Louder amp=sloppy playing?

[Misanthrope189]

Hi there,
Something I keep noticing when I play; I guess from playing at bedroom/apartment levels most of the time, I am more comfortable with that sound level than when I crank the amp. When I do crank the amp, although the tone is killer, I feel like my playing gets really sloppy-sounding. Does anyone else experience this? It's like I can't play a damn thing without it sounding sloppy as shit, and although it makes me very careful with the pick, I don't have the confidence to really let loose and play because it always sounds...sloppy and unlike it does when everything is turned down. Do more flaws in your playing come out when the amp is turned up? Is there more distortion or fuzz that can cover up your pick attack while the amp is low, so when you turn it up you hear more clearly the playing style you have? Any enlightenment would be helpful.

Cheers,
Nick

[Soap]

Playing at louder volumes one easily hears his or her mistakes.
To overcome and improve ones playing, playing at louder volumes is essential.
Theres no way around it, playing at louder volumes help clean up and improve techq.

[horns666]

Practice at louder levels when able..

[Child Of Norther]

Or... Record yourself.


Doesn't have to be amazing quality but since i started recoridng my own band, my own songs and working with others, my playing has tightened up tenfold.

Also eliminates the need to piss off neighbours.


That and you can study in detail and focus on issues rather than tying to focus on mistakes AND playing well at the same time.

[shredmonster]

Definitely record yourself. Great point.

The other thing that may or may not work is using headphones. Perhaps get a device such as a Crate Powerblock and hook in and turn the gain and levels up. Or a Micro Cube or anything where you could turn it up and get a lot of gain at low volumes. This would bring out your mistakes - you could hear them and work on them.

[tanpsi]

Another tip that might help is once in a while play with lessening levels of overdrive all the the way to clean, but still play the leads in the style you would play with full overdrive. This helps you narrow in on where you are being sloppy

[Thor Von Clemson]

I had a problem where I would be fine playing quite but I had a difficult time playing at stage volume. I think that problem came down to it was easier to hear my mistakes. Practicing at high volumes helps. You get used to tightening up your playing.

Another thing to consider is a lot of the times you can hear more noise the louder your amp gets. If you have a fizzy amp, you wont be able to hear it as much in my opinion if the amp is quiet.

Finally, I would get really nervous playing at high volumes because I knew that I was mic'd up and everyone could hear me. If I goofed they would all know. This was a few years ago. I feel my playing has improved a lot in the last few years and now I am not as scared.... actually I look forward to it because I love how my 5150 sounds when I push it into higher volumes.

Play loud, really listen to any mistakes you are making, and practice them.

[Ace]

I play loud as FUCK!! The electric guitar is a completely different beast when you take the chains off!! Your going to hear mistakse, be self-concious about others hearing, get all sorts of new feedback and all sorts of other new stuff will pop out of your playing you never had to deal with at bedroom levels. Just grab hold of your nuts, crank the volume and put a few hours into a cranked guitar and before you know it you'll get the hang of it!!

[JacksonWarrior]

Would you consider shit falling off the walls in my house loud enough to hear your mistakes? Cuz thats the level I usually play at, and thats with the stereo sometimes cranked just as loud when I play along with cd's. Damn I love being a bachelor AND a homeowner! I agree, this makes you much more carefull with muting unwanted sounds form unplayed strings and being carefull with your picking.

[seafoamer]

You just gotta break through the wall to when you start losing your hearing. Then you won't hear the little mistakes as much.