uncle fester Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 I'm playing a new guitar with a whammy bar. Ive, never played with a whammy bar before - but figure it's there why not give it a go. After giving it a go, I'm pretty good at playing a chord and then going wah wah wah wah with it, but that's about it. Any recommendations on good songs to get used to using a whammy bar? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) what is the WHAMMY in question bill? you looking to get into extreme dive bombing? Any rock tune recorded from 1982 till 1989,, that ought to do it.. Then again, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi were all over that thing way before the 70s ever even ended... Night Ranger, Dokken, White Snake, Van Halen,, ya know... I could go on.. if you were in a cover band in the 80s and you didn't have an axe wiht a looking trem system, you were an outcast,, unclean, unholy, no one would go near you,, you was a bum.. or if you want more subtle use like what you would do with a bigsby? Chet! he pioneered the Chet Arm that you'll see on Country Gents. Brian Stetzer, Eddie Cochran and also for a more modern take listen to the FIRST Johnny A album (Sometime Tuesday Morning) some of the most tasty use of a Gibson/Bigsby examples I can think of. Then of course, there's Jeff Beck, and well, with that dude, just like Chet, you're jumping into the deep end of the pool... Edited October 25, 2019 by kidblast 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Agree Jeff Beck is a master of using the bar... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) Barracuda can be a fun one to try, if its not too old for ya.. Mostly just dive tremlo-ing harmonics on fret 12 then fret 5.. Edited October 25, 2019 by mihcmac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted October 25, 2019 Author Share Posted October 25, 2019 1 hour ago, kidblast said: what is the WHAMMY in question bill? you looking to get into extreme dive bombing? Any rock tune recorded from 1982 till 1989,, that ought to do it.. Then again, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi were all over that thing way before the 70s ever even ended... Night Ranger, Dokken, White Snake, Van Halen,, ya know... I could go on.. if you were in a cover band in the 80s and you didn't have an axe wiht a looking trem system, you were an outcast,, unclean, unholy, no one would go near you,, you was a bum.. or if you want more subtle use like what you would do with a bigsby? Chet! he pioneered the Chet Arm that you'll see on Country Gents. Brian Stetzer, Eddie Cochran and also for a more modern take listen to the FIRST Johnny A album (Sometime Tuesday Morning) some of the most tasty use of a Gibson/Bigsby examples I can think of. Then of course, there's Jeff Beck, and well, with that dude, just like Chet, you're jumping into the deep end of the pool... LOL - you just make me laugh! I don't even have any idea what it's used for, I think I too old for the deep dive bombing stuff, probably see if I can work it into some songs with the more subtle uses. Will give Chet a deeper look, but also very much dig Brian Setzer. 1 hour ago, kelly campbell said: Agree Jeff Beck is a master of using the bar... Ok - Beck will be investigated 🙂 22 minutes ago, mihcmac said: Barracuda can be a fun one to try, if its not too old for ya.. Mostly just dive tremlo-ing harmonics on fret 24 then fret 5.. Barracuda - that could be wicked cool, not sure where they use the whammy in there, but think I just got my next project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, billroy said: LOL - you just make me laugh! I don't even have any idea what it's used for, I think I too old for the deep dive bombing stuff, probably see if I can work it into some songs with the more subtle uses. Will give Chet a deeper look, but also very much dig Brian Setzer. Ok - Beck will be investigated 🙂 Barracuda - that could be wicked cool, not sure where they use the whammy in there, but think I just got my next project. Sorry I said fret 24 .. meant harmonics on fret 12 then 5... for the iconic intro...... just woke up having my coffee now.. Note that you will basically get the same harmonics on fret 5 and 17.... All of the harmonic points are fun to mess with a tremolo... Edited October 25, 2019 by mihcmac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Demo of some basic whammy techniques..... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelT Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 David Gilmour has some very tasteful use of a whammy bar for subtle use. Hendrix, Beck, Vai, Satriani, Van Halen, Sambora, Rhoads, just about every 80's rock band. I have three guitars equipped with one, two of them locking. I pretty much only use them for dive or effect. We all had at least one guitar with them in the 80's. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) Also Stevie Ray Vaughan, for some blues style whammy... Note that tremolo's have different amounts of effective range like the Strat style usually has the most while the Bigsby style has less but is very stable and the FR style with lost of extra hardware to help keep it in tune.. Edited October 25, 2019 by mihcmac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G Mac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Having read through the posts, I thought I'd throw in Allan Holdsworth. I think he's got some of the most musical, subtle, and tasteful whammy techniques of all time. There's also Frank Marino with his "hyena laugh"! Check out Jairus Mozee for the gospel side of things. Most of all, billroy, have fun discovering what you want it to sound like! Peace! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Lonnie Mack - Down in The Dumps. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Vet. Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Personally I stay away from whammy bars. Rough crowd that hangs out in these joints.😋 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) Many good suggestions here as to songs that used a whammy. If you are performing though, just use it sparingly - less is more. If you are using it just to use it cause you can, it will lose it's effectiveness. I don't think any of us on here have Jeff Beck or Chet Atkins level skills so just have fun with it, but don't get too carried away. Edited October 25, 2019 by Twang Gang 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) Whammy's can be addictive, I put one on my Explorer and found I was drawn to it more than my others. So I looked for non-damaging tremolo's to install on my other guitars.. Earlier I went through an Ibanez phase with Locking FR's. Then a retro Gibson phase without them, but then started using a 1st gen DigiTech Whammy pedal.. Now I'm in a P90/whammy phase.. 😫 Edited October 26, 2019 by mihcmac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 too many good comments to reply to them all, but I got some serious you-tube time in front of me. Mihcmac, thx for the demo - not sure where I'll fit these sounds into my playing, but I'm determined...probably figuring out how to incorporate the more subtle uses. The tremolo I'm using is on my SG... '68 or so... not a huge amount of play, but enough where I want to see what I can do. and yes, will use it sparingly when performing (thx TG, definitely worth noting). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Here's having fun 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 On 10/25/2019 at 3:43 PM, Dave F said: Lonnie Mack - Down in The Dumps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 How about some good ole surf music. Walk Don't Run has some nice subtle whammy stuff going on. There's a more modern trio called Khruangbin and the guitar player does some nice whammy bar stuff. Nothing over-the-top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 (edited) Brian Setzer, Jeff Beck, and Joe Satriani use whammy bars with finesse. Edited October 27, 2019 by zigzag 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 I'm a little late to the party, but My Bloody Valentine's shoegazey whammy style is fun to play. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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