Picking "Harder" When Playing Louder

Playing Technique
#1

Hey Cracking the Code Forum–

First post here and happy to learn from everyone. I’ve noticed when I play live gigs and I’m playing faster or shreddier stuff I tend to want to pick harder than I would if I were just practicing the lines at home. I don’t know if this is because I’m trying to make the notes clearer or something, but obviously this slows the technique way down. Even techniques that I can rip through cleanly at home suddenly have me feeling stuck and unplayable live.

What is everyone’s opinion on fixing this so I can relax and play the lines I’m already capable of playing at stage volume?

#2

I have found that I often start picking too hard when I can’t hear myself very well, which is more common in a band setting than at home. Like I’m trying to play louder. It’s hard to avoid, even though it doesn’t really help.

Do you think that could be happening to you?

#3

Definitely a possibility trying to add volume to my sound by playing harder. Volume and clarity perhaps but I need to let the guitar/pedals do that for my playing

#4

I literally know nothing about this, but are in-ear monitors cost-effective in 2025? That would seem like a great way to (a) protect your hearing for old age, and (b) get exactly the mix that you need to hear for your best playing.

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#5

I agree, in ear monitors might be the trick. And yes, there are plenty of great options at every price range I believe.

#6

How do you practice to prepare for your performances? It sounds to me like maybe the parts you’re trying to play you don’t have quite as much command over as you think you might. I don’t mean any offense by this, but performing on stage and practicing at home are two totally different animals. One of which you have control over the environment and the other you have minimal to no control. So if your technique needs a degree of environmental factors to be in place that you’re unable to achieve when playing live, yeah you can experience greater tension and less control live. Anyone who’s been a guitar teacher long enough to have experienced a student coming in saying “but I played it better at home!” knows what I’m talking about.

Do you practice sitting down or standing up? Do you need to be warmed up for an hour or can you run your set after only 5-10 minutes? Are you playing through a similar tone or close to it? Do you pause and go back to fix mistakes when you run your live set or do you try to correct on the fly?

There are a lot of good articles on the www.bulletproofmusician.com blog that talk about practicing for performance and how that looks different than practicing to improve technique etc.

I’m mentioning this because I’ve played so many shows in so many different degrees of being able to hear myself and that has never been a factor in how my hands perform, but preparing the right way at home does. And personally I’d rather change my approach to practicing for performance and see if that helps before dropping over a thousand dollars on new gear to try to fix it.

#7

Really appreciate this response and of course no offense taken at all! I know all the material well enough to not even need a warm up, and I tend to practice standing actually because I know this totally changes hand position, posture, etc. I’ll check out that Bulletproofmusician site as well too.

I think it could really come down to relaxing more when I’m playing live so that I’m not trying to perfectly execute every single note of a solo or improvisation and just letting everything flow. One thing I thought of is the difference in playing chords/riffs vs playing lead lines. With chords and riffs and stuff like that, I know my hand will jump around because it can. With solos and faster playing, my hands need to be more still obviously to accommodate the more complicated stuff, so maybe being more aware of what I’m doing would be nice lol.

Thanks for the help!

#8

Something that helps me sometimes is that I actually purposefully move around more when running songs for a live set, even doing stupid stage moves like 80s Hair Metal approved super wide power stances or headbanging etc. Maybe see if you can learn how to do all your leads while not needing things to be so still. So basically you’re training yourself to be in control even if you’re physically moving a lot. Even see if you can like walk around your house or apartment while playing what you need to be able to on stage.

#9

Those are great ideas. I’ll try those out and actually have a show tonight so I’ll report back! Thanks for the help man

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#10

Sounds like you have to wait for the right moment when everyone else is distracted and get your hands on that mixing console :smiley:

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#11

Here’s what I found last night during/after the gig–my tone when I’m practicing is darker and not pointed at me, so I don’t get that ice-picky treble thing that happens. When I’m at stage volume, I’m hearing all of those high-mid and treble frequencies much more clearly, so to my ear and under my fingers, it feels and sounds much more unforgiving for the lead/solo tone.

So, dialing back treble as I turn up my amp is likely the solution.

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