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The whammy bar can be used to drop (and raise on some bridges) the pitch of all 6 strings. It allows a number of techniques to enhance one's playing.
=== Dive-Bomb ===
The classic whammy bar technique is called a ''dive-bomb''. It involves simply pressing the bar down further and further until the strings becomes slack. Any notes that were sustaining when the dive-bomb begins will drop further and further in pitch until they turn into low frequency noise.
This technique is simple: just keep pushing on the bar! The only thing to watch out for is that open strings will start ringing as you add more slack. I like to mute those strings with my left-hand before starting the dive. However, in some cases, that open-string ringing may be a desirable part of the effect, especially once the strings are completely slacked.
=== Slide to Nowhere ===
This technique uses contrary motion by sliding up the frets on one or more strings as you push down on the whammy bar. The trick is to time them so that they are increasing and decreasing the pitch at the same rate, so that it doesn't sound like the pitch is changing. Once you've gone pretty far (~7 frets), you can reverse directions by sliding down while decreasing pressure on the bar to continue the effect. Or you can release the bar quickly, so the pitch rises very quickly, like you stored all the energy from the slide and are releasing it all at once.
=== Vibrato ===
The whammy bar makes an excellent means to get vibrato. It's probably the '''best or only way to do so for chords''' and the '''least noisy''' way to do so for notes that are '''sustaining until they completely decay'''. See [[Vibrato|here]].
=== Eastern Instruments ===
One of the characteristic sounds of Eastern stringed instruments is the the downward pitch shift during the attack of a note. This can be simulated by pulling up on the whammy bar while picking a note but instantly releasing the bar. It may not be necessary to pick the string, but instead use a hammer-on, or pull-off/slide from an existing note. Sliding down into a note while using this technique can take it a step further.
=== Synth ===
A common way to embellish a synth sound is to pitch shift upwards, into the note. This can be simulated with [[Bending|bending]], but often bending is too slow and limited in pitch to mimic some of the more noticeable synth effects. So instead we use the whammy bar, depressing it before plucking the desired note, then quickly releasing it afterward/during. With the strings slacked by depressing the bar, it's often unnecessary to pick the string at all - a hammer-on works just as well, freeing your right hand to focus exclusively on timing the bar.
=== Flutter ===
On a floating bridge, one performs a flutter by quickly hitting/pushing the bar and sliding off of it, causing the bridge to snap back towards its resting position. Because the floating bridge relies purely on counter-balancing tensions to find its resting point, the momentum of the snap-back carries it past neutral position, where it then changes directions. It ''flutters'' around the neutral point before returning to rest. It's basically like a super-fast, diminishing vibrato.
Most flutters are done while the note is sustaining, almost like a secondary accent. For example, if the same note is played consecutively on the 1 and 2 beat of a measure, the performer may pluck the first beat then use a flutter on the 2nd beat.
=== Fast or Large Bends/Wobbles ===Bending is often done to get up to a certain note. A bend's speed may be particularly fast, but it is usually intentionally a little slow. The transition between notes is thus emphasized. Most bends are only a half step or whole step. Larger bends are often used by some musicians, but they are generally more difficult.
Using the bar to bend can be used to break down these limits. It can change pitch very quickly and in large-distances. And it can lower as well as raise pitch. It has a slightly different sound than bending, so it could also be used for slight variation.
The bar allows shifting above/below a sustained note's pitch and returning the original note very, very quickly. You just tap or yank on the bar real quick.
=== Screaming Squeals ===
A technique made popular by Joe Satriani and Dimebag Darrell is the screaming squeal. This involves pushing the bar down hard while keeping all the strings muted. The strings should basically be almost slacked. Pluck the string you want to sound, usually the G or B string. Quickly tap a natural harmonic (I like to use the 5th fret, 4th order harmonic). And slowly release pressure on the bar so the pitch raisees. You should get about an octave of pitch shift as you let up the bar. So you get a squealing, high-pitched sound that keeps getting higher and higher pitched. Once the bar reaches neutral, you can keep going by pulling up on the bar, going even higher.
=== Huge Vibrato/Horsie Sounds ===
If you've tried to use the bar for vibrato, you'll notice it's a lot easier to make the vibrato awkwardly too wide than sweet and subtle. Here we just go nuts and purposefully for the widest vibrato possible. This is for an out-of-control, chaotic sound.
If performed on a higher note or interval, this can get a horse-type sound, especially if you are reverse bending or using increasing bar pressure so that the overall pitch direction is decreasing.
== Tuning Issues ==