what do you always play in a guitar shop?

[willie85tele]

what do you play when you are trying out a new amp,guitar or effect etc in the guitar shop.....i never know what to play.....love to hear what your favourites are.....do you have a signature tune that you always play or do you just wing it?

[telepath]

Definitely not anything recognisable!

I always run through some of my own things (OK, which are likely lifted / mongrelised from someone else's things somewhere down the line).
That way you can enjoy concentrating on getting a feel for the goods, with less feeling of being 'judged' by bored shop assistants and drive by wise-guys who stop to tell you that you are 'playing it all wrong' - even when you know you are not ;)

I do sometimes feel an overwhelming compulsion to turn up the vol and play 'Smoke on the Water' intro as badly as I possibly can (ideally only on one string with extra clams) just to see the staff squirm.
But I never have the cahones to do it, and it could backfire I guess ;)

[comebackkid]

this:


and this:


or something similar to that.

[DeepDrummer]

I play a scale from bottom to top to try to check out the action everywhere and stuff.
I don't play in a guitar shop unless I am in a buying mood.

[willie85tele]

great answer telepath...you should murder that smoke on the water riff but just adjust the tuners so it is horribly out of tune....and wait for the polite but very annoyed"please leave the store now" request.those guys have probably seen it all before anyway...

[dmarg1045]

I don't play in a guitar shop unless I am in a buying mood.

Me either, usually. I was in two fine guitar stores in Tennessee last week and tried nothing, because there was zero chance that I would buy a guitar or amp. If I do play, it's usually a few jazz chords or maybe some fingerpicking. On an electric I might play a few standard blues licks.

[Coop47]

I'm the world's worst guitar shop player - I just go blank. Mostly random barre chords to see how the neck feels.

[elmicko]

I'm a pretty sucky player any so I know I'm not going to impress anyone so I'll just noodle on some bar chords and maybe a couple simple licks. I just play enough to see how the guitar will sound in my hands.

I also worked at a guitar store in my younger days so I've heard all the public self-wanking that pekple do to try and impress.

[Greg_C]

It depends on my mood, sometimes I play "Yakkety Sax" just for grins, nobody has ever tole me I play it wrong, though some people think it's the Benny Hill theme.

[Brad Pittiful]

i just strum chords...i suck too much to try and play something...and god forbid someone thinks it sounds cool and wants to jam...ugh i would run out of the store if that ever happened

[bri]

I act like I've hardly ever had a guitar in my hands before, maybe painfully form a basic D chord, etc. I guess I have an odd sense of humor.

[Drunkinminer]

This on Tele country style. Yeah be jealous.

[sax4blues]

9th chords are very cool with simple blues lick. m7 barre. Lots of ringing sus2. Pick through the riff for "Us and Them" Pink Floyd. Basically anything that will stand out of all the thrashing which is usually going on. It's hard to embarrass yourself playing ringing beautiful sounds.

[DrumBob]

Blues riffs, chunky power chords, chimey, ringing chord work, snippets of songs like "Heart Full Of Soul," "I Can't Explain," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and some fingerpicked Byrdsy stuff.

I don't play "Stairway to Hell"...er, Heaven.

[Flakey]

"Buckaroo" and "American Girl" to check for tele chime, "No Matter" What for amp crunch and "Sparks" for amp dynamic response, something by the Byrds if I'm playing elect. 12 string. I WILL NOT PLAY SRV IF I'M PLAYING A STRAT! That guitar is capable of more than that. Open D for slide, and some Freddie Green lines if I'm playing an archtop. For a flat top, some blue grass runs and trad. jazz chord progressions.

[willie85tele]

i myself am like coop47...i go blank....i was at a shop recently looking at an amp and the shop owner got a guitar off the wall,plugged it in and just went off,i had no idea what he was playing but it was excellent....he then asked me if i wanted to try it out but i couldn't follow what he just played....he wasn't showing off either,he's a really nice guy,i ended up buying the amp just on what it sounded like when he played it because i couldn't come up with anything on the spot.from what alot of people have said here i guess just playing random stuff in different positions on the neck is probably a good idea for me.....i've never really played in front of people much.....

[hekawi]

Beatles-"Day Tripper"

[Steveareno]

Spanish Flea (theme song to the old Dating Game TV show). Catches people off guard (where have I heard that before?).
Swang on,

[adkima00]

A few barre chords, a few open chords, a happy finger picked blues thing that I wrote, and every note on the fretboard of its a guitar I'm thinking of buying. I don't feel the need to try to impress anyone in a music shop. I'm too old for that crap.

[castpolymer]

The Who - Substitute or Pinball Wizard