How does practice volume affect your playing/style?

[JonathanD]

I recently plugged up my 4 acme 210 cabs and a QSC 2402. So 2400 watts, 8 10's, 4 5's and 4 tweeters.


Style....

I find that when I am loud I play less. I am happy to hear the notes ring and ring and ring. I think "This note sounds so good its going to hurt to have to go to the next one" and then the next one is fantastic also. I also get a better groove.


Technique...

When loud I feel every mistake, every time I don't get a perfect attack on a note, everything. But I don;t have to focus to know it. I feel more relaxed. My dynamics become more controlled.

Too bad I live in an apartment.

Jonathan

[alfredpunkjazz]

Try that with a bass strung with flatwounds, and you'll see why many bass lines are so restrained...

[JimmyM]

Volume shouldn't be an issue for how you play, but it usually works out that way. I'm not sure if I see you playing less at higher volumes as a good thing, though. I think too much emphasis is placed on the whole less is more thing. I believe that sometimes less is more, but sometimes more is more. And if you think the music truly benefits by playing more, I say go for it.

But it is a lot of fun to crank and listen to it ring.

[JonathanD]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Volume shouldn't be an issue for how you play, but it usually works out that way. I'm not sure if I see you playing less at higher volumes as a good thing, though. I think too much emphasis is placed on the whole less is more thing. I believe that sometimes less is more, but sometimes more is more. And if you think the music truly benefits by playing more, I say go for it.

But it is a lot of fun to crank and listen to it ring.

I wasn't saying less was better, just that I don't feel the need to play as many notes when I play loud.

[chaosMK]

I play the same in terms of style, but sound better on my rig than the little crappy marshall 2 watt guitar amp.

However... on the little amp I dont really do much slapping on the B string. It doesnt have the same quality.

[dvh]

I feel the same way as the OP. When the volume and tone are right the playimg seems effortless and breezy. Nothing's worse than playing with an underpowered amp and having to compensate by digging in hard. It destroys technique and tone. The groove suffers.

[dulouz]

I practice a lot without an amp. I do this for 2 reasons: 1. I have two small children and practice when they sleep. 2. It forces you to work to make the sound instead of letting the amp do all of the work. Look at the Jaco and Flea DVDs, it's obvious that the sound they get is very much a part of what they are doing with their hands.

[jollygiantchris]

whenever i play with my big ass amp i tend to play a lot faster and more metaly thats probably because the onboard tube pre-OD sounds really nice and all the distortion pedals I have lack balls...and of course because its loud as hell too

[EADG mx]

I don't enjoy practicing at very quiet volumes

however I don't play to my full potential when I'm too loud, usually because I'm just cringing waiting for someone to tell me to stfu

[iriegnome]

I play, practice and gig the same. When you step up into a more pro style (Only words I can think of) your playing and technique stay the same. Volume, stage, situation, tone do not matter. I play the same on every stage. No matter what.

[BillMason]

Originally Posted by dulouz

I practice a lot without an amp. I do this for 2 reasons: 1. I have two small children and practice when they sleep. 2. It forces you to work to make the sound instead of letting the amp do all of the work. Look at the Jaco and Flea DVDs, it's obvious that the sound they get is very much a part of what they are doing with their hands.

Yes, but... when you *do* go loud, do you find that you're attacking the strings too heavily because your technique is based on playing at low volumes?

[dvh]

Originally Posted by BillMason

Yes, but... when you *do* go loud, do you find that you're attacking the strings too heavily because your technique is based on playing at low volumes?

That would be my concern.

[Infernal Affair]

Originally Posted by BillMason

Yes, but... when you *do* go loud, do you find that you're attacking the strings too heavily because your technique is based on playing at low volumes?

And that's why I don't ever practice ampless. One of the things I've been working on is a lighter touch, and that's tough without an amp or an *extremely* quiet room.

Headphones are your friend! Not only do you hear your bass, but you can block out all the sounds you don't wanna hear.

[Plantbrain]

I've always held, even though things like living with others play a huge trade off role here!!!!! but..........play as loud as you plan on playing in front of others, for auditions, for the band etc.

Learn to play loud with volume then back off and reduce it with the volume still loud! This allows you more light FASTER PLAYING.

It also exposes many of the clicks and noise you might have learned when playing soft..............

You also become more comfy with high volume whereas you might be out of your element if you use low or no volume........

You play differently I think.
At least I do.

Using the volume knob rather than your fingers for louder playing seems wiser. You can always play lighter and faster if you need less volume You also are more likely to "feel the groove" at louder levels.

Regards,
Tom

[js1]

I practice both quietly and loudly.

Quietly - I practice while recording into my DAW. My ear can fool me when I'm playing, and I think that I'm playing better than I am. But play the track back soloed and you hear every little stray finger noise. You can also tell whether it grooves on its own. I work on cleaning all THAT up.

And when I get back with the band, it's much better.

Loudly - if I don't have the volume of my amp set correctly, I'll compensate by playing harder or softer than I should. So, I need to practice keeping the touch regardless.

js

[alt2chaos]

I find that when I practice it is a controlled environment and then when I play on stage I'm digging in a lot harder than I ever do at home. Should I be digging in more while I practice? I play about once a week on stage and it is only then that I get blisters on my fingers from playing so hard. Sometimes it is a volume issue where my monitor just isn't up high enough and the sound guy won't bump it up anymore. I love using my ampeg 4X10 with SVT 4 pro head but its a church and the sound guy doesn't like the idea of bass players having control and possibly being too loud.

[baixaria]

when playing louder it sounds very different cause you need to consider air pressure and natural compression (both from speaker).
for example, on stage it seems so different to set the compressor and limiter, cause at high volumes it will sound with many things else. playing at home, with phones, I can't set the limiter to a high level, cause it sounds "plastic", but at a high volume it sounds very better (for soud pressure, natural compression, and all other stuff).
you can simply notice it by, before a gig, set your sound at a low volume, eq it, and when it seems ok, rise up the volume... it naturaly sounds very different, and you need to re-eq it... so... it's good to practice how it will sounds live, cause you will hear many things you won't at a low volume

[Toastfuzz]

I like to try to write basslines at low volume for this reason, and figure out the lines and fills etc. with the amp turned down, I think because I'm self conscious and don't want people to hear me suck...but I do tend to come up with better stuff at lower volumes

but then when I get some cool riffs written, I crank the amp and play with the volumes and tone on my bass and see if the stuff I came up with actually has punch, and usually it does.

This is especially true with slaplines, I can come up with technical stuff with alot of mutes etc, then crank the amp to see how it "feels"

[alankroeger]

If you have issues of being able to practice at volume even reasonable volume you might want to consider headphones. I can't recall where I picked up this little tidbit but I read it many many years ago... Practice with headphones on, this way you really know/hear what you sound like. The advice was suggested not within the context of apartment dwellers or people who just can't play loud, it was a piece of advice about forcing oneself to listen more closely to how you sound in a more focussed manner. I have a tendency to practice without an amp myself and then when I plugin I don't always like what I hear and have to work on it plugged in till it sounds acceptable. Now, if I had just used headphones I might have saved myself some extra work...

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by dvh

I feel the same way as the OP. When the volume and tone are right the playimg seems effortless and breezy. Nothing's worse than playing with an underpowered amp and having to compensate by digging in hard. It destroys technique and tone. The groove suffers.

I agree with this also. Nothing is worst than playing through an underpowered amp, and not being able to hear/feel what you are playing.

I also don't want it so loud that I can't dig in hard when I want. A little compression or limiting goes a long way to smooth levels out. Live bass can be very dynamic, and that's hardly ever what you hear on recordings, so I like to limit it a little.

I usually adjust my amp to my playing, and when I practice it's either through headphones or small studio monitors. Or I practice unplugged.

My rig is too loud for my apartment!

But boy when you are getting a great tone, it makes playing a breeze.