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Guitar Center Stage Fright!!!

#81
So about 20 years ago I was in a local music store in San Jose doing my best Jaco on a fretless jazz at a polite volume (no doubt keeping the store staff entertained) and this shirtless punk rocker looking guy with a spiked collar and leather pants plugs in a Sting Ray about 15 feet away, cranks the amp, and goes comando wackity popity. No stage fright on his part whatsoever. He looks annoyed at my existance. Annoyed myself, guitar salesman told my then jazz snob self he palyed in a local band called Red Hot Chili Peppers. Oh well...
 
#83
Don;t like to play there because the kid who comes in with his grandmother (she asks "Donny, what about this one? This one looks nice" ) plugs in and plays at 10+ while I was sitting there on my stool and could care less about me. Cherry on top: He asks the price of a bass, whistles at it then asks his grandmother "Who the heck is Marcus Miller anyway?"


I also hate how Sam Ash makes you beg for a cable then places the Rickenbacker 45 feet in the air so you have to find a manager with the ladder key and you better be serious about buying this instrument vibe.
 
#85
Nothing I hate more than someone standing over your shoulder as you're checking out a bass. If you're passing by, that's fine, but don't stand over me.

It's not that I get stage fright, it's just that I'm checking out gear for me, not performing for you. Please, move along while I check out this gear.

When I'm checking something out, I usually play a walking bassline over and over to get a feel for the tone, make some tweaks and bust out some riffs that I know how I WANT them to sound.

Like I said, I'm not performing for anyone.
 
#86
vanscoy said:
...I also hate how Sam Ash makes you beg for a cable then places the Rickenbacker 45 feet in the air so you have to find a manager with the ladder key and you better be serious about buying this instrument vibe.
Click to expand...
That's to try to cut down on the kids damaging the good stuff with unsupervised chicken choke sessions on the gear. It's actually a very smart idea, if you think about it. They can keep SOME idea of what people are doing in the store. If something costs over $500 then, yeah, you'd better be serious about it if you're going to fondle it. Otherwise, stick to the entry level stuff until you're either:
A) old enough to have some money
-or-
B) responsible and disciplined enough to SAVE your money for it.
We have a prominent music store in town here (privately owned) where ALL their stuff is like that. You just don't touch ANYTHING without asking a saleman first. Nobody minds. The store is quiet, clean, professional and they have quiet rooms for you to test out what you want to and be undisturbed. You can go in there to test a piece out and you know that the unit your using for your demo is a GOOD sample of the gear because it hasn't been damaged by some 15 year old wank star. You're testing what the manufacturer sent; not what's left of it after the shread-fest.
 
#88
I used to when they used to stand over your shoulder like a hawk.
Not so much these days, I ask them for something the get it down and hand it to me with a cable then walk away.
not bug you for 20 min and talk BS while your trying to hear the gear while giving you bad advice.

I still get some stage fright but I can make it through.
 
#91
totallyfrozen said:
OFF TOPIC: Yeah, BestBuy is the only highschool wanking center in town. The other--the actual, REAL--music store (Mammoth Music) doesn't allow unsupervised teenage wanking. Mammoth sells name brand and high-end stuff (but not Ampeg! :mad: ) and it's privately owned so they can't really afford to have kids playing around in there. BestBuy's a joke and I don't see how they're not losing money on the Wanking Center--but it's still open.

Sorry for the highjack...now back to your regularly scheduled program...:bassist:
Click to expand...

Huh? Mammoth does instruments now?

Back when I lived in Anchorage.. they were strictly a CD store. Best place to get bootleg recordings I've ever seen. Prior to the internet and p2p that is. ;)

I haven't been back that way for at least 15 years now.. I always wondered if they'd survived the internet revolution, nice to see they found a niche.

(also sorry for the hijack)
 
#92
I have never been impressed, not once, by anybody in any music shop...nor should I be, it's not a venue.
Apart from the people who are just s**t, the ones who can actually play have no patience. It's like they're so self-conscious and so intent on impressing the whole shop that they play one bar of one riff of one song and then straight into the solo from another song and then some random chords and then.... and their timing always sucks. ..and I'm sure these people could be great musicians when they're at home or at rehearsal or on stage but I've never heard anybody actually sound good in a music shop :D
Personally, when I pick up a bass to try it, I play every note from open E (or B) to the 24th fret on the G to check for buzzing and general comfort and then play different notes with various tone settings. I'm sure it's incredibly irritating for people to listen to but probably no more so than 'Smells like teen spirit' played sloppily and out of time.
 
#93
What usually makes me uncomfortable is I don't go in there playing all the popular bass lines, and I like an unconventional tone, so I always feel like the other people will assume I'm some idiot who doesn't know how to slap or play a Rush or Peppers song. What's nice though is when some other tard cranks an ampeg and start slapping, then I quietly go about my playing.
 
#94
I try to learn from the people there. If someone's doing something I like, I'll go up to them and ask how. I get nervous and stutter, so it's like this.

"H-h-hey man. I-i-i like w-w-w-what you're playing. C-c-can you show me h-h-h-how to do that?"

No one's ever told me to sod off, so that helps with the GC stage fright a bit.
 
#95
Stage fright's not an issue, but if the atmosphere is annoying I just leave. Instead of famous overplayed bass riffs, I use a series of jazz melodies and original funk riffs that cover most of the fretboard. Every bass gets a consistent demo that way.

And it's my answer to the annoying GC salesman questions like "do you play?" <riff riff solo passage riff> "oh, you play well; ummm, what basses do you own?"
 
#96
as a music store guy, "stage fright" is just silly, because trust me, employees at music stores don't give a good goddamn if you can play or not, unless you insist on being loud and repetitive about it.

in fact, hearing someone trying (or even succeeding) to play a certain song is inherently annoying, because to us it means you're showing off and wasting our time, rather than actually checking out the rig to see if you like it or not.

if we're doing our job right, you should feel comfortable just noodling around on an instrument (or amp) to get a real feel for it, rather than being stressed over something as irrelevant (to us) as your chops or lack thereof.

besides, about the only thing that impresses guitar store people is real hardcore jazz playing, because we so rarely hear it.
 
#97
I actually love playing in stores, cool stuff can go down and you can meet cool people. I got a gig through someone at GC once just slapping away at a Fender Jag. Also at Sam Ash one of the sales guys decided to jam on guitar with me on bass for a good half hour and another time I got a two bass jam going with someone visiting from Africa. I'm really not trying to sound arrogant, but if you aren't playing so loud that people get pissed, but still show your chops, you can get noticed once in a while!
 
#98
BigOldHarry said:
Having worked in a guitar store, I can tell you that *no one* cares how well you play. If you shred like crazy, no one cares. If you suck, no one cares. All these guys care about is if you have money - - or you are a cute female. GC is not a stage unless you bring your buddies to "show off". I, for one, used to really get tired of players coming in and wanking on equipment they have no intention of buying. Like I give a damn if they can play the latest Metallica/Iron Maiden/GNR/EVH riffs... I just wanted them to try it out, buy it or SPLIT.
Click to expand...
I think you're right for the most part; however...Today I went in (BestBuy instrument center) to get a set of flatwounds and a really cute girl with short, red hair and big blue eyes was behind the counter. While she rang up my string purchase, I was talking to her about this fact that so many guys come in here and make alot of noise. I wasn't flirting with her (I'm married) just trying to get a feel for her perception. I asked her if she goes home with a headache everyday, etc.

She said that most of the guys who come in are total teenage wankers. She said, 'I'm a teenager and sometimes I still want to go over and kick them out of the store!"
But then she said--
"But every once in awhile a guy will come in who really knows what he's doing and you're just floored!"

Then she told me about a local Blues guitarist who's blind (I knew exactly who she was talking about--he's an AWESOME guitarist) and he went in there and just blew her off her feet!

So the morale of the story:
If a cute chick is in there, she may actually be listening to you to see if you can play anything worth a crap!

That's a TRUE STORY!
HA! HA!
So now everytime you go into GC to wank out...remember that!

Sorry gents, I know that doesn't make it easier for you. In fact, I've just guaranteed that most of you'll NEVER remember ANYTHING musical when you walk in there again!

Cheers! :D
 
#99
I usually know after a few notes, even before my bag of riffs that show get my key tones out of a bass, I know whether I like it or not... If I liek it I'll play a bit more and usually stop liking it.

I ran into a couple guitar players who were right near me playing all the way through a song (a couple times) very loudly on some line6 gear. a friend of mine (guitar player) was also in the room and started playing blues riffs in their key (E) and I started playing out of time test licks in F... they quit pretty quickly...

stage freight has no place in a store, though I HAVE been there.. never lasts long for me though
 

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