The Painful Experience in the Guitar Shop

[Peter Squire]

Hi folk

After reading Timmy's thread about his bad experience in the guitar shop, I thought about something that has been keeping me away from the stores for a long time now.

BAD GUITARISTS PLAYING (*insert badly played overused metal riff here*) ON AN AMP THAT IS PILE-DRIVINGLY LOUD

I went into my favourite shop last night, and was greeted by the best music store guy in town. We just started having a bit of a chat when a kid at the back of the store turned up the Line 6 amp to about 11 and started thrashing out Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm) endlessly while his schoolie friends watched on in awe.

I just looked at the music store guy and went

What are your painful experiences in the music stores?

[Anti_Wish]

pretty much the same thing except with people who try to play that song all on one string. or people that just can't play and turn the volume up HELLA loud

[SunShine]

Originally Posted by southpaw1

I just looked at the music store guy and went

It seems I do that everytime I go to one, but theres the nice supprise of finding a good guitarist every once in a while. It's nice to walk in and find someone playing a sweet little blues or funk riff and just plug in next to them and jam for a while before you even talk to eachother.

Then theres the guys who just thrash out mindless junk really loudly. I usually grace these guys with a, "I bet you fancy yourself a guitarist, dontcha?"

[Gard]

....ahhh....the memories....



....I spent over 4 years working 6 days a week at Bass Central.

Now, on some days, you would get some of the most AMAZING players in there, playing stuff you only heard in your dreams....

...sadly, there were more days spent listening to some adnoidal wanker butchering "Higher Ground" (you know who you are), thinking that we'd be impressed because they could play that song Flea wrote...




...I usually fixed 'em by snaggin' a handy bass and rollin' through "I Wish" (guess what, slap is not INHERENTLY funky! ), then saying "Y'know the same guy wrote both of those tunes...no, you DIDN'T know, did you?"

[Peter Squire]

Yeah, and I was trying to have a serious chat about the NS 5-strang EUB they got in the store ($5700AUD )

Anyway this kid shuts up for 1 minute, and the store guy says - "anything you're looking for, buddy?" and the kid says "these Line 6 amps are pretty cool. my teacher reckons they're 20 years ahead of their time" and goes straight back to AAF.

I had a quick chuckle with the guy and told him I'd come back on a schoolday

[theuzedrk]

How about being at GC and trying to test out an amp, but the other guy in the bass room is playing through a monster head with a 6x8 cabinit really loud.
He wasn't playing too bad, I just wonder if he could play the same thing without a pick.
The Ampeg B115 was no match for that setup. So I just gave up until he left.

[page]

That would be when I beat the snott out of the kid with my shoe.

I actually try my best to be quiet and not disturb others when im trying out an instrument or amp.

[syciprider]

We were all bad guitarists once.

Be patient.

[mikewho]

today i went to guitar center and the fretless corvette i love dearly was gone

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by syciprider

We were all bad guitarists once.

Be patient.

Yeah, but they're like cockroaches. They'll never be in short supply.

[ADbassman]

An experience that stands out in my head was a music store near here. My brother and I were checking out basses and amps while a sales person was helping out a kid on the other side of the room. Pretty quiet, mostly a dull roar, then all the sudden- CHUGGA CHUGGA WHINNNNNNNNNG CHUGG CHUUGA CHUGGA, followed by the sales person saying "The true tone of the amp doesn't come out until its cranked." He closed the doors, cranked the amp to 11, and the kid was whaling. My brother and I decided it was time to go to a different store.

[43apples]

Originally Posted by ADbassman

An experience that stands out in my head was a music store near here. My brother and I were checking out basses and amps while a sales person was helping out a kid on the other side of the room. Pretty quiet, mostly a dull roar, then all the sudden- CHUGGA CHUGGA WHINNNNNNNNNG CHUGG CHUUGA CHUGGA, followed by the sales person saying "The true tone of the amp doesn't come out until its cranked." He closed the doors, cranked the amp to 11, and the kid was whaling. My brother and I decided it was time to go to a different store.

Hmm....

[Cúl-Báire]

Ohhhh I hate that, it happens every time I go to try an amp.

One time in Billy Hydes here in Australia- I was trying out an Ampeg SVT amp, with a 8x10 and there was two guitarists also trying out amps / Guitars- Now one was My g/f's brother, he was quietly trying out a new guitar. He's quiet an accomplished guitarist IMO, dispite only being 15, quietly playing to himself some of Led's less popular stuff abit of this and a bit of that, and some more clissical sounding stuff.

The other guy has some quad cranked like hell going at it playing all the rock one day wonder hits Seriously folks, you dont need an amp cranked playing Alien Ant Farm, to test it out. A few chords, scales etc... will do.


So I'm trying to hear myself in front of this SVT stack- no good. I dont think I will go back there much any more. Others in the store are less than curtious, staff are ran of there feet and no one has an idea what they are doing really... Besides I found a better bass only store

[Dan Molina]

Originally Posted by syciprider

We were all bad guitarists once.

Be patient.

Yeah, but when I was bad I was ashaimed of it. I never turned it up so people could hear my suckiness. Now whenever I go in to sam ash. I sometimes get compliments when I play, so I don't mind turning it up a little. Not so I disturb anyone though.

My guitarists was testing out a Jackson DXMG quietly, and some metalcore kid from one of the crappy local bands plugs in to a Marshall full stack. He was showing his knowledge on how to play power chords to his bandmates.

[FireAarro]

Originally Posted by ADbassman

An experience that stands out in my head was a music store near here. My brother and I were checking out basses and amps while a sales person was helping out a kid on the other side of the room. Pretty quiet, mostly a dull roar, then all the sudden- CHUGGA CHUGGA WHINNNNNNNNNG CHUGG CHUUGA CHUGGA, followed by the sales person saying "The true tone of the amp doesn't come out until its cranked." He closed the doors, cranked the amp to 11, and the kid was whaling. My brother and I decided it was time to go to a different store.

That's pretty much the case with valve guitar amps, I thought.

[ADbassman]

Originally Posted by FireAarro

That's pretty much the case with valve guitar amps, I thought.

Unforunately, yes.

[Freaky Fender]

While at a guitar store, I will never be annoyed if someone is trying out a tube amp and they're playing way too loud... it's when they're wanking off for no reason, and not even turning knobs do I get annoyed.

[Petary791]

I would've just gone over to that guy and turned his amp off or down.

[MJ5150]

The individual using the gear doesn't usually bother me, it is his/her group of friends standing around taking up space that gets under my skin.

-Mike

[DubDubs]

Originally Posted by dannyboy15

Yeah, but when I was bad I was ashaimed of it. I never turned it up so people could hear my suckiness. Now whenever I go in to sam ash. I sometimes get compliments when I play, so I don't mind turning it up a little. Not so I disturb anyone though.

I used to play as quietly as possible. Now I turn the amps up a little more but I definatly don't crank them. I'm not ashamed of my playing anymore. I get occational comments from salespeople and fellow bassists. My favoite riff is Tempus Fugit becuase it's easy but sounds difficult and nobody knows what it is, they think it's just some cool little riff. Sometimes I have to have it quite loud because the guy next to me has an Ampeg 8x10 rig cranked and I can't even hear the 1x12 or 2x10 that's right next to me.