplets.

I use Frank Sinatra as my guide. I learned how to delay the application of vibrato in my singing by listening intently to Frank and then myself, and I always found the vibrato to sound much better delayed. Not always the case with steel guitar notes, but if going for a vocal sound, I delay it slightly.

Not into waveforms and hertz? Here's a perspective on vibrato from a reviewer on the Gramophone classical music website:

If it is annoying then it is too much vibrato, if it sounds too dry then it is not enough vibrato.

Vibrato should not be used going into a note, it should be used when leaving the note.

Wally Pfeifer wrote: Sorry, Mister Niehaus.
And,-Mister James Kerr,- I assume you or any of your friends or family are not afflicted with Parkinson's Disease. A bad attempt at humor.

Sorry I keep forgetting we live in a PC world now where people are easy offended.

JK.

We used to call that "thin skinned".

James Kerr wrote:

Wally Pfeifer wrote: We can probably do without the crude comments from Niehaus & Kerr on this subject.

I'm too poor to have a first name and don't have any friends.

Aw come on James you got 1


Colin.

Wow, hot topic!

Colin Bolton wrote:

James Kerr wrote:

Wally Pfeifer wrote: We can probably do without the crude comments from Niehaus & Kerr on this subject.

I'm too poor to have a first name and don't have any friends.

Aw come on James you got 1


Colin.

Thank you Colin, I will treasure that support, some people here think I don't know what it is to suffer, but I do, I'm married to a woman.
JK

Time to re-assess this, now that a quieter tone bar is being universally used..
CLICK THIS to view and buy——>

Scott Thomas wrote: Something that Santo did that I like is that he would often continue to apply vibrato after the note had decayed and make a sort of sizzling, metallic, steel against string sound that made the recording sound very immediate, or "present".

My favorite vibrato right now, although it doesn't win any awards for understated subtlety, is Andy Iona's, and he does something similar to the above in Carefree:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzLSRu7K5pk

Basically the line that starts each chorus, "Care-free, as the birds in..." He goes down to the (I think, not in front of a guitar) D for "free" and lets that note decay with that constant vibrato. You hear it shift up to Eb on beat 1 of the next measure, but the note is struck on beat 2, so there's this quavering, almost audible sound, full of anticipation (around 0:25, 1:10, and 2:05).

I totally get the previous comment about how a person might be able to tell McIntire, Iona, and Byrd from a single note. Some of them certainly had a unique voice! For Jerry Byrd, I used to think that his playing had a bit of a country accent, but now I realize that country steel has a Jerry Byrd accent .

That is just fantastic Nic. If ever there was a reason to want to play lap steel guitar it is that music clip........I am inspired again!

Click this :--> https://youtu.be/Ifo6PiCTrS4?t=2m53s

One of my all-time favorite vibratos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6DbdY0aelA

and my personal most-despised vibrato. When she sings the word "Well" my fillings all hurt at once! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS9M03F-fA

and for great vibrato on non-pedal steel, here again is John Ely:

http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/media/news ... rAudio.mp3

iI always thought Buffy Saint Marie had the worst vibratro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wgZmVvs-Xk

Talk about a goat singing

Yes! Buffy is up there at the top ranking of the goat rodeo rankings.