The difference between a Floyd Rose and a (Strat?) bridge?

Oh, I agree with you Vic, 99% of the time I bend with my fingers, but every once in a while I can't help but use my whammy bar for a dive bomb or a bluesy vibrato. There are some things you can with a whammy bar that you just can't do without one (bending entire chords for example). Then again, if you don't have a whammy bar but use a whammy pedal, you're pretty much set.

I've often marveled at how Jimi Hendrix could use that standard trem so hard and still play in tune.

Quite often Jimi didn't play in tune. I've heard more than one person say during a live performance Jimi spent alot of time tuning between songs, almost to the point of ruining the experience.

Guys - ever heard of bending strings? Vibrato? it's all down to technique.....some day I'll get me some technique.....

But surely it's better to learn to bend notes than to rely on a whammy bar? Surely it's better to learn the correct technique first, then experiment with tremolo....

I guess I'm sort of the musical equivalent of a Luddite, except I couldn't use an amp without gain/delayreverb and chorus....but I'd rather try and play the notes PROPERLY without a whammy bar than guess at them and use a whammy bar....

Using the whammy bar is a technique in itself. You can keep doing hammer ons and pull offs while wailing on it. Don't think you can do that just by bending the strings.

I'm not sure if there is a bending technique I don't know about but with bends the notes go up in pitch. You can't bend a note down to pitch with your finger. With whammy bars, you can bend down and if your tremolo is unblocked, bend up as well.

As has been said, you can't bend notes down without using a neck bend or whammy bar. And you can't bend chords beyond a certain extent without a whammy full stop.

Pre-bends can be a pretty good alternative to bending down with a whammy. Gargling on the other hand, I can't see people doing without a whammy to slap. :wink:

I always thought prebends had quite a distinctive sound to them. Different to that done by a whammy. Maybe it's something to do with the length or tension of the string.