So I have been working on Cold Cold Feeling, Key to the Highway, and She Moves Me. In the lessons, Jerry your vibrato is done with your hand. I've been practicing with a player who is really good, and he has inspired me to work on my vibrato-which he and others who have marvelous vibrato, I believe do throat vibrato.

So Jerry I have been wondering why you do your vibrato on these lessons with your hand?

I also wonder if you and others can give me some pointers on how to do vibrato. I will post a video response to my work with Cold Cold Feeling so you can get a sense for where my throat vibrato is. I don't like what I do. It is not as fast as the hand and does not sound smooth, so I am looking for some direction on how to practice. Any thoughts/suggestions are much appreciated:)

Hi Daniel --- good question.  You will probably enjoy this lesson where Jerry breaks down how to develop and do throat vibrato

http://www.sonicjunction.com/lessons/masterclass-vibrato

My understanding is that it's a matter of building the proper muscle memory and then learning how to increase the speed of the vibrato.  

Vibrato is a technique that can be difficult as you get older due to the speed of the muscle movement.  From what I've learned, this can be a challenge for both harmonica and guitar players.   As with any challenge, it invites innovation and finding a way to communicate the emotion of the music with what you can do -- for a lot of musicians -- this is when they find their own sound.

Hello Mike,

Thank you so much for your really deep response. A lot to think about. I forgot about Jerry's master class, but remember thinking I didn't understand the "adam's apple" vibrato. What I do is more of the first type he talks about-the reverse "machine gun"-throat? I don't understand how to do the adam's apple that he talks about.

What I really like about your post, and what I think is very deep, is finding a way to communicate what you want-with what you can do, and then find your own sound. I think that is a reall significant idea to consider.

Hey Daniel,

You might try blowing the 1 hole (as if firing a tommy gun) then reverse it on the one hole drawing in...then again blowing the two hole tommy gun style and finally the two hole draw it help me get the concept it worked for me

....maybe you'll get some advancement....