# Guitarists-- what does the whammy bar do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209 "2009-11-28T05:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/1 "2009-11-28T05:15:26Z")
I read the wiki on it, and on a basic level, I understand that it allows you to produce the same sort of sound you get by bending strings (I’m not a guitarist, and the only example I can think of off the top of my head of this is what Kurt Cobain does when he sings the word “fly” in Lake of Fire-- which I just discovered was originally by the Meat Puppets). But if I understand correctly, that effect was produced by bending the strings with the left hand, whereas wiki says that the vibrato effects were produced by using the picking hand. So how do these effects differ? What else can you do with whammy bar that you can’t do with just your hands? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/2 "2009-11-28T05:20:50Z")
You can search Youtube and find a bunch of demonstrations. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/3 "2009-11-28T05:25:22Z")
The whammy bar increases or decreases tension on the strings, thereby raising or lowering the pitch. The correct term is vibrato, though Leo Fender opted to call his device a tremolo (which is actually a volume related, not a pitch related, effect). ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/4 "2009-11-28T05:32:19Z")
The tremolo or whammy bar, is used to vary the tension on the strings, changing pitch and other vibration aspects. If you’re a fan of forced harmonics, I suggest watching [this,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TpYcA9bSaU) as it is a clinic on all things whammy bar, as well as all things forced harmonic. Maybe. I’m just a drummer, but I likes me some whammy bar stuff, and Pantera. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/5 "2009-11-28T05:47:26Z")
It releases tension on the strings, basically putting slack into them, which decreases the pitch, and causing the “diving” effect, as well as the exaggerated “wa wa wa wa,” vibrato sound you can get by repeatedly depressing and releasing the arm. You can also get a little bit of increase in pitch and tension by pulling back on the arm instead of pushing down, but that’s more of a discovered effect than a designed one. You often hear it incorrectly called a “tremolo” bar, but it’s not. It’s a vibrato bar. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/6 "2009-11-28T05:57:36Z")
I use it for chord vibrato…as in what this lead guitar player does. [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ef7d\_dad-grow-or-pay\_music](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ef7d_dad-grow-or-pay_music) Rockabilly music uses it a lot, I think Pulp Fiction had a few tunes in it like that. I don’t use a bar, but I re-manufactured a paddle that sits behind the bridge, cause the bar was just useless to me, this way I can palm it and play at the same time. Then of course there’s Eddie… [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z_lwocmL9dQ/hqdefault.jpg "Eruption Guitar Solo--Eddie Van Halen") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_lwocmL9dQ) and the master… [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2bGUeDnqPY) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/7 "2009-11-28T15:28:56Z")
What they all said. Lots to geek out on regarding whammy’s and their history in guitars and guitar playing, but I suspect that is not what the OP is looking for - just an overview of the basic function. They started off providing a little lilt to playing - Rockabilly players would slowly push, release, push, release just to put a little vibrato on the end of the chord. That was the original intent - 'till EVH and others started using them for dive-bombs. EVH really innovated on the whammy bar for stunt use - play super fast and then, as a climax, drop your picking hand hard onto the whammy - listen to the end of pretty much every song on Van Halen’s first album and you can hear that. The current master of the whammy is (no surprise if you have read my fanwank posts about him in other threads) is **Jeff Beck**. He grew up on rockabilly so can do the gentle stuff, was doing dive-bombs next to Hendrix before EVH was big - but what he does that no one else really does is use the whammy for long, multi-note passages (called \*\*\*legato \*\*\*in music speak). He picks the note and let’s it ring, then depresses the bar in pre-determined spots to sound specific notes. The level of mastery required to do this is mind-boggling. See [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_jgJBp5mYg)for a clip where you can get a sense for what he does… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/8 "2009-11-28T16:13:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > What they all said. > > Lots to geek out on regarding whammy’s and their history in guitars and guitar playing, but I suspect that is not what the OP is looking for - just an overview of the basic function. > > They started off providing a little lilt to playing - Rockabilly players would slowly push, release, push, release just to put a little vibrato on the end of the chord. That was the original intent - 'till EVH and others started using them for dive-bombs. EVH really innovated on the whammy bar for stunt use - play super fast and then, as a climax, drop your picking hand hard onto the whammy - listen to the end of pretty much every song on Van Halen’s first album and you can hear that. [Ahem] Are we forgetting about Jimi? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/9 "2009-11-28T16:55:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > [Ahem] Are we forgetting about Jimi? Nope - sorry; good point. Hendrix’ broke open the door of using the whammy as a “sound generator” and feedback manipulator (as opposed to a bit of spice on a note). ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/10 "2009-11-28T19:05:10Z")
Some guitarists like to play a strat but they put a block of wood next to the trem so it does not move. Eric Clapton is 1 example. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/11 "2009-11-28T19:49:32Z")
Since no one’s mentioned it yet, bending strings only increases the tension, hence increases the pitch. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/12 "2009-11-28T21:20:23Z")
There was a big jump in whammy bar technology in the early eighties (or around then) with the [Floyd Rose](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Rose) style. Early trems were OK with very mild changes in pitch but vigorous use would often result in tuning problems. With the newer “locking” vibrato systems you could push the bar until the strings go totally slack and be (reasonably) confident that the strings would still be in tune when you released. The tradeoff was complexity and the amount of time needed to change strings. An experienced setup person can get a vintage style trem to perform fairly close to a locking trem. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/13 "2009-11-28T21:45:31Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Since no one’s mentioned it yet, bending strings only increases the tension, hence increases the pitch. Not if you pull back on it. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/14 "2009-11-28T22:01:55Z")
So, is the whammy bar responsible for the “dives” that John McGeoch is playing in this PIL song, “Seattle?” It’s my favorite bit. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bFOjktDN0IA/maxresdefault.jpg "Public Image Ltd - Seattle") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOjktDN0IA) (at about 1:16) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/15 "2009-11-29T13:58:39Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > So, is the whammy bar responsible for the “dives” that John McGeoch is playing in this PIL song, “Seattle?” It’s my favorite bit. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOjktDN0IA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOjktDN0IA) > > (at about 1:16) Can’t hear it on my laptop-speakers-only situation at home. I can try tomorrow… ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/16 "2009-11-29T14:10:48Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Not if you pull back on it. Pulling back also increases pitch actually. Can’t hear any ‘dives’ in that linked video. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/17 "2009-11-29T15:01:23Z")
I think **ZenBeam** was addressing the OP’s question of what a whammy bar can do that your fingers can’t, i.e. decrease the pitch. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/18 "2009-11-29T19:58:24Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Since no one’s mentioned it yet, bending strings only increases the tension, hence increases the pitch. Yes, but you can bend a string without picking it, then pluck the string and un-bend while the note sounds. The effect certainly isn’t a dive-bomb, but it is a note that starts higher and then descends. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/19 "2009-11-29T20:22:59Z")
_wrong account_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209/20 "2009-11-29T20:24:39Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > So, is the whammy bar responsible for the “dives” that John McGeoch is playing in this PIL song, “Seattle?” It’s my favorite bit. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOjktDN0IA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOjktDN0IA) > > (at about 1:16) Hmmm…I don’t hear anything at 1:16 or near it that sounds much different than the guitar going on in the rest of the song. No whammy bar stuff I can hear that. What sound are you talking about exactly? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarists-what-does-the-whammy-bar-do/519209.md?page=2)