Guitar Shop No-Nos

[AngelStrummer]

Good responses and some very funny posts.

Regarding stairway, just a few observations:

I actually meant the intro. I was in a shop once and a kid played it on a uke. Badly and out of tune. I still smile when I think of it.

I do not know how to play it and I'm not about to learn that intro at my age.

The song in itself is great. Of course. It's just that it's worn a hole in my brain after hearing it so many times. The solo is one of the greatest and here's my only concession to the tune in a guitar shop: if you can nail that solo, every time you play it, respect.

Carry on guys.

[soulgeezer]

I've never visited a guitar store to perform. I go there to shop. If I try a guitar, it's because I'm interested in buying it and I usually play a variety of things, in order to try out the pickups' versatility. So, I'll usually do bits and pieces of Freeway Jam, Tush/Heard It on the X, a couple of Runaways or Joan Jet songs, some Traffic, and maybe one or two more. In all, I'll usually spend about five minutes getting the feel of the guitar and determining whether or not the pickups are one trick ponies.

For the record: Guitars that don't feel right usually get put down in under a minute. In 35 years of playing, I've only come across one guitar with pickups that were irredeemable: A Hohner with pickups so hot, they wouldn't play clean through any amp at any volume.

Most of the time, I don't even plug in the guitar until I've decided it feels good enough that I might seriously consider buying it. Then, and only then, will I plug it in, if the shop has an amp similar to one I own. If not, I'll wait to come back with my own amp before plugging in.

I don't get people who spend a half hour performing for other customers in music stores. I mean, most of the other customers just hate it and revile the person doing it. So, what's the attraction? I just don't get it.

[jefrs]

Erm, the intro to Stairway, is very similar to the middle eight of Gershwin's Summertime (Porgy and Bess).
I'll leave you to figure out the why and whence of that.

Which means you /can/ do the intro to Stairway in the shop, but only if you segue into Summertime.

[RedRock]

What about Chet Atkins Mr. Sandman?

[DoodlySquat]

Originally Posted by rangercaster

every guitar store needs to post this sign ...

My local guitar store has that sign lol.

One that hasn't been said is 7 Nation Army

[hemingway]

Originally Posted by Bones

Please list your 3 favorite bands.

Bones - sorry I didn't manage to reply directly, I'm still trying to figure that out (occasional techno-idiot).

But anyway, I don't come on here to criticise other people's taste, so I do apologise if that's how I came across.

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by kelnet

I haven't heard Stairway to Heaven for a long time, but I heard it on the radio the other day. Half way through the guitar solo, it struck me again just how good that song is. The drumming is amazing. The layers of instrumentation give it great texture. The lyrics may be hokey in this current age of ironic cynicism or prosaic blandness, but I just love the way Plant sings the song. His voice is one more instrument adding to the layers of complexity.
It was a great moment in the car of steering-wheel-drumming and singalong goodness.

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago, haven't heard Stairway for years, I'm driving, and as the big climactic ending starts, I drive around a curve and I'm now driving toward the biggest, brightest, post storm double rainbow, complete with heavenly rays of sun piercing through silver lined clouds. I just had to laugh, I expected a unicorn being ridden by the blonde from the "The Song Remains the Same" to run out in front of the car.

[soulgeezer]

Originally Posted by Bernie

I expected a unicorn being ridden by the blonde from the "The Song Remains the Same" to run out in front of the car.

Robert Plant?????

[andymacg]

Originally Posted by DoodlySquat

My local guitar store has that sign lol.

One that hasn't been said is 7 Nation Army

oh how I cringe when ever I hear that track as the wife always plays it in any music shop when she wants to try the bass guitars out

my fav for trying guitars out is a bit of 12 bar blues that way if i make an hash of it i can cover it up quickly

[Slow Reflexes]

You guys should team up and learn the beginning of Cygnus X-1... I bet nobody will have heard that too many times

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by jefrs

Erm, the intro to Stairway, is very similar to the middle eight of Gershwin's Summertime (Porgy and Bess).

Let's not forget the song Spirit by Taurus. If you're the impatient type, start listening at 45 seconds into the track.

Apparently Taurus shared a stage with Led Zep during a tour, and "Spirit" was written and performed long before "Stairway To Heaven". So Page and the the other members of Led Zep had definitely heard "Spirit" being performed before they wrote "Stairway".

"Stairway To Heaven" is the only Led Zep song I ever really liked. Ever since I first heard it I used to wonder why this one song was so different from everything else that Led Zep came up with, and so different from anything else that Jimmy Page played during his time with Led Zep.

Then just recently I stumbled across "Spirit" by Taurus, did a little online research, and found out the answer to my question. "Stairway" sounds like nothing else from Led Zep because it really wasn't from Led Zep at all - they "borrowed" the most distinctive parts of it (the chord progession and that repeated acoustic guitar run, as well as the overall feel of the song and even the actual key it's in) from Taurus.

Given the heavy drug and alcohol use by Led Zep band members at the time, of course, it's quite possible that in their drug-induced haze they didn't even remember sharing a stage with Taurus or hearing "Spirit", and perhaps in their addled brains they actually thought that the song was a creature of their own imaginations.

I don't use drugs or alcohol, and all the same I've woken up a few times with what I thought was an original tune running through my head, only to realise a few moments later that it wasn't an original at all, it was the tune from some song we've all heard a million times.

I've had the opposite experience too, of coming up with an original tune and then being worried that it sounded familiar, that I must have heard it before. Then I play or hum it to as many friends as I can find, and after they all tell me they've never heard it before, I realise it really was something original I came up with.

-Gnobuddy

[Prism879]

Originally Posted by Slow Reflexes

You guys should team up and learn the beginning of Cygnus X-1... I bet nobody will have heard that too many times

Agreed! Wouldn't it be fun? Now to learn it, only gonna take like a million years for me! :D

I admit to being that guy that plays the Stairway to Heaven intro. However, that was past me, present me has new musical obsessions.

[Gnobuddy]

Originally Posted by andymacg

oh how I cringe when ever I hear that track as the wife always plays it in any music shop when she wants to try the bass guitars out

When I'm trying out basses I'm more likely to play the bass line from The Cure's Love Song.

So far most people really like that bass line and I've never met anyone who hated it. Of course that could change at any moment.

-Gnobuddy

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by soulgeezer

Robert Plant?????

LOL, holy ******, not THAT blonde. The one Robert Plant rescues at the end of his cheesy Rain Song video, after the attack falcon and sword fight and the castle guard on fire and the sword in the ground surrounded by flames. Geez, soulgeezer you just about ruined my memory of that day lol....

[thorton077]

I never really plug in at a store when I go in to try out a few guitars. If I do, it's usually at extremely low volume so I don't annoy anyone and embarass myself.

[djphelan01]

I dont care what songs are played as long as they are done good. The most annoying thing to me is the people who go just to jam ith each other. A few months ago I was at GC and the ntir hour I was there two guys were in the acoustic room playing and singing. One was on guitar and the other was playing an aoustic bass. I try to go to music stores during the week so I can hea myself play and get the feel of the guitar without the listening to the 15 year old playing thesame song loud and out of tune.

[gpasq]

Under the Bridge.

[gpasq]

Originally Posted by djphelan01

I dont care what songs are played as long as they are done good. The most annoying thing to me is the people who go just to jam ith each other. A few months ago I was at GC and the ntir hour I was there two guys were in the acoustic room playing and singing. One was on guitar and the other was playing an aoustic bass. I try to go to music stores during the week so I can hea myself play and get the feel of the guitar without the listening to the 15 year old playing thesame song loud and out of tune.

Haha, I had to look at where you were posting from to be sure you weren't talking about me! I was just getting some stuff together for a country artist that I've never played with, and he said "Let's meet at GC and do a rehearsal." I was skeptical, but he said, "Yeah, we can use whatever guitars we want in the acoustic room!"

Sure enough, he brought a 3-hour setlist and we did a quick pass through 'em all.

I felt odd the whole time!

[jbmando]

Originally Posted by Mid Life Crisis

It's not a crime not to like Led Zeppelin. To tell you the truth I wouldn't be upset if I never heard Stairway ever again, along with Smoke On the Water and Freebird.

Amen, Brother. I can add a few. I agree with the no-nos posted, but a cool one to me is the tremolo guitar part at the end of the chorus of "Just a Little" by the Beau Brummels. People always seem to look at that one.

[benhenny]

Failed local musicians who pass judgment on beginners trying hard to play their first song.