Where can I find a practice room in northern LA/San Fernando Valley?
April 2, 2013 3:20 PM   Subscribe

I'm going to be in Los Angeles for a couple months for work, and I'm going to be staying with a friend. I'd like to be able to practice my acoustic guitar privately, but I'm having little success finding practice rooms.

I've found plenty of "rehearsal spaces" in LA, but they are too large and too expensive. I'm looking for something slightly larger than a phone booth, where a person can sit and play acoustic guitar. A chair and a table is all I need. I looked into practice rooms at local colleges like UCLA, but they all seem to restrict access to enrolled students. Any ideas or recommendations?
posted by averageamateur to Media & Arts (8 answers total)
 
That's tough. I know some professional musicians who have just about this size music rooms put into their condos - one friend plays the sax and the phone-booth thing muffles the noise and quells neighbor complaints. However, they are relatively $$$ and difficult to move once installed.

If you're looking to pay a modest amount for a rehearsal space, our guest house is configured as a music room for my husband and in a quiet, peaceful area of the San Gabriel Valley (Altadena) abutting the Angeles National Forest. Memail me if interested.
posted by arnicae at 3:41 PM on April 2, 2013


Does it have to be indoors? If it's an acoustic guitar, it seems like you could just set up in the middle of a park and noodle around for hours. As long as you're not super loud, I don't think anybody would look twice. (And if you're any good, people would probably like it. Hell, you could put out a cup and make a few bucks.)

If it absolutely has to be indoors, what about in the backseat of a car? You'd have to sit down the whole time, but it'd give you about as much room as a phone booth.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:46 PM on April 2, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm interested in the answers to this question too, as I'm in a similar situation re no private practice space. The best things I've heard so far are (1) just go ahead and play at home, at a time when it won't bother too many people who you live with (ask your friend), (2) rent a more expensive rehearsal space and share it with a bunch of people, or (3) screw it and practice in the park like Ursula Hitler suggests.

You might look into sharing a rehearsal space with another band/singer via Craigslist. I was just looking there the other day, and if you search for "music rehearsal" or "lock-out rehearsal" or the like, you will find a few options for sharing arrangements. Obviously you'll find a bunch that are too expensive, but it's worth a look.
posted by Red Desk at 3:53 PM on April 2, 2013


Have you tried calling, say, CSU Northridge music department to see if you could somehow finagle access to their practice rooms over the summer?
posted by ablazingsaddle at 6:25 PM on April 2, 2013


Smallest public storage unit with 24-hour access you can find? A 5' x 5' near me costs $43/month, but has a 1/2 off first month promo.
posted by ctmf at 9:57 PM on April 2, 2013


Ctmf, do you practice in your storage locker? Because that is definitely against the rules at all public storage facilities that I've used. Maybe it's an LA thing, but they watch you like a fucking hawk. Storage companies do not want to liable for anything beyond the bare minimum.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 11:43 PM on April 2, 2013


My experience is 20 years ago, when every friend in a band I ever had did that. Most got a large enough unit (with power outlets) for the whole band to set up a stage inside and just leave it that way. Evenings in these places were like shopping malls of crappy bands playing at full volume.

So I wouldn't be surprised if THAT wasn't allowed in some places but was in others. A single un-amplified guitar, though? Who would care? Though you bring up a good point about asking first, not just assuming.
posted by ctmf at 6:52 AM on April 3, 2013


Asking might not work, though. I'm sure a lot of places will have boilerplate prohibitions against this sort of thing. I'd expect kind of a "well, since you asked, now I have no choice but to say no" reaction, when otherwise it might have been overlooked.

Maybe the storage unit's not a good idea, based on ablazingsaddle's experience.
posted by ctmf at 7:34 AM on April 3, 2013


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