Using your guitar's volume and tone knobs for wah and tremolo

[Terje]

You can use the tone knob on your guitar for a decent wah effect. First you've gotta roll the tone all the way down, zero treble. You may have to comepnsate for the loss on the amp. Now you're all set and anytimne you want to you can do a wah sound with your fingers.

 

For a long wah wail just hold that note, maybe while bending it, and open the tone up. It's gotta be done fairly fast before the notes starts to lose in volume, right after the attack. but if you're too fast it getslost too. It's a timing thing, just mess with it. Listen to the ending of Roy Buchanan's Five String Blues, an excellent example of this technique.

 

You can do a fast talking type of wah too. This is probably easier to do on a strat than a tele. You hold the tone knob with your pinky while hitting the string with your pick (or thumb) and open the tone up real fast. Then take it back down real fast again for the next note.

 

I've seen a guy do this getting a very true wah sound. I can't really do it myself... yet It does help to have a slight distortion, roight on the edge of breaking up, for this cause when you hit the string and open it up it'll break up making the effect more exaggerated.

 

The volume knob is more dramatic. You can of course do swells with it. Have it low, or all the way down. Hit the note and roll the volume up. Roy Buchanan did this a lot. You can also hit a note, take the volume down and while bending (or sliding in my case) up to another note, take it back up again. Very vocal indeed.

 

For long sustained chords you can take the volume up and down real fast for a tremolo effect. It's probably impossible to do while strumming but as I said, on long sustained chords or notes it's relatively easy. Like on the last chord of a tune. It's easier if you have the volume all the way up before and after this. Gives you a good reference point.

 

There are some other wah imitating tricks. For strumming, to get that wacka wacka thing going, you can hit the strings at different spots on the neck. Closer to the 12th fret you get more bass, closer to the bridge you get more treble. Works better with a pick than with your thumb.

 

Also a quacking type of sound can be had from doing pinch harmonics that don't quite make it. You don't want the full harmonic to ring out, you just want the squeak from the flesh of your fingers touching the string. Mix that with a normal attack and you've got a good quacking thing going. Again, an on the edge of distortion tone might help.

 

There Anomandaris, are you happy now?

[WattsUrizen]