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Step 1
Bend a note down. Point your whammy bar toward the headstock. Then play a single note (and let it sustain) while you gently press down on the whammy bar. The note will go flat and bend down in tone.
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Step 2
Bend a note up. On a lot of bars, pointing the bar toward the bottom of the guitar and pushing on it will produce a bend up, and a sustained note will go sharp. You can get this also by pulling on the whammy bar in a way that moves the string lock toward the body of the guitar. The bend-up is a common guitar trick that is uncomplicated.
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Step 3
Try a vibrato note. Simple up and down bends can be done with the strings themselves: what a guitarist often uses a whammy bar for is extreme note-variance effects. Try holding a note and moving the whammy bar back and forth quickly for a "shivering" effect on your sound.
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Step 4
Use the whammy bar in arcing solos. Try going up the pentatonic scale over one bar of music until you reach a "top note." Then use the whammy bar to bend that note up over the next bar: this classic solo style was done to perfection by the glam-rock bands of the 1980s, and the soaring note set audiences on fire.
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Step 5
Use a whammy bar with triplets. Try a hammer-on note and then a quick touch of the whammy bar to create a "triple-note" effect. This is just one of the many ways a whammy bar can make a guitarist sound like they are playing more notes than they actually are. Listen to classic rockers like Hendrix to find more plays to use the whammy bar creatively.
