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How To Play A Solo With A Wah Pedal: Best Wah-Wah Guitar Tips

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Learning how to play a solo with a wah pedal will help you get the MOST out of your guitar effects pedals! This popular expression pedal is great for many styles of music, and it's easy and FUN to use!

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There are three main ways in which you can use your wah-wah pedal to create cool sound effects during your guitar solos. 1) You can rock the pedal "in time", just like you would tap your foot to a song in quarter beats. 2) You can "ignore" the TIMING of the song and SHAPE your notes, regardless of the down beat. 3) You can SHRED mindlessly while letting your subconscious mind control the wah pedal!

Strawberry Cupcake the Groupie says:

"Nathan's personal favorite is number 3: shredding mindlessly! He thinks it impresses the most girls!"

When we learn how to play a solo with a wah pedal, we will FIRST look into each of the above methods one at a time. Then, we will use a combination of ALL THREE methods to create the most comprehensive and diverse wah wah guitar solo of all time! (maybe not ALL time - Jimi Hendrix already staked claim on THAT one and I would be afraid to take enough LSD required to reproduce it!)

How To Play A Solo With A Wah Pedal Method #1: "Rocking In Time With The Beat"

Many lead guitar phrases sound best when simply tapping your foot on your wah pedal to the rhythm of the music! If you are used to tapping your foot while you play, this should come easy!

Play Example 1 by pressing into the TOE position "in time" with the quarter beats:

Example 1:

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How To Play A Solo With A Wah Pedal Method #2: Placing Emphasis on Certain Notes, Regardless of the Down Beat

Placing emphasis on certain notes involves shaping the notes regardless of the beat. Move the pedal to the toe position just as soon as you pick EACH note. Or, pick the notes while in the toe position, then switch to the heel position between notes.

Unlike method #1, which creates a more rhythmic wah wah sound for our guitar solos, THIS method creates a more VOCAL sound for our solos. If you want to emulate the "talking" sound this expression pedal is known for, this is the best method by which to achieve that effect.

Example 2:

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"What the deuce?"

Example 3 illustrates how to emphasize certain notes by going to the toe position only during higher notes and "sucking your lower notes down into the void" using the heel position as your vacuum-space/time-displacer. I think someone made one for you!

Example 3:

Click tablature to enlarge

Method #3: Shredding Mindlessly And Using Your Wah Pedal Subconsciously

Shredding mindlessly while rocking your wah-wah is not a trick for the weary! The exact placement of your wah pedal tilts doesn't matter, but the SHRED does. Using OTHER guitar effects pedals while using this method can help add depth to your sound. Try adding a little delay to the mix.

Example 4:

Click tablature to enlarge

Putting It All Together

The time has come, Imminent Master of Wah Pedal Device and Future Rock Star, to introduce to you the opportunity to create the most comprehensive wah pedal solo of all time! Do THIS and soon you will be teaching other "lesser" rock stars how to play guitar solos!

Click tablature to enlarge:

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