9 Tremolo and vibrato

vibrato can emulate broken vinyl seasick warbles at intense settings

Tremolo and vibrato are two of the most misused terms in guitardom, thanks to Leo Fender. That whammy bar you’re waggling is attached to a vibrato system. And vibrato is also the name of a common guitar effect, and a fretting technique. In 1954 Fender went and dubbed the Strat’s vibrato the ‘Synchronized Tremolo’, giving birth to a misnomer.

Tremolo is periodic variation in volume of your guitar signal. Besides rate and depth controls to adjust the speed and intensity of the trem, most tremolos also pack shape controls, which go from a gentle triangle throb to square-wave chop. You may find a perceived volume drop with more extreme tremolo settings, so watch out for tremolos with volume controls.

Vibrato is a periodic variation in pitch; it’s mechanically the same as chorus, but with the dry guitar signal removed. It can emulate fret-hand vibrato at subtle settings, up to fast-rate Leslie wobbles and broken vinyl seasick warbles at more intense settings.