Re: Play softer, play better?
Both volume and speed are no good as objectives per se, since concentrating on them withdraws attention from the other things you need to concentrate on.
Instead, volume and speed are mere by-products of control, and that is what has to be achieved first: knowing the tune well enough to play it in your sleep will give your hands the confidence of picking a bit harder without going into cramp and useless waste of strength. Just a bit harder, mind you - it's a slow process, and unbeknownst to you, your volume will grow until one day, to your total surprise, someone in the jam or session sitting beside you will ask if you could play a bit softer so he/she can hear the other instruments.
It happened to me. I have learned not to sit beside squeamish people since.
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
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