Difference between wah wah and wammy?

Answer 1

Wah is an affect usually obtained through the use of a pedal that literally makes the guitar make a 'wah' sound every time a note or chord is played, and when used properly can sound very cool.

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A whammy bar temporarily decreases tension on the strings which creates a different type of vibrato, basically in reverse, again when used properly can make a variety of cool noises.

The tremolo as it is well know does have a whammy bar on it. This is how the guitarist controls it. All tremolo's are spring loaded. This allows the trem to either pull the strings tighter( higher pitch) or back off(lowers the pitch) them. The wah pedal is a totally different effect. Where as the whammy controls pitch the wah controls tone. The wah was accidentally invented and was said to make a guitar talk like a human.

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The previous answer is very misleading.

First of all, while some people have referred to the arm on the bridge of certain Guitars as a "tremolo bar" or the entire bridge as a "tremolo bridge", that is incorrect.

Tremolo describes fluctuations in volume, such as when a guitarist plays a note or chord and then turns the volume knob up and down quickly, creating a pulsing effect.

The correct term for that bridge on Fender Stratocasters and many "superstrat"-type guitars is vibrato. That bridge allows the guitarist to change the tension of the strings while playing, altering pitch -- which is what vibrato is. That's why when a guitarist pulls and releases the strings on a guitar, that is also called vibrato.

Now, when you say "whammy", it can refer to a "whammy bar" (a colloquialism referring to a guitar's vibrato bar), or it can refer to the DigiTech Whammy effect pedal, which does more extreme versions of pitch-shifting, such as full octaves (eg. U2's "Even Better than the Real Thing", The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army").

A wah pedal does not alter pitch. It alters the EQ (treble/mid/bass) content of the sound, the "tone". It's still the same note, only now it has a different timbre because you might be emphasizing the low frequencies rather than the high, or vice versa. A whammy effect changes pitch. These two effects are not interchangeable.