Guitar Center Stage Fright!!!

NickInMesa · #1 07-07-2009, 10:52 PM

Isn't horrible?

You have the possibility to showcase your talent to a new audience, including the sales staff, who has never heard anybody play that well before...

Will it be... YYZ by Rush? Schism by Tool? I Want You Back by the Jackson 5 (I mean, now would be the time...)

Oh no, you can't, because you were hit by... Guitar Center Stage Fright!!!

And there you are, just barely moving your fingers on the neck, trying to act casual, as if you knew what you were doing (I need to REALLY test that E string, man).

Ah come on, at least scale us a major... there... it went great... it sounded almost good...

Am I the only one?

Oh and it would really help too if I knew any of those 3 songs above

**jmattbassplaya** · #2 07-08-2009, 02:46 AM

That happens to me all the time. It`s not so much that I`m afraid of playing as much as it`s just me going in there and forgetting every single song that I`ve ever learned. I`ll literally pick up a bass, plug it in, sit down, and then stare at the bass as if it were some foreign object that I`ve never seen before in my life.. I guess that`s partially because I feel like I`m under a microscope in there and if I play anything I`ll have a hundred sales people breathing down my neck.

tom once dead · #3 07-08-2009, 02:51 AM

no, happens to me also. I seriously hate it, especially when your trying out a $2000 bass, and you play like crap.

MNAirHead · #4 07-08-2009, 03:00 AM

Nick..

Happens to all of us...

Truely - the guys at the local store know the session guys I play with (all finicky Berklee types and tenured lengend types) - One is the regional winner of the blues contest... another guy I play with is one of God's gifts to chord arragning for pop guitar (he's about 65)..

So I walk in.. they always ask how Korey and Rik are.. what we're doing.. where we're playing.

So I walk in.. they always open the glass case and hand me the latest thing...

You should see the consistent look of confusion as I slap/pop a machine gun (no notes) for 2 seconds then fall apart... happens everytime.

I'm also a flake who can't remember what I was playing last night.

Who cares - normally can't hear over some budding Zakk Wylde

T.

Adam Bomb · #5 07-08-2009, 07:24 AM

GC stage fright is the best cure for GAS I have found. Better than being broke. Better than the wife.

Dude. What about when you are all alone and the pressure is off and you just play - and then you look up and someone is standing there!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--Bomb

DreadRaver · #6 07-08-2009, 07:57 AM

Okay, here's how I do it...

I put on my "Jaco Shreds" impression.

That way I sound so totally ridiculous that what I am playing might fool some into believing it to be sublime artistry rather than total incompetence.

Then I play the first 3 parts that I know of Tom Sawyer, stop when that runs out of steam, (it gets hard) and then I warm up the ol' thumb with some Sienfeld-ish slop... er, I mean slap.

By that point I am sure I have intimidated the music store employees enough, they will clearly understand that I am a serious musician. (If they didn't already know it after I asked if they had a Pete Wentz signature in stock. Some of these music store employees are such dummies they don't even know who Pete Wentz is. Can you imagine!?!)

Kenny Allyn · #7 07-08-2009, 08:24 AM

In a word DON'T ...

It does not impress anyone!

I was in a GC the other day and in the bass room was a nationally known A-list player just quietly playing a few notes, nothing special. He didn't feel the need to go "commando" and try to show off (and trust me he could).

... That was VERY IMPRESSIVE!

JohnMCA72 · #8 07-08-2009, 08:53 AM

NOTHING that anybody shows me in a guitar store impresses me - unless it's their name on a (real) album cover, or on a BIG check...

JM

warnergt · #9 07-08-2009, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

...it`s just me going in there and forgetting every single song that I`ve ever learned. I`ll literally pick up a bass, plug it in, sit down, and then stare at the bass as if it were some foreign object that I`ve never seen before in my life..

That's exactly what happens to me. It's weird.
And I can't remember parts of songs until I'm playing them.
If you ask me how part of a song goes, I can't tell you;
but when I'm playing it, I remember.

jgroh · #10 07-08-2009, 09:36 AM

I just dont like to go in to a GC and crank up really loud and have the whole place shake, I usually keep the volume down and just play whatever comes to mind. Seems that whenever I am there, the only other people in the bass section are 13 year olds with tight-Wentzesque-black-girl-pants trying to play something from the chili peppers...badly. So, that usually loosens me up a bit.

DerHoggz · #11 07-08-2009, 09:42 AM

I don't like to show off like the employees or guitards, but I plug a bass in and go... now what. THen I just end up playing the same boring riff over and over till another comes to mind.

Dave Vader · #12 07-08-2009, 09:47 AM

I find that it really cheers up the staff, and upsets the muppets when I wander in play something for less than a minute, or don't actually play it properly, just run my hands up and down the neck a bit, and check it makes a pleasing noise and say either yay or nay almost immediately, hand over the cash (or not) and saunter out with (or without) my new toy. Speed is important, if you don't like it straight away, don't bother.

LilRay · #13 07-08-2009, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny Allyn

In a word DON'T ...

It does not impress anyone!

I was in a GC the other day and in the bass room was a nationally known A-list player just quietly playing a few notes, nothing special. He didn't feel the need to go "commando" and try to show off (and trust me he could).

... That was VERY IMPRESSIVE!

WHO! WHERE! WHO! WHERE!

Come on Kenny, Spill the details.

God Bless, Ray

MF1018 · #14 07-08-2009, 09:47 AM

Wow, I thought is was just me!!! I thought I needed to come up with some "GC Chops" so it at least sounds like I have been playing for more than a week. Worst is when a salesperson is standing there and you cannot play two notes (hello fret buzz).

Chipsonfire · #15 07-08-2009, 09:57 AM

Last time I went into GC, the store manager was in there doing manager stuff and playing with a few of the basses (apparently he's a guitarist and just wanted to fool around on them a bit). I talked with him for a bit, then picked up a MIM fender p and plucked a bit at it while he talked to some kid applying for work. Normally I'm very self conscious, especially right now as I'm just getting back into playing after a hiatus when I couldn't really play to begin with. But for some reason, I was fine just playing scales and harmonics, twisting dials and flipping switches to get a feel for the kind of tone I could get with it.

NKBassman · #16 07-08-2009, 10:02 AM

I played a few riffs of yyz on a Geddy yesterday at Long and McQuade (The Canadian GC, from what I can tell...), but I wasn't plugged in and nobody was watching

mebusdriver · #17 07-08-2009, 10:02 AM

This kind happens to me some times. Mainly because there is so much sh*t going on in GC you can't concentrate anyway. The other reason is that I don't really know what to look for when I'm trying out an instrument. I mean you put it in your lap and see if it's balanced, feels good, if you like the neck shape, blah blah blah. But it's not gonna sound anything like it's supposed to when it's not set up and has those terrible strings on it, and you haven't had time to dial out all the noise and dial in a good tone on some amp you've never used before with some bass you've never used before...... AWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Music stores are so aggrivating to me.

DerHoggz · #18 07-08-2009, 10:04 AM

Thats why you take your own bass in to try out amps, I don't know if they let you do it the other way around.

MEKer · #19 07-08-2009, 10:10 AM

I usually go in and don't give a crap, turn up and rip thru some originals. Usually get told to turn down altho the Mesa Boogie outlet guy said I could play as loud as I want to if I come in before the music lessons get going. I go in to have fun and check out different stuff. Intimidation--pssh, ain't nothing until someone else is paying my rent, then I'll pay attention.

mkrtu9 · #20 07-08-2009, 10:11 AM

I don't care what anyone in those stores think. I play a few of the same little lines and pluck every string at every fret. It is a quick love hate thing for me. However when I first started this was a very intimidating thing for me. I felt like I wasn't very good and embarrassed to even play anything in a store. Now that I'm older, still not very good, but just not embarrassed anymore.