Q&A for How to Do Vibrato on a Violin

When you first start learning the vibrato technique and are playing more slowly, it is natural that it will sound like the wailing of a fire engine siren or a dying cow. As your technique improves, you will start to get a better sound. If you're causing your pinky to bleed, you're likely pressing too hard on the strings. Try to release the tension in your fingers. You probably shouldn't practice vibrato for as long as 30 minutes – 2 to 5 minutes a day is enough to build muscle memory without risking injury.

While it's possible to learn a serviceable vibrato in 2 weeks, most people will need more time than that to develop a strong technique. If you are relatively coordinated, you should be able to create a strong vibrato after 4 to 6 weeks of daily practice.

It is likely that more uncoordinated people will have a more difficult time developing a strong vibrato technique. If you have a difficult time patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, that could be an indication that your hands aren't accustomed to working independently of each other. However, anyone can learn the technique – it just may take more time and practice for some than for others. Practice for a few minutes each day and have patience. Eventually, it will click.

Your hand, arm, and wrist should be completely relaxed to allow for movement. Simply allow your thumb to rest in position, rather than trying to use it to hold your violin. Using a shoulder rest can help balance your violin and take pressure off your hand.

It's normal to feel sore when starting out because holding up the violin and playing it requires different muscles than you may be used to using. As for the vibrato, your instrument should not shake if you have a true vibrato. You may be holding your palm against the neck of the violin. Try holding your hand at a 45-degree angle away from the neck to see if that stops the shaking.

You want to put a little pressure on your fingers so they won't slide. However, you don't want to put too much pressure or it won't make that vibrato sound. Keep up the hard work.

Of course you can. However, it's usually easier if you have someone experienced sitting next to you and physically guiding you through the entire process.

Your chin rest or shoulder rest may be sized wrong. When playing a violin or viola, you should be holding the instrument up with your shoulder/chin. Also, try relaxing your wrist a bit.

The time it takes to learn vibrato depends on the person. Some people can learn to do it in a few weeks, some people take months, and some people take a year. Since you need to practice a lot to become good at vibrato, it usually takes a few months.

Try to hold your instrument a little bit tighter, but not so tight that your instrument moves entirely. Hold it just tight enough so that your finger is holding the note

Everything takes time, but if you can't do it by yourself, ask a tutor for some help during a lesson. I'm sure they will have techniques and ways of how to achieve it.

The third and fourth fingers are used much less is violin, and in daily life. Since your body doesn't typically use those fingers, your muscle memory is probably weak there. Practice, and maybe try to find activities online to make those fingers stronger.

"Anchor" you thumb. Regardless of whether you're doing arm or wrist vibrato, your thumb should be used as an anchor.

Try doing a whole arm vibrato instead. An arm vibrato is when you move your forearm rather than your wrist.

You can see that the chin-rest is also on the wrong side, meaning that they inverted the video.

Of course! Just like when you're running or doing other physical activities, you get sore because your body isn't used to it. It'll get easier as you go, but don't hurt yourself by overstimulating your muscles.

You could try bringing the knuckle on the right side of the violin off of the neck so that you have more freedom to move without gripping the violin too tightly.

There is really no wrong way to put your fingers in a position as long as you play the right note. Find the right position for each finger and practice playing like that.

It depends, few people master it in days, weeks , months or few people even years. It depends on how much you practice, and how skilled you are as a musician.

At first, practice the vibrato and the bowing separately. Start with scales or basic notes when starting to play with vibrato. Then, add the bow afterwards, when the feeling is more natural. Playing notes familiar to you is important because you can focus on the vibrato instead of the notes or bow. Vibrato is also easier and better when played on long, slow notes. such as half notes or quarter notes, but as it becomes more comfortable, vibrato can be added to shorter notes, too.

Because the fourth finger isn't used so much in everyday life. Do some research on activities you can do to improve the muscle memory in this finger.

Practice, practice, practice! Ensure that you get the muscle memory down needed for vibrato, first by doing it very slowly, then gradually speed up. Eventually, you will be able to reach the speed you want to achieve.

Relax your fingers, and warm them up before you play. Play with the idea that you have to play very loose.

There are different types of vibrato. Arm and hand vibrato are for the first few positions, then finger vibrato for after the 5th position (arm or hand or finger the first to third position, hand or finger for the third to fifth, and finger for above the fifth position).

Maybe try exercising your fingers by wiggling them and stretching them. It should help. Make sure your fingers are loose and relaxed when playing.

You will simply need to practice softly folding your fourth finger down with your thumb. It will only take a few days to get the hang of it!

Use wrist vibrato or finger vibrato. Arm vibrato isn't good for doing it quickly, since you have to use your entire arm.

Just keep on practicing little by little. Don't try to do the whole vibrato at first, just start at a slow pace and get faster when you feel comfortable with it.

Add pressure to your thumb, as that helps in making it an "anchor" to your instrument. The only things that should roll on the fingerboard are your fingers. A suggestion would be to do a forearm vibrato first, to get the movement down. Make sure your wrist is straight too. If your wrist isn't straight, your instrument will shake.

Practice slowly by setting a metronome to sixty and moving the finger back and forth (one movement per beat to start). Keep an eye on your thumb, and if you have a good instructor, they will be able to tell you when your thumb is moving. Work on only moving the digit fingers first, then slowly speed up and enjoy a beautiful, wide vibrato without the thumb habits.