Then, in the 1960s, engineers created the first wah pedals to give this sound to guitars. Ī similar effect was first used in the early twentieth century by trombonists and trumpet players, who realized that they could get a somewhat “weepy” sound by closing and opening the front of their instrument with their hands. As a result, when using a wah pedal, the musician can give movement to his sound, making it less static and more exciting and expressive.
It produces an effect similar to vowel changes in the human voice that no other instrument has. Wah pedals create a peak that slides across the frequency spectrum from the lows to the highs. 4 Readings that you may like: What do wah wah pedals do?