TOPIC: How does he do it?

OK, this is probably just total ignorance, but how exactly does FM project his guitar picking so much better than the rest of us? This class is full of guitars from great manufacturers, yet I don't think one of us can play with near the "loudness" that he plays and keeps asking us to produce, no matter how hard we pick. And when I pick hard trying to project I just get bogged down and make even more mistakes. And I'm referencing these comments to the times he is playing the lead even within the circle with 15 other instruments strumming along.

Nature and nurture - innate talent and lots of playing for a long time would be my guess.

Magic??? Hidden microphone?? Voodoo???

Play with CONFIDENCE and see what that does for your volume. And of course skill has a lot to do with it.

These ideas, well except for voodoo, magic, etc, are all good, but I'm not really talking about the talent but more about what sound is coming out. I can pick a string on my guitar as hard as I want but it just won't stand out like that one.

Switch to your banjo. They're plenty loudB)