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David's Tip of the Day: Dynamics - Change Each Chorus

David Barrett Admin's picture

Listening to Little Walter's "Off the Wall" you noticed that he played each chorus at a different volume. He started off very strong and then dropped his volume low for Chorus 2. He then brought his volume way up again for Chorus 3 and then down for Chorus 3, and so on.

The turnaround is the most recognizable location in the blues and is a great place to remind us to change our volume.

Play to a jam track and experiment with three volume levels... medium (normal everyday level), low (very soft) and loud (as loud as you can play, before damaging your instrument). Record yourself and give it a listen back to make sure you're changing enough to make an audible difference.

P.S., Walter's band dynamically changes with him... unfortunately a jam track cannot do the same, so there is a little bit of disconnect on how cool this will really sound with live musicians.