The tremolo bar for the majority of guitarists has been a source of both great joy, and in many cases the cause of a great deal of pain. When it works the way you want it can give your solos a life of their own and produce sounds that can’t be produced any other way. If you use one then you’ll know instantly what I’m talking about when say they can cause you great pain, and I’m referring mainly to two things – the bar not being in the right place when you need it (or in the way), and the most common, every time you use it your guitar goes out of tune.

How do you master your tremolo bar then? Here are a few tips to get you on your way…

When learning how to play guitar solos with a tremolo bar the key as is with everything else on the guitar, is control. You must know what you want to achieve with it before you use it, and that way you can practice specific techniques to give you all the control you’ll ever need.

Firstly, let’s control the tuning and action issues. You can easily adjust tremolos by playing around with the springs in the back, as sometimes the standard settings aren’t exactly what they should be. To adjust it from the back, remove the backing plate on your guitar if it has one, and check out the springs. If the tension is too tight then try taking one spring out and see how that works for you (warning – when you do this it slackens the strings and makes it harder to play fast, but it also lets you pull off extreme bends, so play around with it.).

When the tension of your strings feel right then it’s time to check the action. Ideally the bar should be parallel to the strings and the strings should be as close to the fret board as possible without causing any fret buzz or noise in the notes. If the action is not quite right then you can easily change this by grabbing a screw driver and adjusting the screws in the plate that holds the springs (be careful to adjust them both evenly or you’ll have problems with the top and bottom strings having different heights on the neck.

Once you have your guitar in tune with pre stretched strings and the tension and the action are right, you have the best chance of it staying in tune when you constantly bend the strings.

With the bar itself, if you have a bar that screws in then don’t tighten it all the way. Tighten it first then release it a little so it hangs freely, and this will keep it both out of the way when you don’t need it, and be easily accessible when you do. The right height for the bar is up to you, but a good rule of thumb is a height that enables you to hold it while picking the strings at the same time.

How to play guitar solos using tremolo bar techniques.

There are a few different techniques you can use with the tremolo bar, but here we will cover Vibrato, Dives, Squeals, Dips and Flutters. This should be enough to spice up any solo, and if practiced slowly with complete control you’ll have a whole load of flashy techniques ready to use at will!

Vibrato – This can be used in a variety of ways but after playing, or even while playing the note, hold the bar with your last two fingers in your right hand (if a right handed player) and gently press the bar in then release continually in whichever way you wish. This can be a subtle movement or have a range of attack depending on the desired effect.

Dives – This is usually a more drastic approach and calls for a fearless movement. Strike the desired note and then depress the bar in a smooth even motion until it reaches the note you’re looking for. You can even take it to the limit and go until the strings are loose and scraping the pickups, but play around with it and get the feel for what your guitar is capable of and how it sounds (especially afterwards – does it stay in tune?).

Squeals – This can be played as the reverse of the Dive, and can be done with or without the harmonic (It is not called a squeal without the harmonic but still has a great effect). To do this, simply play a natural harmonic in either 5^th, 7^th or 12^th positions while the bar is fully depressed from the Dive, and raise the bar again to the point it sits at naturally, or go beyond and reef the bar up as far as you can take it for maximum effect! This creates a squealing sound, perfect for rock and metal solos. For the best effect keep your strings fairly new as they have a greater elasticity, if you have old strings you may find it harder to pull the bar upwards without breaking the strings.

Dips – This is like a mild version of the dive but it has a completely different feel to it. As you are about to play the note, depress the bar slightly and as you play the note, ease the bar back to the original position. The sound is a dreamy sort of effect and can add a lot of emotion to any solo. So once again choose your note, dip the bar slightly, play the note and ease the bar back at the same time.

Flutters – This is an aggressive technique and one that not a lot of guitarists use, or use well. It’s aggressive because you actually smack the bar to create a ‘fluttering’ sound, which can’t really be described. You do this by playing the desired note and immediately after, smacking the tremolo bar on the end so your hand just clips it and then falls off the end. This slightly bends the note and as your hand lets go, the bar springs back to the original position. If you have ever hit a taught spring with a stick you know the coiled sound it makes before it settles, this amplified is what a flutter sounds like.

There are a few more techniques than this but these are the main ones that the others derive from, so while learning how to play guitar solos, practice these in a controlled way and you’ll have some awesome techniques you can draw from when the time comes.