basic tremolo bar exercises?

new fang

hey there

i play whatever kind of music comes to mind and don't really restrict myself that way, but i'd like to learn some basic tricks with the tremolo bar. not for screechy metal stuff, more surfy/psychedelic tones. i play a jazzmaster and the tremolo on that is more suited towards pushing down than pulling.

all the videos on youtube seem to be novelties like harmonic screams and how to use the tremolo to make your distorted guitar sound like a motorcycle! i don't need that.

rcaz

new fang wrote: »

i play a jazzmaster and the tremolo on that is more suited towards pushing down than pulling.

Have you set up the lock properly? That's the little screw in the middle of the vibrato plate. You can adjust the resting position of the vibrato that way. The little button that slides down toward the bridge should be at the same level as the vibrato at rest, so when you slide the lock on, you don't have to push the arm down to get it under the lock, but there's no room to pull the thing up. My jazzmaster's been out of action for a while now, but when I was using it, I think I could get a whole tone in either direction.

Do you listen to My Bloody Valentine? Kevin Shields has some interesting techniques. One of them is to bend chords down with each strum. It's sort of weird to get used to strumming while holding the arm, but as you hit the strings, push the arm into the body a bit, and let it come back up, and keep going with each strum (usually used on strumming patterns where it's just eight quavers per bar or something simple like that).

Nels Cline is another excellent Jazzmaster/Jaguar player who uses the vibrato arm a whole lot.

stephenshields2

Listen to Steve Vai for technical whammying!

Most, if not all of his songs have some good bar action.

But to be honest, I think the best way to learn these kind of things, is by messing around with it yourself!!

Alanstrainor

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Listen to Steve Vai for technical whammying!

Most, if not all of his songs have some good bar action.

But to be honest, I think the best way to learn these kind of things, is by messing around with it yourself!!

Aye, definitely listen to as much as you can. But nothing beats just messin' about with it!

rcaz

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Listen to Steve Vai for technical whammying!

The OP said he's not into metal playing, and that he plays a Jazzmaster. How is Steve Vai relevant to this at all?

stephenshields2

El Pr0n wrote: »

The OP said he's not into metal playing, and that he plays a Jazzmaster. How is Steve Vai relevant to this at all?

Steve Vai is not a metal guitarist, he is a virtuoso guitarist. He has metal songs, but also has many jazz fusion songs, acoustic, rock, etc etc. Listen to Sisters, or Ballerina 12/24, and tell me they are metal.

So I think its quite relevant.

If thats ok by you?

rcaz

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Steve Vai is not a metal guitarist, he is a virtuoso guitarist. He has metal songs, but also has many jazz fusion songs, acoustic, rock, etc etc. Listen to Sisters, or Ballerina 12/24, and tell me they are metal.

So I think its quite relevant.

He plays guitars with a Floyd Rose vibrato setup, totally different to the Jazzmaster's vibrato. Steve Vai's techniques aren't applicable to Jazzmasters. Also, I'm hesitant to call him a virtuoso. Liszt was a virtuoso, Paganini was a virtuoso, Chopin was a virtuoso. Those guys all invented techniques and revolutionised their instruments. Steve Vai practices a lot, that doesn't make him a virtuoso.

stephenshields2 wrote: »

If thats ok by you?

Less of the indignant attitude, come on. We're having a discussion.

stephenshields2

El Pr0n wrote: »

Steve Vai techniques aren't applicable to Jazzmasters.

Someones not a Vai fan...

Its hard for me to have a discussion, when your telling me that my points are not relevant!!!

Every trem allows you to dive, so all diving techniques are applicable, regardless of wether or not they are performed by Steve Vai.

Speaking of virtuoso's using vintage trems, Malmsteen is a good man for that kinda thing!

rcaz

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Every trem allows you to dive, so all diving techniques are applicable, regardless of wether or not they are performed by Steve Vai.

Speaking of virtuoso's using vintage trems, Malmsteen is a good man for that kinda thing!

No, the Jazzmaster doesn't allow you to dive. When you say 'vintage trem', you mean Stratocaster, right? The Jazzmaster has nothing in common with the Stratocaster. As I said in my first post, the Jazzmaster allows you to move about one whole tone in either direction.

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Its hard for me to have a discussion, when your telling me that my points are not relevant!!!

I didn't tell you your point wasn't relevant, I asked how it was relevant.

stephenshields2

I'm gonna stop givin my advice to this thread now, as it seems that ElPron has some kind of a problem with me speaking.

rcaz

stephenshields2 wrote: »

I'm gonna stop givin my advice to this thread now, as it seems that ElPron has some kind of a problem with me speaking.

Haha, we're having a perfectly open discussion man, don't be like that about it.

stephenshields2

I see what you mean about the Jazzmaster's wang bar, its not the same as the vintage trems on the old Strats.

Ive never owned a Jazzmaster, so I didnt know. I just assumed the trem was the same as vintage Strats, so sorry about that lads!

Still listen to Vai OP, he's a beast!

new fang

i'm honestly not a fan of virtuoso guitarists, and definitely not looking to learn those kind of things. playing guitar is not the olympics. i want to write songs for a band set up, and mostly the rhythm parts, at that.

my tremolo arm's acting up at the moment (the little pipe it sits in doesn't fit snugly around the arm and is loose itself), but i did the tremlock thingy you recommended (and that i'd previous seen here- http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007/05/12/setup-the-tremolo-system/ )

i do listen to mbv though not as religiously as some and that's definitely not the kind of sound i would go for. i just saw a clip of the wilco guy doing some pretty neat things with his JM trem. though i'd have no idea how to get something like that going.

rcaz

new fang wrote: »

i'm honestly not a fan of virtuoso guitarists, and definitely not looking to learn those kind of things. playing guitar is not the olympics. i want to write songs for a band set up, and mostly the rhythm parts, at that.

my tremolo arm's acting up at the moment (the little pipe it sits in doesn't fit snugly around the arm and is loose itself), but i did the tremlock thingy you recommended (and that i'd previous seen here- http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007/05/12/setup-the-tremolo-system/ )

i do listen to mbv though not as religiously as some and that's definitely not the kind of sound i would go for. i just saw a clip of the wilco guy doing some pretty neat things with his JM trem. though i'd have no idea how to get something like that going.

Hehe, that's the same site I looked at to figure out my one

Nels Cline is a beast alright, I think a lot of 'getting something like that going' is down to playing jazz for thirty years Which clip did you see? There's a savage one of him playing with Banyan and covering Funkadelic's Maggot Brain;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmddP2cJkJ8

He uses a decent pedal board as you could probably tell, but the Jazzmaster is a massive part of his sound as well. Listen and try?

new fang

i f-ing love funkadelic

i watched a handful of clips of him. one for fender where he talked about his jm's/jags, the solo from wilco's impossible germany, one where he was getting a droney feedbacky vibe from his guitar by talking into the pickups with some sort of round filter (didn't use the trem on that one :P), oh, and one of him making some violin sounds with that volume knob trick he does about 4:45 into maggot brain...

as for his pedal board i scoped out an mxr phase 90 and he mentioned a fuzz factory.

rcaz

new fang wrote: »

i f-ing love funkadelic

i watched a handful of clips of him. one for fender where he talked about his jm's/jags, the solo from wilco's impossible germany, one where he was getting a droney feedbacky vibe from his guitar by talking into the pickups with some sort of round filter (didn't use the trem on that one :P), oh, and one of him making some violin sounds with that volume knob trick he does about 4:45 into maggot brain...

as for his pedal board i scoped out an mxr phase 90 and he mentioned a fuzz factory.

Lots and lots of Digitech Whammy use, Keeley-modded RAT, Klon Centaur, Fulltone '69, Boss Vibrato, Boss DD-3, Electro Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, I know they're all on there... He plays with stuff like springs and electric drink stirrers, and lots of behind-the-bridge stuff.

That thing he was screaming into is some sort of old children's toy that put weird effects on your voice or something, till someone found out they did that with a guitar, now you can get them for like €80 on eBay :eek:

Keyzer

Nels Cline is defo one to study - the man is a modern day genius who has redefined what playing a guitar is about for me...

There is a huge amount of information about him and his technique on his own web page...