Wah-wah pedal
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2020) |
A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of effects pedal designed for electric guitar that alters the timbre of the input signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The pedal sweeps a band-pass filter up and down in frequency to create a spectral glide. The wah-wah effect originated in the 1920s, with trumpet or trombone players finding they could produce an expressive crying tone by moving a mute in, and out of the instrument's bell. This was later simulated with electronic circuitry for the electric guitar when the wah-wah pedal was invented. It is controlled by movement of the player's foot on a rocking pedal connected to a potentiometer. Wah-wah effects may be used without moving the treadle as a fixed filter to alter an instrument’s timbre (known as a “cocked-wah”[1]), or to create a "wacka-wacka" funk-styled rhythm for rhythm guitar playing.[2]
An
History
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2021) |
The first wah pedal was created by Bradley J. Plunkett at Warwick Electronics Inc./
The creation of the modern wah pedal was an accident which stemmed from the redesign of the
Plunkett had lifted and bread-boarded a transistorized tone-circuit from the Thomas Organ (an electric solid state transistorized organ) to duplicate the Jennings 3-position circuit. After adjusting and testing the amplifier with an
After the invention of the wah pedal, the prototype was modified by Casher and Plunkett to better accommodate the harmonic qualities of the electric guitar. However, since Vox had no intention of marketing the wah pedal for electric guitar players, the prototype wah-wah pedal was given to Del Casher for performances at Vox press conferences and film scores for Universal Pictures. The un-modified version of the Vox wah pedal was released to the public in February 1967 with an image of Clyde McCoy on the bottom of the pedal.
Warwick Electronics Inc. assigned Lester L. Kushner, an engineer with the Thomas Organ Company, and Brad Plunkett to write and submit the documentation for the wah-wah pedal patent. The patent application was submitted on 24 February 1967, which included technical diagrams of the pedal being connected to a four-stringed "guitar" (as noted from the "Description of the Preferred Embodiment"). Warwick Electronics Inc. was granted U.S. patent 3,530,224 ("foot-controlled continuously variable preference circuit for musical instruments") on 22 September 1970.
Early versions of the Clyde McCoy featured an image of McCoy on the bottom panel, which soon gave way to only his signature. Thomas Organ then wanted the effect branded as their own for the American market, changing it to Cry Baby which was sold in parallel to the Italian Vox V846. Thomas Organ's failure to trademark the Cry Baby name soon led to the market being flooded with Cry Baby imitations from various parts of the world, including Italy, where all of the original Vox and Cry Babys were made.
Some of the most famous electric guitarists of the day were keen to adopt the wah-wah pedal soon after its release. Among the first recordings featuring wah-wah pedal were "
The wah-wah pedal increased in popularity in the following years, and was employed by guitarists such as Terry Kath of Chicago, Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. Kirk Hammett of Metallica would later use the pedal on many Metallica songs, most notably the guitar solo in Wherever I May Roam. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd used the pedal to create the "whale" effect during Echoes. He discovered this effect as a result of a roadie accidentally plugging his guitar into the output of the pedal and the input being plugged into his amp. The effect was first used during live performances of The Embryo during 1970 but was then switched into Echoes as it was being developed before being released on the Meddle album on 31 October 1971.[8] Mick Ronson used a Cry Baby while recording The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.[9] Michael Schenker also utilized the pedal in his work.[10]
One of the most famous uses of this effect is heard on Isaac Hayes's "Theme from Shaft" (1971), with Charles Pitts (credited as Charles 'Skip' Pitts) playing the guitar.[11]
In addition to rock music, many R&B artists have also used the wah-wah effect, including
In the late 1980s, the wah-wah pedal was revived in the British music industry by
Uses
The main use of the wah-wah pedal is by rocking the pedal up and down. By doing this motion, the pedal reacts by sweeping through the peak response of a frequency filter up and down in frequency to create a spectral glide.
A different function of the pedal is to use it in a fixed position, which changes how an instrument sounds by selecting a certain frequency range. A guitarist using the wah in this way selects a position on the pedal and leaves the pedal there. Depending on the position of the pedal, this will boost or cut a specific frequency. This can be used for emphasizing the "sweet spot" in the tonal spectrum of a particular instrument. One electric guitar player to use the pedal in this way was Jimi Hendrix, who revolutionized its application by combining a Fender Stratocaster with stacked Marshall Amplifiers (in both static and modulated mode) for lead and rhythm guitar applications unheard of before then.
Another famous style of wah-wah playing is utilizing it for a percussive "wacka-wacka" effect during rhythm guitar parts. This is done by muting strings, holding down a chord and moving the pedal at the same time. This was first heard on the song "Little Miss Lover" (1967) on "Axis: Bold as Love," by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The "wah-wah" and "wacka-wacka" effects are often associated with the bands on 1970s TV
Other instruments
- Bass - A wah bass solo appears on "Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?", and all through "What Is Soul?" on The Fish" on the album Fragile.
- Trumpet - jazz/crossover records feature wind and brass instruments with the effect – Miles Davis's trumpet with a wah pedal was a well-known example.[17]
- Sax - Several of Frank Zappa’s sax players such as Bunk Gardner, Ian Underwood, and Napoleon Murphy Brock played saxophones amplified through a wah-wah pedal on some of Zappa's albums like Uncle Meat, Chunga's Revenge , and The Dub Room Special . David Sanborn can be heard playing an alto saxophone modified by a wah-wah pedal on the David Bowie album Young Americans (1975).[18]
See also
References
- ^ Lynham, Alex (16 April 2021). "The 4 unsung hero effects pedals and 3 great ways you can use them". Music Radar. Future Publishing Limited Quay House. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
Turning on a wah pedal and 'parking' it at a position in its sweep is known as 'cocking' the wah.
- ^
Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 375. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
- ISBN 978-0-7603-3639-7.
- ^ "Guitar Player: The Complete Electric Guitar Package".
- ^ "JIMI HENDRIX® CRY BABY® WAH". Dunlop.
- ^
Kostelanetz, Richard; Rocco, John M. (1997). The Frank Zappa companion: four decades of commentary. Schirmer Books. p. 94. ISBN 0-02-864628-2.
- ^ Wallace, Amy (6 August 2011). "With a Flip of a Knob, He Heard the Future". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- ^ Riis, Bjørn (26 October 2009). "Echoes "seagull" effect tutorial". Gilmourish. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ Molenda, Michael (August 2012). "The Genius of Ken Scott". Guitar Player. p. 149.
- ^ Blackett, Matt (October 2004). "The 50 Greatest Tones of All Time". Guitar Player. pp. 44–66.
- ^
The Boss Book: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Popular Compact Effects for Guitar. Hal Leonard. 2002. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-634-04480-9.
- ^ Brown, James, with Bruce Tucker. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986), p.242.
- ^ "A brief history of Wah Wah Watson". Wah Wah Watson Music. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ Psychedelic Soul - The Temptations AllMusic.com Retrieved June 19, 2020
- ^ "A brief history of Wah Wah Watson". www.wahwah.com.
- ^ Who was first use of wah on bass Retrieved 23 February 2021
- ^ Uses of the wah pedal Miles Davis Retrieved 23 February 2021
- ^ David Sanborn wah wah SPOTLIGHT Retrieved 23 February 2021
Further information
- Cry Baby: The Pedal that Rocks the World (documentary, 2011)