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Post by fatfingerjohn on May 18, 2016 8:50:47 GMT
Hi,
I picked up this point from missclarktree's post on another thread which I don't want to hijack so have opened up this new one. She said ...
'I don't know why people always play electric so loud. Surely the whole point of an amp is to turn it as low as possible!'.
I've just got back from 10 days in Malta and on Sunday lunchtime there was a chap playing guitar in the hotel reception area; mainly light classical stuff. He was playing a Yamaha 'silent guitar' with an amp. I found this link when I got home ...
uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/silentguitars/
Unfortunately I had to go out after listening to him for about 10 minutes and didn't get a chance to talk to him. But the tone he was getting from this instrument was excellent; eyes shut and you would think he was playing a top-class acoustic. (He was an excellent player, which helped). He had the volume just right for what was slightly more than background listening but not intrusive enough to make conversation difficult.
I don't know if anyone out there has used one of these but they seem very versatile; travel overseas would not be helped by the need to have a small amp as well, but otherwise it looks very handy; the blurb says that, using the steel strung model the un-amped volume is between an un-amped electric and an acoustic. The fretboard is a bit narrow for me though.
I'd be interested to hear other people's views and also this is a good reflection on missclarktree's observation that electric/amplification needn't equate to 'loud'.
FFJ
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David Hutton
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Post by David Hutton on May 18, 2016 9:44:28 GMT
I have a one and love it. I use it for practising (not that you would know) at night. Its the one on the right!!! Mine is nylon strings, but not the full classical. I play mine mainly through headphones. I have never recorded anything on it which is a bit unfair on her really. Might put that right to tonight.
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Post by ourmaninthenorth on May 18, 2016 10:19:21 GMT
I think it's a question of tools for the job. If said gentleman had been playing the Bridgewater Hall, his amplification needs would be significantly different from that of a small venue. I think the guitar's place in music, historically speaking, gives some context as to the need for amplification. That very need spawned a whole musical movement of it's own, where turning down the amps would have removed the very means of musical delivery...Cream's last gig at the Albert Hall - unplugged??? Electricity isn't the work of the devil, it's simply a means to an end...in some genres it is simply indispensable, in others it is a simple inconvenience.
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missclarktree
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Post by missclarktree on May 18, 2016 17:16:28 GMT
The Silent Guitar - that looks an interesting one. I often feel inhibited by the thought that my neighbours might be able to hear me - even without any amplification.
I sometimes have to go and sit on the stairs when the Respectable Gentleman plays his electric. I've thought of three possible reasons why, to my ears, he plays far too loud:- 1. When playing with a backing track he has to play loud enough to hear himself over the top of it, and if he turns the backing down, he can't hear it. 2. He seems to think that speakers need a certain of power going through them in order to work properly (I don't know if there's any truth in that). 3. He's deaf.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 18:22:07 GMT
I want one!
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walkingdecay
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Post by walkingdecay on May 20, 2016 8:03:00 GMT
It's all about what suits the song or tune and, and to some extent the size of the venue. Electrics are subtle beasts with a much wider palette of expression available to them than acoustics even at low volumes, as I can testify having spent my fully pro years blending in with reeds and a horn. That said, there are times when it is absolutely necessary to crank it up and cut loose. To use a classic example, if you're going to play Johnny B. Goode then you're failing the song if you don't announce it hard and loud and play the guitar like a-ringin' a bell between verses. And there are times when you and the audience want to hear your guitar roar, boom and wail and feel it coming up through your feet and tying your intestines in knots.
The neighbours are out, so I now have to put Neil Young's Weld on at a suitably high volume. I will return later if I survive.
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Post by thejamsinger on May 24, 2016 18:30:24 GMT
I have the occasional jam with a few guys from work. The only problem is the volume only goes one way. It starts off loud and just gets louder. One of the guys now wants to ask a drummer to come along. Already got the ear defenders ready, lol
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