What is this called and who uses it?

[cactusrob]

Can someone point to a particular portion of a popular lead solo or post a sound file for those of us who don't read music? Though I have probably heard it before, I'm dying to know what the "wheedle in question" sounds like exactly...

[charlie chitlin]

There's TAB there, too.

[MondoGuitar]

That's a classic Wheedle you've heard a ton of times. I've seen it used variously in live solos on Youtube by everyone from Pagey and Jimi to EVH and Satriani. The reason it's so common is because of it's easy-to-grab shape within minor pentatonic box 1. Heck, you'll even see variations on that one coming from way back guys like Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore. It's a foundation lick IMO, I'm sure every guitarist has played some version of it at least twice. :)

Awesome sounding when played well in context. If you do it right the accent changes with each iteration so it has a polyrhythmic effect. Also a lot of people will bend the lowermost note as they ascend up the swept 3.

[cactusrob]

Oh yeah, I didn't even notice the tab...thanks! I think I'll go "wheedle" a while...

[davie blue]

Wheedlie wheedlie made me think of the strong bad email about guitars ... any Homestar fans know what I'm talking about? I'd post a link but I think that's frowned on ....

Anyway, Strong Bad did some guitar onomatopoeias like that. JUG Jiggity JUG Jiggity JUG for rhythm and the lead went meedly meedly meedly meedly MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Sorry to go on a tangent there, but that memory made me laugh.

[JTM45blues]

Its also quite popular in West Coast Swing Blues guitar to repeat a phrase, or come back to a certain motif. Think Hollywood Fats or even Junior Watson, and the father of that style of guitar, T-Bone Walker.

I don't consider it "wheedlie-wheedlie", I'd consider it "repetition for emphasis". When playing certain styles of music and certain cover songs, its good to be respectful of the genre and play things that sound like the genre.

For instance in playing a Jump blues tune, it wouldn't be appropriate to go into Van Halen style tapping with a loud, distorted "Brown tone" with a wah, a phaser and a guitar with a bridge pickup and a wang bar.

[Swine]

they've all used it. Beck, Clapton, Page, Slash, Hendrix, SRV....

which leads me to my question. i've noticed a bit of coughing amongst the audience here, sneering at the thought that some dude can get up in the club and whip this lick out and non-guitar playing types basically wanna suck him off....well

a)is it the repeditiveness of the lick that you don't like? or b) is it that its an old trick?

if a) then would you sneer at a slow motif repeated over several chords in a tasteful manner

if b) isn't the blues just an old trick?


i quite like this lick. makes me sound like a bloody legend

[MondoGuitar]

Just watched an old Steve Trovato DVD, lo and behold -- he starts off with this one. Ha. If it's good enough for a bigcity badass like Steve it's good enough for me. I'm with Swine, it's a good lick if you can play it properly. :)