Rusty Cooley on Mark Tremonti's instructional Dvd

Rusty Cooley. Shame his original songs sound like a fresh shit on a sunday morning.

Not all of them.

Golem you are being completely ridiculous. Vibrato is a technique just like any other and comes down to the same things as all other technique does, Muscle memory. Learning the correct way of doing it slowly then repeating it enough times until it becomes second nature. Obviously with vibrato this takes alot less time than to get hyper speed chops like Rusty and co, hence there are plenty of average guitarists with good vibrato.

It is not some divine gift, its just like everything else.

Vibrato isn't in the same category as alternate picking or sweep picking. It's a distinct thing. Many guitarists have subtle differences in their vibrato. Yngwie's vibrato sounds different from Gilmour's and so on. Becker's is different from Friedman's and so on.

Also, define "average guitarist". Because i'd stick Cooley in that category. You are ultimately defined by your musical output, no matter how skilled you are on your instrument.

It is not a distinct thing at all, many guitarists have subtle differences in their alternate picking too....it is just like every other technique.

Calling Rusty Cooley an average guitarist is extremely silly no matter how you look at it. For a start listen to his actual cd's rather than technique demonstrations on youtube. There is some great stuff, but even if it were terrible to call him an 'average guitarist' would still be really stupid. What do you think of the violinists who play in the

highest calliber orchestra's? Would you say they are 'average' violinists because they dont write music? Virtually none of them do but are still paid vast amounts and are very very highly regarded in the musical community, only a fool would call them 'average'. The same applies to someone of Rustys level, his technique is so incredibly advanced that even if his own music was shit (which it most certainly is not) he would still be a great guitarist because he can still play great music expertly.

You are defined by your musical output but that does not necessarily have to be writting. If you say 'that guy is a great guitar player' you are saying he plays the guitar well, which undeniably Rusty does. You seem to be getting confused with saying 'that guy is a great song writer', there is a difference. The two are somewhat linked for sure but to say that it does 'no matter how skilled you are on your instrument.' when talking about how good a guitarist is is pretty thick. The clue is in the

word 'guitarist', a guitar is an instrument..if you are extremely skilled at playing that instrument then you are an extremely good guitarist. How exactly is this going over your head?

You could say he is an average songwritter (I would disagree) but that much is down to personal opinion to some degree.

Look at it this way, Kerry King has written some pretty cool songs but is not a very good guitarist, his playing is often sloppy, out of time and his solos are attroctious,yet good songwritter

Rusty has great vibrato, just so you know.

watch?v=RGmjPl4FYjc

Listen while he plays slow around :11 to :34. Very wide and controlled.

they are technique perfectionists to get to a level such as Rusty's and vibrato is probably the most common technique in guitar...that kind of perfectionist would not settle at shitty vibrato.

Listen to his songs under the influence or dark matter, both have plenty of vibrato phrases, there is nothing wrong with his vibrato.