New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

gtrgrl

gtrgrl

New member
I finally got my new Ibanez S570! And gues what color it is? :laugh2:

Looks like this one -

S570DXQM_BBB.jpg


So anyway, I have finally got used to playing with a slightly lighter hand and palm placement on the bridge. I had to find the right spot and way to do it. I guess I was a bit heavy handed with my other guitars!

I also really like the tuning, or at least once I got the strings stretched out. Until then, it really sucked. :eek13: But after that, I have loved not having to tune. It is just how I leave it every time!!!

What i wanted to know is how exactly do you learn to use that thing??? :9:

Are there any tips, hints, or suggestions that you whammy players can suggest to really help me get up to speed on using this thing?

If this isn't the right room, I can repost in another.

Your guidance will be greatly appreciated!
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Well their is two schools of thought on whammy (tremolo) bar usage as far as I know.
1. Using it to give a tremolo effect. (surf music/R&B)

2. Pitch bending/pedal steel licks.

Then their are the extremes which are dive bombs, pinch harmonic squeals, laughing or horse noise affect, Engine revving (Motely Crue-Kickstart my heart intro). Im sure their is more but thats all I can think of at the moment.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Don't forget flutters!
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

I knew it was something I left out. I'm not sure how well Ibbys flutter compared to OFRs.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Rockstar216 said:
I knew it was something I left out. I'm not sure how well Ibbys flutter compared to OFRs.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that style of trem, but the Edge and Edge Lo-Pro are amazing. An OFR is good at it, too.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

You can get a lot of ideas by watching youtube clips of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, and other users of THE BAR and try to mimic them.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Combine it with some delay and heavy tone modification like fuzz and make some really interesting ambient glisses and drops.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

J E C said:
You can get a lot of ideas by watching youtube clips of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, and other users of THE BAR and try to mimic them.
Click to expand...

I heard satch say himself that there is no rules with the tremolo and i guess that shows with some of the tricks he performs.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Learning to use a tremolo well is like learning to drive stick... you have to get a feel for it and find your "driving style" so to speak.

My favorite trem artists are Satch, Jeff Beck, EVH and even though I don't listen to him much anymore, Steve Vai does some great stuff with the bar. Stevie Ray did some great stuff with it as well.

I'm mainly a hardtail player these days because I got addicted to the sustain and that rock-solid feel, especially when bending. But I think I could go back to using a trem just for subtle shimmers on chords and vibrato effects every once in a while. Finger vibrator vs bar vibrato does sound different.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

I was really wondering if there are some sort of exercises, drills, or scales or something that you do to learn to use this thing? :eek13:

Like, do you practice by hitting a note and then playing a scale by dropping the bar? :scratchch

Or how do you go back and forth between playing notes the regular way and then adding in some whammy smoothly? :bog
gled:
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

J E C said:
You can get a lot of ideas by watching youtube clips of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, and other users of THE BAR and try to mimic them.
Click to expand...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Vai!!!! But just watching him isn't helping too much yet.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

B2D said:
Learning to use a tremolo well is like learning to drive stick...
Click to expand...

There are so many things I could say here. ;)

None of them will help me play the trem any better, but they might make you all blush! :laughing:
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

KEVIN SHIELDS

Look up My Bloody Valentine...

He NEVER stops using the whammy bar on his jazzmaster
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Ok - let me try this again.

My guitar hero is Steve Vai. I also really like Eddie Van Halen. I generally love big hair 80's metal. What I want to know is how do i develop the skill to use the whammy bar like that? Just watching people and imitating them makes sense, but what I REALLY want to know is is there some sort of set of exercises or skills that will help me get there?

As much as motorcycle revving sounds and horse noises and Yankee Rose chat is cool, I'm looking for something a bit more musical.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

How about....
figure out how much bend is a tone. Do some scales and substitute fretting for a drop. You might get it down to slapping the arm and getting what you want for the note. Figure it out for 4ths and 5ths down and then you have some usable function for a whammo instead of flourishes that can probably be removed with no problem. I was gonna suggest Chris Poland as a soloist, but I don't think he uses a trem, just very strong hands. He does a neat bending/picking thing where he kind of glisses down from a prebend. That might be something a FR can handle too.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

Try practicing your vibrato in time to a metronome. Try it with a quarter note, eighth note, and 16th note pulse.

Also see how much force is needed to reach certain tones on strings. Usually the highest I ever go would be a minor third (1 whole step and 1 half step) up but thats rare and you usually can't get higher than that. Pulling up to a major 2nd (1 Whole step) and minor second (1 half step) interval is more common for me.

You could try bending down to pitch but I don't like the sound of that and don't use that technique.
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

It isn't something were I sat down and tried to learn a particular technique by listening to the same thing over and over and trying to copy it exactly. I have a hard time doing that, I even have a hard time learning something by watching some one show you it on Youtube. I can be extremely focused at times but I am very easily distracted. LOL It is a wounder I can do my job. Put on a record and let it play with out stopping it and play over it while trying to mimic the sounds you hear and feel. After you start to get a feel for it you can pinpoint things. Do the same thing with videos, the radio, TV. Try using the bar while sliding, doing hand vibrato, to take a note up or down to the next note or several notes up or down. Depress the bar hit a note then let it up, do that for a couple of notes in a row, do a quick run, end on a note, holed it with a slight bar vibrato, they pull it up to the next note and end with a pick scrape or?
Just got to play around with it and do what ever, even if it doesn't make sense to do it. If you like it , do it again!
 
Re: New Guitar, Whammy Bar question?

gtrgrl, you like Vai, check out my avatar. I was 8' away and he had a total guitargasm go on!Vai 2.jpg
 
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