Permission over forgiveness.

All the stories are cool, but...I use headphones unless I get my neighbor's blessing first.

Nothing worse than being awoken by a bunch o' inconsiderate a-holes after a busy day.

Great point there too!

_________________
TOO MANY GUITARS, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Current Stable:
Fender Stratocaster MIM 07
Squire II Stratocaster MIK 89?
ESP LTD MH-100QM
Jackson KE3 Kelly MIJ

I'll probably start playing at a normal volume during the morning and then putting it up in the afternoon.

When I bought my first home, I worked a midnight-to-noon shift at a semiconductor fabrication lab. Three in the afternoon was my three in the morning...

The first week I was there, my next-door neighbor decided to develop a chainsaw fetish and trim all his trees every afternoon around 2:00 (just as I was getting to sleep)...I politely went over on the third day and told him that I slept days and worked nights, and I had one more day that week that I had to work (four on/three off, three on/four off rotating schedule).

He apologized profusely and told me to come over and tell him when it was ok for him to finish...we got along great after that.

I also told him that I played guitar and most of the guys I jammed with were also night shift workers, so if we were playing too late or too loud, come on over and tell us to turn it down--the door would be unlocked.

Our houses were all pretty well insulated, and his bedroom was at the opposite end of his house from my den/jam room, so he never complained. One night we played until four or five, and a couple of extra guys showed up, and we were LOUD. I thought I would go ahead and apologize.

He said, "Yeah, I got up at 2:30 or so to go to the restroom, and I heard y'all playing, and it was real nice. Y'all sounded pretty good. Then you started playin' that narcotic music and I had to shut the window...why do y'all play that crap?"

(I figure we started something a bit heavier or wah-wah inflected).

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

my wife and i work different hours. she has to be at work by 6am, and my job allows me to vary my hours.

daily around 8am, i play for 30 to 45 minutes thru my amp- not too loud so i don't bug my neighbors. she usually goes to bed around 9pm, so the headphones go on me, and i can play as late as i want

nice,easy solution

I am very lucky. I live along the highway between two towns.
The neighbors across the highway can't hear my music over the traffic.
I have no neighbors on either side of me.
Still, my largest amp is in the very back of the house in my studio/office.

I am very lucky myself. not only do I live on top of a ridge but I'm also in a rural area. I am also lucky that my wife and kids are heavy sleepers. I have been recording at 3am before and they never budged. Guess I'm way spoiled.

_________________
TOO MANY GUITARS, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Current Stable:
Fender Stratocaster MIM 07
Squire II Stratocaster MIK 89?
ESP LTD MH-100QM
Jackson KE3 Kelly MIJ

i live in a rural area.

our neigfhbors are pretty close but they seem to enjoy the old AC30 cranked up to 3/4 volume. they have even compimented me

complimented

Wish I was listening to it while reading through the thread.

I usually practice at a pretty low level. The funny thing is sometimes I have to actually turn it up because the neighbor's kid is blasting death metal Luckily my Marshall has plenty of power for these occasions.

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Well we don't know who whole story. This could have been after attempts to get him to keep it down. It could be there are signs posted about an illness. Maybe there is something in the lease, or a new baby. There are a ton of factors we just don't know because we only have one side of this story. Maybe they have tired to work it out and he just keeps playing.

_________________
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

I live in the Boonies and my nearest neighbours are about 300' down the lane and separated by lots of trees,lucky for me they are Hendrix,Beatles and blues fans anyway and have said several times they like to hear me jammin' away.

BTW re the neighbours calling the cops.Maybe they did that because they were too ill to go and complain face to face or they could just be people who avoid confrontation. Either way when you live in close quarters with other people the situation is quite different and you have to consider their right to privacy as well as a suitable degree of peace Noise complaints are a part of police work because after all they are" peace" officers and the neighbour's peace is being disturbed.Sorry but I can't find any pity for you,you chose to live in close proximity to other people and consequently have to take their feelings and needs into consideration,to do otherwise is inconsiderate and selfish.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Back in the day..... we had cops called on us that often for noise my brother told them(the cops) to bring their own beer the next time they came

We were not that noisy actually, the b@%&h living near us called them for every sound we made. So naturally when the weekend came along, we gave her an extra dose of badness

You make a good point. I guess It's easy to flash back to the worst neighbors I ever had and adopt his point of view. mia culpa

_________________
TOO MANY GUITARS, TOO LITTLE TIME!

Current Stable:
Fender Stratocaster MIM 07
Squire II Stratocaster MIK 89?
ESP LTD MH-100QM
Jackson KE3 Kelly MIJ

Following my strict rule to NEVER play a woman's first wedding, I agreed to play with a country band at an acquaintance's second nuptials a few years back.

They had a small family & close friends-only ceremony, to be followed by a BBQ and dance in the (large, beautifully landscaped) back yard of the property belonging to her (grown) son.

The problem was a feud between that son and his back-door neighbors; years before, he replaced the broken wooden stockade privacy fence (on his own property) and put the "ugly" side toward the neighbors. This upset them so greatly that they continually called in the police every time the guy had the hiccups. He got rid of his daughter's dog, because every time the dog barked, the police would be visiting soon...that's how hateful and petty these people were.

Knowing this, he extended the olive branch by inviting these people to his mother's wedding reception (even though they weren't friends of the family), trying to pre-emptively create some good will. They declined the invitation.

This was in the fair burgh of Pantego, Texas (home town of Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul). Three things to know about Pantego:
1) Do not speed. Three miles per hour over the speed limit will cost you $150. Ask me how I know.
2) The police have no sense of humor (those that do have it surgically removed upon joining the police force).
3) The neighbors of the guy whose mother's wedding we were playing at had a son on the police force and another on the city council. (diagram that sentence, if you can!)

The wedding was over at 2:30 PM. Midway through our third song, (at about 3:00PM), a blue hat with a shiny shield appeared over the (offensive) stockade fence. He hollered until someone opened the gate, and then asked to enter the yard. (I briefly wondered if he was a vampire, since a vampire can't enter your property uninvited, but realized it was still sunny outside, so I could safely assume he was not of the undead...then I realized he was entering private property where no crime of immediate danger was occurring, so he had to seek permission).

He asked how long we were planning on playing; the original agreement was to play for about three or four sets, depending on how long the people stuck around.

He said that would be fine, but to "shut it down before dark..." He also (quietly) mentioned that he didn't think we were too loud, and that he had a hard time figuring out which house the sound was coming from--he couldn't hear it from the front of the house, and was only sure of where we were when he approached the gate.

We agreed to keep it at the level we were playing at, no louder, and started playing again.

Five songs later, the same scenario occurred, this time with a different policeman (the son of the couple living behind the property). He wasn't nearly as friendly, and told us, "You can't be playing that wild crap that loud."

I stifled myself from pointing out that Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" was hardly a wild song. He seemed particularly offended by the bassist's amplifier (maybe because, with his 4x10 cabinet, it was the only large amp on "stage"/sundeck...I was using my Vibroverb and the other guitarist had a Deluxe Reverb). 

He said we "better turn it down to half that volume and shut the whole thing down within an hour,"which was approximately two hours before sundown and three hours shorter than we intended to play.

We politely made a show of turning our amps down and continuing the set (we were still on the first set at this point) AFTER a ten-minute cooling off period.

We had no sooner played the first stanza of a low-key Willie Nelson tune than the gate opened again...this time the policeman didn't even ask permission (in violation of federal, state and civil laws). He fairly screamed at us to "turn that $)&@ down NOW!"

The elderly minister who performed the wedding politely walked over to the cop and said, "Son, you need to watch your mouth in front of these ladies and these children. You also need to come back with a warrant before you step foot in this man's yard again, and son, if this is too loud for you, you have a terrible problem. Go home, son...they'll be done in a few hours."

The cop looked like he was trying to pass a peach pit through his urethra. He was mad, embarrassed and wrong (and he knew it). He stormed off the property.

We asked the homeowner if he wanted us to pack it up, in order not to create any further problems (for either that day or later), but he said, "No, I want you to turn it up and play something we can dance to..."

We jumped into some Chuck Berry and Stray Cats,  played "High Heel Sneakers" and a few other 50's and 60's blues/rock tunes, as well as a couple more harder-edged country songs. 

With the minister's (and presumably, a Higher Power's) approval, we played until it was almost dusk, and had no further interruptions...

Years later, the guy reported that he had no more problems with his neighbors...until he decided to move and rented his house out to a Hispanic family, but that's another story.

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals