As much as I love this community I sometimes wish I could contribute a little more to it. Well this is an attempt to do so.
This post is for people not having a tremolo system, like me, who might run into a situation where they could need one. I want to talk about one or two tricks I hope not everyone knows or thought about it yet. So let’s get started.
Of course these tricks can not replace a good trem system, but I hope they get you somewhat close to what you could do with one in certain situations.
What are the advantages of a whammy bar? You can bend a note to a higher pitch with it. You can do that with bending with your fingers too so no problem.
What you basicly can’t do without one is lowering the pitch of a note. Or can you? Well you are doing exactly this when releasing a bend. So, if you are in need of lowering the pitch of a note by let’s say two semitones (eg. because you cover a song that contains a guitar with trem system), you could also just go two semitones down the neck and bend that note UP without actually plugging it. You silently bend a note and then plug the string, release. This kinda “reversed bend” can give you that pitch lowering effect you achieve with a whammy bar – at least to some extend.
You can also bend open strings without a whammy bar. Therefore you have to bend it behind the nut. Plug the string, move your finger behind the nut and press down the string that’s plugged. It normally needs more strength than normal bending and therefor can’t get as exaggerated as “normal” bending. Of course this works the opposite direction as well using that “reversed bending” I tried to explain before.
Let me try and explain how you can practically use these things. At the very end of the solo of Hail To The King by Avenged Sevenfold, Synyster Gates plays the open A string, raises the bar, taps a harmonic, lowers the bar and then plays the second fret A string, lowering the bar further.
You can achieve something that kinda sounds alike by bending the open A behind the nut, hold and then use your playing hand to tap the harmonic on the fretboard, then slowly release the bend. After that I “prebend” the a string on the 2nd fret, plug it and slowly release it to its normal pitch.
Huh, that was a lot. I hope you could understand what I was trying to explain and that you found it helpful or at least interesting. Please let me know what you think or if something is wrong! Other than that, have an awesome day!
This post is for people not having a tremolo system, like me, who might run into a situation where they could need one. I want to talk about one or two tricks I hope not everyone knows or thought about it yet. So let’s get started.
Of course these tricks can not replace a good trem system, but I hope they get you somewhat close to what you could do with one in certain situations.
What are the advantages of a whammy bar? You can bend a note to a higher pitch with it. You can do that with bending with your fingers too so no problem.
What you basicly can’t do without one is lowering the pitch of a note. Or can you? Well you are doing exactly this when releasing a bend. So, if you are in need of lowering the pitch of a note by let’s say two semitones (eg. because you cover a song that contains a guitar with trem system), you could also just go two semitones down the neck and bend that note UP without actually plugging it. You silently bend a note and then plug the string, release. This kinda “reversed bend” can give you that pitch lowering effect you achieve with a whammy bar – at least to some extend.
You can also bend open strings without a whammy bar. Therefore you have to bend it behind the nut. Plug the string, move your finger behind the nut and press down the string that’s plugged. It normally needs more strength than normal bending and therefor can’t get as exaggerated as “normal” bending. Of course this works the opposite direction as well using that “reversed bending” I tried to explain before.
Let me try and explain how you can practically use these things. At the very end of the solo of Hail To The King by Avenged Sevenfold, Synyster Gates plays the open A string, raises the bar, taps a harmonic, lowers the bar and then plays the second fret A string, lowering the bar further.
You can achieve something that kinda sounds alike by bending the open A behind the nut, hold and then use your playing hand to tap the harmonic on the fretboard, then slowly release the bend. After that I “prebend” the a string on the 2nd fret, plug it and slowly release it to its normal pitch.
Huh, that was a lot. I hope you could understand what I was trying to explain and that you found it helpful or at least interesting. Please let me know what you think or if something is wrong! Other than that, have an awesome day!
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