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I was just wondering. Do you guys plug into an amp when doing individual practice?
Regards,
Rick
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11-12-2014 10:11 AM
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I do every once in awhile, especially if I am playing over a back track and always when practicing a tune. If I am warming up, naaah.
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Generally, I always try to practice the way I'd be actually playing on a gig.
I play an archtop differently plugged in vs. unplugged, so if I'm plugging in on the gig, I need to plug in during practice.
I generally grab a flattop acoustic if I just want to hear an idea quickly...
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Most of my practice time is "stolen" hours before work, during lunch break, while waiting for something to download on the computer, on business trips, or waiting while car is being repaired, etc... Life is too busy these days.
I use my Traveller Speedster for 99% of practice.
I might plug in once a month and when I do, it is glorious.
I wish I could plug in more.
I think my day will come.
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I tend to play acoustically when learning a piece, and then plug in when I've got the basics down and am trying to get it to more of a performance level.
And then I'm usually plugged in when I'm working on improvising since I do most of that with a looper, and simply need that to be reproduced through an amp.
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If I'm in the living room, I like to just turn everything electronic off and enjoy the unobstructed music... If I'm in my bedroom, though, I almost always plug in. I like combining the Super Champ XD and AF75 and get the sound I fell in love with a year ago =)
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I always plug in; I don't care to hear the unamplified sound of my guitar. Not that it's bad, but the amplified sound is so much more inspiring.
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I normally don't.
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I have three archtops--wait...four...I forgot my Matsumoku! Yikes, it's a great guitar. Two are acoustic only, two are electric, one is a fully carved guitar. I generally play all four around the house as acoustic guitars when practicing. I love the sound of archtop acoustic guitar. The "Mat" is not too lively when played acoustically. The Gibson and Gretsch acoustics are great.
Plugged in, the electrics are sublime. The Super Eagle is so good, in fact, that it might be worth plugging in all the time.Last edited by Greentone; 11-12-2014 at 06:58 PM.
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My teacher hears it in my playing instantly when I've been practicing without and amp. You play harder so your technique and sound is different.
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Originally Posted by docbop
If it is very quiet, an unplugged electric is ok if your mindful of how hard your picking. If it is too quiet you end up picking too hard.
I always like to practice through a little polytone, however I spent a lot of "shred" years playing unplugged. It helped me develop a light touch on my picking hand. If you hear any buzz, your picking too hard (at least for my style).
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I seldom plug in, unless it's a performance or I'm recording.
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Please Ken . . stop reminding me how good that Super Eagle is. :-) Originally Posted by Greentone
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Didn't use to, now I always do
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Sorry Patrick.
True...true about playing harder if unplugged.
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Wes Montgomery believed that an electric guitar AND the amp are the instrument. He always practiced plugged in.
We tend to dig in more when playing an acoustic guitar and more so if practicing on an unplugged solid body. For those who only want to sit around the house and play for personal enjoyment it probably isn't important. But for those of us who play gigs or aspire to it's critical to practice the way we're going to perform.
Listening to records made after 1939 by guitarists who made the transition from acoustic archtops to electrics one can tell by listening who got it and who didn't. By providing the volume, the amp allows the player to address the strings with a lighter touch. The provides the player with an expanded dynamic range and the ability to play with more finesse.
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I almost never practice with an amp. I know, I know.
I used to always practice with an amp.
Now that I don't I feel like my whole style is changing, but in a way I like. I kind of consider my amp to be a volume knob now, not so much a tone generator. I like the sound of an archtop played hard.
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I absolutely agree with Wes Montgomery that an amplifier is also an instrument--like the guitar. When I produced amplifiers for sale to the public years ago, I reinforced this point by selling my amplifiers in cases--just like guitars. I sold the cases at cost (otherwise, people were too inclined to omit them). Amps are signal coloring devices. This isn't "hi-fi."
A musical instrument amplifier isn't a means of making your guitar louder. It is most certainly a means of altering (complementing--as in the sense of "making complete") your signal chain. Stomp boxes do this, but IMO badly. A great amplifier and a great guitar get the sound over. ES-175/Gibson GA-50 (Jim Hall); L-5/Fender Super Reverb (Wes Montgomery); ES-330/Fender 5E3 Deluxe (Grant Green); ES-175/Polytone MiniBrute (Jim Hall, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis); ES-335/Fender 5E3 Deluxe (Larry Carlton).
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I practice without an amp and use the dynamics of that to shape the sound on my amp.
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Pretty much always with an amp. Maybe 5% of the time without one. Increasingly I am playing at faster and faster tempos; the amp lets me play faster because I can use a lighter touch.
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The amp is half of your instrument if you play any amplified music. It would be like practicing violin without your bow.
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not often, but I know I should
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Out of laziness, and because my amp is turned to the wall to save space, so needs to be pulled out when I use it, and because I don't want to annoy my family(!), I usually don't plug in.
But I agree there's a risk of picking too hard when unamplified, which can spoil the tone if you're not careful.
On the other hand, I think that playing unamplified for years might have helped me develop a slightly bigger sound, possibly.
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^^this^^ Originally Posted by Pat Clare
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I might practice with an amp once a week, on Saturdays when I really have some alone time. I do prefer to practice, and sometime play without an amp. But, I play my acoustic arch tops and those with a single inset pup when I play unamplified. By choice, I'm down to only two archies with dual inset pups . . . an L5CES and a Super Eagle. Both are somewhat uninspiring unless amplified. By contrast, I sometimes see the amp as an impediment to what I like to get out of my fully acoustic (floater) arch tops. When I do use an amp with those, I always mix the amp volume so that it doesn't over power the acoustic tone of the guitar. With the right blend, I find myself in tonal nirvana. The perfect compromise are my archies with a single inset pup. With those, I can get a good amplified volume and not lose all of the acoutic properties.
Having choices is a good thing! :-)
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