Miguel de Maria -> RE: A QUESTION ?? (Jan. 25 2006 17:02:44)
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This may be getting off topic, but I have played with about 8 guitarists at gigs now, and EVERY SINGLE one of them wants to play louder than me. This either takes the form of them turning up their volume higher than me, or just putting it the same because they know they can play louder. One time, I may have related this story before, I was at a wedding with another guitarist, and we were doing soundcheck. His girlfriend happened to be there. I said, "my guitar seems a little low," and he said, "Oh, I think it sounds awesome. It sounds perfect to me!" His girlfriend thought mine was too low, too, so I turned it up a little. At break, we noticed that I had forgotten to plug in. I guess at that point it became clear how much he liked my guitar sound! There is another guy who just hacks his guitar, I mean he plays every note as hard as he possibly can. It's funny because other guys have commented about what a heavy handed player he is. I am not... most of the flamencos think I'm a classical guitarist, because I don't hit hard on lines, just strums. Again, I get the feeling that he enjoys being stronger, and always makes sure to set our levels equal although it's quite clear that he makes a lot more noise. I also play in a trio, and the drummer and I always just kind of roll our eyes and laugh because no matter what, the other guitarist manages to be 20% louder than me. Even when I do solos, the drummer is always telling me, "he needs to turn it down, we can barely hear you," but it never matters. I wear earplugs playing with that group anyway. I think it is a competition or dominance kind of thing. Part of it is that there seems to be a weird force that even if the levels are equal, most people will feel that they need a little bit more to be comfortable, but then there also seems to be a kind of alpha male/competition thing. Personally, I don't make a big deal about it unless it really adversely affects "the product". If it a strumming and improv, give and take sort of thing, the strummer really should know when to back off and give some space. But most of these guys just want to hack it and be the center of attention even when they aren't. My partner at my steady gig is definitely the least hogging I've played with so far...which is why I asked him to play with me at the gig. By the way, the notion that pros don't indulge in competition is nonsense. You only have to go to Light and Shade and hear it from the caballo's mouth himself, when Paco is talking about the Guitar Trio and competing on stage every night.
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