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Lesson 14: Tin Whistle Vibrato
Vibrato done correctly will make any Irish Air sound beautiful. However, done poorly will take away from the tune and make you sound silly. There are two different kinds of vibrato on the tin whistle; finger vibrato and moth vibrato. Finger Vibrato is the more traditional way to play it and its the way I usually do. I do finger vibrato because I grew up playing the pipes and thats the way we do it. Then go and try vibrato on some of the airs you have learned. If you use it too much it sounds cheesy but sounds great if used sparingly, so just put it on the notes you really want to count.
The illustration above is more of a guide then a hard rule. All whistles are different so experiment with slightly covering different holes till you get the sound you want. Check out "Davy Spillane" he is the king of vibrato and would be great to listen to, to hear what whistle vibrato sounds like and it also demonstrates what I mean when I say it can sound "cheesy". Now go to the "airs" section of the tune section and try this out on a couple tunes.
Congratulations! you can now move onto the advanced lessons and finally really learn some fun tunes.
Congratulations! you can now move onto the advanced lessons and finally really learn some fun tunes.