Practice Space Design?

[BassDeffy]

Anyone have any good ideas for making a practice space? Currently I'm in a college dormatory but moving out this summer. Any kind of considerations? What's your practice space like? Just looking for ideas and whatnot anything is better then a cramped dormroom where I can't even use my amp :(

[Koala]

I believe Eric wrote and article on practicing which talked about this a bit, hell definitely clear that up for us. Still here are a few things i believe you should consider:

1. A big enough room so that you can lay out your effects, your amp, have enough room to play without banging your headstock against the wall, and have a somfortable stool to sit on, as well as a table to read on, and a shelf for storing your papers.

2. NO TV!)cept for watching guitar stuff)

3. ABSOLUTELY NO PHONE! people just seem to know precisley when to call to annoy you the most

4. A computer in there is pretty nice for using stuff like powertab or ymeternome.

4. A locking door to avoid people walking in when youre halfway through playing 32nd notes at 999bpm, and playing it clean.

5. A window to provide lighting and fresh air, practice rooms always get real stuffy.

6. A posters of people you admire, or maybe promos of your gigs.

7. The inevitable ashtray

8. A comfortable chair to sit after sitting on your stool for a while.

9. A swedish masseuse to help you relax when youre done:D

6. A

[eastwood]

K,

I loved numbers 3 & 4 !

The amount of txts I get while practising are un-real ! They become a terrible annoyance. If I dont answer them I get grief of the girlfriend / x-wife !

I'm living with my parents at the moment and I work for my dad. He has a habit of standing in my bedroom door asking me silly questions about work while I'm trying to execute string skipping !

Arrrrrrgggg !


Daz

[DanF]

Which #4 eastwood? (Just giving you a hard time Koala). I know a few jazz guys who have posted pictures check these out:

http://users.bestweb.net/~wkyee/studio2.jpg

http://www.onestopjazz.com/kvansant/crib.html (My fav)

Anyway my practice room is me sitting on the coffee table in front of the fireplace so nothing too impressive there. ;)

-Dan

[Koala]

Geeeez, Dan youre right.....what the heck´s wrong with me? LOL, ill try to get it right this time:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

[Koala]

Now my practice space will be lined with big colorful flashcards to practice counting 1 to 10.

[Bizarro]

My "studio" is a bedroom with a high workbench so I can read while standing and playing. I have a very uncomfortable stool so it forces me to stand :) I have a PC, mixer, amps, little TV w/ built-in VCR for guitar vids, and DVD player in the PC.

My band practices in a living room/dining room in a large house. It has a vaulted ceiling so it's really a great place to practice.

My next house (if I can ever afford it... maybe in 5 years or so :() will have a dedicated studio AWAY from the bedrooms so I can play while my family members are sleeping. I don't sleep much (5-6 hours per day) so I need somewhere to play guitar!

[madhatter@skool]

one thing you may want to consider is to have a space for guitar repair/maintenience work. You could have a little corner, a few tools, a box to prop the neck up with, and a blanket under the guitar to catch the string pieces, solder, etc... This way you can keep all of your musical stuff in one room & don't have to keep going to the garage for tools or to work on your guitar. My garage doesn't have any climate control, so when it gets cold outside, it gets cold in there. It's no fun to work on stuff when you're cold.

I wouldn't really reccommend a table, because you need a pretty big one (big & sturdy=expensive) to hold a whole guitar, and the chance of a cheap table getting knocked over are pretty high.

[Bizarro]

MadHatter, that is absolutely true!

My studio "table" is a solid core door with some legs I built for it! It's really high up (36" to the work surface) and covered with an indoor/outdoor carpet that won't scratch a guitar finish.

It is perfect for working on guitars, or laying out reading material, or just about anything. It also has my monitor on it which I raise up another foot so I can read it while standing up.

It's really a great feature for a studio!

[madhatter@skool]

Thanks Bizarro

Alot of people seem to overlook the maintenience part of playing. It's like owning a fabulous fast car, but never wanting to fill it with fuel, check the oil, or whatever. I'l glad that other people out there are concerened with this too! Thanks for the encouragement as well.

You have the right Idea for a table. I need to get one of those. I do all of my repair work on my floor on an old heavy curtain.

Kinda off subject, oh well.

[BassDeffy]

Thanks all for your input, it's helped me decide what I want to do with my practice space.

I've been toying with the idea of lining the interior walls with pyramid foam to give it a studio feel and some noise dampening, granted it wouldn't be as good as real studio foam but it gets the job done. Definatly going to put curtains over the windows for less destraction and hang up a few informative or inspiring posters. I'm hoping I can snag a desk for my computer, mixer, and repair station. I usually practice unamped because I can hear buzzing notes better and I live in a dormatory, so I get noise complaints when I do, but in the apartment I'm going to atleast devote half my practice time to amped playing and with some doodle time for effects. A solder station would be nice, as long as there is a burn kit or telephone near by :D