What is your practice environment?

[RabidMusic]

I think my biggest obstacle is not having a good place set aside for practice and watching online instruction. Most of my living area is couches and recliners. Not really good for bass. My DAW would be great for watching instructional videos playing songs, but there is not enough space for a bass and the chair has arms. I'm thinking that I need to find a little space somewhere that I can stand with a bass or sit on a drum throne, mount a laptop at eye level, and stick a little practice amp. Then I think I probably need speakers connected to the laptop for times that I want to play along with a song.

What is your practice/learning space? Is it a good space for you?

 

[JW56789]

My sun porch, just off the kitchen. I have my practice amp and all the odds and ends, my computer, my cd/radio shelf system, and more importantly, a cable long enough to reach the coffee maker, the stove, and the fridge.

 

[G On Bass]

I have an older iMac, stand up desk (with a drafting stool when I wanna sit), Pedalboard into a Audio interface into the mac and some Beyerdynamic headphones. I play along with setlists created in an online streaming software, I make key-adjusted stuff in a DAW, play those back in iTunes.

 

[Diamond_Dave]

Mine is AWESOME. I share it with a teenager who is usually screaming at his Xbox.

But I love him and I’ll miss these times some day. It’s kind of our thing.

 

[Malcolm35]

Over the garage we built my own pout room, aka music studio. It was great, we later moved to the retirement home and I really do not have any one space I can call my own. I feel for you.

I sometime go out on the balcony and practice there, it is not ideal. I sometime go to the second bedroom, that is also not ideal.

We make do with what we have. I'm no longer gigging so my practice schedule sucks.

 

[noeinstein]

Over the garage we built my own pout room, aka music studio. It was great, we later moved to the retirement home and I really do not have any one space I can call my own. I feel for you.

I sometime go out on the balcony and practice there, it is not ideal. I sometime go to the second bedroom, that is also not ideal.

We make do with what we have. I'm no longer gigging so my practice schedule sucks.

I've always enjoyed your posts, Malcolm, and, while I appreciate your optimism, I am bummed to hear this. Keep the faith brother.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Being retired and a widower has allowed me to expand my space in a way that I will have to reconsider if I am lucky enough to have another relationship. But prior to my move out of NYC, I carved out some space in the "dining room"area of our apartment (which was fairly good sized for a New York apartment, about 1,000 sq ft) and my wife, who was an assistant teacher at a tai chi school, was gone enough so that I had time to practice in the evenings and weekends. There was also my former teacher's studio in Manhattan that he made available to students and former students, on the days he didn't teach, to use for sessions. So there was a regular quartet that I'd play with Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday there. The studio had a 6 ft grand, a drum kit, and Joe's "teaching" bass (a late 19th century Bohemian), so I didn't have to schlep. I think I have a pic I can post. I've tried to reproduce that space where I'm living now, that's this pic...

This is Joe's studio...

 

[mambo4]

Bass, headphones, headphone amp, music stand, learning material. I sprung for an accessory shelf attachment to put the H1A1 on.

The only downside is leaving stuff plugged in drains the batteries.

 

[herbygardener]

I'm fortunate to have a garage space that I've transformed into my Bassment!
My refuge from the real world!
Sorry for the crappy pic
Cheers!

 

[CallMeAl]

I have a 3 year old son, which makes it:
a) challenging to leave an amp set up, and
b) require lots of headphone practice.

So I use my vox amplug all the time. I like that I’m not tethered to the computer or wall outlet. I can stand, walk around if I want to. But I’m kinda sick of the headphones; if noise weren’t a concern, I’d definitely just use a practice amp. I prefer the simplicity of smartphone -> amp, VS dealing with a computer, a desk, and an interface.

I also think having the bass on the wall or on a stand is helpful. I can just pick it up and play it unplugged if I only have 10 minutes. I definitely pick up my bass more often this way! The white cabinet hides my amps, cables, etc

 

[catcauphonic]

I'm pretty lucky with my setup right now. Although it doesn't offer me as much privacy as Id like at times, I live in a pretty musical household. There's my Bass Station tucked between the couch and a bunch of percussive instruments including a gong in our living room >

 

[JRA]

some of these "environments" look very inviting! i could practice there, too.

i agree, OP, that you need an "environment" for practice. but it's not just a matter of the right furniture/accessories --- it's gotta be a place that you can get some amount of 'quality time' with your ax. a place/location that others will 'respect' enough to let you-be-you when you're practicing (exceptions include real life!). i hope you can figure this one out --- you'll thank yourself, later. good luck with your practice space!


i'm in an unfinished basement: but it's 'all mine' in that i have my workstation in one area, workbench in another, some storage (instruments/gear/memorabilia) in another, etc., and one of my bands rehearses here so there's enough room to accommodate 7 musicians/drumset/amps in the middle of the joint. but for practice = i have 3-4 axes on stands beside my workstation --- i can pick one up and play/practice/record at any moment throughout the day! and i do!

here's a pic of my TB screen --- while i'm also working on a part for a tune that "my guitar player" ( ) wrote. if i swivel around from this view i can re-seat myself on a stool and rehearse:

 

[Pings Bass]

 

[Spin Doctor]

Not a great pic, but this is a shot of some of my cave.

 

[the general]

I play in an unfinished basement with my laptop hooked up to a receiver/speakers and sit on an old wooden chair. Not a great set-up by any stretch of the imagination, but it does the job.

 

[rufus.K]

There's mine

 

[rufus.K]

 

[Boogiepop]

Nothing elaborate...

B.