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The whammy bar is very difficult to represent in tab. I recommend doing so exclusively above or below tab. However, you may see things like this:
--5---\1/--\1.5/------5---/1\--/1.5\--
This initially looks like a slide down to the first fret, but you can see that it's followed by an upward slide to nothing. This actually represents a quick whole step dip by pushing the bar downwards. So in the above example, you'd pick the 5th fret note, dip a whole step twicethen whole+half step, pick the note again, then pull up on the bar to make two raise the pitch a whole then whole +half step peaks.
For tab that heavily uses the whammy bar, it's common to see '''s''' used in place of '''/''' and '''\''' to indicate slides. Then all '''/'''s and '''\'''s indicate whammy bar dips or rises.
== Techniques ==
=== 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.
E--0-VVVVVVVVVVV--\---24---/--
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.
=== 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. It's also helpful to apply vibrato while sustaining a bend, in order to hold the bend at the target pitch. See [[Vibrato]].
* use whammy bar
B--17b19----~~vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv--
=== 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.
* pick/hammer note during whammy pull
G--(5)/1\----(6)/1\----(9)/1\----(10)/1\--
=== Synth ===
Many claim one of the flaws of a floating bridge is that your double-stops are out-of-tune. This means that if you are bending on one string but not another, the bend increases overall string tension on the bridge, causing it to pull-up a little, which causes the unbent string to fall a little flat. There are two simple solutions: pull up on the bar a little or apply a slight bend to the flatted notes. This counteracts the raised bridge and keeps the unbent note in tune.
There are ''devices'' that claim they can help keep your tremelo bridge in tune even with whammy use. They use a double-springed hinge similar to a bar mini-door that can open in either direction. These work to various degrees, but they all tend to diminish the desirable qualities of the floating bridge by preventing a smooth transition between pitching downwards vs. upwards. They particularly hurt flutters, but also affect vibrato. I recommend ''not'' using these.
Ultimately, your tuning stability is a byproduct of the quality of your guitar's parts and setup. The big things to look at are the bridge's ''knife edges'' and your ''bridge posts''. If either of these are heavily worn, they will not settle to "neutral" consistently. Also the knife edges should be perfectly perpendicular to the posts in neutral position. If the bridge is angled differently, you will need to adjust the tension of the bear claw springs accordingly.
* [[Bending]]
* [[Shred]]
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[[Category:Guitar]]