Amp or no amp?

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

I'm curious to hear if you folks practice with an amp on, or with no amp, and the reasons why. As a kid, I played first a flamenco, then a classical guitar for about the first 4 yrs of playing so, no amp. I always felt that it helped me learn to get a wide variety of tones with my fingers alone. I started to use a pick also about 2 yrs into my playing and it helped that too. Then again, Wes Montgomery said he always practiced with the amp on, and no one had better tone than that. What are you all's experiences?

Rich Upright · From: Florida, USA

I feel you should practice with the exact same setup as you use onstage. Practice is more than playing; it's learning to use your equipment & effects to the fullest.
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John Scanlon · From: Jackson, Mississippi, USA

John Scanlon · From: Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Sometimes I do a headphone amp, though.
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Fred Treece · From: California, USA

I'll plug in to the amp at home occasionally, just to make sure stuff is working or if I get an idea for sound shaping. Most of the time I'm either unplugged and experimenting at no tempo or running the guitar into an amp model with headphones on and playing to backing tracks or a metronome.

Everything sounds different onstage anyway. Louder. More high end. Singers. Cymbals.

Plus...I would not want the rest of the household or the neighborhood to suffer through the sound of my practice sessions!

Brian Brgant · From: Vermont, USA

Most amps have a headphone out so you can sort of simulate playing live. I mean you get to use the volume pedal and the effects, but you don't get the room.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

At this time of the morning (3am) I play w/out so as not to wake my wife. During the day I have to play very quietly or she complains. When she's gone, I play at stage volume. I'm not sure if I'm getting any particular benefit from either way at this point except that I can use the vol pedal with the amp.

When I do right hand exercises, I like to do it with no amp. I've listened to a LOT of Jimmy Day and John Hughey and the volume pedal seems kind of natural to me - I've had no problem w/it - on the contrary: I love the expressiveness of it.

Dale Rivard · From: Ontario, Canada

If I'm going to just noodle for a few minutes on a fast lick or something uptempo, I'll leave the amp off but if I'm working on a slow ballad, where I need the sustain with the volume pedal, I always turn the amp on.

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

I've done it both ways and I prefer an amp. You can't really get the sound or tone without an amp. If you're going for just a finger, knee, leg excercise without listening to your control and volume pedal use, then, no amp would work.
Of course, a dedicated music room would be the best for not annoying others, but, headphones would work too. I still say playing through an amp is the best way.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

I was wondering because I heard a member on here somewhere say he never practiced with an amp. I feel that practicing 6-string w/out helped me but, I don't know of a situation where you would play any steel acoustically haha.

Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Ehh... It's a compromise Don. I play loud enough to where I can hear the volume pedal swells and what-not. 3 nights a week she's working, and Sunday she's usually gone for a few hours so, I get some loud time.

Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

That sounds like it works OK then, Bobby. And probably beats eating your own cooking, so you're coming out ahead in the long run!

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Randy Beavers · From: Lebanon,TN 37090

I hardly ever turn an amp on to practice. I feel it's a distraction. Practicing this way will also make you pick the strings with more authority. When I set down to practice I'm trying to learn something musical like how to play a line or chord, not how to set my amp or effects. Because of this I think I set an amp different than others. I want my guitar to sound amplified like it sounds acoustically. (Now that's another subject) I have my guitar set up in a quiet room and I can hear every note of a chord acoustically. I'm not much on using volume pedal swells but instead try to vary the attack on the strings to cause more or less sustain that way. I want to hear the natural decay of the strings just like any other stringed instrument, guitar or piano for example. Sometimes I think steel players want every note they've ever played to be sustaining out there somewhere. Very Happy

Bottom line for me, about the only time I turn on an amp at home is when I've got a new amp or pedal I'm working with, or when someone comes over and we're playing and listening to gear. However I'm also sure that "my way" isn't the only way, but at least try it. Find out what works for you.

Bobby Boggs · From: Upstate SC.

I know this may appear as leg humping. But as far as I know Randy and I have never corresponded even thru E-mail. I am a big fan of his. However, what he just wrote sums up my exact feeling on this subject. These points really hit home with me.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Randy, i think you are talking about the same thing I mentioned above about learning to get tone with my hand as a kid. The result of that was that I could never really deal with effects. I found them to be a distraction and they always seemed to unpurify the tone. My hand was all I ever really needed. That being said: this is a whole other kind of beast than a Stratocaster.

And Don: Yes Nothing quite beats being cooked for by a bonifide southern belle!

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

There are many reasons why we practice, as Randy stated, sometimes it is really just about us and the Steel, or us and the Guitar , other times it is about the big picture.

I probably sit down as many times with an amp off as I do with an amp on.

The one thing you cannot hear with an amp OFF is your volume pedal and if we feel we need work with VP technique , the amp MUST be on.

There are many ways to practice, and many reasons.

My take is that newer players, or players that don't get out on the band stand often should practice with full gear. Understanding our gear is equally important as the notes we are trying to play !
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Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Yeah Tony, I'm trying to get to the bandstand to do just that - develop. But I proved to myself that I need a little more practice at home first.

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

I agree with the "know the sound of your gear" philosophy. However, as I said earlier...

Everything changes on the bandstand. Your tone sounds different, both because of environmental acoustics and the clashing of frequencies with other instruments. Plus, compared to the meditative sterility of playing in your home studio by yourself, playing in a full band may seem like utter chaos.

If you are not playing in a band regularly, chances are good your volume pedal technique will suck when you do get in a band even if you have been practicing it by yourself.

If that is the case, backing tracks will help shape your tone and improve VP technique considerably, once parts have been practiced and brought up to tempo with a metronome. Whether or not you plug into an amp and studio monitors or wear headphones at that point is not that important, as long as it is something besides the sound of your ax (plugged in or unplugged) by itself.

There will still be a degree of uncertainty with the band, especially if other members are prone to spontaneous creative license with the song arrangement.

This has been my 45-year long "voice of little authority" experience so far.

Larry Lenhart · From: Ponca City, Oklahoma

Interesting thread ! I assumed that most steelers practiced with the amp turned on and maybe used headphones.
I do agree that it depends on the purpose of your practice session...many times I am practicing just to get the song or lick or whatever under my fingers...trying to develop muscle memory in my fingers...for that I dont need the amp on.
My first steel teacher told me that when you practice you should do so with the highest amt of volume you can tolerate, cause if you dont at a gig you will hear lots of pick, bar, string noise that you didnt realize you were creating when practicing at low volume. But I think that is more for a beginner than a seasoned player.
So I do think it depends on what your goal is for that particular practice session, and I am a firm believer that each practice session should have a goal,,,otherwise you are just playing, and there is a big difference.
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Randy Beavers · From: Lebanon,TN 37090

I agree that learning to use the whole package is a must and that includes volume pedal technique, and the dynamics of playing with an amp. If you only practice without an amp, before playing a gig you need to turn an amp on and get used to it. If you don't it will take you a bit to get used to it with its dynamics.

At this time in my life, all I work on is learning new tunes, lines or chord progressions. Our ears change from day to day from sinus issues or whatever. If I turn an amp on and it doesn't sound right to me, I'll spend the time trying to get it right instead of what I initally sat down to work on. That's why I view it as a distraction when I practice.

You should see my collection of amps! I love them and I view them as a big a part of my sound as anything, including guitars!

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Errr - what's the question?

Comparing flamenco and classical with no amp - since normally both are played on acoustic guitar...with NO amp - to a solid-body, electric pedal steel is...

Apples and potatoes.

I do not know anyone that *practices* any acoustic guitar style with an amp.

Everyone I know *usually* practices pedal steel with at least a small practice amp - or a headphone amp with earbuds.

But trying to compare "classical guitar" vs "pedal steel" - acoustically - makes no sense IMO.
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Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Jim, I'm not comparing classical guitar to steel. I'm talking about training my fingers. Most of my 20 plus years of playing live onstage was with an electric guitar - I really hated acoustic solo gigs. I'd say 85 % of my practice during that time was without an amp. I felt it lended itself to training my hand, not my ear for the stage. What I'm in the process of now is taking all of that experience and playing and transferring it to pedal steel. I'm sorry, I thought it was pretty clear that I was talking about training the hands, not comparing classical guitar to PSG - I guess not.

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

I am at the beginning of learning this instrument. I'm focusing on getting my right hand in order, and digesting the fretboard and tuning on steel. My experience tells me that the best way to learn stagecraft, is on stage. I already have a lot of experience onstage - not at the odd shape my hand has to assume playing steel, pick blocking, palm blocking, bar placement and tunings that are alien to me etc. My hand is coming along pretty well for an old arthritic thing with no feeling in it but, I still have a long road ahead, and a lot of drilling in, which I find hard to find the time to do. I was just wondering how others approached this. Thanks for the input.

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