Origin of Names
Historically, some electric guitarists have reversed the normal meanings of the terms vibrato and tremolo when referring to hardware devices and the effects they produce. This reversal of terminology is generally attributed to Leo Fender and the naming of the Fender "Vibroverb" amplifier, which actually used tremolo (rapid volume changes) in an attempt to create a vibrato-like (rapid changes in pitch) sound. See vibrato unit for details of the history of these terms in relation to electric guitar, and related issues. Ironically, Fender had previously introduced the "Tremolux" amplifier in 1953, which used the correct terminology.
While the (so-called) "tremolo arm" can produce variations of pitch including what is normally termed vibrato, it can never produce the effect normally known as tremolo (modulation of volume). Tremolo, on the other hand, is exactly the effect produced by the electronic vibrato units built into many classic guitar amplifiers. Other widely used names for the device include "vibrato bar" and "whammy bar", the latter named in reference to guitarist Lonnie Mack's aggressive, rapid manipulation of the pitch-bending device in his 1963 song "Wham!".
Read more about this topic: Vibrato Systems For Guitar
Famous quotes containing the words origin of, origin and/or names:
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“There are certain books in the world which every searcher for truth must know: the Bible, the Critique of Pure Reason, the Origin of Species, and Karl Marx’s Capital.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“The world is a puzzling place today. All these banks sending us credit cards, with our names on them. Well, we didn’t order any credit cards! We don’t spend what we don’t have. So we just cut them in half and throw them out, just as soon as we open them in the mail. Imagine a bank sending credit cards to two ladies over a hundred years old! What are those folks thinking?”
—Sarah Louise Delany (b. 1889)