Good whammy bar players?

**legsilver** · 01-09-2015, 03:38 PM

Hey guys,

so, who would be some good whammy bar users to listen to?

Thanks!

Sam

**feral guitar** · 01-09-2015, 04:18 PM

... its not really used in jazz much but check out John McLaughlin.
He uses it kind of like Miles used pitch 'smears'.

Also check out David "Fuze" Fiuczynski.

...makes me think of how the wha-wha pedal was originally created to make a guitar sound like a muted trumpet ala Dukes band.

**larry graves** · 01-09-2015, 04:28 PM

Jeff Beck is probably the master!....L..

**cosmic gumbo** · 01-09-2015, 05:27 PM

Scott Henderson has incorporated it as a major signature in his fusion style. Here he's killing it on Miles' "All Blues". There's always Brian Setzer if you dig the big band rockabilly thing.

.

**teok** · 01-09-2015, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by larry graves

Jeff Beck is probably the master!....L..

Not "probably".

**kamlapati** · 01-09-2015, 10:32 PM

Regarding Jeff Beck...

Originally Posted by teok

Not "probably".

++1

**Patrick2** · 01-10-2015, 12:03 AM

Yeah . . . without a doubt . . Jeff Beck.

**larry graves** · 01-10-2015, 03:10 AM

Actually it' Hank Marvin'... according to Jeff!....L..

**monk** · 01-10-2015, 10:15 AM

Another vote for Beck.

**fep** · 01-10-2015, 11:17 AM

Yeah Beck.

Also Eric Johnson.

**jbernstein91** · 01-10-2015, 11:36 AM

**yebdox** · 01-11-2015, 01:30 PM

Beck, Holdsworth, Henderson, Landau. And of course, Van Halen.

**henryrobinett** · 01-11-2015, 01:40 PM

Adrian Belew

**dasein** · 01-12-2015, 12:27 PM

it always sounded to me like Jeff Beck was trying to imitate a very good slide player using the whammy bar. he's so fantastically IN TUNE all the time. tremendous ears.

i use the whammy bar mostly on chords. either i'll add very subtle vibrato (it has to be very subtle, so much so that it it feels more like i'm tapping the bar rather than pushing it with any kind of force, or else it sounds cartoon-ish) or i'll purposely 'de-tune' a chord before playing it, and then release on the bar to snap it back in to tune. it becomes a sort of harmonic "smear" that guys like Mingus would use in his horn-writing.

TH · 01-12-2015, 01:32 PM

This guy sets the bar (sorry)
David

**EOE** · 01-12-2015, 03:17 PM

Steve Vai is the guy that is considered the best by every one I have heard comment on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=4AVXax5AXOA the bar is so much a part of his style you need to look at all his stuff . but he is the go to on this.

**Fidelcaster** · 01-12-2015, 05:27 PM

What about David Torn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG2qxoDZm-Y

I love his playing on David Sylvian's The Boy with the Gun:

**wolflen** · 01-12-2015, 06:10 PM

beck..an innovator used "effects" and feedback years before many..he has the most taste with using any effects/wammy etc I feel he is not fully recognized as a monster player..he can draw circles around most players

Hendrix changed electric guitar forever..his star spangled banner is a wammy showcase..

satriani/vai/van halen..all influenced by Hendrix..and moved it up a notch..

jazz is evolving-as it always has..electronics have been used slow and careful not to cover up talent and the music it self..miles spawned many new players that used effects and electronics to the craft..and in that context it worked..the jazz fusion style of playing is now accepted as part of jazz far more than it is "rock" .. players who incorporate "fusion" flavors in their playing are considered more jazz oriented than rock

there are many unknown players using all kinds of effects that we all may accept in jazz..the wammy bar seems to be the most "organic" so to speak..

**Shadow of the Sun** · 01-13-2015, 02:28 AM

It's not jazz, or even rock, but I love Kevin Shields' use of the whammy bar with reverb and delay heavy harmonies. It gives the guitar the sound of wandering in and out of focus, and it's a really interesting effect.

**dasein** · 01-13-2015, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Shadow of the Sun

It's not jazz, or even rock, but I love Kevin Shields' use of the whammy bar with reverb and delay heavy harmonies. It gives the guitar the sound of wandering in and out of focus, and it's a really interesting effect.

YES! this is the effect i'm trying to go for when i use it with chords.

**Double V** · 01-14-2015, 02:09 PM

David Torn.

**P.J.** · 02-01-2015, 07:12 AM

Belew, Beck, Torn, Fuze, Terje Rypdal, Neil Young, and Nguyen Le all come to mind. I love people who use the bar expressively. Personally, I can't get on with a bar, but I dig people who can.

**Greentone** · 02-01-2015, 05:06 PM

Belew is the twang bar king.

then...Jeff Beck.

in a different direction, check out Merle Travis.

**ooglybong** · 02-02-2015, 12:13 AM

+1 on Beck, Holdsworth, and Hank Marvin.

Also try checking out two of Michael Lee Firkins' CDs entitled Chapter 11 and Cactus Cruz for some great guitarwork. What's especially amazing here is that whenever you hear any "slide" guitar, it's actually Firkins creating the effect with his tremolo, and this seamless technique is all over both albums as an integral part of the guy's melody playing. (He has apparently since "gone over" to conventional slide.) These are both entirely instrumental rock-fusionesque releases, amply mixed with bluesy twang and country influences, very melodic overall, and well-arranged for the genre (i.e., not at all the total shred-fest one might expect from a guy who started out on Shrapnel Records). Highly recommended.

TH · 02-02-2015, 01:06 AM

[QUOTE=Raisin d'etre;498722]Terje Rypdal

Hank Marvin and Hendrix were huge influences on him at one time.

QUOTE]

And he on Bill Frisell from the days of ECM when Bill was newly immersed in the European music scene through Manfred.

David