[BackToBlack]

Hey Guys and Gals-

Have a question about the Whammy. I have an Ibanez, and I use the whammy that came with it. If the bar is parallel with the fretboard pointing towards the nut, I have to push down on it towards the floor to produce distortion. However, it doesn't produce that much of an effect, and I thought that you were supposed to PULL up on it to use it. Can any whammy experts out there lend me a hand?

[allthumbs]

The floyd Rose whammy bars are for extreme dives and screams. The whammy bars you find on strats, for instance, really only bend down. Whammy bars have nothing to do with distortion per/say. All they do is change the pitch of the strings by raising or lowering string tension.

[BackToBlack]

Thanks allthumbs, so I guess if i want Jimi Hendrix type effects I will need much more equipment.

[notchofstrings]

i just got an acoutics guitar i have no idea how to play im looking for a teacher but i wana expand my vocabulry wat the heck is a whammy bar?

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by BackToBlack

Thanks allthumbs, so I guess if i want Jimi Hendrix type effects I will need much more equipment.

To get the Jimi Hendrix sound you'll need some type of fuzz pedal. I believe his pedal of choice was the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, although there are several which would do the trick (take a look around at a website like Musiciansfriend). The Digitech Hendrix Experience pedal claims to mimic several of his sounds: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...dal?sku=150839
The whammy bar, as Allthumbs said, will just raise/lower the pitch of the strings - it has nothing to do with distortion.

Originally Posted by notchofstrings

i just got an acoutics guitar i have no idea how to play im looking for a teacher but i wana expand my vocabulry wat the heck is a whammy bar?

It's an attachment to the bridge of an electric guitar which lets you alter the pitch of your strings by changing the string tension when you push down or pull up on it. It's also called a "tremolo bar" or "vibrato bar". You won't find one on an acoustic guitar.

[BackToBlack]

Hey dont feel ashamed I'm learning too! The whammy bar is the little bar that sticks out of the tailpiece of an electric guitar. They are designed to temporarily make the strings tighter or looser therby altering the pitch. I'm no expert so I'm sure someone can explain it better. For more onfo check out this wikipedia link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whammy_bar

[Toaster]

Could I use some kind of pedal to do away with the whammy bar? I am only new to electric and if I want to do 'dive' or virbrato-ish action, do I really need to get a guitar with a whammy bar?

Thanks

[allthumbs]

You don't have to get a guitar with a whammy bar. Guitars without whammy bars are called hard tails. You can also put a block of wood in the right place to lock a whammy bar in so it doesn't work. I haven't heard of a pedal that will simulate dives. There are trem pedals though.

[fly135]

A whammy pedal will do this. Many MultiFX units with expression pedals have this function. The Korg AX5G at $70 is probably the cheapest one. I have one and it works.

[Stratrat]

Like Fly said, many multi-FX pedals have an expression pedal which can be used as a whammy pedal (often they can also be used as a wah and/or volume pedal too, depending on how you program them). Digitech also makes a pedal called the "Whammy pedal", which is strictly for that purpose. Whammy pedals can often do more radical divebombs than a guitar equipped with the bar.

[JessThrasher]

Are you the type of person who likes to go whammy bar crazeh like Synyster Gates or Joe Satriani? I think you're just like me.

[JessThrasher]

Also, it's fun to do my favorite "guitar lift whammy bar slam"!

[GT]

Hey mate, do a natural harmonic with some overdrive/distortion using the bridge position pickup and then push the tremolo bar