You'll quickly find out that there is a lot more to using the whammy bar than just hitting a note and pressing down! Here's how to use your tremelo arm to create the sounds you want.

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Tremolo arms can be used to create a range of sounds in music:

Vibrato, when they are pulled up and down
Pitch bend, when pulled and held in one direction
Portamento, where your whammy bar is used to slide between pitches

To do a downward pitch bend with your whammy bar:

Bend a note down on the fret board
Point your whammy bar directly towards the headstock
Play the note and then gently push the bar down towards the body of the guitar.

To do an upward pitch bend with your tremelo arm:

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Bend a note on the fret board up.
If you have a Fender or Bigsby bridge, point the whammy bar towards the bottom of your guitar (away from the headstock). Then play the note and gently push down on the whammy bar
If you have a floating bridge, leave your whammy bar pointing at a comfortable angle, and pull up on the bar.

To play a vibrato note with your tremolo arm, you need to have an electric guitar with a floating bridge. Some types of guitars (with Fender style or Bigsby style bridges) will be ruined by pulling up on the whammy bar.

Play a note
Move the tremolo arm backwards and forwards quickly, to create a shuddering effect

You will find that using your tremelo arm often causes the strings to go out of tune. Using a guitar with a Floyd Rose locking tremolo arm will fix this problem, but you can also help prevent the problem by lubricating the area where the strings rest in the nut. You can lubricate the nut with one of two methods:

Buy a tube of 'Nut Sauce' from a guitar supplies shop, and apply a tiny bit to each string rest of the nut, as directed on the tube.
Remove the strings from the nut, and use a soft greylead pencil to 'color' in the string rests. The lead will lubricate the nut.

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