A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I live in a little 600 sqft apartment not much room to stretch out and rock out so my living room is also my studio, practice area, TV room, stereo room and where guest gather when here. My kitchen table just in front of this area also doubles as a workbench, I keep what I'm playing in the living room which is usually an electric, acoustic, bass and keyboard all the other gear is stashed in my bedroom. I also have my meager recording gear in the living room all wheelchair accessible. Oh, yea I also have a big A$$ 55inch TV in here.
I run my guitar into a Boss Katana 50 and out to a Mackie 12 channel board. I also run my mic, keyboard, Bass and acoustic into the board mix it and then send it through to either my Zoom R8 or laptop depending on what I'm doing the laptop has Presonus Studio One DAW and a Personus 2 in 2 out interface with a Presonus ERIS 3.5 active monitors. There are a handful of pedals I use Nobels ODR1 overdrive, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb and an Electro-Harmonix Canyon Delay/Looper and a Zoom MS-50G multi-effects pedal. I have a Behringer 4 channel headphone amp each channel has its own volume control so four of us can jam at once and I have great drum plug-ins, so we rock out in old man silence.
Anyway, here's my little set up it ain't much but it's lots of fun so no matter what you have if it's simply a guitar sitting on your bed to a full on music studio take some pictures and give us a tour of your area I'm sure some of you have incredible rehearsal space so even if you think this is a stupid thread, I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to see where you go to enjoy, practice and just play your instruments.
HERE'S MY PICTURES

Its nice that you have room for your setup. I'm stuck in my office, which is a converted bedroom, so think 10ft x 11ft roughly. No amps anymore, as the wife and kids hate the sound, and there's simply no room for them. I've got a Kemper on my stereo cabinet, the PRS in its case in the corner, the Gibson acoustic in its case in the closet, and a Harley Benton Jazz bass clone hanging on the wall

Thing that sucks is I gotta break everything out when I want to play, which has indirectly led me to playing the acoustic a lot more, as I simply remove it from the case and start playing. PRS requires cables to the Kemper, getting the headphones setup, firing everything up, picking a profile to play, etc. I make it sound like a chore, but like I said, it does influence me to just grab the Gibson and start playing...

I'm assuming by "practice" you're adhering to the standard musician nomenclature of something done by oneself, as distinct from "rehearsal," which is done with a band. As such, I'll only address the former.

99% of the time I practice unplugged. I know this answers the "how" and not the "where" question relating to practicing, though I believe that they're related. Not being tied to the restraints of being plugged into an amp, I'm free to practice anywhere. Sometimes I sit at the kitchen table, or on a chair in the patio or yard, or on the sofa in the study, or in a storage room out back that has become the private apartment of one of the cats.

In line with the philosophy of having no impediment between the thought and desire, "I want to practice," and having an instrument in one's hands engaged in the act, I have guitars strewn about the house. There's a Strat laying on a chair in the kitchen, a Les Paul on the sofa in the living room, others casually laying about. When I feel the impulse, I simply pick one up and play. No fumbling with cases, amps, chords, pedal.

I almost never practice in my music room, which is where I keep most of my gear and recording equipment. That's like the stage to me, a place for performance, not practice.

What's important in practice for me is being able to narrowly focus. It's about time spent with the fingers on the fretboard, neuro-muscular training, building familiarity with patterns of movement. Think the scene in the film Karate Kid where Daniel-son is doing the "wax-on, wax-off" thing. If all of that long preparatory work (practice) is undergone, then the "performance" of the act itself, be it either a punch or a lick, with flow effortlessly.

So yeah, I practice anywhere. Long hours of "wax-on, wax-off." Doesn't matter where. It's this seemingly mundane "annoying plinking" . . . as my significant other refers to it . . . which means so much when it come time to perform, because it' what underwrites most of your skill and facility.

This implies that I practice!

I play when I can, which isn't often. All my gear is in the basement in various places (only been living here for 3 years and still hope to someday get it organized). And like TMC, I am usually playing unplugged.

The house is roughly 850 sq feet but punches above it's weight class thanks to high ceilings.


A corner of the camping gear/sewing room.



The warehouse. A guy is letting us use it as long as we pack up tight afterwards.

I mostly play a ukulele laying in bed watching television. I'm a multi-tasker. I'm not sure it's really practice--just getting in my 10,000 hours 'til I can say I gave it a good attempt. For a while I'd play a short scale bass in bed watching television. Neither bother my wife much.

The apartment where I live is a hair bigger than yours, Randy @redman , about 750 sqft. Here´s my home office/practice place. There´s the Mustang amp. No interfaces or anything, just the amp - it is the interface - and the Jurassic Park PC. The guitar is hanging in my son´s bedroom because it was the best place to put the wall hanger. The guitar has been hanging there for almost a year now, though, except for just a few very brief moments, which also applies for the amp.

You can also see the old HP printer - not in use -. BTW, I built the desk myself; I copied the design from a computer desk, got the materials, and assembled it at home. It was many moons ago.