Stand Out With Dynamics

There are many guitar players in the world, but this doesn’t mean your can’t be heard and cause people to turn their heads in amazement. Anyone playing guitar wants to their playing to be heard and appreciated. Nobody wants to be overlooked. The easiest way to stand out from the crown is with dynamics. 

Dynamics in regards to music is defined as: the varying levels of the volume of sound in different parts of a musical performance. 

You can think of it as when the volume changes. This isn’t just the level of how loud something this. On guitar it also includes articulation or how hard you are picking or strumming the guitar. Simply attack those strings. 

At first this sounds like I’m just saying to bang on your guitar and annoy everyone around you. This will make you stand out for a moment, but not quite the desired effect you are likely looking for. 

In the definition above it says “varying levels of the volume…” So dynamics is also about playing softly as much as it is about playing loudly. Growing up listening to heavy rock and metal, I am quite partial to the extreme loud end of things, but I learned very early on that if the dynamics are always set to loud, it is easy to get immune to the energy this brings with it. 

The solution is to also have soft parts in your songs or arrangements of songs. It isn’t difficult to implement either, which is the best part. Anyone can do this and it is a lot of fun. 

Since most people play quietly I will address this first. You will need to get used to playing loud and not getting self conscious. When practicing, spend a little time each day really digging into the guitar and pushing the intensity of your playing. It doesn’t have to be for long, just part of a song will do. Eventually it will not feel so extreme. 

For those who play loud already, just make sure you are working in softer playing. Essentially doing the opposite of what I instructed for those who need to play louder. 

The reason dynamics are so great and have such a large impact is because we as humans easily adjust to what we hear and it becomes normal. By varying the dynamics the listeners attention gets refocused on the song. It draws them back in before they’ve tuned you out. 

To begin working this into your playing, take a song with dynamics that you already know and try to match what the original does in terms of energy and intensity. It will likely be different in different parts of the song. It will not likely be from note to note or chord to chord. 

A deeper application of this can be used by playing a song with very little dynamics and adding dynamics in where you think it would fit best. This is very fun. Taking something you know well and making it even more emotionally charged and interesting. 

A final recommendation is to not hold back what you feel should be happening. On the other side, it is good to also use discernment to decide if the song should have very little dynamic change. Some songs and some settings do not require this type of alteration and are better suited to a more balanced sound. Such as at a wedding when the bride is walking down the aisle. In this setting the attention should be on the bride and compliment the mood. 

About The Author: Ryan Duke is a songwriter, guitar teacher, coach, and owner of Supertonic Guitar offering guitar lessons Franklin.