How hard to you play?

John,

I would say your guitar could provide all the power and volume needed. I play pretty hard, not sure how hard that is relative to your playing style. In jams, it’s hard to sacrifice control and technique for volume, but having everyone else hear you is important too. I would work on increasing your pick striking power gradually, keeping your technique good and not overplaying. The other pickers can adjust their attack as well when you take a break in order to hear you better.

As you practice at home, try to play with more power and build it up, you will like the results in tone of your guitar and the volume will improve at the jams.

Hope that helps,
Bobby

Hi John,

Great question! When I teach at camps, I notice as a general observation that people who are new to the instrument are playing too light, and people who have been playing a long time are playing too hard.
I’ve been trying to lighten up the way I play because I feel like my accuracy improves when I’m not playing so hard, and I think I get a better tone. Does it help watch me play on some of the videos on the site? Does that give you an idea of how hard your playing, compared to how hard I’m playing? If you want to send a quick video of you playing a song, I might be able to offer some more help.