wah-wah
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- noun (noun) A wavering sound made by covering and uncovering the bell of a trumpet or trombone.
- adjective (noun) A similar sound made by using an electronic attachment, such as a foot pedal on an electric guitar.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun (noun) The Bornean gibbon, Hylobates leuciscus.
Examples
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The Ebene Quartet's latest release, 'Fiction' Virgin Classics, documents just about everything these four musicians like to do in jazz—from accompanying soprano Natalie Dessay's vocals in Harold Arlen's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' to producing funk and wah-wah guitar effects on 17th-century Italian violins while zipping through the 'Ocean's 12' theme with drummer Richard Hery.
Barrymore Laurence Scherer, 'An Eclectic Quartet With Elan,' The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2011
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Mayer was an acoustician and sonic wave engineer for the Admiralty, a civil servant in the Ministry of Defence, but also an inventor of various electronic musical devices, including an improved wah-wah pedal and the 'Octavia' guitar effect with its unique 'doubling' effect.
Ed Vulliamy, 'Jimi Hendrix: You never told me he was that good,' The Guardian, August 7, 2010
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Improvised tangents, parade-strutting antics and an unusually colorful mix of stylistic allusions - everything from seminal jazz brass groans and smears to wah-wah pedal funk and dissonant baritone sax outbursts - came into play.
Mike Joyce, 'In concert: Trombone Shorty at 9:30 Club,' The Washington Post, August 16, 2010
Note
‘Wah-wah’ is imitative in origin.
