cyclopean
Poster Extraordinaire
My condolences!
(To the people who have to play guitar in the privacy of the bedroom)
I'm obviously opinionated, but we pretty much come here to banter about our opinions.
My feeling is that we should avoid living situations where our music is frowned upon by our "peers".
We DO get to choose our peers!
Same with who we marry, though I guess we might find the rare perfect mate except that they don't like our guitar playing.
IDK what the right approach is to being a musician in a world where intolerance is a celebrated right, but I always encourage musicians to seek out living situations and circles of friends who appreciate us for that fairly important aspect of our lives.
Of course some of us might play guitar a little just to relax, we might not consider ourselves musicians, we might not even really care if anyone ever really sees us play music.
But that group of players does not fit the OP's question, because they have no "gigging amp"!
If you have a gigging amp, obviously music is a big part of who you are and you form the rest of your life around that thing that's not just what you do but also who you are.
If who you are, is a musician, and you're no longer a "music student in a dorm or off campus housing, then dammit you need to place a value on, seek out, and find a living situation where you are not forced to play your music in your bedroom!
I emphasize this because it seems like so many players comment that their mate makes them play only at certain times in certain rooms at certain volumes etc. I understand that some of us just use guitar as a relaxing hobby and it means little to who we are or to the person we marry or shack up with.
But for all those who have a "gigging amp" because we play in bands and live the life of a musician, is it too much to ask that our friends and family value and respect that part of who we are???
I've tiptoed around whiny folk quite a lot, and am very concerned about upsetting them with loud guitar.
To avoid a life like that I've basically chosen industrial artist loft type living situations, or had a rehearsal space.
And all my GFs have been like us musicians, people with unique interesting characters and needs, who appreciate what we do, because they have something they DO too, other than work cook eat sleep and adjust the home decor.
In a way, living with a mate who does not appreciate me as a musician?
That's a HORRIFYING idea!
do the people who don't also use smaller amps at home live in rural areas with no neighbors? there's a reason why a lot of us rent practice spaces in sketchy industrial neighborhoods.