Okay, over the past few weeks, learning vibrato seemed nearly impossible for me to do!  I tried numerous exercises and practice techniques with no luck.  Last week, I stumbled on a version of finger vibrato (pressing/releasing finger) which gave somewhat of a vibrato sound, but didn't sound too great.  

Thanks to everybody's wonderful advice here, I learned that I was gripping too tight (death grip of the neck) and needed to loosen up.  

This morning, I picked up my fiddle for a little jam time and.......there it was!  Full arm vibrato while bowing!!  Well, my first 2 fingers anyways! LOL I'm still working on the others!  I had a feeling that when it came, it would be out of nowhere! 

I wanted to share with everyone my problems, the advice that worked for me and HOW it worked for me! 

My Problems:  

Arm/Hand/Finger stiffness (death grip on neck), Locked Thumb/bad position, Not trusting my violin position on my shoulder, Coordination with bowing

Advice That Worked For Me:

• Adjust the angle of my fingers to add a little more pad on the string due to my double jointedness.  New angle prevented my fingers from "locking down."
• Slide fingers up and down the strings while relaxing arm/hand/fingers.  Sliding motion introduced the proper movement I wanted my hand & arm to do while using vibrato.  I slowly reduced the distance I would slide and eventually held the note while my hand went through the motion.
• Adjust height of shoulder pad/focus on proper violin position.  After doing this, I relied less on my hand/arm to support my fiddle and in turn, loosened my grip on the neck. 
• Hold a note while sliding my thumb along side the neck.  By doing this exercise, I stopped my thumb from clenching down when I pressed notes, allowing my hand to move a little more freely.  
• Practice the vibrato motion until it becomes more natural and you don't have to think about it as much; then add bowing in.  This advice freed up my left arm from my right, helping my coordination! 
• Stretch, stretch and stretch!!  I slowly stretched my hands and arms in the different positions I put them in while playing!  Wow, did that help!!   

Thanks to everybody's advice and words of encouragement here, I was able to pull off vibrato!  It still needs work as it sounds a little forced at times.  I still have to figure out a way to loosen my 3rd and 4th fingers as well, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel!  

Thanks FM & everybody!!  Hopefully, I can share what helped me and it can help someone else!  

~EJ