Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get it On' - Where'd the 'Wah' Pedal Come From? #music

For clarity & context: this video is about the wah PEDAL introduced in the mid-1960s, not the origin of the sound itself, which has been credited to several different early jazz musicians. Vox named their "wah" guitar pedal after Clyde McCoy when it was introduced in 1967. However, McCoy's name was only used for promotion and had nothing to do with the use or development of the pedal. Clyde McCoy's "Sugar Blues" was performed in 1930 and recorded in 1931. However, a number of black jazz musicians have all been credited with originating the characteristic wah-wah using a mute in the early 1920s. They include: Tricky Sam Nanton, Johnny Dunn, Bubber Miley, and King Oliver. Recordings do not exist for all of these artists, so determining the first ever use would be impossible; to say nothing of finding accurate dates for all the performances that would have predated any recordings. So we may never find the *first* person to ever use a mute, but the more one studies American popular music, the more one notes certain patterns about how credits are given and perpetuated. We may never find "Lamont Hatfield" but we're pretty sure of his existence.

xx,
LUXXURY

P.S. Humans have been putting their hands over their mouths to alter the sound of their voice for tens (hundreds?) of thousands of years. Tracking the "first" anything is a fairly elusive concept.

P.P.S. The really interesting and illuminating stories in history are not necessarily about who was first, but rather about the fight for who gets to profit from that claim; and how many pioneers got arrows in their backs. The second rat gets the cheese, as the saying goes.

P.P.P.S. This video is a 59 second excerpt from an hour long podcast; there was a lot said right before and a lot said right after, for anyone who might be interested in the context of this clip.

*****

On the latest episode of One Song, out now on Spotify & Apple Podcasts, we dig DEEP into the stems and stories inside the making of “Let’s Get it On”, the sexiest song ever by the sexiest man ever, aside from Diallo and/or myself

This clip is from the ONE SONG Podcast with Diallo & LUXXURY
out now on Spotify & Apple Podcasts:

[lamarrnanton]

The wah wah sound was invented by my grandfather tricky Sam Nanton. A simple wickedpedia search will confirm this. This was developing the 1920’s. Love your show.

[stespfr]

This picture of Madonna and the quote is just legendary.

[coffeebeann]

Once again gotta say love the stuff you guys put out (:

[danloeser]

No one ever claimed he invented that trumpet technique, he was just a popular artist who used it. The missing remainder of the story is that in the 60's, his name was licensed for the first guitar wah pedal. He had no other involvement in it. But that's what he means by "origin of the wah." It's not very clear wording.

[pixelrancher]

Lamont Hatfield.
Give credit to the man.

[CalifornianCuttlefish]

fun fact: that opening guitar riff was done by music teacher Don Peake.

[JKweez]

Imagine if a black scientist discovered something groundbreaking in his lab, and some podcaster said "I'm just gonna throw this out there... As it is science, there was probably an Asian scientist he stole that from."

[erbl-hd]

Oh no don't you dare credit a w w w w white guy! What color was the guy who invented the trumpet? And basically every other instrument? And every device used for playing and recording music?

[acousticboy]

I knew that guy was gonna be salty and say it was a black guy first with zero evidence

[izmo]

i didn't even realize "let's get it on" had wah wah until this video. for me, the melody is what makes it memorable not the wah wah sound. even tho wah wah is joked about as in "boom chicka wah wah, " the songs that i first think of as the epitome of wah wah are "voodoo chile slight return" and "bulls on parade, " neither of which is particularly comical. a song that i think does employ the humorous wah wah sound to great effect is barry white's "love's theme."

[Sneakycat]

The reason why the wah sound is associated with sexuality: a comedian that only really achieved mainstream success on the old talent show from the 80s called Star Search had a joke about it. A lot of people watched that show and heard the joke so it became a thing people would say when referencing something sexual. Back in the 70s, using the wah pedal was trendy so a lot of porn had this guitar effect in the background music

[TheTensilk]

Rarely do I post on this guys and their YT shorts but in all honesty, I'm shocked that two self procalimed pop "music YouTube historians" DON'T KNOW the origins of one of THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTIONS in Jazz music: the mute, commonly known as the Harmon mute.

The ORIGIN OF THE WAH does indeed come from jazz, specifically New Orleans jazz impressario King Oliver:

Joseph 19, 1881[1] – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wrote many tunes still played today, including "Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz". He was the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong. His influence was such that Armstrong claimed, "if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today."[2]

Google is your friend, esp if you know what to ask... or you could just, you know, know your Jazz history!
💯🎺🎷🎵🎶

[Soul]

Lamont Hatfield is now my biggest musical inspiration.

[Wormhole_in_Cyberspace]

Self loathing is what social media is all about ! Great stuff! Oh wait... 😅😅

[grahamykins]

One was a trumpet player, the other a trombonist. let each have their thing.

[zombievikinggaming]

Black guys invented everything as we all know

[dbsuper]

Damn Clyde can’t get no recognition 😂 i like to imagine Clyde as the creator of the idea and he pissed in his grave right now

[Mr_Flerb]

Man, I found this channel ten minutes ago and have been devouring shorts, and sadly now I’ve come to this bit of credibility-destroying idiocy.

[tcroosevelt]

It's nice to try to highlight those who have been glossed over. There's some old folks that would argue black people never contribute anything positive to society and ignore what has been done. Sometimes this is just to notify the youth there's things out there that's been done. T he culture was helped shaped and there's things to be proud of.

[JimTruly]

Lamont Hatfield is my new emcee/rapper name… straight up. 😂