Vibrato/ tremolo/ whammy bar inspiration

xSkarloey

Whatever you want to call it...

...anyway, I'm looking for inspiration and ideas to steal. Post your favourite links to vids or song suggestions that show off your favourite players making good use of the bar.

Cheers.

ICBM

HAL9000

Best uses of whammy bar are...

Pretty much anything by Hank Marvin
Pretty much any Lord David of Gilmour solo
Star Spangled Banner as played by Jimi

xSkarloey

I'll have to chuck my own suggestion in at this point. 

Jeff Beck, Where Were You. 

not_the_dj

Seeing as the two that instantly jumped into my head have already been posted I'll go all widdly with Satch (and a clip from the Expo '92 show).

bingefeller

Jimmy Herring: Michael Lee Firkins played some amazing whammy stuff, but is more of a slide player now. Steve Vai:

xSkarloey

Vai and Satch I like but don't own any records. A little goes a long way in terms of ideas when I hear them. Plenty worth nicking there though.

Herring I don't know but I shall have a good look at that vid. I know Jeff Beck does slide type slurs but that's worth looking at a bit more.

thomasross20

Some great vids in there. 

xSkarloey

thomasross20;654914" said:

Some great vids in there. 

I agree. Ask a genuine question round here and people always kindly deliver.

Still waiting for @gassage to rock up with some choice Gilmour though.

Gassage

OK- this is utterly insane DG. I have posted this before, and seemingly, according to 'those close to the band' DG had met Crosby during the day and they'd imbibed.

It is monster playing- scroll to 4.40 and you will hear David like never before. I wish he'd do this more often. Sublime.

frankus

All things Jeff Beck! Behind the Veil and Nadia would be two of my biggest favourites.

I don't think there is anyone more expressive with the trem than Jeff Beck.

If you go for histrionics or believe Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" is better than Dolly Parton's version then no doubt you'll disagree

 

However for chords, I'd loved to find out what was used for Zappa's Zombie Woof .. but also Brian Setzer is a master of chordal trem ... harder to do with a strat type trem but possible.

bingefeller

Some great Jeff Beck faux slide work here 

Fuzzdog

frankus said:

I don't think there is anyone more expressive with the trem than Jeff Beck.

I'd agree, his control of the trem absolutely amazes me.  It's funny whenever Beck comes up over on TGP, there's always a chorus of "Wish he'd stop using that stupid whammy bar, it ruins everything" and I start wanting to invent a button to slap people over HTTP.

xSkarloey

@Gassage Great post mate. Really enjoyed that. 

@frankus @fuzzdog

Yes, I think Beck is the master too. It's absolutely integral to his playing. 

Funny thing is, if you compare stuff like "Flash" from 1985 when he was starting to use the bar a lot more, that's a Floyd, and he's doing quite a lot of fairly straightforward dips, bombs and the like.

Then you fast forward to "Guitar Shop" from the end of the 80s and the 'later Beck' style is pretty much there with the two point trem and using it all the time not just for 'tricks' but for phrasing and playing melodies. 

Here's Michael Casswell showing how some of it's done. 

 

thomasross20

Spent the night messing with the whammy. So much more satisfying than insane noodling.

viz

Every vai song. Check bad horsie, for the love of god (live versions), whispering a prayer, the end of blue powder, you name it, there's whammy expression.

thomasross20

I've sort of gone off Vai a bit - no doubt I'll come round again at some point. 

What I can't stand right now is all this new age fusion guitar playing (I wont even name names) - I find it so bland!!

bazxkr

Whammy bars are to be abused.....lesson 1...............

love Becks use of the whammy too... bit more subtle than Mr B haha

Reverend

Blackmore
Uli Jon Roth
Trey Azagthoth

dogload

I would suggest Richie Blackmore's solo on Rainbow's 'Stargazer'

Assuming of course it's not just clever string bends 

:-O

citizen68

Saying nobody's mentioned him - I had a wtf moment on hearing this guy 'play' a trem - I hadn't heard of Mr Holdsworth back then - the late great Alan Murphy