Interesting . . . My wife and I live in a one-room apartment, so any slightly annoying noise is magnified 300% because there is no escape . . . however, I have persisted with blues guitar and found that after a while, my wife developed a wonderful tolerance. So much so that I missed the negative feedback (not that again!). Next I started playing slide guitar, and for a while everything was OK again. Now she is used to that too, so I'm planning on starting harmonica. Of course, when I go back to blues or slide guitar, I get compliments now.

I guess the root of all this was growing up a violin/fiddle player in a family of classical pianists (fiddle was a real rebellion!). What I'm trying to say is, stick with it. Negative feedback can be a great incentive to make progress. Besides, suffering a little for your art, or your convictions, can be a good thing. Good luck in finding the right combination -- jdhblue