Living with no tremolo

Hardtail guitars are always better.

I made the choice a while back to stop using vibrato systems altogether with my guitars, and this was a wise decision.

To note: Fender calls vibrato tremolo and that's the definition most guitarists go by, hence why I'm referring to it as such... even though I know the proper name for it is vibrato.

Every guitar player at some point realizes that tremolo is stupid and stops using it. It doesn't matter if it's the Stratocaster tremolo system, Jazzmaster/Jaguar system, Floyd-Rose system, Bigsby system or whatever it is.

Why is tremolo stupid? Well, aside from putting your guitar out-of-tune (there is no such thing as a tremolo system that always keeps strings in tune after use no matter what anyone says), it gets in the way of your playing.

Want to know why so many Strat players "block" or "deck" their tremolo systems, effectively disabling it? It's so they don't have to spend extra time getting the guitar ready-to-play after a new string installation. Disable the system and you start playing sooner rather than later. Problem solved.

There is however another reason why tremolo is stupid.

Nobody wants to hear annoying bendy notes in a guitar solo. In fact, nobody wants to hear guitar solos at all.

Many guitar players get tricked into thinking that a) you must solo, and b) your solos must have "crazy" bends to sound good.

Don't do crazy bends. Don't solo. You don't need to do that and never did.

Fun fact: Did you know that when you stop soloing and stop doing crazy bendy notes, you can lower your guitar action even more for more effortless play? It's true.

Living with no tremolo is easy regardless of what music style you play

When you don't use tremolo at all, the guitar becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable to use.

Hardtail guitars like the Telecaster, SG and Les Paul along with many semi-hollow bodies are way easier to set up, string up and play. Once set up, all you have to do it plug in and go. It doesn't get any easier.

I was at one point all about the tremolo with the Jazzmaster. But then I went all-in with Telecaster style guitars, and it's just better.

The end result of going no-tremolo was that instead of fussing around with a tremolo system, I play more. And that's the entire reason I even own guitars to begin with. To play them.

Published 2020 Oct 27