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Wah-wah (or wa-wa) is an imitative word (or
onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...
) for the sound of altering the resonance of musical notes to extend expressiveness, sounding much like a human voice saying the syllable ''wah''. The wah-wah effect is a spectral glide, a "modification of the vowel quality of a tone".


Etymology

The word is derived from the sound of the effect itself; an imitative or onomatopoeia word. The effect's "wa-wa" sound was noted by jazz player
Barney Bigard Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone. Biography Bigard was born in New Orleans to Creole parents, Ale ...
when he heard Tricky Sam Nanton use the effect on his trombone in the early 1920s.


History


Acoustic

The wah-wah effect is believed to have originated in the 1920s, with brass instrument players finding they could produce an expressive crying tone by moving a mute, or plunger, in and out of the instrument's bell. In 1921, trumpet player
Johnny Dunn Johnny Dunn (February 19, 1897 – August 20, 1937) was an American traditional jazz trumpeter and vaudeville performer, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He is probably best known for his work during the 1920s with musicians such as ...
's use of this style inspired Tricky Sam Nanton to use the mute with the trombone.


Electronic

By the early 1960s, the sound of the acoustic technique had been emulated with electronic circuitry. For electric guitar the wah-wah pedal was invented.


Technique

The method of production varies from one type of instrument to another. On brass instruments, it is usually created by means of a mute, particularly with the harmon (also called a "wa-wa" mute) or plunger mute. Woodwind instruments may use " false fingerings" to produce the effect. Any electrified instrument may use an auxiliary signal-processing device, or pedal. Often it is controlled by movement of the player's foot on a rocking pedal connected to a
potentiometer A potentiometer is a three- terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrum ...
. An alternative to players directly controlling the amount of effect is an ' auto-wah'. These devices, usually make harder hit notes more trembly with a more prominent wah wah effect. Wah-wah effects are often used for soloing or for creating a "wacka-wacka" funk rhythm on guitar. Although these electronic means are most often on electric guitar, they are also often used on
electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...
.


Theory

The wah-wah effect is produced by periodically bringing in and out of play
treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...
frequencies while a note is sustained. Therefore, the effect is a type of spectral glide, a "modification of the vowel quality of a tone". The Electronic wah-wah effects are produced by controlling tone filters with a pedal. An envelope follower circuit is used in the ' auto-wah'. Subtractive synthesis can produce a similar effect.


Notable uses

Tricky Sam Nanton's wah-wah on trombone in
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...
's Orchestra became well known as part of the so-called "jungle" effects of the band in the late 1920s. This technique has been used in contemporary music.
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...
notates the use of the wah-wah mute in his '' Punkte'' (1952/1962) in terms of transitions between open to close using open and closed circles connected by a line. Although the most common method of producing wah-wah on brass instruments is with a mute, some players have used electronic filtering, notably
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
on trumpet.


See also

*
Wah-wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The p ...
* Muted trumpet * Mute (music) * Subtractive synthesis * Porn groove


References


Sources

* * * * * *


Further reading

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External links


A YouTube video of electric guitar played with a Wah-wah pedal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wah-Wah (Music) Musical performance techniques de:Dämpfer (Musikinstrument)#Blechblasinstrumente