[Harp-L] loud music

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Loud can be fun and sound pretty cool if it fits the material and the  
dynamics are balanced.

I play with one band (2 guitars, bass & drums) that does Chicago  
blues with a hard rocking groove and they are loud, but they wouldn’t  
sound right if they weren’t.  I just turn up and everything cooks.

I sit in with another blues/R&B band (guitar , bass , drums & singer)  
who got much louder after their keyboard player left the band.  The  
dynamics were better when they had a keyboard in the band which kept   
things more balanced.  Now, they’re just too damn loud.  The dynamics  
are not right, and it’s hard to sound good when I play with them  
because my instrument is overwhelmed by the volume.

I sit in with a couple of jazz bands and  I must moderate my usual  
volume when I play with them and really have to pay attention to the  
dynamics.  But sometimes even they build to some pretty loud  
crescendos for intensity on certain material.

Loud is as loud does.  It can be a useful aesthetic device when  
playing electric, but it certainly can be abused (and frequently  
is).  Too much volume and the dynamics are lost.


JP