Whammy bar tricks

noe · 05-22-2006, 07:20 AM

Hey..
Just got a guitar with floyd rose and would realy like to learn some cool tricks

Can anybody help me ?

Noe

beria · 05-22-2006, 07:27 AM

With the bar pointing parallel to the strings, flick with your pinky. This will make the bar flutter. Do the same just have the bar pointing straight back. Hold the tip of the bar with your fret hand and rotate the bar either clockwise or counter clockwise with varying degrees of pressure (the famed Steve Vai trick). Of course the dive bomb is cool, just hit an open string (A,D or G sound best) and press the bar "diving" the pitch. Also cool, once you've pressed the bar to the point where the strings completely slacken, they will tap the magentic poles in the pickups, sounds cool. You can gradually bring the stings back to pitch by releasing the bar and scraping your pick or fingernail on one of the strings. Experiment, listed to Vai/Satch or Brad Gillis they are all masters of all things wammy!

moe

noe · 05-22-2006, 07:46 AM

Thanks. (:
A new world is opening for me.

Noe

El_jalepeno · 05-22-2006, 11:25 AM

Here's one of my faves: Hit the G string and do a dive bomb. As you bring it back up, finger the harmonic on the 7th, 5th then just past 2nd fret (in the middle of the 3rd) in one smooth motion as the string gets taught again, all on the G string.

Also, don't just go down on the bar. Use it for vibrato on chords and triplets as well

You can do a lot, if you do it sparingly

Push down, then bring back up while hitting harmonics on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd strings at the 3rd or 5th fret. Takes a little practice to get rid of the dead notes, but you can work towards that

Also good for use during hammer ons. Push down and let the bar spring back up, just don;t push down more than 1 step or it sounds goofy.

The main point wiht anything on the whammy is learning to control the pressure you use. People just start banging and then say whammys are good for only dive bombs.

Be creative, and if you learn any new tricks share them with us!

**jimmerwoo** · 05-22-2006, 11:54 AM

Here's a little something I threw on, Bill and Ted style.... Try it for size....

When hammering back and forth (like at 3 secs in) and whammying at the sametime.

Then a dive bomb on the G string....then as you bring it back up touch the G string over the 3rd fret....and then waggle it down to nothin'.

Goport · 05-22-2006, 01:15 PM

I seem to remember I vai trick of playing the bottom 3 (fingered) notes of a D chord and pulling up on the trem until you get a C Chord. .. yep just tried it - still got it ... LOL!!

wahwah · 05-22-2006, 01:35 PM

That'd be an E chord if you pulled it up wouldn't it?

Goport · 05-22-2006, 02:44 PM

it would if all the strings transpose equally. instead it goes

....Pull Up
e-2---------[3]
B-3---------[5]
G-2---------[5]

Its approximate but near enough, in that sort of cute Steve Vai trick way. It was something he did on the UK DLR tour on Perfect Timing IIRC.

**rich2k4** · 05-22-2006, 06:15 PM

hit the open g, bring bar all the way down, tap the 3rd fre tto get a harmonic and then pull quickly all the way up. talk about scream

if you have a jem with the lions claw, you can pull back farther which = bad horsie!!!

noe · 05-23-2006, 04:48 AM

Thanks for sharing advices

God these whammy tricks are cool.

Thanks a lot.

Noe

Hooper · 05-25-2006, 08:29 AM

If you go here....

http://www.guitarshredshow.com/

...and especially press the 0 thru 9 keys on your keyboard, there are some pretty funny whammy bar stunts on there.

(Skip the Intro and go to lessons and jams)

Joe King · 05-25-2006, 09:20 AM

A bar is good for more than just tricks. It can be a powerful expression tool as well. Much like the pitch wheel on the synth. Don't overlook little inflections you can get by using it to lead into notes by prelowering the bar, and letting it drift up into the desired note. Or pulling up to the next note.

Play melodys with it as well. You can fine tune your feel so well with one that you can play melodies that sound somewhat like a slide.

Also, use it for adding a slow subtle vibrato to chords for an extra shimmer musically. Vibrato for lead notes is good like that as well.

Mattias Eklundh really does some crafty things with a bar. Satriani, and Vai are stellar examples of not only tricks, but expression with a bar.

Play with it. Just keep a lot of spare strings handy. They tend to break a little quicker using the bar a lot.

J

Sampson1 · 05-25-2006, 04:04 PM

A cool thing I like to do (similar to some others) is dive bomb the G, do the G harmonic at the 12th fret, bring up, then on the G&B strings do the harmonic on the 5th fret (3rd works too) and yank up....I love playin with my whammy.

strat78 · 05-25-2006, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe King

A bar is good for more than just tricks. It can be a powerful expression tool as well. Much like the pitch wheel on the synth. Don't overlook little inflections you can get by using it to lead into notes by prelowering the bar, and letting it drift up into the desired note. Or pulling up to the next note.

Play melodys with it as well. You can fine tune your feel so well with one that you can play melodies that sound somewhat like a slide.

Also, use it for adding a slow subtle vibrato to chords for an extra shimmer musically. Vibrato for lead notes is good like that as well.

Mattias Eklundh really does some crafty things with a bar. Satriani, and Vai are stellar examples of not only tricks, but expression with a bar.

Play with it. Just keep a lot of spare strings handy. They tend to break a little quicker using the bar a lot.
J

Now I can breath again, thanks Joe King! I would say the most subtle user of the trem bar was (is) Allan Holdsworth, but for shear raw trem work at it's most wicket I would suggest Van Halen's first two albums. Third Stone From The Sun by Hendrix pretty much laid the ground work for bringing the tremolo (and the strat) into the 20 Century! Thanks to Goport, who turned me on to Amos Garrett, who used the trem in a very tasty way in of all songs, Midnight At The Oasis. Forget that corny dive bomb stuff, there is a whole world out there of really cool material to learn from. I would also suggest getting rid of the Floyd set up and going with a vintage six hole fender trem. The tone and musical nuances are just worlds away from those locking string bondage devices. I hope I don't sound dogmatic, it's just what I like, which has no bearing on the real world.

noe · 05-26-2006, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strat78

Now I can breath again, thanks Joe King! I would say the most subtle user of the trem bar was (is) Allan Holdsworth, but for shear raw trem work at it's most wicket I would suggest Van Halen's first two albums. Third Stone From The Sun by Hendrix pretty much laid the ground work for bringing the tremolo (and the strat) into the 20 Century! Thanks to Goport, who turned me on to Amos Garrett, who used the trem in a very tasty way in of all songs, Midnight At The Oasis. Forget that corny dive bomb stuff, there is a whole world out there of really cool material to learn from. I would also suggest getting rid of the Floyd set up and going with a vintage six hole fender trem. The tone and musical nuances are just worlds away from those locking string bondage devices. I hope I don't sound dogmatic, it's just what I like, which has no bearing on the real world.

I really like floyd rose, and i have no intention getting rid of the floyd rose. I bought my guitar so i could make wired floyd rose tricks like Satch.... Fender is great I agree, but i need to for fill my desire for wired floyd tricks like the dive bomb. I know what you mean, but my experience with tone is limited. By the way i am owner of a Fender Stratocaster California Series with vibrato system.

Thanks...