Whats the difference between tremolo and vibrato?
Vibrato is a modulated (up and down) change in pitch, such as you get when you wiggle your finger on a fretted string, or when you wiggle the whole neck or play with the whammy bar. Tremolo is a modulated change in volume, as if you were turning your amp’s volume up and down quickly. Tremolo is common in surf music; vibrato is common in rock and blues. NOTE – be careful when using these terms. Some people use them backwards to this, and some people use them interchangeably. In fact, Fender is responsible for a lot of the confusion, calling the whammy bar a tremolo bar, and calling the tremolo on their amps vibrato. To be fair, even dictionary definitions can be vague, although the primary definitions in most dictionaries will at least lean towards the definitions here. This confusion is why many people refer specifically to “pitch vibrato”. But then how do you refer to tremolo? “Volume tremolo” sounds stupid! Oh, and please note the spelling. It’s tremOlo, not tremElo. -Miles • Does my
Vibrato is a modulated (up and down) change in pitch, such as you get when you wiggle your finger on a fretted string, or when you wiggle the whole neck or play with the whammy bar. Tremolo is a modulated change in volume, as if you were turning your amp’s volume up and down quickly. Tremolo is common in surf music; vibrato is common in rock and blues. NOTE – be careful when using these terms. Some people use them backwards to this, and some people use them interchangeably. In fact, Fender is responsible for a lot of the confusion, calling the whammy bar a tremolo bar, and calling the tremolo on their amps vibrato. To be fair, even dictionary definitions can be vague, although the primary definitions in most dictionaries will at least lean towards the definitions here. This confusion is why many people refer specifically to “pitch vibrato”. But then how do you refer to tremolo? “Volume tremolo” sounds stupid! Oh, and please note the spelling.
