Friday, November 14, 2008
The Wah-Wah...Solo From Sing To Scream
The wah-wah can be a very useful effect.Along with the typical use of it...wacka-wacka,it can be used as an active type tone control.When in the up position it creates a dark hollow tone,and in the down position it can make your solos reach new horizons.And all in between are more tones!
I did an earlier post on the wah-wah,but in this one i am including more guitarist that have used the wah-wah.Everyone knows of Johnny Guitar Watson,along with Curtis Mayfield.They both are legends in the wah-wah world.But here are some more,with the songs that the wah-wah was used on....
Frank Zappa extensively used a wah-wah pedal but did not always use it in the conventional way of rocking it back and forth. Zappa often left it set in different positions to get different tones, using it as a filter or distortion device. He also often used the pedal in combination with the acoustic guitar.
Jimi Hendrix did much to popularize the wah-wah in the late 1960s. Possibly the most iconic track of all time using a wah pedal is "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" which heavily used at the time, an original Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah. The song "Little Miss Lover" introduced percussive wah-wah effect, made by muting guitar strings. This effect was later used by many funk and soul musicians throughout the 1970s including Rufus' "Tell Me Something Good" (which also includes the Talk Box effect) and James Brown's "The Payback".
Eric Clapton first played wah-wah with Cream on "Tales of Brave Ulysses" on the Disraeli Gears album and used it for both background riffs and an extended solo on "White Room". Clapton used a Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah in Cream. Clapton also used the pedal for his guitar solo in Blind Faith's "Presence of the Lord" as well as his solo-era classic "Bad Love" from the album "Journeyman".
Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin sometimes used a wah-wah pedal in an unorthodox manner. Instead of rocking the pedal to produce the wah tone, Page kept the pedal depressed, producing a wah tone that was much sharper. He does use the wah in a more traditional manner on songs like "Dazed and Confused" from Led Zeppelin's first album, "No Quarter" from the Houses of the Holy album, and "Custard Pie" from the album Physical Graffiti .
Slash of Velvet Revolver (and formerly Guns N' Roses) is famous for his use of the wah-wah pedal and received his own signature Dunlop Crybaby in 2007.
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