How Loud are Guzheng?

[hybridpicker]

Compared with an acoustic guitar, how loud are Guzhengs?

[dsouthwood]

Just as with a guitar, loudness depends on how hard you pluck the strings. The guitar might actually be louder in some ways, because it is possible to play a chord very loudly by striking the strings with more force. The guzheng is not set up to play chords by strumming, but to play arpeggios by plucking the stings in sequence, so there would naturally be less volume. It may be that because the guzheng body is a much larger resonator than the guitar body, a string plucked with the same force on each instrument might sound louder on the guzheng, but the guitar has greater potential for loudness because of its different playing style.

[annk]

I've played zheng together with my son, on classical guitar. I can easily drown him out if I want to (he's playing on a good instrument with good resonance, an Alhambra). A loud two-handed glissando on the zheng is LOUD. Some zhengs have more resonance than others, as well; if you look on chinesezither.net, Carol has posted decibel ratings for some instruments.

But both have the potential to play softly, and it's never a problem to stay balanced.

[xindi]

Compared with an acoustic guitar, how loud are Guzhengs?

Compared to an unamplified acoustic guitar, a Gu Zheng ~ also known as a half-tube zither ~ is deafening!!!

An acoustic guitar barely has 1/3rd the resonance of the body of a zither in volume and cavity alone. The Gu Zheng attains 101db or more - it can flood the room beautifully and can be deafening for the player at the higher registers. In contrast, the guitar strumming relies on setting up synergy in the amplitude of the sound waves, to reinforce sound waves. When plucking, the Gu Zheng is way more louder (subjectively and on decibel ratings) than a guitar. I've never heard glissandi nor tremolo done on a guitar.

I'd like a Gu Zheng actually. Acoustic guitars are everywhere

Equally, both are louder than some of my dizi flutes. However the soprano flute is more penetrating; as is the Gu Zheng in the top two octaves.

Not sure why, but the only time I've ever played a Gu Zheng, I liked strumming it a lot - it makes a fantastic sound. I hear you can play it with a violin bow as well but I have never seen this done.