Tremolo Picking Guide: Play Tremolo on Guitar and Ukulele

Tremolo is the musical effect produced by the rapid modulation of volume. As a single note rapidly warbles from loud to soft to loud, it produces a dynamic effect that isn’t possible when a note sustains at a fixed volume. When playing a stringed instrument like a ukulele or guitar, use tremolo picking by rapidly striking the string to produce a constant resonance. The volume will spike each time you strike the string, and it will briefly drop between strikes.

Guitarists can create a tremolo effect in three ways.

1. 1. Tremolo picking: Tremolo guitar picking, or alternate picking, on guitar involves rapidly picking a single note with an up-and-down motion. To do this successfully, you need to move your picking hand as efficiently as possible, which means avoiding extraneous motion. Instead of moving your whole arm from the elbow (which limits the speed of your tremolo picking motion), anchor your picking hand above the strings and focus on the rapid motion of your wrist. When you tremolo pick, use the tension of the guitar string to “bounce” the pick back from the downstroke and create momentum.
2. 2. Tremolo on an amp: A wide range of electric guitar amplifiers offer a built-in tremolo effect, where you can dial in the depth and frequency of the tremolo in your guitar playing. Use this guitar technique to adjust the rate and depth of tremolo for unique sounds.
3. 3. Tremolo pedals: As a guitar player, you can get your tremolo sound not from an amp, but from stompbox pedals. These guitar pedals electronically alter the volume of your note and create a rapid series of peaks and valleys for the note’s dynamic amplitude. Tremolo peaks and valleys typically follow one of three shapes: a sine wave, a sawtooth wave, or a square wave.

Jake Shimabukuro is arguably the most widely acclaimed ukulele player in history: a trailblazing technical guru, a format-breaking artist, and a globetrotting ambassador for the instrument. One of Jake’s trademarks on ukulele is his ability to counteract the limitations of the instrument. And his primary tool in this regard is tremolo, which is the rapid reiteration of a tone to produce a tremulous effect. This technique is common in classical guitar literature, but no one in the ukulele realm has embraced it more wholeheartedly (or effectively) than Jake. Here are some of Jake’s tips for ukulele tremolo:

1. 1. Use tremolo to produce sustain. “The ukulele doesn't have a lot of sustain,” Jake says. “When you pluck a note, you play it, and it immediately decays. If you’re playing in a larger group, you don’t hear the sustain of the note. Utilizing a tremolo technique can give you that illusion of the note sustaining over a chord or for a duration of time.”
2. 2. Use your thumbnail to start. “The way that I go about my tremolo picking is I like to use my thumb. I grow my thumbnail out just a little longer than my other fingernails—I just like it to stick out just a little over the top of the fleshy part of my thumb.” Jake then anchors the fingers of his picking hand on the soundboard and lightly angles his thumb so that it barely touches the single string, which allows you to a faster picking speed.
3. 3. Once you have your thumb under control, add in other fingers. “Now you can use other fingers for your tremolo technique. For example, you can use your index finger and use that to go back and forth. By using the different parts of your fingers, you can create colors and textures that are very difficult to do when you're using synthetic tools like a pick. There's something amazing about the human skin and the way it sounds on strings.”
4. 4. Use tremolo picking technique for personal expression. “The tremolo is a very powerful technique. You can get a lot of emotion out of a single note because you have complete control over the duration of that note and the dynamics of that note. And one of the things that I love most about it is it allows the ukulele to really float on top of an ensemble in the same way a vocalist would. That's always been a challenging thing for the ukulele to really compete with other instruments in different kinds of arrangements and scenarios.”

Grab a MasterClass Annual Membership, stretch out those fingers, and get your strum on with a little help from the Jimi Hendrix of ‘ukulele, Jake Shimabukuro. With some pointers from this Billboard chart topper, you’ll be an expert on chords, tremolo, vibrato, and more in no time.