Not to be a complainer, but somebody has to say it. I see countless videos and hear audio clips from guys with Gretsches, or other guitars, demo-ing their new pickups, amp, what have you....they play a few licks, then at the end , grab the Bigsby and depress it to some unknown Indian quartertone pitch, then just wiggle the bejeeebus out of it til the note dies.

And most of these guys are good players otherwise.

The Bigsby isnt just a neat sound effect, it is meant to allow you to slide up or down , into or out of, notes and chords, by a half step, and for the really adventurous, MAYBE you can get a full step.

(a half step is one fret)

It is supposed to sound musical, and in tune, like a vocalist.

There.

You forgot to add "in my opinion".

I love Bigsbys! And sometimes I just love to wiggle the bejeeezus outa it. And sometimes, I just wanna do a little half step. I love Bigsbys! (IMO)

Music is art whether we like it or not.

Hmm- I use it as a vibrato on Sleepwalk, Stars On The Water and A Pirate Looks at Forty, to name a few, and more as a slider on Walk Don't Run, Apache, etc.

Also, the Bigs gets to be both a slider and a vibrato in Ghost Riders, so to my mind, both uses have their place.

Dont get me wrong, just mild vibrato is great, but it should be in tune....OK, I meant half step or qauarter step...

So THAT's why the guitar goes out of tune when I press that handle thingie... !!

To me the Bigsby is like the cool 4-speed stickshift I had in a Sunbeam Alpine I once owned. Sooner or later ya just gotta abuse it!

I agree when it comes to the "little bigsby shake at the end of a phrase or song", it's almost an annoying little tic with a lot of people.

But I really disagree with the "it's supposed to sound in tune" and all that, when it comes to whammy bars.

I'll let Ike Turner demonstrate the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Hey, the way I look at it is that there is no right nor wrong way to use it. Make your own sound. Push the limits. I use mine for slight accents but that's me. If no one ever pushed the limits or did there own thing half of the music today would not exist. Other than that I agree.

Been thinking 'bout the way generally use it, and although there are bound to be exceptions, I beleive I have arrived at a rule of thumb that applies to most of what I do with it. To wit:

The higher the reverb setting, the gentler the whamm(y)...

I use mine in many different ways including deep dips, gentle vibrato, steel pulls, half step bends up and down, etc. On many tunes, I don't use it at all. It is a brush to be used by the artist on their musical canvas as he or she sees fit (IMHO).

I use mine in many different ways including deep dips, gentle vibrato, steel pulls, half step bends up and down, etc. On many tunes, I don't use it at all. It is a brush to be used by the artist on his nusical canvas as he or she sees fit (IMHO).

Ditto.

I only use it for pinch harmonic squeely dive bombs myself.

I thought I didn't have that Ike Turner cut, but I was mistaken. It took some looking, though - I've got nine CD's of his work without Tina. Great stuff.

I've never heard anyone farting about on a Bigsby in the manner described.

Anyone who tells me the "correct" way to use a musical instrument doesn't feel about music the same way that I do.

Self expression.

I love the fact that we all have a chance to express our own creativity with our music and our wiggle sticks.

That's self abuse.

Sad to say, but I'm not a good bigsbier at all. I use it for a little gentle vibrato here and there, but it seems all too easy to overdo it into boingy boingy buzz kill territory.

I totally agree... and I'm talking about Utube vids (demos/reviews) where the Bigs isn't mentioned till the very end and demonstrated in the described manner. I cringe. Of course there's a million ways to use the Bigs and no one way is necessarily the "correct" way, but some people just don't know what to do with one.

The only reason I have bigsbys on my guitars is to make the people I jam with envious that they don't have one. I actually just grab the handle but don't do anything with it, just to freak them out.

Most people are envious of my wiggle stick.

It's my wiggle stick and I'll abuse it if I want to . . .