CAVE DWELLER
I guess I’m not the only one, but I started a very long-overdue covers band for my 50th birthday party having spent eight months rehearsing songs (last played when I was 18 and not very well – but the power of YouTube and the Internet sorted that!). It was meant to be a one-off, but somehow for the last seven years we’ve been gigging regularly and rehearsing off the back of it. I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s been great fun!
However, as with other readers I imagine, I am sadly banished to a spare bedroom to practice. This has been met with, shall we say, annoyance from the wife! Especially the foot tapping on the floor, which apparently pounds through the ceiling whilst she is watching TV, and allegedly is not conducive to a relaxing evening. Equally she’s not too impressed with my backing vocals whilst I have headphones on either… can you feel my frustration? Cue the only solution: man cave. In desperation to save my marriage (slight exaggeration, but not bad reasoning), I converted one half of my double garage into a rehearsal/music room. It has opened up a whole new chapter of my life. Guitars on the wall that I can look at in all their glory; amps and foot pedals laid out where I want them, rather than having to move them when people come to stay – very annoying, I preferred not to have anyone round – my own space to play, sing along, practice stage moves, and have a few beers without annoying everyone, all for a reasonable outlay, bliss! I would certainly recommend it to fellow frustrated guitarists
who find themselves in the same situation. Now the only minor problem is that my wife is starting to complain that she doesn’t see me as much. Oh well, you can’t have it all can you! Rob Griffiths, via email Haha, well it’s a known fact that guitarists of either sex generally get asked to go somewhere else while they’re making a racket – sorry, sweet music – and we’ve seen some ingenious solutions to the problem. Years ago one of the Guitarist team used to jam with other turned-outof-doors musos in the hold of a converted trawler. Thankfully the smell of herring had abated but carrying amps down the rusty ladder from the quayside was an interesting challenge! Have any other readers got any unusual little nooks where they retire to to be at one with their instrument, as it were? Send us your pics of your guitar cave and we’ll print the best ones here...