Angus Young and vibrato

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

Whenever I try anything Angus related(and not Angus beef, LOL), I usually have to keep in mind that he doesn't use any fancy effects, he just plays through his marshall with a little bit of gain. It sounds like he turns up the gain when playing live. The bright, punchy, and sustaining signature sound he gets out of his SG coupled with his playing style delivers his unique sound. I just think "vibrato". When I play with just a little gain, I have to compensate my playing technique to get notes to sustain more, etc. I usually end up tearing up my callouses something fierce, but the result is a full, fat sounding tone.

I've spent a lot of time over the years developing different vibrato techniques, and the one thing I've noticed from that is that as a result, it has actually enhanced my overall playing technique into a style I can proudly call my own. Sure, I can tailor my playing technique to mimic certain styles, but overall it's just my style with someone else's licks.

One thing I would like to reveal to everyone here is a technique I use sometimes while applying vibrato. I listen for certain harmonics - normally octave harmonics, and when I hear them I make a slight change in the vibrato. What happens, is it enhances the harmonic and can make it ring out. It also helps to have your string action set high, and gain turned up. This is why sometimes you've heard me play notes that ring out harmonics seemingly out of nowhere. There - now I've revealed one of my trade secrets! With a little practice, you can do it too!

[bigdoug]

so where is the sound clip? All very interesting RickL :thumb:

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

Here's one very good example of that technique -

Listen to this:
http://www.6stringheaven.com/forum/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=4849&d=1194720672

At 0:18 notice the gradual change to the octave harmonic. I made a very subtle change to the vibrato at that point to induce the harmonic. It can even be induced without actually applying any vibrato, but by bending the note ever so slightly or putting more finger pressure on the string while playing with or without vibrato. Sometimes, I'll wait until I hear the harmonic before doing the vibrato. The vibrato causes the harmonic to ring out. It's kind of like excitation by resonant induction.

[bigdoug]

I can hear a subtle change there right enough, I think I might do that already but by accident lol.

[Guitarpima]

I think you are confusing two seperate things. The vibrato adds flavor and helps the string retain sustain a little more. As for the harmonic overtone, I think it is more of a resonant feedback. Most guitars have a frequency that they vibrate at better than other frequencies. The resonant frequency will produce the harmonic overtone easier than the others. Of course, when an amp is cranked and your ears are bleeding, resonant frequencies don't really matter to much anymore. All the notes will do it.

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

LOL - I've done this with or without turning up the gain, it's just easier for me to hear the harmonic overtones with the gain turned up. I do all my recording direct to the line-in of my soundcard, and I don't mike my amp. I can't say I can do it 100% of the time, but with the techniques described you can make it happen. Certain harmonic overtones can ring out easier than others, depending on the string and note. :mrgreen:

[Stew]

Rick vibrato is something that has plaqued me for years so if you did a video of these techniques you have developed it would be much appreciated. :thumb:

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

I might be able to do that for you guys sometime - I'll check into it. There's really nothing that a video is going to help out with, though - I think. It's not a visual thing. I could provide some different ways that I do vibrato, though.

[Guitarpima]

I would like to hear it clean.

Stew, I believe he is using true vibrato. where the finger is firmly (but not to hard) planted on the note and you move your hand from side to side creating the vibrato effect. If you watch a classical guitarist, they use this method. Violin, viola, cello and string bass players use it as well. Moving the string up and down will do the same thing. For the longest time I could not move the string up and down. I can do it pretty well now.

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

I don't use that kind of vibrato with this technique, Robert.

On this one at 0:04 I used the finger pressure method with the string bent:
Slow Blues (http://indymuse.com/tunes/slowblues.wav)

[Scali]

Vibrato is the key to sounding good.
I myself like to practice with only distortion, not using any effects at all, and still make the guitar 'sing'. Sounding good with distortion isn't easy. Because of all the overtones, it's much more apparent when your intonation isn't spot-on. Just fretting and holding a note won't sound good, a guitar isn't exactly a perfect instrument.
Without delay or reverb, your intonation and vibrato aren't 'obscured'. I naturally tend to overdo my vibrato in amplitude and/or frequency, getting a nervous sound. I have to concentrate on the actual vibrato and 'tune it' to what I want to hear, a subtle and controlled vibrato.
When you have 'tuned up' your intonation and technique this way, and turn on the effects again, you sound like a million bucks :)

What you can hear with Rick is that he approaches vibrato like singers tend to do. You start off with no vibrato, and then 'ease into it'. That gives a very musical feel to it.
You should also use your vibrato as an active part of your playing. I see many guitarists whose vibrato is little more than a nervous 'spasm'. However, if you listen to a 'master of vibrato', like for example John Sykes, Joe Satriani or Slash, you hear that they adapt the amplitude and frequency to the song they're playing. Sometimes you want a quick, wild vibrato... sometimes you want a sensual slow and subtle vibrato. Vibrato sets the mood.

[Rick_Lamoreaux]

Here's a very good example of where the held note is ever so slightly bent, and then an immediate vibrato to follow through the harmonic at 3:49:
Peter Moran G4 jam (http://www.6stringheaven.com/forum/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=3711&d=1172421875)

[Danny Danzi]

One thing I'd also like to include as far as the Angus sound if I may. First off, he doesn't use as much gain as you think live or studio. Very little gain. However, guys with that type of tone are using the power section of their tube amps as opposed to the pre-amp section like most of us do for that 80's metal type tone. Angus, Jimmy Page, SRV, Gilmour, early EVH, and most of the early rockers relied on extreme volume from their power section to get the sound you THINK is gain.

It IS gain, but it's more tube saturation than actual gain stage. Most of these dudes use very weak pick-ups and are not using over-drive or distortion pedals...nor are they jacking up the gain stage in their amps all that much.

This is what "tube sound" is all about. There is no over-drive processing, it's a solid rock edge tone with massive out-put volume. The feedback and transients from guitar to amp to speaker plus massive volume equals a very loud and saturated tube sound which will simulate a bit more gain than you think. So remember that. :)

As far as vibrato, that's a subjective thing. There are ways to make weird sounds using it especially if you bend outwards and beyond your frets. It's easy to get certain overtones this way as well as the simulation of longer sustained notes. With the right tube amp, loudness and guitar, you can make one note last a very long time with very little gain. So it's more than just an effect type of deal, it's a way of life when you think about it. ;)