So this post is mostly for you younger guys and gals that are still worried about your playing confidence...so yesterday was date night for the wife and i ,she had some business to deal with at old navy in our local mall..that was music to my ears as theres a nice music shoo right next door to old navy..Take YOUR TIME BABE,was my reply when she told me this,they actually know me at this shop ive done a lot of business with them so when i go in i sanatize my hands and go play whatever setup i want,i found and Esp surveyor and and ampeg micro svt..a bass and rig ive wanted for a bit now,anyway i noodle around for a bit,my comes over about 20 minutes into me being at tge music shop...by that time im already disappointed that i have the cash yet still cant buy what i want so i go check out clearance stuff find a few fender custom shop stickers,and a few packs of 4 string pacjs, so i snag them a set of dunlop 45 to 105s and a set of roto 66s 45 to 105,i go to check out theres an old guy yelling about how much he lives the shirt.so he says to the casier LET ME TEST IT..then he turns to me and says WHATS THIS SAY? Sorry forgot to mention tge shirt has guitar chords on it 3 of them,ive seen it before but not remembering i reply..IM NIT GOOD WITH LEAD CHORDS AT ALL BRO..ITS A REALLY COOL SHIRT THOUGH...This dude comes off with YOU CALL YOURSELF A MUSICIAN,him and the cashier laughs at me rudely in front of my wife of all people,it really bothered me at first esoecially when she looked at me and saud YOU CANT READ MUSIC..HOW DO YOU LEARN SONGS THEN? TO her i just said ,IM A BASS PLAYER ALL I NEED IS A KICK DRUM ILL HANDLE TGE REST. Meanwhile this old guy and cashier are still laughing at me,i lost sleep over it,now this morning im like F@&$ THAT DUDE AND THE CHEEZY LOOKING CASHIER, i grew up in a music business oriented family my dad ran sound fir some bug name country bands in the 80s,mom handled the financials for my dads personal bands,no i never learned to read never had the interest hell ive never actually wanted to play guitars its been bass since i was old enough to ask why is that one bigger with less string,lol..ALWAYS BASS ,ive been playing for 24 years ,ive had a lot of fun doing it and im VERY competent of a player,i can play anything i hear and im AWESOME at improvising those two guys only heard about 10 minutes of me fiddling with the bass and rig from a cold unprepared mind set so who are they to judge me over a dammed t shirt? The point i want you youngens to get out of my rambling is DONT EVER LET ANYONE DEFINE WHO OR WHAT YOU ARE just because they know something you dont,theres TONS of pro even legendary players..(lead guitar too ) who cant read or name a single chird..you ever heard the guys from Metallica come up with a riff? Hetfield cant name a note let alone a chord..just because that old guy has 20 years more time on me to learn and tge cashier has access to anything he wants musically that dont mean their better people or better players..they dammed sure arent better bass players..your musical journey is YOURS its all about expressing yourself..its the sound that matters not the ability to read a sheet of music ...thanks for reading my rambkes
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Couple of thoughts here:
1) I just wanna know how that ESP/LTD Surveyor plays bc I almost bought one online, but no shop near me stocks it…
2) That is a REALLY sad statement on him as a human being that he needed to be condescending to you just to make himself feel better (this tells me that he is most likely SORELY lacking in the area of actual talent)…People who have actual talent are usually quite humble bc they have failed enough that they’ve devoted hours of their personal time to get better, so this tells me he is insecure and probably not a very good musician if he has to resort to petty snarky/sarcastic comments at his customers…
3) (If you are REALLY ticked about)-You could boycott their business entirely and everyone (I repeat EVERYONE) has a boss…Even if he is the store manager, I’m sure there’s a district manager you could contact or someone over him to lodge a complaint against him…I would never want to cause someone to lose their job, however I’m guessing you aren’t the first person he’s mouthed off to…
Reminds me of the day I was at GC last year and was asking about an instrument and the guy in the shop (who was also a guitar player) told me that if I want to play Metal that I “had” to have an active bass (if he had positioned it as “you might wanna consider” it would’ve been fine, but he was “mandating” it…I kind of shot him a look like “Really Bro”??? and just said “thanks” and walked away (I was searching for my first bass at the time, but had done enough research to know that having an active bass isn’t “mandatory “ for any genre)…
If this makes you feel any better - I had a similar experience to what you’re describing when I was in the running store one day with my Wife trying to help her find a new pair of running shoes about a year ago…I poured almost 20 years of my life into being a marathon runner…I had to stop due to age and chronic injuries, but I finished 67 full marathons over a 17 year period…
The person who was assisting my Wife that day sounds like the same guy you had to deal with…
I’m a pretty big/muscular guy so I get that I don’t look like a runner anymore, but I was asking him some clarifying questions about the shoes my Wife was looking to buy…
Guy not only didn’t know the answer, but became annoyed with me for asking a specific question about something incredibly basic and practically refused to talk to me or help me…He was so rude that I had originally wanted to try on a pair of shoes for myself, but refused to let him help me after that (I seriously have no idea what this dude’s problem was-Was one of the worst interactions I’ve ever had while shopping for anything)…
The look that my Wife shot me when I was dealing with that clown was absolutely priceless bc she knows how hard and how many years I worked at that area of my life and this guy looked like he could barely jog a mile, much less run one of the most grueling distances in sports…I think she was impressed that I exercised restraint and didn’t clock him right in his smart mouth…
I only share that story bc 1) I have been in a similar situation and it’s ANNOYING and 2) I HIGHLY doubt your Wife cares what some pip squeak in a music store (who doesn’t even know you) thinks about your musical abilities…
That is a horrible story and I’m sorry you had to deal with it, but I wouldn’t waste time worrying about it…
Thanks! \m/
