Floating Tremelo

[K!ller_T!me]

I got a new guitar with a floating tremelo and was wondering if anyone could help me with some tips or fun things to do with it.:thumb:

[judge_gideon]

Here's a pratical application.

You know how to do string bending without a trem? Yeah, just by picking the string, and bending it up with your fret hand to the desired pitch - halfstep, wholestep, step-and-a-half, etc.

BUT

Try to do the opposite with the tremolo - bending down to an accurate pitch.

First, try bending down a halfstep. Then, try bending down a wholestep.

This will tune your ears to hear when to stop depressing the bar when you arrive at the correct pitch, and train your right hand (trem bar hand) to get a feel for the springs - muscle training.

Picking the two pitches first, helps. Then, do the same two pitches picking the first one, then bending down to the second like this:

wholestep down, A to G
┌──────────┬──────────────────┐
├─(picked)─┼───(bend down)────┤
├──14─12───┼────14─\─(12)─────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
└──────────┴──────────────────┘

wholestep down, G to F
┌──────────┬──────────────────┐
├─(picked)─┼───(bend down)────┤
├──12─10───┼────12─\─(10)─────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
└──────────┴──────────────────┘

halfstep down, F to E
┌──────────┬──────────────────┐
├─(picked)─┼───(bend down)────┤
├───10─9───┼────10─\─(9)──────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
└──────────┴──────────────────┘

wholestep down, E to D
┌──────────┬──────────────────┐
├─(picked)─┼───(bend down)────┤
├───9─7────┼─────9─\─(7)──────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
└──────────┴──────────────────┘

wholestep down, D to C
┌──────────┬──────────────────┐
├─(picked)─┼───(bend down)────┤
├───9─7────┼─────9─\─(7)──────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
├──────────┼──────────────────┤
└──────────┴──────────────────┘

After a while, you'll be able to bend down to an accurate pitch, just as you would do with a finger bend - up to an accurate pitch.

You'll also notice that the bar travels a different distance with different strings, since the tension and string gauge is different. The high E string and the B string require more bar depression bend down than the G. I like practicing bar tricks on the G string first, since it is the most rubbery and easiest to manipulate with the trem bar.
♪♫♫♪

[judge_gideon]

Here's a Joe Satriani trem bar trick:

Place your index finger on the A located at the G string, second fret. Slide it up toward the 14th fret while depressing the bar at the same time. Try to move your fret hand up slow enough to count "one-one-thousand".

The effect is that as you slide up, the bar goes down and the note will stay the same pitch, and gives you a warbling effect. It's really cool if you can do it without too much trouble.

Add a crybaby wah to this effect "WAAAAAH" and it sounds way-out!

Here's another Satriani trick:

Do a rapid hammer-on/pull-off on the 11th fret G string. Pull it off to open G. Dive the bar down 2 or 3 wholesteps and come back up. This will give you an "out-of-control" sound - very cool.


depress slowly, then let back up
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
├──h──p─h──p─h──p─h──p────────────┤
├───11─0─11─0─11─0─11─0──etc.─────┤
├─────────────────────────────────┤
├─────────────────────────────────┤
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Here's a typical screaming dive-bomb - sort of like a whistling bottle rocket:

silently depress the bar, hit the harmonic, and quickly let it fly up screaming, then depress the bar back down
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
├──harm.────────depress───────────┤
├─────3─/──────────\──────────────┤
├─────────────────────────────────┤
├─────────────────────────────────┤
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Lots 0' fun :D
♪♫♫♪

[Diatonic Dissonance™]

G'day Greg. How are you?

A trick I like is to go like this:

G|-12p0----5(NH)///-| Where "///" represents lifting up the bar.

Sounds cool 'cause they're all G's so you go from G3 or w/e down to G2 then hit G4 and raise it up really high.

[judge_gideon]

Heya Gavin, I'm doing well.

Nice 3-G's whammy trick - sounds cool.

BTW, here's what I use for gear:

Ibanez RG350DX white w/ pearloid pickguard
96' Fender American Standard Stratocaster Tobacco Sunburst w/ a custom Seymore Duncan Jeff Beck Jr. single-space double coil in the bridge position
Jay Turser Semi Hollow Jazz w/ neck & bridge humbuckers (not sure which model)
Yamaha Eterna EC-10 classical acoustic
Mexican Fender Fretless Jazz Bass - gloss black w/ white pickguard
Fender Hotrod Deluxe 112 Jensen 40 watts
Akai Headrush E1 Digital Delay/Looper
Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer
Danelectro Cool Cat Stereo Chorus
crappy Digitech RP200 multi effects processor (I plan on getting a Line 6 POD XT)

[Diatonic Dissonance™]

Good to see you Greg. I came to Beginner Questions at this time in the hopes that I would see "Last post by judge_gideon" - I was successful, :D.

That's quite an impressive rig you've got there. My friend has the same RG350DX and is in the midst of purchasing a Fender Hot Rod.

My gear isn't too crash hot, but I make up for it by having an expensive piano, :p

-Ibanez RG7620 with active EMG in bridge
-Legend Gibson LP copy
-DigiTech RP300A effects
-Borrowed Randall RG40R

Eh, should get better once I actually get a job, :p.

[K!ller_T!me]

does anyone have any kool videos like that?