tommy emmanuel trick

l0calb0y91

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Location
Honolulu
hey, anyone out there know how to do a technique or trick that tommy does in a couple of his videos on youtube. its where he plays a chord, then makes liek a wavy sound by moving his guitar back and forth it seems like. i've tried that but I think there is something is missing that i didnt catch.

thanks!
 
If it's what I think you are talking about, all he's doing is bending the neck to simulate a tremolo bar on an electric guitar. Don't go breaking your neck now. Just a little back and forth bending action will do it.
 
I think I saw the one where he does that in front of a mic... this causes a "wavy" sound that alternates between louder/softer as the face of the guitar moves in respect to the mic. Is that the one you ar talking about?
 
i was just playing with this sound a bit, and done like on the video I saw, you have to let go of your left hand to do it. I got a similar sound by bouncing my strumming hand in front of the soundhole (but not striking the uke), and it seemed more controllable produces a pretty neat wavy sound like you describe.
 
Last edited:
yup

If it's what I think you are talking about, all he's doing is bending the neck to simulate a tremolo bar on an electric guitar. Don't go breaking your neck now. Just a little back and forth bending action will do it.

i tried your method and it works! haha, thanks everyone for their input.
im working on classical gas so i wanted to add that effect in.

have any of you guys tried classical gas, angelina or tall fiddler before?
 
I think I saw the one where he does that in front of a mic... this causes a "wavy" sound that alternates between louder/softer as the face of the guitar moves in respect to the mic. Is that the one you ar talking about?

Yeah, I love that, I saw Jake do it in one of his DVDs
 
It's definitely from bending the neck. If you don't know much about guitars...inside the neck, there's a big rod called the truss rod. When you bend the neck, it sort of removes the effect of the truss rod a bit by making it uneven or something of the sort. It takes some time to get the pressure right, because if you go too hard, it might go and stay out of tune...and it sounds nasty.
 
It is not bending the neck.... don't ever bend the neck if you value your guitar. You can do exactly what Tommy does by just shaking the guitar. There is no damage done in the process. I have done it many times over the years... it is the way I end "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" on both guitar and uke. I also do it once in a while on my original songs.
 
Top Bottom