From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Wah-wah pedal (or just wah pedal) is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, intended to mimic the human voice. The pedal sweeps the peak response of a filter up and down in frequency to create the sound.

Contents 1 History 2 Function 3 Guitarists 4 Other instruments 5 See also 6 External links

The earliest version, was first heard in 1945 on a pedal steel guitar created by Leo Fender and in the early 1960s on Vox amplifiers (under the name Wah-Wah) and Thomas electronic organs (as the Crybaby). B.J. Plunkett et al,^{[citation needed]} applied for patent protection Feb. 24, 1967 and were granted US Patent 3,530,224 Sept. 22, 1970.

The variation in the peak response frequency of the filter resembles the change in formant frequency in the human vocal tract when saying the word "wah", making the wah-wah pedal a crude form of speech synthesizer. The "wah wah" effect does not affect the guitar's volume.

An envelope filter or envelope follower is often referred to as an auto-wah.

The first recorded use of a wah-wah pedal was by Chet Atkins, who used a pedal that he had built himself on the 1961 recording "Boo Boo Stick Beat".

Session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan used a wah-wah pedal on the 1961 record "Sweet Little Sixteen" by Michael Cox. The first UK hit using a wah-wah pedal was on the 1964's "The Crying Game" by Dave Berry - again by Sullivan.

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. In many recordings though, he also used the pedal in the conventional manner.

Jimi Hendrix did much to popularize the wah-wah in the late 1960s. 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.

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 also used the pedal for his guitar solo in Blind Faith's "Presence of the Lord."

Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin 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.

Kirk Hammett of Metallica used a wah-wah pedal extensively on the self-titled "Metallica" album (also known the Black album) as well as on "The House That Jack Built" from the Load album.

Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin played wah-wah on some notable singles by The Temptations in the early-'70s, as well as with Martha Reeves and the Pointer Sisters. Hendrix proclaimed blues guitarist Earl Hooker the "master of the wah-wah".^{[citation needed]}

John Frusciante is a modern wah-wah pedal user and is commonly known for using an Ibanez WH-10. With the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their Stadium Arcadium tour, Frusciante used the WH-10 on almost every solo.

Numerous guitar players have included wah pedals in their arsenal and it is among the most common effects used by modern musicians. A famous model, the "Crybaby", is made by Dunlop.

Bassists have been common users of the wah-wah effect, for example Michael Henderson on Miles Davis's album On the Corner (1972). Another Bassist to extensively use the wah pedal is Cliff Burton, of Trauma and Metallica. Three very good examples of his use of the wah pedal come from (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth recorded for Kill 'Em All (1983), The Call of Ktulu and For Whom the Bell Tolls both recorded for Ride the Lightning (1985).

Geezer Butler, bassist for Black Sabbath, used it when playing his solo Bassically, along with the bass line in N.I.B..

Keyboardists have also made use of the wah-wah effect both in the studio and during live performances. Garth Hudson famously used a wah-wah pedal on a clavinet in The Band song "Up on Cripple Creek" to emulate a Jaw Harp.

The wah-wah effect can be heard used on other instruments. Many jazz fusion records feature wind and brass instruments with the effect - Miles Davis's trumpet being a well-known example. Davis first used this technique in 1970 (at concerts documented on Live-Evil and The Cellar Door Sessions) at a time when he also made his keyboard players (Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea) play electric pianos with a wah-wah pedal. Napoleon Murphy Brock played a saxophone amplified through a wah-wah pedal in the Frank Zappa movie The Dub Room Special, as well as on some of Zappa's albums. David Sanborn can be heard playing an alto saxophone modified by a wah-wah pedal on the David Bowie album Young Americans.

The effect is also extensively used with the electric violin. Notable examples are Jean-Luc Ponty, Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Shankar, all of whom recorded with Frank Zappa and usually engaged in long wah-wah violin/guitar duels. Boyd Tinsley of Dave Matthews Band is known to use a wah-wah pedal live.

• Talk box
• fuzzbox
• Subtractive synthesis

• Discussion, with sound samples, of guitar wah-wah technique
• Wah Wah World
• The Technology of Wah Pedals
• Human Voices and the Wah Pedal
• A Historical Look at Wah-wah