Moving in with your guitar can be rather stressful, especially when you’re starting college and have to figure out how to store and play your guitar without bothering anyone. It’s essential to know how to handle this issue so you can keep practicing without torturing your roommate and without risking of damage to your guitar.
Here are some useful tips for keeping a guitar in a dorm room:
- Check if guitars are allowed.
- Get a guitar case.
- Lock your room.
- Get insurance.
- Don’t bring your favorite guitar.
- Use headphones.
- Use a laptop.
- Silence your acoustic guitar.
- Put your guitar on a stand.
- Keep your gear in the closet.
Read on to learn more about how to successfully keep playing your guitar while in college. In this article, I’ll show you what you need to do if you want to follow your musical ambitions while living in a dorm room.
Related: new to this topic? Start with our step-by-step guide to cleaning and maintaining a guitar.
If you want to find out what my recommended guitar gear is, then here is what I recommend on Amazon:
- Fender Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Bundle (MY FAVORITE GUITAR)
- Snark SN-8 Super Tight All Instrument Tuner (Easiest Tuner I’ve Used)
- 6 String Acoustic Guitar Capo (Best CAPO for quick changes)
- Dunlop Max Grip 1.0mm Nylon Picks (Thick Guitar Pick So You Don’t Lose Grip!)
- Universal Guitar Stand (Cheap & Minimalist Guitar Stand I Recommend)
- Levy’s 2″ Wide Quick Adjust Guitar Strap (Best Guitar Strap For Any Level)
1. Check if Guitars Are Allowed
Before you create a strategy for dominating the music scene from your dorm room, you first have to check if it is even allowed to have a guitar there.
Most dorms won’t outright ban musical instruments, so you probably don’t have to worry about that. However, some dorms have specific times during which you’re allowed to make some noise, so you’ll need to check when that is.
You’ll also want to sniff out if there’s a suitable room where you can practice without disturbing anyone. If you’re lucky, there might even be a dedicated room for such activities, but even if there isn’t, you’ll be fine as long as the walls are not paper-thin.
It is also wise to introduce yourself to your neighbors and roommate in advance if possible. Tell them about your guitar hobby and let them know they can talk to you if there’s too much noise. Being friendly and proactive will make them more prone to liking you and tolerating your playing.
Communication is a key factor in dorm living, and this situation is no exception. As long as you play nice, you can expect the others to do so too, and life will get much easier. Who knows—you might even find potential bandmates!
2. Get a Guitar Case
While it’s true that a guitar bag is much lighter and more easily transportable, it doesn’t offer as much protection as a sturdy guitar case. Your prime goal if you’re bringing a guitar to your dorm should be making sure that it stays intact and free from damage.
The best way to ensure this is to get a heavy-duty guitar case that can withstand a lot of punishment and won’t allow anyone to damage your guitar even if they sit on it. After you safely put your guitar in the case, you should put it under your bed for extra protection.
If you’re particularly worried about it getting stolen, you might invest in a guitar case that you can lock. Additionally, you can use a bike lock to chain it to your bed somehow, but it’s not very likely that such a drastic measure will be necessary. If it is, you might want to find a new dorm.
Storing your guitar in a hard case will protect it from most damage. Doing so is especially important during your first days in the dorm, while you’re still not entirely certain about the people there.
Once you’ve settled, gotten to know the people around you, and trust that your guitar won’t come to harm, you can get laxer with the safety measures. Until then, keep it in the case and out of sight and touch.
3. Lock Your Room
Keeping your room locked is generally the best way to protect your valuables from getting stolen, including your guitar, amp, and audio interface.
Even if the dorm is generally a nice place, you still shouldn’t leave the door unlocked. It’s better not to take any chances. You never know who might be roaming the hallways and think that your Fender can get them a nice amount of money to finance a party.
4. Get Insurance
If you’re going to college with a guitar, it’s a good idea to check if you can get insurance for it. It won’t cost more than a few dollars, but it will probably save you from a headache in case something happens.
While hardly anything will replace a guitar you’re in love with and have been playing since you were a kid, insurance will still cover you well enough to get a new one. It surely beats scraping money to buy one or getting it fixed when there’s so much other stuff to pay for.
Note that getting insurance for your gear might not always be possible. However, it doesn’t hurt to ask, and you might get some nice benefits from it.
5. Don’t Bring Your Favorite Guitar
Since you’re risking damaging your guitar during a party, or even getting it stolen, it’s not a good idea to bring your favorite guitar with you. While bringing your vintage Les Paul with you might be tempting, it’s safest to leave it home so it doesn’t get smashed in your dorm room.
If you have another, less expensive guitar, bring that one with you. While it might not be as flashy and glamorous as your main weapon of choice, it will be more than enough to practice and write new music. You’re probably not aiming to impress anyone, so it will get the job done.
If you don’t have a backup guitar, consider getting one. Getting a cheap second-hand guitar will do the trick. If all the parts are on it and it produces sound, it’ll do the job. If you’re planning to use a guitar sim on your laptop, the guitar becomes less important, as you’ll be able to make it sound like pretty much any other guitar.
If you’re planning to play in a band and have gigs, then bringing the cheapest possible guitar might not be the best choice. You need something better for a live setting. However, you can just opt for a budget guitar for a few hundred dollars. There are many great options out there, and even if you damage such a guitar, you won’t be too heartbroken.
6. Use Headphones
While acoustic guitars are typically less loud than their electric counterparts, electric guitars allow you more options for silencing them. The best choice for this is getting an amp with a headphone jack. This will allow you to play with your natural tone while not disturbing anyone around you.
Almost every guitar amp now has a headphone jack, so this will not be an issue (relevant article: here’s how to eliminate hum from guitar pedals). If it’s possible, don’t skimp out on your headphones. While getting the most expensive high-end headphones is unnecessary, you shouldn’t go for the cheapest ones, if you want a good sonic experience.
You should also avoid Bluetooth headphones. While it might not be too difficult to connect them to your amp, the amount of latency you’ll get won’t be worth the effort. Even the best Bluetooth headphones suffer much more latency problems than wired headphones.
If you want to hear a backing track along with the sound of your guitar, you might invest in a mixer. You can get a decent entry-level mixer for less than $100. It’s not a big deal financially, but it will make your practice much easier. It will allow you to plug in your phone or any other sound source along with your guitar and listen to the sound on your headphones.