The Wah-Wham Method: A New Technique for Lead Guitar

by Jason Earls, author of How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell
http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/zevi35711

Have you been searching for an advanced, cutting-edge lead guitar technique to add to your arsenal, but would prefer one that hasn’t already been performed to death by every guitar player on the planet? Then look no further because I have the perfect technique to turn you into a full-fledged guitar hero: It’s called the Wah-Wham method.

No, it isn’t something that appeared on a TV game show back in the 80s, it’s a bona fide uber-technique for electric guitar soon to be right at home in all the rock and avant-garde guitar circles around the world. First, let’s break down the name.

Wah = wah wah pedal, as in the the classic Dunlop "Crybaby" wah pedal, or Vai’s Bad Horsie wah pedal made by Morley.

Wham = whammy bar, as in the Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, or the Kahler Double locking tremolo system.

The wah-wham method (which was first written about in the excellent instructional guitar book, How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, by yours truly) entails using both of the traditional guitar tools named above to simultaneously produce otherworldly sheets of bedlam and chaos, but in a controlled way. By using the wah-wham method, you could become a trailblazing avant-garde guitarist well-versed in the metaphysics of nonlinear improvisation – but remember that the goal is to always keep everything under control!

So how exactly do we perform this new technique? Well, there is no exactly. How you use the tools above is basically up to you, but we will be following a basic algorithm to help with the manipulations of the wah pedal and the tremolo bar, since any exact movements would be nearly impossible to transcribe. Here is the main algorithm:

1. Begin by playing a few common licks or phrases, anything at all, perhaps an improvisation using the minor pentatonic scale or the blues scale.
2. Engage your wah pedal and begin rocking it back and forth in a slow steady motion. It doesn’t matter how you manipulate it, just move the pedal back and forth slowly.
3. While executing the licks, grasp the end of your tremolo bar and hold it with your picking hand. Press it down at random intervals in your improvisation as you continue picking the notes. Work the bar around, manipulating it in different ways as you pick notes in whatever patterns you prefer – even random or haphazard manipulations will work.
4. Continue pressing your wah pedal down while also working the tremolo bar as you play various licks, melodies, and phrases. Eventually you should increase the tempo of both these activities as you incorporate more sophisticated licks into your playing, while keeping the wah pedal and tremolo bar going simultaneously.
5. Listen closely, concentrating on the perplexing beauty and transcendent chaos coming from your amplifier.

That’s all there is to it.

High gain or distortion will contribute to the unhinged sounds (but you don’t want them to be too atonal). Also remember to work your tremolo bar and wah pedal slowly at first, then gradually build momentum until you hit a crescendo of deafening sonic blitzkrieg. Picking the strings while holding your tremolo bar and manipulating it at the same time may not be something you are adept at initially, but with practice you will become more proficient.

So now that we know what it is, where did the wah-wham method come from? Well, I believe I invented it because I never witnessed another guitar player using it before me. However, I only employed the technique for a brief period of time one summer several years ago while rehearsing with a particularly "open-minded" band. The members of that band were quite tolerant of extreme music; and the drummer seemed especially impressed by my wah-wham technique; during breaks in one particular rehearsal he followed me around asking how I was making such intriguing sounds. I never actually used the wah-wham method during a live performance, since it produced such a chaotic-sounding swirl of Brobdingnagian tumult. But since the technique is new, I believe experimentation could take it down a few notches so that many legitimate musical phrases could be made with it. Sonny Sharrock, the free-jazz guitar player known for his loose and sometimes noisy playing style would have probably loved the wah-wham method – just imagine the types of sounds he could have generated with it.

Although there are not any explicit licks in this article, one of the best scales I have found to use with the wah-wham technique is the Hungarian Gypsy scale. To play it in the key of A, finger the 5th, 7th, and 8th frets on the low E string, then the 6th, 7th, and 8th frets on the A string, then the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets on the D string, next the 5th and 8th frets on the G string, then the 5th, 6th, and 8th frets on the B string, and lastly the 5th, 7th, and 8th frets on the high E string. Or, here is the guitar tablature:

-----------------------------5-7-8--
-----------------------5-6-8--------
-------------------5-8--------------
-------------5-7-9------------------
-------6-7-8------------------------
-5-7-8------------------------------

You may also want to record yourself playing the wah-wham technique and listen to it a day or two afterward to make sure you are not delving too deeply into pure chaos or noise during your improvisations. Your focus should always be on creating beautiful and sublime melodies at all times. Continually strive to generate compelling music no matter what techniques you use; and if you think you’ve created something extra-special, you may want to send it in to one of the popular guitar magazines and see if they will reward you with a free subscription.

With the wah-wham technique, I encourage you to engage in many different excursions and practice it frequently so you can refine your technique. Keep in mind that this method of playing is of an experimental nature and for only the most intrepid guitarist/explorer-improvisers. But feel free to use it however you like. Play around with it, modify it, use it in your solos to give them a translucent free-jazz sheen. Become a juggernaut of the primordial, but also make sure to use the wah-wham method sparingly since it can be quite disturbing to some listeners. There really is nothing like the wah-wham technique presently in the world and it’s quite ripe for further experimentation and exploration so enjoy and go forth and rock on.

-end-

http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/zevi35711

Bio: Jason Earls is the author of How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, Cocoon of Terror, Red Zen, Heartless Bast*rd In Ecstasy, If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan_Turing == TRUE) {ERROR_Cyberpunk(); } and 0.136101521283655... all available at Amazon.com and other online book stores. His fiction and mathematical work have been published in Red Scream, Yankee Pot Roast, M-Brane SF, Scientia Magna, three of Clifford Pickover’s books, Neometropolis, Mathworld, AlienSkin, Recreational and Educational Computing, Escaping Elsewhere, Thirteen, Dogmatika, Prime Curios, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, OG’s Speculative Fiction, Nocturnal Ooze, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, and other publications. He currently resides in Oklahoma with his wife, Christine.