Whammy Bar Techniques

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Jack Napalm

Jack Napalm

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Outside of some dive bombs here and there I have never really worked with the whammy bar much. I should have by now considering most of my guitars have a Floyd Rose.

What are some good exercises for using the whammy bar? I started trying to learn Yankee Rose as that's the type of whammy bar stuff I would like to be able to do. Its rough right now. :D
 
This might not be lots of help since I gave up the whammy bar many years ago since I started playing Les Pauls exclusively but I used to be into it heavily back then when I had my Superstrats and Kramer Barettas.
I listened to Holdsworth lots with his scooping into notes and also to Jeff Beck. IMO these 2 guys are masters with the whammy bar. Touch and pitch have everything to do with it and having a good setup help lots too.
Dive bombs, slap flutters and wankery never interested me compared to the touch subtleties of sliding into pitch that great players use it for like the 2 I've mentioned.
 
Thanks. I have gotten away from this over the last week. I ended up signing up for doing a solo I wasn't ready for this Saturday. I am ready now. I had to put everything else aside and learn Sweet Child O'Mine. I had never sat down with that song and learned it. I could noodle with it but now I can play it. Not note for note 100% but pretty close.

I'll get back to the whammy stuff soon.
 
I don't use the whammy much any more but when I did...Three of my favorite things to do with a whammy were:

1) Use the whammy to pre-lower the pitch and then pick the note and slowly release the whammy.

2) When playing a decending line I like to pick the note, hit the whammy and release, hit the next note, hit the whammy and release..etc.

3) I also used it for vibrato from time to time...single notes and chords.
 
Satriani Surfing with the Alien
at the end of the tune on the G string, I think 19, 17, and 15th frets, hit each note, dive bomb a step and return, twice for each note. This works best in this area of the fretboard. Great sound, check out the tune.

Petrucci (and others I'm sure) hit the note on the B string above the 12th fret, take the bar and quickly yank up and release. It gives a cool flutter sound that will also knock your guitar out of tune
 
Go to Youtube;

Search Michael Lee Firkins, Jeff Beck, and Mattias Eklund (freak kitchen).

MLF is similar to Jeff Beck (who is a master of whammy bar manipulation) at emulating slide guitar.

Mattias is similar to Vai, in that he dives or pulls up to pitch spot on in the middle of runs, almost like a whammy pedal.

Lastly, Uli Roth or Richie Blackmore for just some sweet vibrato. To that extent, even EVH used downward vibrato (pushing the whammy bar down in two or three fast dips) all over the place on VH1-Fair Warning, it is almost exclusively the VH vibrato really. Add a phaser to your effects, play some quick legato licks and end with three whammy bar dips and you'll be surprised at how fast you start to emulate Eddie.
 
My horse approach:
volume on the guitar off
hit the 5th fret harmonic on the 3rd string
hit the 7th harmonic on the 4th string
raise volume while simoaltaneously using your hand the to push down on whammy bar raising pitch

I think I read somewhere that throwing a 4th fret harmonic somewher is cool too
 
Brad Gillis could give you a few pointers. He does get a bit crazy with it...
 
do a single harmonic and hit the bar at an angle allowing your palm to slip off, causing the tremelo to bounce and shimmy. mark tremonti does it on "metalingus" a few times.
 
Jeff Beck for sure. Wired is awesome for that stuff. Anything he does is amazing and even without the bar he comes up with some ridiculous sounding bends and melodic ideas.

Scott Henderson is good too, but a lot of people think it's a little overkill sometimes. Myself totally included. Not to say Scott can't burn though. He's a FREAK at playing guitar.
rumblebox":1uale2xx said:
3. the stevie ray vaughan thing where you just go random with a full chord. he did it in "texas flood".
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the 2nd chorus of the solo off of the studio version, that is a simultaneous string bend with no bar. He grabs two notes at a time, bends the top E string a whole step from the 4 to the 5, while grabbing the B string as well, then moves that idea downward, chromatically to the 3rd fret in random-ish (there is definitely a rhythmic pattern)...It took me forever to figure that one out. Sort of a Albert King thing, but Albert wouldn't repeat it like Stevie did. It's good technique to learn and use sparsely though.
 
the king of whammy bar hands down is DEREK FRIGO! he beats satriani, vai, and VH with ease!
A true master of the whammy bar. notes come from nowhere when he plays
 
Some great tips in here thanks!

I like to use the bar very subtly to add slight nuances to otherwise normal notes and chords. A little goes a long way with the bar in my opinion and it can get annoying quickly if overused.
 
+1 on Brad Gillis on his Night Ranger stuff. Yeah, some of his stuff is over the top but very useful to learn if you want to use the bar more.

Also, for health reasons, when I'm playing enough to be stage ready, I have to ration licks that tire my left hand muscles. Because of that, I learned to use the bar for effective vibrato, especially on >12 fret stuff. I worked up a cool vibrato by using my right hand little finger looped under the bar with a very loose grip. Meaning my hand moves much more than the little finger. I've gotten compliments from some of my friends that hate whammy bars so it must be ok.

BTW, in this clip I'm using a Mesa Mark III that I built in a 1967 Fender Bassman chassis in '86.

When You Close Your Eyes - Night Ranger.

..Joe
 
I've been enjoying the 3rd string 14th fret natural harmonic with basic dive. Seems to only come out consistently when I flip to the overhand. If you're lucky the 2nd string will pop out too giving a great effect. If I feel gutsy I'll pull it up too before diving, but if you execute anything less than 100% on the note it sounds like FAIL.
I haven't quite gotten the Satriani hand switch with the right hand pick and creating natural harmonics over the pickups- he seems to use them all the time in lieu of the 14th or 3rd fret harmonics.
 
I been playing with a floyd for years....
these days I barely use it. I just like the ability to dive once in a while and still stay in tune.
 
a couple years ago i started doing the squeal where you dive bomb the G-string and hit the 9th fret harmonic on the way up. i guess you call it a dime squeal??
 
Doug Doppler have a dvd on this subjet. It is Whammy bar mojo. Doug is a former joe satriani student. The dvd is really great, he teach not only the bar, but also the string muting that it is required to use with those bar technique.
 
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