Show offs at music stores

I haven't set foot in a GC for quite some time, and that is one of the reasons why. The big reason though, being, that I'm very happy with my gear and have no need or want to change anything up. Usually, if someone came in and did that while I was trying stuff out (with intent to truly buy, not just tooling around), I'd sometimes ask if they could play a bit quieter. I've had mixed responses to that

 

The guy gave himself away as an utter noob. That riff is so-o-o-o-o easy to play.......

Probably just took up bass, learned the riff and had to go to GC to show off....

 

I have been in a GC with the intention of buying an amp exactly twice in the past 15 years.

To get around what the OP has described, I brought some decent headphones with me, so that I could at least hear what was going on without a volume war breaking out.

Not ideal, but it turned 15 minutes of frustration into about an hour of useful data-gathering fun.

And a new amp...

All the best,

Shane

 

One of the stores I go to, it's not the customers who do that...it's the employees.

When I go to this store to look at keyboards or basses, I make sure the volume is down low so as not to annoy people.

But I'll be two minutes in and then an employee will crank up an instrument and start banging out whatever's on their mind.

But of customers, guitar players are the worst. For some reason they need the amp volume set at 12 when testing a guitar.

 

That really gets me upset too. My M.O. in situations like that is to get close to them and stare at them with my crazy pissed off look.

It works every time. They can not get away from me fast enough.

 

"Smoke On The Water" stops them dead in their tracks...every time.

 

I made the mistake of walking into a GC on a saturday afternoon once, never do that again

 

B Street Music! I haven't been there in years. I used to deliver pizzas for Amici's on E. 3rd, so I would sometimes pop in to B Street before work. Haven't been to Gelb in almost as long.

I was in Bananas At Large in Santa Rosa last weekend, and I could only stand to be in there for 10 minutes, just long enough to price a cabinet and move on. Some meathead guitarist was riffing away on every metal riff he knew at loud volume and not so great technique. I shouldn't have to yell to ask the store employee how much something costs.

It's one of the reasons that I don't go into GC anymore. In fact, I haven't been there since before the SF store moved to Van Ness. I used to pop in there when I was working in SF on my lunch break, but even on an early afternoon weekday there would be someone in there trying to make ears bleed.

 

Was in our local GC which is a nice store to get accessories nd gear. A youngin' was shredding a beautiful burst Les Paul with fork in a garbage disposal tone on a shoebox amp. After killing the pig dead, he handed the LP back to the salesperson who asked:

"What do you think?"
Kid: "Didn't like the 'tone'".

 

I recently bought my new amp and cab after trying to audition it. After about 5 mins the assistant came over, virtually grabbed my bass off me and proceeded to show me how good the amp / cab was in a live concert situation! He apologised afterwards, claiming short staff levels gave them no time to spend with the customers (which was true to be fair) but I was a little miffed to say the least. I did buy the kit anyway.

 

lol,.. yup gotta love obnoxious musicians. a friend & i met up at GC one day. i was trying a 7-string Ibanez for kicks. i had to use the BR so i handed the bass to my guitarist buddy and walked away. this dude can play and went right at it. as i was heading back i hear this extremely loud "slapping" and thought WTH is my friend doing. guess what,... some full grown adult came in, plugged in, and turned up,... all the waaaay uuuup. i wanted to continue my trial, but instead returned the cable to the clerk in disgust. the clerk has the nerve to look at me and say, "that guys good ain't he"!
i looked at the clerk and just turned and left. it a war in there sometimes.
me,... i'm very conscious of peoples feeling and try to hold back, but it's difficult sometimes when you think your riffs are so appealing!

 

I would have walked over, gotten his attention, and said, "are you planning to BUY that? Because I'm here to spend money today."