Guitar store riffs

grandinq

Power User
Okay, so I’m going to a guitar shop I’ve never been to today. Although they had already sold the G&L Legacy I was yearning for, I’m sure I will end up trying out a number of guitars.

Now I have to think about my Guitar Store Riffs. Does anyone do this, plan ahead of time what they will play? If I don’t, I find I freeze up and become an idiot who can only play the pentatonic box and a D chord. I am going to write them in a note on my phone.

There’s actually a practical consideration for me as well. I want to plan a variety of types of things I’d play to test the various pickups and to check out different parts of the neck.

I often include my own songs so if I mess up only I know.

Alright, off to make the list. My only rule is no Enter Sandman or Sweet Child of Mine.
 
I do recall as a teenager practicing before I went to seriously consider a guitar purchase in a store - esp if during the week in a smaller shop. We all want to sound good and it is easy to feel self-conscious in a showroom if its just you and the store workers!

One great thing to do is to take something like the little Vox headphone amp things - you will hear and feel the guitar, but no one else will!
 
I never think about it. Open chords, pentatonics around 12 and a few other things will tell me if I gel with it or not.
 
There's just one universal rule....
iu


Side note: I hate going into a shop and some dude is in there playing like its a gig or an audition and it goes on forever. OK, asshole, the place is all yours today I guess.
 
Side note: I hate going into a shop and some dude is in there playing like its a gig or an audition and it goes on forever. OK, asshole, the place is all yours today I guess.
Personally, I'm not a 16-PRSi new one every week sort of guy, each guitar buy is a big deal for me.

So I take my time in the store. I don't play super loud (or quiet conversation level either), and I'll step aside or alternate if someone else wants a run at the same gear.

But damn straight, I'm gonna give it a good play before dropping what for me is significant money. I'll probably even put it down and come back another day to see if it still wiggles my thing. If a store can't accommodate me to that degree, I won't shop there.

EDIT: To the original point about Stairway etc, I'm easy on that point, since I don't usually play songs anyway. Just free-form wankage, or that on its way to becoming a song of my own, maybe.
 
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Personally, I'm not a 16-PRSi new one every week sort of guy, each guitar buy is a big deal for me.

So I take my time in the store. I don't play super loud (or quiet conversation level either), and I'll step aside or alternate if someone else wants a run at the same gear.

But damn straight, I'm gonna give it a good play before dropping what for me is significant money. I'll probably even put it down and come back another day to see if it still wiggles my thing. If a store can't accommodate me to that degree, I won't shop there.
This. At that point I'm interested in how it plays and feels more than anything else - if it doesn't play well acoustically or quietly, it won't work loud either. If I've been there a while and someone else wants to try the same guitar or amp, I'll move, or give it over (or if I already know I want it, I'll say no and go buy it right then).

I don't go in w/ any songs in mind, unless I happen to have an earworm going on that I really want to play ;-) I just mess around w/ different styles, and see what the guitar inspires me to play. I'll usually pull out a few tunes from whatever my current band is playing, some originals, whatever comes to mind. Fortunately I play a lot of non-mainstream stuff - so I can play some Phish, Dead, Yes, funk, etc and not Stairway or Sweet Child ;-)
 
So I got back... and somehow didn't buy a guitar! Such self-restraint makes me think I deserve a guitar.

I found out that I could get a G&L Legacy ordered for me that would be just like the one they had sold. It would be about $400 more than the used one had been. Gotta think on that.

I am happy to report, however, that my buddy bought a sweet Fender P-Bass. His store riffs were Xanadu, Tempus Fugit, and How Many More Times among others.
 
So I got back... and somehow didn't buy a guitar! Such self-restraint makes me think I deserve a guitar.

I found out that I could get a G&L Legacy ordered for me that would be just like the one they had sold. It would be about $400 more than the used one had been. Gotta think on that.

I am happy to report, however, that my buddy bought a sweet Fender P-Bass. His store riffs were Xanadu, Tempus Fugit, and How Many More Times among others.
Tempus Fugit for the win!!

And I have a S-500. If the Legacy is anywhere near that, you'll love it...
 
Personally, I'm not a 16-PRSi new one every week sort of guy, each guitar buy is a big deal for me.

So I take my time in the store. I don't play super loud (or quiet conversation level either), and I'll step aside or alternate if someone else wants a run at the same gear.

But damn straight, I'm gonna give it a good play before dropping what for me is significant money. I'll probably even put it down and come back another day to see if it still wiggles my thing. If a store can't accommodate me to that degree, I won't shop there.

EDIT: To the original point about Stairway etc, I'm easy on that point, since I don't usually play songs anyway. Just free-form wankage, or that on its way to becoming a song of my own, maybe.
My thoughts were more about the guy wailing away badly at a guitar he’s not gonna buy but monopolizes the atmosphere of the place anyway.
 
My thoughts were more about the guy wailing away badly at a guitar he’s not gonna buy but monopolizes the atmosphere of the place anyway.

Oh yeah, I’ve seen that type. I feel every Guitar Center has them. Yet another reason not to go there.
Fortunately the place I was at didn’t have that guy there today. Just lots of old folk like me who love guitars.
 
I like to play the intro riff to Smoke On the Water for 45 minutes or so. Or until I’m asked to stop, which is usually well before 45 minutes. Then I bust out the world’s sloppiest Stairway To Heaven. That is usually when they come and yank the cord.

😂
 
I like to play the intro riff to Smoke On the Water for 45 minutes or so. Or until I’m asked to stop, which is usually well before 45 minutes. Then I bust out the world’s sloppiest Stairway To Heaven. That is usually when they come and yank the cord.

😂
What, no Crazy Train?
 
For me... two things...

1. I get no use out of trying something at a store- I kinda like buying stuff cheap- and selling it if I don't like it.

I can get the money out of the way, I already own it. I can take the time I need to get to know it, mess around with it, think about it... Very different experience owning it, or having it at your house than at a store. Didn't really get mesa boogie amps until I actually took the time to have one at home- and it's all I use since.

2. I never play songs really- if anything- it's just a series of open chords, palm mutes, and held out barre chords- with varying dynamics of picking. In like 30 seconds I can get a feel for something and see/hear all it can do and what it does.

If I'm being a psycho and trying to put a guitar through the ringer- I will see how it holds up in harmonics and overtones. Basically pinched harmonics but seeing how loud they can be, how perfect they are- how many extra places there are to ring out... some guitars I can hit a high E or high G pretty much on the high E where the bridge pickup is that is just overtones of like a million octaves up.

Recently I was playing a RELISH guitar, and it sounded and felt so thick and piano like and bell like- I played with the harmonics for a half hour seeing all kinds of crazy stuff I could get out of it- very impressive.
 
Back in the 80s when I was test-driving my first expensive guitar (a Charvel Model 6) I was making a really hamfisted attempt at Spanish Fly when the salesman came over to me and said 'Oh, so that's how you play it!'. Lol. No it's not. Anyway, after much soul-searching I bought the guitar.
 
People rehearsing and practicing what they are going to play in a music store? You guys are nuts. Unless you're looking for a new band, in which case its kinda an open audition.

Every solo from “The Wall” then the ”Purple Rain” solo and then I usually leave with all the female customers.

What makes you think women are still impressed with you playing some guitar from decades old songs? Unless you're the hot bad boy playing a sensitive song around a campfire you'll probably have more success saying you're a DJ. :tonguewink:
 
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