I hate when this happens

[DrSmaggs]

I used to work at Guitar Center. Wankers are literally a dime a dozen. They ONLY come to wank on gear and NEVER buy anything. Not even a pack of strings.

It got to the point where certain instruments had to be hidden and you just learn to recognize these kind of people. They roll in, intimidate the lesser skilled customers and then the poor guys/gals with less skill either leave and come back later or just leave and never want to come back.

I've seen it all... guitarists, bassists, drummers, even singers and keyboard players. They just want attention or something.

The best part? They flat out tell you they're not there to buy anything before some sales guy hooks them up with an amp. Why do they cater to them, I'll never know.

I've also seen these people walk up a whole row of amps and purposely pick one near someone legitimately testing gear they want and just crank it up and go to town. Especially if it's a girl with a guitar or a bass. Poor kids... this isn't a contest!

 

[babebambi]

Does hearing that kid change anything you would normal do to test an amp?

I wouldn't look down on customer or sales person that rip it up in a music store, but if that's your way to keep your focus than so be it. And certainly wouldn't go so far as to call someone inadequate, just because he/she plays some solo/chops in front of me.

I try out equipment by playing both fast and slow stuff. Slow playing is good to check the harmonic and chords, but I also want to play fast to check if I like the attack/articulation

In the end, everybody test things differently.
And, I don't need to be Wooten (or play like him) to buy gears that I like.

 

[David Jayne]

I often find that the salemen themselves like to try a little bit of intimidation. They plug it all in for you, then indulge in a some amazing solo sequence ..... and hand the guitar or bass over to you with a strange look on their face. I am yet to figure out what they are trying to say. Are they (a) saying, look at me, I'm better than you? or (b) Hey, you are a time-waster and as you can't play as well as me, you are obvioiusly not going to buy this product?

No, they're saying "Hey! If you play like me, you'll end up working at a music store!!!"

 

[MooseKnuckle]

I used to work at Guitar Center. Wankers are literally a dime a dozen. They ONLY come to wank on gear and NEVER buy anything. Not even a pack of strings.

It got to the point where certain instruments had to be hidden and you just learn to recognize these kind of people. They roll in, intimidate the lesser skilled customers and then the poor guys/gals with less skill either leave and come back later or just leave and never want to come back.

I've seen it all... guitarists, bassists, drummers, even singers and keyboard players. They just want attention or something.

The best part? They flat out tell you they're not there to buy anything before some sales guy hooks them up with an amp. Why do they cater to them, I'll never know.

I've also seen these people walk up a whole row of amps and purposely pick one near someone legitimately testing gear they want and just crank it up and go to town. Especially if it's a girl with a guitar or a bass. Poor kids... this isn't a contest!

+1 on all that. I've never worked @GC, or other stores. I've been in'em enough to know all that's true though. :scowl:And you can't tell these people anything. The gear they play/like is the ONLY gear to own. I think after this post, I'm gonna have to give'em a taste of their own medicine, and start annoying them back. I think it's cause of these happenings that the variety/quality of musical instruments have gone down. If people are scared to go into a store, nothing gets bought. Then every store can charge MSRP, no matter where you go, and there are no "deals" in that.

 

[MooseKnuckle]

No, they're saying "Hey! If you play like me, you'll end up working at a music store!!!"

TOO-SHAY!!!

 

[Mo'Phat]

I may be unique in this world, but if I'm trying out a bass, I normally don't plug it it. I'll just play in a corner and hear how it sounds unplugged. To really hear the wood and feel it without having my other senses dulled by the amplifier.

When I want to try out an amp, I'll actually seek out a wanker. They're easy to spot, and ask if he's just messing around. If he is, I'll ask him to play through this or that amp...and while he's wanking, I'll be able to turn the knobs in real time...stand in different parts of the room, feel the punch or zing, flip switches, try different cabinet combinations, etc. I won't have to set the bass down to do all these things.

The wanker gets his time in the spotlight, and I get a robot to give me a bass signal to the amps of my choosing.

 

[T. Alan Smith]

I don't get intimidated at shops anymore.

Then again, I'm a bit older and waaay groovy.

 

[RED5]

I liken music store clerks (and yes,this is a gross generalization) to a wolf pack trapped in an animal shelter. They have it all,anything they want and the knowledge of what's coming. yet they still need to assert the pack hierarchy to the strangers. I pity them,but I'm not there to join in that game so? wank on. BTW? I was a retail sales guy at a major metro dealer once too, i know from whence this comes.

 

[Adam Bomb]

I walk into the Guitar store to check out this Mesa M6 Carbine amp I want... At first sight, I'm in love with it. The salsman asks "You want to try it?". Just as I get ready to say "YES DEFINITLY" a father brings in his 10 year old with a Rickenbacker bass and the kid begins to wail all over this thing like Wooten, unbeleivable. I tell the salesman, "Nevermind"... I'll sneak back in when nobody is around. I know you must have run into this before. How do I get over this intimidation at the guitar store. Sombody help me!!!

I feel ya. I started a club over this happening to me...

On stage, I'm awesome. At GC, I suck.

Usually I ignore it. I do sort of have a GC set list. Agreed that reggae works real good if you can't play fast but you can play reggae. Now that my amp GAS is cured and I am mostly trying out basses, I play unplugged. I *look* like I play awesome.

And one time, this dude was tapping and stuff like crazy and I plugged into an amp that was 6 inches from his face and just BLASTED him until he left. I should feel bad about that.



--Bomb

 

[dubcut]

Or more simply stated---Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill...

Old age and the ability to groove overcomes youth and technical wankery every time.

 

[rimtism123]

Uhm...wait patiently and play on other amps until that kid finishes...especially since you're interested in buying it that day. Who knows..you may fall in love with another amp.

Or..be a real jerk and tell the salesman that you're interested in that amp and cause him to cut that kid off. XD

But I own the M6 Its a great amp. I suggest it.

 

[Simo98]

If you really feel intimidated, spend 6 months straight trying to learn to play this behind your back with your eyes closed:



Then work on your frisbee skills.

That way when the kid comes in you just just rip that out trick and then yell to the sales assistant "I'll take it!", then frisbee your credit card straight into the machine.

You will spend yourself a lot of money, but it will look damn cool in front of everyone.

 

[rpsands]

It's pointless to worry about whether anyone is better than you at playing instruments. There's always someone better and it needs to be fulfilling for you because it is not because you're more technically skilled than someone else.

plus, I second the attitude of testing out the sound of the amp and playing some canned riff doesn't do that I noodle like a freak all over the neck and play lots of different tempos and dynamics and such when buying an instrument or amp.

 

[rag]

I walk into the Guitar store to check out this Mesa M6 Carbine amp I want... At first sight, I'm in love with it. The salsman asks "You want to try it?". Just as I get ready to say "YES DEFINITLY" a father brings in his 10 year old with a Rickenbacker bass and the kid begins to wail all over this thing like Wooten, unbeleivable. I tell the salesman, "Nevermind"... I'll sneak back in when nobody is around. I know you must have run into this before. How do I get over this intimidation at the guitar store. Sombody help me!!!

That very same thing happened to me, which is when I decided I would be better off building them than playing them.
Bob Gallien

 

[gregoire1]

I may be unique in this world, but if I'm trying out a bass, I normally don't plug it it. I'll just play in a corner and hear how it sounds unplugged. To really hear the wood and feel it without having my other senses dulled by the amplifier.

When I want to try out an amp, I'll actually seek out a wanker. They're easy to spot, and ask if he's just messing around. If he is, I'll ask him to play through this or that amp...and while he's wanking, I'll be able to turn the knobs in real time...stand in different parts of the room, feel the punch or zing, flip switches, try different cabinet combinations, etc. I won't have to set the bass down to do all these things.

The wanker gets his time in the spotlight, and I get a robot to give me a bass signal to the amps of my choosing.

Wow, what a great idea! I've been known to bring my young kids into GC so I would have an excuse to as the salesman to, how do you say it, "wank" for me.

 

[D.M.N.]

Yeah, I'm 17 and even I feel this sometimes. Some little wanker guitar player will come over and try a bass, just start (attempting) to shred like it was a Jackson guitar or something. It doesn't make me feel inadequate or anything, just kind of pisses me off when I'm trying to actually test equipment.

I also seem to become handicap every time I go into a GC. It's like the have a skill dampening field. I can rip fairly well on stage, and even at home practicing, but in there? Nope. I usually listen to my ipod and play along a bit, but I can't cop the same skill level in there. I have no idea what it is. I think part of it is that I kind of feed of the rest of the band when I'm playing life. Or it it might be the git metal drummer whaling on the double bass over in the drum room that's throwing off my groove. Who knows.

The worst experience I had in GC was with these little metal twits. One had been playing shred metal at obscene levels while the other one watched, while I was attempting to play some Led Zeppelin (I usually start equipment tests with Dazed and Confused for some reason), and then they come over to the bass section so the one who had been watching could try out some basses. He promptly started some Fieldy-esque wankage. I asked them to turn down a bit so I didn't have to become obnoxiously loud as well, and they just made some snide comments and laughed. I finally got up and went over to the guitar section and started doing some power chords really loudly and distorted. I just sit there looking at them, and finally it gets to them and they turn around and look at me, say some stupid insult and leave. Stupid Punks.

/rant

 

[Jim C]

When I bought my first bass the Precision was twelve years old. Bass players, at that time, had no history to lean back on. No amps capable of reproducing bass at any decent levels. No education was available for the instrument. We all had to forge our own paths and discover what the Electric Bass could do. We learned from what we discovered ourselves or could steal from our peers. it was indeed a magical time.

Today the electric bass is a well established and recognized voice. Young players have so much history to follow and music schools no longer scoff at the thought of using the bass in an ensemble. It's only obvious that the younger guys have better abilities at a lesser age. In my case I joined a swing band that has an eighteen year old bass player as well. At first I was amazed at his talent and abilities after six years on the bass. Now, as we became good friends, I realized that we have different skills. His technical abilities leave mine behind but sometimes his "feel" is different than mine.

May I humbly suggest that instead of feeling dissed at the young guys we all say "way to go" and encourage the next generation of players to have the vision to take our instrument to even greater heights than we could achieve.

Peace...
paul

Well said and +1
I concentart my energies and studies on melody lines and playing in the pocket so I'm not too intimated by the slapping, popping, 100 MPH playing; the guy that plays a simple killer McCartney eque line in perfect time is that one that makes me feel small; amazingly there aren't many of those guys at GC

In retrospect, much of the noodling I have heard at GC is more solo playing and not what many would consider playing bass in a band format

 

[Sundogue]

I went to a store to try out some bass gear when some young kid picked up a bass and started soloing all over it. I told him "Nice chops".

Then I started trying out the gear (which was my purpose in being there as I don't practice or perform in music stores). After a while, I overheard the kid kind of snicker to the guy he was there with, and say "He's not very good, is he?".

I just said, "Hmmm. Good enough to have been employed in a band for the last 30 years. Who do you play for?" He said he wasn't in a band at the moment.

I just replied to him..."Too bad, you've got the chops for it, maybe it's your attitude." Then I smiled at him and got on with my gear testing.

Who the hell performs at a music store?

 

[bass4worship]

I usually tell them how good they sound and then go on to play like I always do.

 

[Altemo]

No need to be sorry, I didn't mean to paint all youth with the same brush. My observation is only that of someone is the type that likes to try to impress people, (whatever their age might be) they tend to be younger and haven't learned the hard lesson yet that no one else gives a rats arse.

Fair enough. I totally agree with the hate towards anyone who tries to monopolize a music shop. Its not just kids or "wankers"

Although, on a side note, I actually just enjoy it when I get to see unbelievable chops, from anyone. No matter the technical difficulty, if it sounds good, I'll wait for you to finish before plugging in.