Video: Whammy Bar Tricks with John Petrucci

Do you feel uninspired by your whammy bar? Haven’t used it in a while? Well, certified guitar hero, shred master and whammy expert John Petrucci stopped by the Reverb studio to give us an inside look at his technical and creative approach to the whammy bar.

There are many possibilities to consider when spicing up the way you use your vibrato arm but, as Petrucci says, “Whammy bar technique is one of those ways you can make the guitar sound bad,” so be discerning. There are a variety of approaches to incorporating unique whammy methods into your playing: creating “the Horse” whinny made famous by Eddie Van Halen; Allan Holdsworth’s approach of using the system to slide into notes; and even more avant-garde techniques, like some of Petrucci’s tricks.

Watch the video above to see Petrucci demonstrate some of his favorite whammy bar tricks, demo the new Ernie Ball Music Man JP16, and discuss his favorite vibrato systems.

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