How Do You Do It?!?

GizzWizzKing

GizzWizzKing

Well-known member
I am about to start a long voyage without an end in sight. Daunting and exciting are words I would use to describe this situation. It isn't anything that hasn't been done before, and I imagine quite a few of you have experience with my situation. So here I am wanting to ask for any tips or tricks or just plain hit me across the face with some facts.

My first offspring will arrive on August 10th, Lord willing, and I know this will throw a whole slew of wrenches into the limited time that I currently carve out for building as well as playing. I also try to play once a week with my drummer and anyone else who will show up, but me thinks this will likely slide a bit. Do you have any tips? Am I about to move from being a loud tube amp player to a headphone practice type? Are there builds that you suggest for someone in my situation? should I just put my guitar in a glass case to preserve it for the next 18 or so years? Does this mean that I can't leave the clipped resistor leads all over the floor? All are welcome and thank you in advance.

Note: I am very excited and have no resentment to the situation. I am just wanting to prepare mentally and physically for hobbies with a kid in the house.
 
Congratulations! :love:

The prior posters ☝️ have the best of intentions, but go about it backwards. Start an incremental sleep deprivation schedule now, with a goal of 3-4 hours of total sleep per 24hr cycle, which is of course, broken down into much smaller random chunks. (y)
 
GizzWizzKing said:
I am about to start a long voyage without an end in sight. Daunting and exciting are words I would use to describe this situation. It isn't anything that hasn't been done before, and I imagine quite a few of you have experience with my situation. So here I am wanting to ask for any tips or tricks or just plain hit me across the face with some facts.

My first offspring will arrive on August 10th, Lord willing, and I know this will throw a whole slew of wrenches into the limited time that I currently carve out for building as well as playing. I also try to play once a week with my drummer and anyone else who will show up, but me thinks this will likely slide a bit. Do you have any tips? Am I about to move from being a loud tube amp player to a headphone practice type? Are there builds that you suggest for someone in my situation? should I just put my guitar in a glass case to preserve it for the next 18 or so years? Does this mean that I can't leave the clipped resistor leads all over the floor? All are welcome and thank you in advance.

Note: I am very excited and have no resentment to the situation. I am just wanting to prepare mentally and physically for hobbies with a kid in the house.
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Congrats man! Yes, your life will forever change. Here's how it was explained to me when I had my first, then my second, then my third........and I've found this to be true. It's not like your plate isn't already full.....but adding a child to the mix, your plate is still full but the plate gets bigger.........

Here's another thing that you simply can't comprehend until you get there......you will never know how much love you can possibly have for another human being until you love your own child. (At least until they get older, smell bad and talk back.......:))
 
The best advice I ever got was don't forget to enjoy every moment. Yes, it is stressful but it's also incredibly funny, rewarding, exciting, etc. Let the kid get dirty, fall over, find its limits. Don't assume anything. And generally it gets easier as you go. Let's not discuss what happens when they're 17.
 
There’s not much you can do to prepare yourself for what is coming because it’s such a massive paradigm shift.

Enjoy the things you do right now, in particular, try and get more quality time alone with your wife whilst you can, date nights etc.

You’re living in black and white right now and you don’t know it. Once the little one is there, you’ll find you’ve changed to living in colour. You wont be able to do all the fun stuff you do right now in your spare time, but you wont care. None of that matters, you’ll have a greater purpose and you can cherish that moment.

You will get moments free to play, but they may not be long enough to get fruitful outcomes. In a few years you’ll get back to how things were so don’t stress. Something much more rewarding is on the way.
 
Congratulations! I have two little ones. They grow quick! My daughter is five months old and she has already grown so much. Take photos. enjoy the moments, Clean up the resistor legs, and if you have time play guitar and build pedals. Otherwise comment on the forum when you can.
I’m a tube amp player as well. I bought a captor x for when my kids are sleeping. My guitars are usually on the floor and my oldest likes to strum and detune it. If I’m playing guitar he’ll turn off all my pedals, change my settings, and turn off my amp. So you have that to look forward to.
 
Headphone amp AND loud amp. You need both. I play and build a ton while mine sleep. I was never a headphone practicer but I've embraced it since my first kiddo in 2017.

Whatever happens, don't sell your shit. You will be loud again soon. Congrats!

Also, prep for the hospital early. Both my kids were around a month premature.
 
I second all everyone else mentioned. Here’s my additional advice!
Make sure you and your significant other make plans to carve out time for yourself and for each other. You will need time to recharge and “fill up” with things that make you happy and sane (whatever it is, it could be playing guitar, building, playing video games, sitting on the porch with a beer, taking a nap or a shower). You’ll be a much better parent if you take care of yourself. And it’ll be hard to find time together that is not filled with diapers, planning, chores, diapers, bottles, diapers, cleaning, and did I say diapers? Jokes aside, life fills up with lots of new things to do, try to also prioritize the things you love (besides your child).
 
Every kid is different and every situation is different but in general, kids like music, even babies! Just at appropriate levels. I tried headphones, but if I've got headphones on, I'm not listening to the monitor and I'm probably making too much noise, so the majority of my guitar playing is unplugged on the couch. That might be boring if you're an effects player and not a guitar player, but I like songs I can play and sing and I'm not really into playstation menu sounds 😂
 
Not to be a doomsayer, but my longest stretch of not building or modifying pedals and amps or playing guitar at all corresponded to my son being born in 2013.

If you are doing the whole parenting thing correct, you'll be dog tired and not have any personal time! Things will even out again though. Time begins to creep back in and you can pick up the old hobbies once you have some spare time again.

Congratulations!
 
My experience? If you really love your tube amp get a load box and figure out a way to plug some headphones in. First 3 months: everything gets parked your wife and kid(s) need you more than you need to do fun stuff, 3-6 months they pretty much stay where you put them, play some music for them, 6-12mo nap time and bed time starts to become “your time” it’s easy to look forward to those moments but don’t forget about other things you have to get done like paying attention to your woman who might not say it but is still an unregulated ball of hormones form the people McNugget she just made. The first 5 years are the most important, they soak up everything that’s around them especially what ever it is you show them. Let them get their hands on that guitar and slap them strings a little bit.
 
Oh and progress isn't linear. Just cuz your kid sleeps through the night once doesn't mean you've made it for instance. Also crying is a late-stage cue. You don't have to wait til your kid is in total meltdown to change or feed them, or figure out if they're too warm or cold, etc. Be observant and figure stuff out. I sure don't like operating in crisis mode all the time, so I put a lot of focus on recognizing and understanding my kid's early stage cues, but it's not perfect. If a baby's needs are met, it's all joy after that
 
A good idea while they're still very little is to go out to dinner with them. Stick 'em under the table at the restaurant in their capsule thing and they'll generally sleep right through your dinner. It was the only way we ever got to eat meals together. If we were at home he would know and keep one of us occupied. If we went out the noise of the restaurant would keep him asleep.

Don't be afraid of making sounds. If you tip-toe around a sleeping child they will become accustomed to thinking that sleep happens in silence. Just keep on with your life while they sleep and let them get used to life in a noisy world. In fact silence is often what wakes them up.

The birth of my son coincided with my first attempts at amplifier building. So he is very used to sounds of amplifiers being tested, to the point that he can sleep through it even now that he's 24 yrs old!
 
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