Why does a wah sound so funky ?.

BumbleB

I personally dont know .Maybe someone might know.

jtsuited

best question ever asked on this forum.

edit: same reason rick james was.

madtheory

jtsuited wrote: »

same reason rick james was.

That's precisely correct.

henessjon

oo is jick rames

henessjon

a rhetorical q

Rockshamrover

BumbleB wrote: »

I personally dont know .Maybe someone might know.

This guy knows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAa5rP64YbQ

frobisher

My first extended exposure to wah wah was through guys I knew playing it. They played in rock bands and it didn't sound funky to me then. It certainly does now though so I guess there is a degree of association.

But funk needs rhythm (understatement of the year!) and it's help when that rhythm has a looseness and can slide around in a suitable slinky fashion. Wah wah pedal helps the sound do that AND with the foot it adds a third rhythmic element to the left and right hand. But that still doesn't really answer it, does it?! :cool::cool::cool:

Welease

BumbleB wrote: »

I personally dont know .Maybe someone might know.

If you need to ask.. then you wouldn't understand...





or something...

BumbleB

Welease wrote: »

If you need to ask.. then you wouldn't understand...





or something...

Another question is why do people post ridiculous responses ?.


Anyhow ,I think that because the wah is depressed by the foot it is always going to be lagging the beat and that could be why it sounds funky.Dont know but if anybody has any good answers please go ahead and post.:)

Welease

BumbleB wrote: »

Another question is why do people post ridiculous responses ?.

Boredom generally.....

I don't think there is any technical explanation of why it sounds funky, other than it is used a lot of funky/70's/porno music and your brain associates it with that style

Savman

The first rule of funk club...

splitrmx

A wahwah pedal is basically a band pass filter with a bit of resonance turned up, right? I think the human ear just likes the changes of sound when you filter a signal like that. Moving the cutoff frequency of a filter on a synth up and down while playing a note sounds "funky" also. It's just an interesting effect to our ears I suppose.

That's my boring science answer. But how does science explain Rick James?

jtsuited

BumbleB wrote: »

Another question is why do people post ridiculous responses ?.


Anyhow ,I think that because the wah is depressed by the foot it is always going to be lagging the beat and that could be why it sounds funky.Dont know but if anybody has any good answers please go ahead and post.:)

ok here it comes, may as well give you a (semi) serious answer:

wah is essentially just a filter sweep across a specific part of the midrange with a specific resonance.

The precise resonance amount of and the frequencies which it spans, are similar to the formants your mouth creates when pushing air through lips that formed an O. Open your mouth from this position and you get the 'wah' sound.

So how is that funky?
Well wow-wow sounds like quite a primitive verbal communication to me, actually It's one of the first sounds that we learn to create as new-borns (think of a baby crying), so there's something very primeval about it.

So when we hear that kind of semi-human type phenomena in rhytmic music, something stirs in us.
Probably because as humans we react quite significantly to babies' crying (what with it being beneficial to our survival to keep our offspring healthy until they are at reproduction age).

So the reason wah is so funky is because our hearing is designed to be very sensitive to children crying and so therefore it stimulates us quite significantly to hear similar formants in music.

jtsuited

splitrmx wrote: »

But how does science explain Rick James?

C17H21NO4

Some of you might know what that means, before you even google it. in which case, you're going to hell!

BumbleB

I know all about the science, bandpass filters,give me a load of resistors caps a pot and a fasel inductor and I'll build you a crybaby.Rick james was well dodgy looking though;)

RealEstateKing

I called up Dr. Funkenstein at his laboratory , where ha was in the middle of cookin' up some funky- ass ****.

And he said apparently its the interstellar groove that the Space Monkeys are sending down over the ether to git yo ass funkified.

Apparently he's working on some research in that area at the moment. We'll have to wait till it's been through peer review over at the University of Funk.

However preliminary word in the Funk community is that this one is Da Bomb.

frobisher

BumbleB wrote: »

Another question is why do people post ridiculous responses ?.

It wasn't much of a joke, but I wouldn't over react to it. It wasn't THAT ridiculous and it made me smile. But if you really must know then you can start here: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/english-idioms-sayings/63180-if-you-have-ask.html

Jtsuited:

.....the reason wah is so funky is because our hearing is designed to be very sensitive to children crying....

I have no idea whether to hi the LOL or the OMG emoticon.

I think my answer is by far the best :p:p

seannash

2 pages of mentioninf rick james and noone has thrown this clip up

http://www.pp2g.tv/vZnB6YnQ_.aspx

Anima

My explaination is, as someone else said, it sounds funky because its associated with funk music. A lot of people associate distortion with rock/metal music (i.e. that angry music :P) but its used in more ambient/laid back forms of music as well (Tim Hecker being a good example). I absolutely hate people associating certain sounds with types of music. It's that type of pidgeon-holing and typecasting that leads to the current crop of shit we have today in the charts, where only familiar sounds are welcome which stagnates any sort of progress.

FlipperThePriest

The history of "The Funk" by Old Gregg....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZwRQDNIPog

This pretty much answers all!

TelePaul

The early 60s wahs had funkified transistors - in some cases, 60% more funky than conventional electronics. Look for them on e-bay, they crop up now and then. Hendrix played one. And that other guy, Clyde McCoy.

On a more serious note, I think a phaser is a far funkier tool when used well; I can't help but wonder if someone surprised Joe Strummer with a phaser right before London Calling, because there's rampant phaser all over that album.

BumbleB

Thanks everybody for replying ,still as confused as ever .The thing has so much soul its unbelievable and it so much fun to play .:)

Ardent

The first time I became accutely aware of the wah-wah pedal was when I first heard the solo to Sweet Child O' Mine. The latter part of that solo where Slash really kicks it up is just masterful, appropriate use of the wah-wah pedal - I was gobsmacked at this incredible guitar sound eminating from my speakers.

(The same album opened my ears to the power of the Dean Marley talk box too)

BumbleB

I think the defining moment for wah was voodo chile or fools gold.

Irish Guitarist

The wah was originally developed to make a guitar sound like a trumpet. I guess the trumpet is a funky instrument.

Welease

BumbleB wrote: »

I think the defining moment for wah was voodo chile or fools gold.

For me.. Elephant Stone (live) blows Fools Gold out of the water.. and that isnt even a funky tune.. much heavier agressive wah

Ardent

BumbleB wrote: »

voodo chile

Great call.