Is it reasonable

[jac6787.livejournal.com]

to ask the dude across the street from me to stop jammin' out on his guitar on his front porch between 11 PM and 1 AM every single night?  

Comments

[ron_newman]

I'd say yes, and also reasonable to call the police if he refuses your reasonable request.

(I'm assuming here that this is an electric rather than acoustic guitar?)

[ron_newman]

Here's a link to the Somerville noise ordinance.

[inahandbasket]

I'd say it depends how loud he's playing.
Really grooving noisily? I'd say you're well within reason to ask him to either play quietly or take it inside.
Playing quietly on an acoustic that's not audible inside someone else's house? Leave him alone. (But I suspect you wouldn't have posted if that were the case.)

Legally speaking, here's Somerville's noise ordinances: http://uss.tufts.edu/studentaffairs/policies/external/Somerville%20Ordinances%202010.pdf
Basically for your situation he has to be under 50 decibels after 10pm. (I believe that measurement is from his property line, so the sidewalk or your abutting dividing line.)
For reference, a normal conversation volume is around 65db. And it's logarithmic so 50's relatively quiet, washing machine or refrigerator noise levels.

[jac6787.livejournal.com]

To you guys who posted noise ordinance stuff - thank you. I did actually look that up and I will probably try to say something to the guy. If he's not a jerk, I'm sure he'll understand and probably feel bad for keeping people up.

It is actually an acoustic guitar, but if you play guitar at all you'll know that they can actually get pretty loud. With my room being right in the front of the house, which I know isn't his fault at all, I can hear it pretty loudly while I'm trying to sleep. Tonight, I had to check to see if my window was open, actually. If 65db is the average volume of a normal conversation, he's definitely louder than that.

[ron_newman]

If it's acoustic, he probably doesn't even realize he's causing a problem for you or anyone else. So I'd stay with the reasonable request approach first rather than calling the cops.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Yes plain and simple- and how bout no outside noise between 10pm-8am, similar to the dog parks in Somerville

[spatch]

Yeah. He's probably thinking if he was bothering someone, they'd speak up.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Are you my neighbor too? Mostly joking but really, why do people play music out on the PORCH?

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing because it's too loud indoors. ;)

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

In nice weather, it can be nice to hang out outside and play. My former landlord (who is also a friend) played his banjo regularly on his balcony in nice weather, but usually not after 10pm, and it was pretty quiet -- we couldn't really hear it inside. He was also *very* conscientious about checking to see if he was bothering people.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Man up and do it son, don't bitch about it on the internet

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvR6d08L3nc

This...

[lldald.livejournal.com]

FTW

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Compromise is usually a great basis for neighbor relations.

Another thing to note is that the first thing to try is not so much stop practicing as to try doing it inside with the windows shut for once and see if that helps.

I play an instrument that can actually be rather loud, but I am scrupulously careful about making sure the window is shut. I still wouldn't play as late as your neighbor does, though.