In Part 3 of our series about the vibrato I posted some photos how the fingers should look like during the vibrato. Recently I was asked about pictures of the third and fourth finger because some modifications might be required when it comes to geometry.
Let’s start with the third finger. Here we see the basic position:
Not much difference compared to the first or second finger.
Here we have the lower position with the stretched finger:
And here the upper position. A bit overdone but I wanted to show how the finger moves.
Hopefully the principle is quite clear: The finger rolls over the tip to produce the desired oscillating tone.
The fourth finger works similarly. The only difference is the more stretched position right from the beginning. The fourth finger is pretty short. If we put him onto the string as bent as the others we would run into intonation problems.
So here is the basic position:
We should try to bend the first phalanx so much that it’s still possible to stretch it a little.
Here we see the fourth finger in the lower, the stretched position:
A very comfortable location. If we go upward towards the bridge it gets more uncomfortable:
It all depends on the fourth finger’s flexibility. At the beginning it will be a bit inconvenient but it will get better the more training you get.
The most interesting part is the direction of our movement. If we limit this movement to a mere bend-stretch-action of the first phalanx we wouldn’t oscillate parallel to the string any more. So we have to move a little sideways as well, as much as our anatomy permits, to guarantee the correct parallel movement.
The hand geometry itself doesn’t change as long as we make sure that the back of our hand is more or less parallel to the strings. Of course this is only possible to a certain degree because rotation of our forearm (supination) is very uncomfortable in this position and we shouldn’t risk tendinitis.
Nevertheless the fourth finger is the most challenging when it comes to vibrato. The finger strength is much lower than the others, and the lack of flexibility makes it even worse. But when your first phalanx moves at all it’s just a matter of practice.
