Saturday, August 30, 2008


Strings of Thought for September, 2008

Here's a little news flash for all you guitar players out there -- you're probably too loud.

"What," you ask with utter indignity? "I'm not too loud. The drummer is too loud, the bass player is too loud, the bartender is too loud, but certainly not ME."

And I understand. I've never been too loud, either, in the 40-plus years I've been playing guitar. Except that I have been, and it's too bad, because there are a lot of times I've been really good, and no one noticed. Why?

Because I was too loud.

Volume is a tricky thing, and a thing of much controversy. A band in balance is a band worth hearing. But volume creep usually sets in, and the second set sound levels that were so good become the fourth set mud festival, and that's why a lot of bodies have left the bar for the night. Just too damned loud, and the sonic irritation is no longer inviting. It's annoying at best, unbearable at worst.

Not long ago I was playing with a band I occasionally sit in with at a local venue, outside, but with an aluminum cover over the outdoor seating area. Apparently, though I thought the volume sounded great and balanced on stage, if you were sitting in the audience it was way too loud. We were really good that day, but most people didn't have a clue, because the volume destroyed whatever musical conversation we were having.

No one intends to be too loud, unless they're just obnoxious. But not enough of us (and I certainly include myself in this category) are aware of our own volume. It's not one of the onstage priorities. And it most certainly should be, because if one person in the band is too loud, it causes everyone else to turn up, and pretty soon the whole band is too loud, and there goes the neighborhood, as it were.

This is an ongoing debate with musicians everywhere, but it's a debate that will be settled ultimately by the audience.

So, here's the point. If you're a guitar player, you should take a look at the equipment you're using, particularly your amp. How many watts does it have? Where do you play mostly, and how many watts do you need? An appropriate analogy would be the guy who drives around in one of those giant pickup trucks with oversized tires to basically drive back and forth from work, and maybe just every now and then goes to the mountains for a little off-roading. If you have a 100-watt amp and play most of your gigs in bars and clubs, you (like our current administration) have far too much power. And you're carrying way too much weight.

These days, amps are being made that have severely slimmed-down wattage, but sound monsterous. They weigh next to nothing, but sound like the old Marshall stacks of yore. I had a Marshall stack, and can tell you without reservation that I wouldn't have one today. The weight, the space, and the volume are ridiculous. Today, I'm playing through an Epiphone 5-watt head and a one 12-inch speaker cabinet, and it's magnificent. I love it to death. The head cost under $200, and except for outdoors, where dispersal issues make it impractical, it is the nicest sounding amp I've ever owned. When The Very Bad Boys play at Armando's, this is the only amp I'll use any more. It's perfect.

So I strongly urge you axe men and women to take stock of your rig, and see if a little downsizing isn't just what you might need for tone joy, volume delight and far fewer back problems. If you need a place to start looking, you can't go wrong stopping in to Good Stuff Guitar Shop and asking the brilliant Danny White what's up. Tell him I sent you.

Stay tuned. . .