Things you play while trying a bass/amp.

[jay_esplana]

Have you been to a GC? Or just a guitar shop.. That notorious question comes up.. "Hey there, you think i can have a patch cord and try out that bass?" You then plug in...you think to yourself...."hmm. lets tune... now, what song to play." What kinds of things do you play?

[fenderx55]

Usually in this order:

Generic funk line/run
master of puppets riff
tell me baby (rhcp)
the theme from Beverly Hills cop

I play the first three to actually test various stuff... the fourth is just to make ppl around me look up and go, "Is that beverly hills cop?"

[santucci218]

i always play country bop by stew hamm. just for s's and g's

i always happen to bring up Classical Thump too, lol. i do it for a reason than showing off. i like to see how basses are with double thumbing..some are harder to do it on...Fenders seem easiest to me because the picguard takes away some distance from the strings and the body.

[Chebass88]

If I just pick it up for fun, I play a couple of jazzy riffs, a walking line or two, and maybe a scale exercise or two.

If I am trying it out to buy it, I play MANY scales all over the neck, so I can hear how it sounds through many positions. Many people compliment me on my sound (*thank you!!!), but I cannot show off. I would be able to try a bass MUCH better if they had a decent drummer in the bass room, who I could lay down a beat with.

[Ramstien]

MoP riff
Beat it - MJ

And maybe some random stuff I know.

[Depth_Charge]

Originally Posted by jay_esplana

Have you been to a GC? Or just a guitar shop.. That notorious question comes up.. "Hey there, you think i can have a patch cord and try out that bass?" You then plug in...you think to yourself...."hmm. lets tune... now, what song to play." What kinds of things do you play?

I always start with a huge slide up and down the E string followed by a ringing open E, just for kicks

Then I will do octave runs and the major scale up and down the neck to get a feel for the bass and its general tone etc.

Then I might poorly slap the E string and try some tapping. I do this in the hope the bass magically improves my technique, since I never practice them enough

Songs-wise I change up what I play depending on what I am learning at the time but these tunes seem to be staples for me when trying out a bass:

Intro to For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica)
Verse riff to Hail Hail (Pearl Jam)
The bridge to The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)
Intro riff to Blood Pus and Gastric Juice (Pungent Stench)
Bass part to Orion (Metallica)
Chorus to Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

Also if someone tries to jam along with what I am playing I immediately stop playing and move on to something else. Just a habit I have - I don't really feel comfortable jamming in a shop - We're there to test the stuff out for a purchase, not use their stuff for an impromptu jam session or worse a competitive wank session.

[jIvan]

stairway to heaven? haha jkjk

usually, i'd play some scales, with a little bit of rhcp's higher ground, californication, and some double stops...

[Kalyptic]

Originally Posted by jIvan

stairway to heaven? haha jkjk
...

lol as a matter of fact thats the piece im doing at the moment, ive seen it done chordaly but i think it sounds better tapped.

[bigbass94]

Those dammed blue collar
War pigs intro
summertime blues by blue cheer()

If I want To "Wank" I will play jerry was a racecar driver(still need that 26th fret).

[Depth_Charge]

Originally Posted by bigbass94

Those dammed blue collar
War pigs intro
summertime blues by blue cheer()

If I want To "Wank" I will play jerry was a racecar driver(still need that 26th fret).

You can play that song and you can't bend the 24th fret 2 steps?

[bigbass94]

What

The guitar center where I live has a very bad selection of basses,nothing above a 23rd fret.

[Depth_Charge]

My apologies, I just assumed shops carried 24 fret versions nowadays as well

[chaosMK]

I do some tapping to show off a little and maybe some slapping in the low range on a 5-string (which is the most important part of the tone to me).

[Double Agent]

Some original compisitions that involve varying levels or grooving, slapping, tapping, and playing chords. Then, I run through some classics like I Want You Back by Jackson 5, the ending solo from Red Barchetta, New Skin by Incubus, and maybe Cosmic Girl by Jamiroquai. Covers pretty much any style I need and gives me a good feel for how well the bass will cover MY styles, as well as how versatile it is.

[Rumblefisher]

inagodadavida, carousel (just the first minute and half or so of that song), suck my kiss, the trooper; other random stuff i know or made up right then and there

[chaosMK]

I like to shred out on Nirvana - Come As You Are

[BluezBassist]

The intro to Running With The Devil. (okay, not really...)

[Lo end PUNCH]

I'll do pretty much anything but I always judge by how good a bass's slap tone is first and I do this under a VARIETY of instrment and amp settings. I'll usually do chord type stuff to check for even string clarity and then fingerstyle stuff in a whole bunch of settings.

Things that will make me put the bass down:
No clean and crisp high end snap
Consistant muddyness
Less than stellar tone control response
Hum, hiss, noize, cough

[cricketfever32]

test versatility, (tune bass down, play heavy metal, push the bass's sound response, then tune back up and switch to light jazz, then funk and some rhcp.

then test its feel, by playing dream theater for a long time

oh yea
its fun

[Rattman]

I walk it around in 'A' Maj to get warmed up....
do some more major scales..
then goof around with with some pentatonics

but no songs.. only patterns