Things You Can Do With a Wah Wah Pedal

• The wah wah pedal is a tone filter effects device used by guitar and bass players. It sits on the floor close to the guitar player, who operates it by depressing and raising its pedal manually with his foot. The pedal became prominent in the late 1960s due to its use by musicians like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Vocal Mimicry

• A skilled guitar player can use a wah wah pedal to simulate the rises and falls in the pitch of the human voice. To accomplish this, the pedal convert a plucked note's bass signal into treble. You can hear this technique on Jimi Hendrix recordings like "Machine Gun" and his cover of the Bob Dylan classic "All Along the Watchtower." Hendrix uses the wah wah pedal to create a vocal doubling effect, in which his singing is mirrored by the pedal's note bending.

Wah-Wah Percussion

• Employing a palm-muting technique along with a wah wah pedal can create a percussive sound that simulates a beating drum. A guitar player using this technique can play double duty as both a lead instrument and a source of time-keeping percussion. This technique is heard throughout Alice in Chains' music, particularly on "Man in the Box."

Tonal Adjustment

• Adjusting the pedal on a wah wah can give an amplifier a wider tonal range than is possible by simply plugging it into the amplifier directly. Once a desirable tone is achieved, the guitar player is free to leave the pedal at its current position. She can also adjust the pedal over the course of a song for dramatic effect. This technique can be heard on Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love."

Setting the Mood

• Proper application of a wah wah pedal can lend a certain mood to a piece of music. The pedal's ability to bend and compress the notes produced by a guitar can create a downright eerie tone. Marilyn Manson's cover of the Eurythmics hit "Sweet Dreams" is clear testament to this technique. The pedal can also give music a warm and inviting tone. Jimi Hendrix used the wah-wah pedal to give "Voodoo Child" an airy, inviting, groove-driven feel.

Affect the Effects Chain

• The wah wah pedal may have a subtle or overt effect, depending on where it's placed in the effects chain. The "effects chain" is the linked sequence of effects pedals, starting from the guitar and ending at the amplifier. A wah wah pedal plugged in at the start of the effects chain has a more subtle influence on a guitar's tone, while the same pedal connected at the end of the chain has a greater ability to bend notes. This versatility allows a guitar player to use the pedal as a simple tonal aid or as an active element of musical creation.