Behind the spandex-clad silhouette, amp stacks hum, their red lights glowing like dinosaur eyes in the dark. He brushes his long hair away from the instrument under his chin. The crowd can almost feel the electricity running through the strings beneath his fingers. He gazes out over the audience for just a moment longer, knowing it’s at his mercy.
Then, as he raises his bow, the big ring on his finger clips the violin neck and the “clunk” bounces across the stadium in stereo . . . . Not what Mr. Rock Star had in mind. Yet that little, unintentional drum fill might have been the most interesting part of his solo.
The first time string players pick up a sleek, space-age electric instrument, the adrenalin kicks in. They start off playing the same old licks they always play, but some get spooked and timid because everybody can hear each little mistake. Others want to show off, and everything they play gets loud and fast. But playing loud gets old fast. An electric instrument is powered by the pure energy of a player’s ideas, but the secret of the Technique Electrique lies in the soft stuff, the stuff nobody would be able to hear as well if it weren’t for amplification.
Volume Control
Most players try to control how loud they are by bowing harder or softer, messing with the volume knobs on their instrument or amp, and shooting their soundman dirty looks during a show. Unfortunately, the best bow in the world can’t increase or decrease a violin’s volume by more than a couple dozen decibels. A fiddle needs to be cranked up when there’s a drummer; cranked up even further when there’s a solo; and when the solo’s on low strings that get covered by other instruments, really cranked up! Volume knobs help, but the moment fingers have to stop to turn knobs, they have to stop playing.
What about bugging the sound person? The one person out there who can mess up everyone’s volume if he or she’s in a bad mood?
’Nuff said.
A volume foot pedal helps a lot, especially if the player’s amp or speaker has been put in a place where the player can hear what he’s doing.
To avoid those random clunks, it’s nice to be able to turn the volume down on an instrument before it’s strapped on or put away. Same thing when a string goes out of tune and needs a sneaky fix. If the next lick starts on a really high note, try taking the volume down until that pitch can be double-checked, then turning it back up when it’s time to play.
If there’s no time for fancy stuff, a left-hand finger can find the high note just by landing on the string a couple of times—anything louder would be another solo!
Bows Down
There’s a lot that can be done without a bow. Use fingertips to strike, or “hammer-on,” wound strings for a mellow, bongo-like pizzicato sound. Play pizzicato sounds like a smooth, jazz guitar. Milk those short, portamento slides for bluesy bends. And when they don’t have to solo, electric string players can keep in the groove by strumming double-stops here and there.
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