how to use a Whammy Pedal???

hi im new here, and i also did i search for this topic already but couldnt find one.
so heres my problem. ive had my digitech whammy pedal for like 2 years and i still cant figure out how to use the thing. by useing it i mean the "1 octave up" setting.

songs ive been trying to practice with like pink floyd's marooned, or mostly every white stripes solos seem impossible. i think it has something to do with which note i actualy have to pitch shift, and at which time.

i dont mean to sound like a noob, but can someone help me?

I can't think of a better example of the use of a whammy pedal than Pantera... for a clear example is "becoming", Dime played a riff where the last note was pitch shifted very high, but it was only one note.

My POD XT has the bender (based on the whammy) and it makes awfull noises when you play a chord (bare chords for example) cause it scrambles the signal so bad that the only thing you get it's this weird robot like sounds flying around.

Try making some frases were you hit the pedal at the same time with a single note, and have fun with it... make it fast and furious (never mind the movie) or a slow melow progression with it.

Check too Joe satrinani's "in flames" as a very good and very musical way of getting the most out of your whammy, and if you can see the G3 live in tokio version... well you'll run to your whammy.

I've got a Digitech Whammy also. Thing is pretty sick.

Yes, Satriani's "Searching" from the Live In Tokyo dvd is a prime example, along with "Raspberry Jam Delta V" or "Cool #9."

I'm not familiar with pretty much any of the White Stripes music or the Pink Floyd song you named, but many of the solos I've heard have just been hit the note, raise the octave, up and down over and over.

Not sure what else really to say...Keep messin with it, its a cool device.

Thanks guys for responding,

ill keep monkeying around with it :)

I've been looking for a whammy for ages, but every time I go to the city, the music stores are all sold out. One guy said they'd have new orders in a couple weeks though, so.....woohoo!

My only complaint about the whammy pedal is the dive bomb. I can't even use it for that purpose cuz it drops far too low and loses all its volume. I do like it though because you can get a cool tone hitting it and releasing after you hit a note/chord. That sounds cool. Other than that though, the thing is mighty fun.

yeah, the whammy is an awesome pedal. but has anybody heard about electro-harmonix's POG? it looks interesting. says it can mix octaves together and can even play chords. but no expression pedal though. what do you guys think?

Yea, shifting single notes works great, but chords can really sound horrible. IMO it sounds better with distortion on cause with the clean on, you can really hear the digitalness. Try playing the solo to Rage Against The Machine's Killing in the Name Of. Simple yet so awsome. You should learn the whole song though cause its Rage and they rock. :)

Elk, that solo is friggin awesome. I beleve the also use it in the intro to Renegades of Funk. Rage does have some fairly simple music, but they do it well.

Originally Posted by: grizzlymintElk, that solo is friggin awesome. I beleve the also use it in the intro to Renegades of Funk. Rage does have some fairly simple music, but they do it well.

Morello uses it in a lot of their songs. But yea, I told ya it was simple yet awsome. :D

I use a whammy to drive notes through the sky on the rocker pedal, but I use a BOSS Harmonist pedal to harmonise - It can do pretty much any interval - one above and one below the note you are playing....

It's cool if used sparingly....

i tend to shy away from these things. if you can do it mechanically on the guitar why use a pedal to cheat. like use a whammy bar. i guess if u dont have a whammy bar go for it.

but i still fell its on the road to making a computer do it all for you.

If I could use a FR to shift a note up 1 or 2 octaves, then I would. :)

But the dive bomb feat. should definatly not be used in place of a real tremelo bridge.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told that Dimebag Darrell had two Digitech whammies set up on stage, one set to go an octave up and one set to go an octave down. Anybody know more about this?

I've never actually tried playing "Marooned" (great song though) or any White Stripes songs that use a whammy, but I think the key to using a whammy pedal effectively is to make it ascend as evenly as possible. Pluck a note, then very slowly rock your foot on the pedal from the upmost position all the way down; see if you can go all the way without any sudden "jumps" in pitch, then come back again. As you get better at this, you can speed it up to those Gilmour-style smooth changes in pitch (he also uses a Whammy Pedal on his new solo album, On An Island, on the track "The Blue"). The next step is those extreme-metal style whammy vibratos that people like Dimebag and Jeff Hanneman use, but I still can't do that at all! :o

Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesusCorrect me if I'm wrong, but I was told that Dimebag Darrell had two Digitech whammies set up on stage, one set to go an octave up and one set to go an octave down. Anybody know more about this?

I've never actually tried playing "Marooned" (great song though) or any White Stripes songs that use a whammy, but I think the key to using a whammy pedal effectively is to make it ascend as evenly as possible. Pluck a note, then very slowly rock your foot on the pedal from the upmost position all the way down; see if you can go all the way without any sudden "jumps" in pitch, then come back again. As you get better at this, you can speed it up to those Gilmour-style smooth changes in pitch (he also uses a Whammy Pedal on his new solo album, On An Island, on the track "The Blue"). The next step is those extreme-metal style whammy vibratos that people like Dimebag and Jeff Hanneman use, but I still can't do that at all! :o

Well the whammy vibratos are done with a whammy bar, not the pedal.

About Dime, its true that he had 2 Whammy pedals on stage, so its very possible that he had them set 1 up 1 down. I'd hate to be on the recieving end if they were both set to 2 octaves up. :eek:

yeah, i started to experiment and practice with it and im starting to get the hang of it. the Gilmour style with "marooned" wasnt to hard. still practicing on the white stripes solos though :p

Originally Posted by: rudyag4yeah, the whammy is an awesome pedal. but has anybody heard about electro-harmonix's POG? it looks interesting. says it can mix octaves together and can even play chords. but no expression pedal though. what do you guys think?

I aint heard o that one. But when using a wammy pedal you can not play chords and then hit the pedal. like an octave pedal it doesn't work like that.
I have the wammy on my gnx4 and quite frankly the effect sucks. Joe Satriani is a musical genious and has mastered wammy techniques with his wammy bar. his divebombs all stem from that not a pedal ( i read that in an online interview on his site ) I rekon the best thing with the wammy is to practice using a single note and seeing where it takes you. then using the sam,e note fiddle with the pitch control until you get the amout of wammy you want. It's great for a tremelo effect as you can adjust the speed naturally unless your axe has a wammy bar. Personally i just don't use it.

These are only me views but as they say practice makes perfect.