However, if you don’t have a music studio in your house, practicing with your new instrument can annoy your housemates and neighbors.
So how can you improve your skills without bothering the people around you? The solution: electric instruments! Here, we list five electric instruments you can use to practice quietly.
1. Electric Guitar
While guitars aren’t typically noisy instruments, an electric guitar will come in handy if you’re sharing a practice space with other people. For example, if your brother is taking an online class in the room you’re sharing, and your mom is working in the living room, an electric guitar can help you practice without making too much noise.
To hear your electric guitar clearly, you need a guitar amp. Most modern guitar amps have a headphone jack and you can plug your headset directly into it. Note that if you have an older amp, you might have to use a 3.5mm to 6.33mm audio jack adapter to do this.
If you like taking your music with you when traveling, you can use a micro guitar amp instead of a full-size one. These devices work similarly to full-size amps, but they don’t have a built-in speaker. Instead, you have to plug in a pair of wired headphones to hear what you’re playing.
You can also use the same method with some multi-effects pedals; instead of plugging the output audio into an amplifier, you can attach your headset to it instead. And it has the added benefit of having distortion and other effects readily available so that you can experiment as you practice.
Alternatively, you can use a dedicated USB guitar soundcard or a USB soundcard with an aux or guitar input. That way, you can record your music on your phone, tablet, or PC, and listen to it using your headphones.
2. Electric Keyboard
Another popular instrument to learn is the electric keyboard. Although this instrument is generally played like a piano, with its black and white keys and default piano sound, most keyboards allow you to change the type of output sound.
Depending on the model, you can make an electric keyboard play many other instrument sounds, like violins, drums, brass instruments, and even sound effects like cosmic and horror sounds. Furthermore, advanced models allow you to edit audio on the keyboard itself.
If you want to practice at home without disturbing the people around you, ensure that your keyboard has a headphone jack, otherwise, you’ll have to turn down the speakers. If you own headphones with a 6.35mm jack, you’re good to go, but you must use an adapter to plug the standard 3.5mm headphone jack into a keyboard.
3. Electric Drums
Having a drummer for a neighbor can be very frustrating. Although drums can be pleasing to listen to, it needs to be at the right occasion. Nobody wants to hear those loud, crashing noises when they’re trying to study or sleep, even if you’re an experienced player, let alone a beginner.
So unless you have a music studio or live alone in an area with a great distance between properties, you will disturb the people around you.
Luckily, electric drum kits are a thing. These instruments have pads, and when hit, they’ll produce a sound similar to drums. Best of all, you can use traditional drum sticks to play this instrument, so when you switch back to acoustic drums, you wouldn’t feel much difference.
You can get a basic electric drum kit that contains seven to nine pads arranged on a small, flat surface if you’re a beginner. But for more advanced players, there are electric drums shaped and arranged like real, full-size acoustic drum sets, granting you the feeling of playing on stage.
4. Electric Violin
Like electric guitars, electric violins use a magnetic, piezoelectric, or electrodynamic pickup to capture the sound from the strings. It then transmits it to an amplifier. Since both the electric guitar and the electric violin run on the same principle—creating sound via vibrating strings—they typically use the same amplifying methods.
If you already own an electric guitar amp, you can plug your electric violin into it, but it might not produce the desired sound. There is a selection of electric violin amps to choose from, which we recommend.
5. Digital Saxophone
Saxophones use a reed mouthpiece that vibrates when the player blows into it. The produced soundwave is then propagated inside the instrument body. Its pitch is altered when the player opens and closes different holes, thus effectively changing the length of the tube.
But with a digital saxophone, the reed does not produce the sound—instead, the breath sensor mounted just below the mouthpiece assembly does it. Some of these instruments also offer Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to customize their soundscape to your liking.
Most importantly, many digital saxophones are equipped with a headphone out jack so that you can play your instrument in private. Some models also offer an aux-in terminal that allows you to listen to background music as you play, creating the perfect atmosphere for practice.
Practice in Peace
Playing an instrument is a great way to pass the time, enhance your creativity, and improve your well-being. However, if you’re just starting out and practicing your newfound skill, it may not be a pleasant experience for the people around you.
That’s why these electric instruments would be beneficial for everyone. While they’re not exactly the same as their acoustic counterparts, the constant advancement of tech allows companies to design them as close as possible to the real deal.
Not only can you use these five electric instruments for practice, but you can also use your computer or smartphone to record the music you’re creating. And if it has a MIDI input and output, you can even use it to create and play sheet music.
Most important of all, you can practice quietly all day long without disturbing anyone around you.
