I’d say it’s “yes” to both: it’s more challenging to play at louder volumes, and it’s also something you get used to. In fact, it’s something you can get addicted to.
I find that playing a loud amplifier is a different experience from playing a quiet amp, or playing through headphones, or playing through studio monitors. The music feels “all around you.” You’ve got air moving, and the guitar seems more alive and sensitive to every little nuance of your playing. That makes mistakes stand out. Suddenly you become very aware of your technique, and of things like string muting or finger position or pressure while sliding or a host of other little details. But I think the increased difficulty is balanced by that sense of being inside the music, and how alive it feels. And it’s probably a good thing to have weak spots in your playing brought to your attention, in any case.
Note that playing loud when you’re the only instrument is even more challenging than playing loud with a band, simply because the band can kind of mask those little mistakes.
Seems like there was a “That Pedal Show” video that talked about the difference; I’ll see if I can dig it up.
thanks Toby - it’s a difficult thing to practice for me as it’s not that often I can really crank it up, but I guess that doesn’t stop me working on the muted etc. There is something about the high volume levels in itself that just seems to make things feel different!
This was it. The title mentions “for recording” but I remember them talking about the differences between playing a loud vs. quiet amp and going “yes, exactly!”
I have tinnitus as a result of noise exposure when younger (DIY power tools, and before that lots of LOUD gigs) so nowadays I always take a set of decibel reducing earplugs to gigs, but I rarely find I need to use them, as I think gigs are quieter now thanks to Health & safety rules that either didn’t exist or were ignored in the 70s. I don’t use them for playing guitar, I just have the volume at a comfortable level as I just play at home and don’t have a live-in drummer.
Its literally amplifying your errors and something I am still working hard to overcome when learning solos and improvising. Slow steady and methodical is the answer, your hands need to learn where to go, so it becomes automatic. Right hand pretty much sorted these days but its has taken a good few years. Left hand is work in progress.
I’ve seen artists ruin it for themselves by playing too loud. One of them asked me at his gig how the volume was, I said politely it’s a bit loud and he responded with - “well, I’ve got to be heard”, I watched people look in the door at the restaurant and they quickly left. I suspect it was because he was too loud.
Obviously this advice depends on the venue. Pay attention to your crowd. Had one band that played at our music club that was so loud that the front row quickly cleared out and soon so did the second row. Why the band didn’t notice that and crank the volume down is beyond me.
You don’t need to break people’s eardrums to be remembered or heard.
I 100% agree that many performers have their volume too loud for the venue. I’ve seen that quite a bit. If you have a loud drummer there’s a certain minimum volume level you need, but when it’s one or two guys with acoustic guitars and vocals there’s absolutely no need for some of the volume levels I’ve seen in relatively small bars and such.
I haven’t gig’d since pre-original COVID, so I can only offer general electric guitar practice advice at this point. Yes, do practice at loud volumes when you can, and learn to “tame” things --and likewise open things up --with your guitar knobs and pick attack. There is a brave new world of discovery right there. Also, don’t always practice with a clean amp. Turning up the gain on your amp (or dirt pedal like a tubescreamer) will quickly tip you off that you need to work on important skills like string muting.
Thanks Clint, Yep, I’m definitely guilty of setting volume and tone to 10 on the guitar and leaving them there. Good advice on gain - I play clean a lot!
Hmm, interesting thread. I turn my amp up loud rarely. I’ve done it a few times and it’s fun, but can’t do it when anyone’s home and I don’t want to annoy the neighbours.
However I play through headphones a lot, up loud, and the amps do speaker cab emulation. Would that be similar? Clearly there is no feedback or feeling it in my ribcage, though.
JK, as someone who has listened to music a lot through headphones over my lifetime, please reconsider doing the above. Protect your ears as much as you can. Since dipping into my 50’s my ears are now making me suffer for my past mistakes and I find they are now a lot more sensitive to louder noises and can give me grief at times that can last for a few days.
I have to mitigate feedback (or induce when wanted)
The louder the rehearsal room, the harder it becaomes for me to hear if it works well together, especially if you’re the singer and the balance between physically feeling and hearing yourself sing and what comes from monitors sifts dramatically.
You notice that playing high gain brings noise as well; the need for noise suppressors becomes obvious
My sloppy technique got amplified and it was comfronting. I had to clean up my powerchords work and keep it tighter with proper muting and hitting only necessary strings
Hearing damage - yeah I also have some. Drumming and really loud car audio when I was younger. I’m a bit more sensible now, but still need times with the volume up high. I can’t hear the music detail properly if it’s not
