Did your parents, family, kids, friends, ever complain you played too loud?

[dadio917]

no...but I was playing with a guy for a few years who played really loud....big taylor, stiff pick, heavy hand, hard of hearing. couldn't hear the ladies play their ukes or hear them sing. Everyone would shout instead of sing. over the course of a year I tried everyway I could think of to ask him to quiet down. He finally blew up at me...the obscenities are still floating in space somewhere! that relationship is over.

It's like sailing....you get the best performance out of your boat with just the right amount of canvas. Same with making music. Often less is sooo much more.

[BoneDigger]

Yes, but mostly while playing on the banjo. "I am playing quietly!!!!"

[Elwood38]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

When I was a kid my parents would complain occasionally. But for the most part I had enough time at home without them that it didn't matter. I didn't play guitar (electric at the time) all that loud anyway.

But as a young man I was studying trumpet. EVERYBODY COMPLAINED (except the dog). Kids and wife and anybody within ear-shot. Trumpet is LOUD!. Thankfully until 10 years ago I lived in a single family house so I could do what I wanted when everybody was out.

Now I live in a condo and have been written up by my crabby downstairs neighbor (even when I wasn't home!). He's killed off my trumpet practice. I play electric extremely softly. No complaints about acoustic practice, so that's what I play now most of the time. GF likes when I play...except when she's on the phone.

Why not invest in a Yamaha Silent Brass for your trumpet? They really are excellent. I use one with a decent set of headphones for better quality sound and no-one in the house can hear me.

[Mandobart]

I played in a couple of teenage rock bands in the '70's. We never had complaints, but later in my 20's every squid in the USN engaged in volume wars in their barracks rooms with the high end stereos we bought overseas. The bars were all about loud music, outrageous antics, excessive drinking, etc.

My time on subs taught me the value of silence. On station we were extremely careful to not give away our position to the Soviets with careless noise (slamming a hatch, water hammer in condensate, cavitating the screw, etc.). Now I'm an old geezer who feels like if I can't talk normally to the person next to me in a bar the music is too loud.

My family doesn't complain about the practice volume - its really about the time spent playing music vs interacting with them. I suspect that for many of those posting about "too loud" complaints the real issue is that you're playing at all, instead of fixing the squeaky fan belt, changing the oil, doing laundry, earning money, etc....

[Everton FC]

My wife will close a door if she's in another room! Subtle... But I get it.

I probably strum too loud, at times. I lack "polish"! My wife also notices I play some songs often. These are my warm-up songs. Then I try to write.

My four kids don`t mind, unless they are trying to play their violas/violins/pianos. My son and I used to jam on Pete Townshend's "A Little Is Enough", he on piano, me on the guitar. Alas, he's moved on to Elgar these days!

If I could get one of them to focus on fiddle....

[TBman]

Actually never, I've been pretty lucky. My wife complains sometimes that I play too much, but she always telling others how she loves how I play.

[Steel and wood]

Mostly early on when learning/practicing.

[Eric S.]

When I was in high school, the drama dept. put on a play that had folk songs interspersed with the dialogue. There were six of us who accompanied on acoustic guitar (no amplification at all, no stage mics). This was in the early 70's so the other guys had Japanese dreads and I was playing a Kalamazoo KG-21 archtop from 1936. (Small bodied, 14 3/4" lower bout). one night during rehearsals the music director called out from the audience for me to back off my picking, as he could only hear my guitar.

[Jobe]

My biggest complaint growing up was foot stomping. My bedroom was above the kitchen which was the focal area of our house. My Dad would say, 'We don't mind the music just stop stomping your foot." Fast forward twenty years later and we are jamming on the beach and I here someone say, "Look at his feet!" so I became self conscious and I looked at my feet and sure enough they were moving. Robert Klein said, "I can't stop my leg." I get that. But it is not intentional. It just seems to happen. (Maybe I should have been a drummer.)

[GaryH]

I've been playing music since '61. I've played guitar, banjo, clarinet, saxophone, oboe and bassoon. I've been fortunate that none of my family has ever complained about my playing, but I also will close my self in a bedroom if anyone is doing something that requires concentration.

[rokdog49]

Not too loud...just too much.

[jpd]

Never! They considered it random noise.....

[Toby Walker]

Thanks for sharing your stories gang!

[Llewlyn]

The guy living in the apartment below mine complains when I tap my foot!

Ll.

[Stratcat77]

Great story, Toby!

Unfortunately, I played in very loud rock bands for too many years and now have hearing loss.. For what it's worth, and for those who have never experienced it, there is something magical about feeling the power of a great sounding electric guitar with enough volume to feel the punch. That said, I do now wish I'd discovered and appreciated what it could be like playing a nice acoustic all those years ago and saved my hearing. The reality is, some of it is genetic. My dad began having hearing loss at 40 and never played loud music.

So, yes, I've been told to turn down plenty of times. And because of my hearing loss, I still don't realize sometimes when I'm too loud on my acoustic gigs, but I have my wonderful wife there to tell me - and she does!