Practice, Space, Gear, and No car?

[sergiomunoz74]

So I've been having a pretty honest dilemma which essentially breaks down into I want to be able to practice at home between any band practices, but the thing is taking my gear back and forth is starting to wear thin on me especially since I'm the only guy without a car. I have done ubers back and forth but 20 dollars or more a week is pretty crappy. Biking with my guitar and pedals is also a pain (especially in winters here in chicago.)

I'm trying to figure out what do people generally do? If transportation was closer to my space I would use it and just always go to my space to practice but sadly it's a pain. Is buying a junker of a car just to move myself in between a good idea?

[voerking]

for a lot less than the price of a car, you could buy a spare guitar - so you could have one at home & leave one where you practice (assuming it's secure).

[D.o.S.]

for a lot less than the price of a car, you could buy a spare guitar - so you could have one at home & leave one where you practice (assuming it's secure).

^^^

[sergiomunoz74]

for a lot less than the price of a car, you could buy a spare guitar - so you could have one at home & leave one where you practice (assuming it's secure).

That wouldn't be a bad idea for just that, although the pedals, and synths are a bit more difficult to buy spares for. The guitar is the easiest to carry since I have a case with back straps. Although the irony is if I wanted a moderately decent vehicle plus insurance is probably about the cost of most of my crap (give or take 8,000). My space is relatively secure although a bit dirty from the other bands there

[Invisible Man]

Strip your board down to essentials, make it easy to carry. Like PT mini-sized. Buy a spare beater guitar that you don't care much about. Buying a car just for this seems like a big investment just for that purpose. Could you use a car for other stuffs, though?

[frigid midget]

Yeah, if you don't have antother -good- excuse to justify the purchase of a car, you really really want to look into the possibility of going with a smaller board, or just making a second trimmed down board to take with you for practices.

I don't know about synths, but if your keaboard really can't stay at the place you rehearsel and NEED it at home inbetween rehearsels...Isn't an option to use cheap controller keyboard at home with whatever soft synth that comes closest to your synth?

Half the fun is in putting togetether the second board. GO nuts on the BST section
There's even a good chance you'll end up liking the lean and mean board more, cause it's more to the point and inspiring to focus on your tunes...

[ognoy]

I don't drive, so if I have to bring alot of gear(PT-sized board+Boomerang III+volume pedal+cables+some recording gear+guitar+Lapsteel) to a rehearsal space, I put the guitar on my back(in a gigbag) and put the rest in a big ass suit case with wheels. I usually take the bus most of the way, but there is a significant amount of walking too.

If I have to bring an amp to a jam/rehearsal /gig(and don't have a ride),
I bring my Traynor TS25(112 SS combo) and put it on a trolley(and strap the pedalboard om there as well).
Something like this, but more light weight / not so heavy duty:

[UglyCasanova]

I have the same "problem". I keep a small amp and a one-spot with daisy chain at home and I just grab a few pedals I want to play with off my board when I leave. Works pretty well.

[sergiomunoz74]

Hmm These are all dang good ideas, beater guitar for the space, make a smaller secondary practice space pedal board, and the synths are actually all pretty small so that isn't the biggest issue. It was mostly about the combination of the guitar/pedalboard/synths at the same time that made it tough. A dolly wouldn't be a bad idea, I might try to see what I can find for those foldable milwaukee ones.

Honestly I don't really have much good reason to get a car aside from this. I guess so I can be lazy and go to shows without having to bike back and forth. Im gonna try some of these ideas since it's about a half mile walk from the train station, I feel like a dolly and a drape wouldn't be too hard to take and hide what I got,

[rfurtkamp]

Chicago there's not just the cost of the car but the parking for same etc.

It is what it is, you deal with various taxis and adjusting for weather, or you don't.

I had a car for my first couple years back in the city after college, and it was just as much a pain in the ass as not having one.

[sergiomunoz74]

You don't have to tell me. I've been here all my life, I know how to drive a car, but the fear of tickets and intense road rage has stopped me from ever pursuing it. Just want to take music more seriously and finally play with my bands in a consistent weekly/bi weekly manner. I found one of my biggest hurdles is just carrying shit back and forth consistently.

The small pedalboard idea is probably one of the better ones since my main pedals is just a pitchfactor and my HM-2 clone.

[Boxbie]

You might just have to bite the bullet and get a (small cheap) car.

[K2000]

I used to roll equipment on a dolly/hand cart with bungie cords (this could be hard in the snow). A big garbage bag (contractors bag) on top (if there's an obvious guitar in there) to travel incognito. I don't like the locals knowing I'm a musician, it makes it seem like you've got good stuff to steal.

[goroth]

https://instagram.com/p/2Q01pCTUU-/

Laptop, pt-pro, guitar on my bike, all year round. On that shot it was the summer and I had it converted wth a front wheel so I could run with it but normally it's attached on my bike.

[amnesiac305]

^^^^^

That's really cool.