The shame.....

Hey, way to go for getting the cops called on you with an acoustic! Usually that requires amplification. :lol:

I now have a new goal in life.

This is going to be hard to do in a college town though...

On the flip side, at my old apartment the guy below me seemed to make a habit of drumming to "Living on a Prayer" at 1AM (I get up at 4 for work). It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't suck at it. I never called the cops, but I did bang on the door and informed him where I'd shove his drum sticks if he didn't stop.

I've had the police knock on my door because I was supposedly playing my guitar too loud although I know it wasn't, plus it was 2:00 PM on a Sunday afternoon and there was plenty of other noise going on at the time. Whoever called them didn't have the you know what's to tell me so they called the police.

That was when I was living in an apartment complex. I've been jamming with a bunch of friends on Friday nights at my house and we do play loud but no one has complained yet although one of the neighbors a couple houses down said he heard us playing AC/DC at 2:00 AM. Oooops..Actually that wasn't true because we've never played past 1:00 AM!!

I had the police come by because of my finicky upstairs neighbor twice on Saturday, once at 11:30am and once at 11pm. Now I'll grant that we were playing a bit loud at 11pm, but in the middle of the day I really wasn't doing anything wrong!

Doesn't it seem reasonable that a neighbor should knock on the door or somehow ask you to turn down before he calls the cops? The first time, this neighbor sent over someone from the apartment office AND the police. Which means he basically called them both at the same time. I turned it down when the apartment rep came by, so the police were hardly necessary.

Last night my band was practicing so I went around to the neighbors and asked if anyone had been bothered and to let them know to tell us if we get too loud. My next-door neighbor said "No, I sometimes turn down everything just to listen!", which was nice :)

Jeff

Oh, and the second time (11pm) we WERE playing with an acoustic! Recording a demo of a song we'd just written, when the cops came by.

He banged on the ceiling (after which we quieted down and finished up the song real quick), and then for some reason the police showed up.

Jeff

I've always tried to be pretty quiet when playing, even during the day due to living in an apartment, but even though I have two neighbors on the same level as I am and one upstairs neighbor, I've really only ever heard any noise from the upstairs neighbor, and they were a bunch of college punks who fairly typically would throw parties on oddball nights (tuesdays and thursdays etc) and were fairly loud... eventually I decided what the hell, I got the dirt on those morons if there is ever a problem... but they moved out... and now I've gotten used to playing my amp loud enough to probably be heard, I keep reasonable hours but one of these days I'm sure someone will knock on my door and tell me to cut it out (I'm hoping they'll show up with beer when they do...). I like to think that even though I play loud the only neighbor likely to be able to hear it enough to complain is diggin whatever I'm playing (which is usually nothing in particular, just jammin away practicing a technique or pattern or something... I tend to move it around so it may sound musical most of the time).

Most of my guitar practice has been in the night (in 2005). The times ranging from 1 am to 6 am in the morning.

My neighbour - the lady behind the house did tell my mom that they hear someone playing the guitar and that her son would like to learn from me.

Then one day the lady's son came to my house for taking his cricket ball and told me that he often listens to my guitar playing in night and finds it good. All this was 2 years before...somewhere around Sept 2005. LOL. :shock:

I still sometimes play the guitar in night and I play it pretty loud (think of Green Day songs). The guitar is an acoustic though.

However, the rule is simple. You should not play at high volume at night because most likely you won't like it, if your neighbour is doing the same and you are not able to sleep or study or anything.

Good Luck !

My shame is quit opposite... no knows I play guitar in my neighborhood. :( There is or was a metal band that practiced a street over from me. They sounded really good, usually practicing around 6-7pm. I don't think any of the neighbors complained. I did have neighbors a year or two ago that would party every freakin' day from 8pm-4am. One played (I guess if you call it played) drums and another acoustic guitar. Nothing like a bunch of druged out drunks singing Kum Ba Yah night after night. :x

I have not (yet) had cops call because I've played too loud at home. I live in a quad and my neighbors are cool.

But (in the band) we've had the cops come by twice in the last 3 months. They are cool and just tell us to turn down or they'll come back and give us a HUGE fine.

Find out what songs your neihbors like and play those late at night :lol:

It seems you're not alone in annoying the neighbors with an acoustic :lol:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Music-fan-threatened-with-eviction.3489615.jp

I tend to only get to play when the rest of the family have gone to bed during the week, so I've learned to play really gently, with muted strings and whispering lyrics to get phrasing and timing right - I save practicing the volume/pitching for the weekends. It used to be really quite unproductive, but I've got so used to it now that it works for me. I can learn a song like that and then come the opportunity, play it 'properly' without any/much extra effort.

:D im lucky! cause of a very busy personal schedule, when people would find guitar noises offensive...im already asleep!! :P

not a late night partier as you may have guessed...we do live in a RIDICULOUSLY quiet neigbourhood so i have no doubt everyone around about has heard me 'singing'

I prefer to stomp my foot instead of tap my toes, much to the torment of the guy below me.

I've had a neighbour knock on my door and ask me to stop playing my (cheap, $80 from ebay) acoustic guitar so loud. I used to live in a bedsitter (single room apartment with a tiny kitchen and bathroom) and my neighbour lived upstairs. Naturally I complied immediately, and he was quite nice about it when it must have been awful for him (I was only learning how to play back then, and last thing anyone enjoys hearing is someone learning how to play an instrument!).

That's funny! Now you've been playin' awhile so rock out! At least he can enjoy the music now...