Guitar Center Visit to Try A Telecaster Goes Wrong!

Mistake Number One: Walking into Guitarcenter.

Mistake Number Two: Not walking straight outta Guitarcenter.

Mistake Number Three: Not notifying the manager exactly why you're leaving on your way out the door.

Mistake Number Four: While you're there, not plugging a Zakk Wylde replica Les Paul into a Zakk JCM800. Or... this is a Telecaster forum... how 'bout a John 5 Tele into a Mode 4?

Don't be shy about turning it up.

You might not solve anything but you'll feel better.


If it were me... I've been playing or more like it trying to play for four decades. I still suck. I'm still a veteran of the NYC punk / hardcore scene. I'm still quite capable of sucking loudly as a musician.

 

But you get to suck while playing your amps. I can't even do that.

 

It would be too funny if Mister Loud 'n' Proud aka Mister Scrubs turned out to be your Brother From Another Mother. Picture if you plugged into some cranked WMD. Next thing you know Mister Scrubs is harmonizing everything you play perfectly.

Nah.

 

Just a note, GC employees will provide a tuner if you ask.

 

the selection at the smaller store looks great; wish we had one nearby with half of those options - around here it's generally an enormous box or a small one room store

 

There are two GC's in my area. One is 1/2 hr. away and the other is about 1 hr. away. The far one has a privacy room for checking out guitars plugged into amps. The close one doesn't. I bought my Tele at the far one and played it through a variety of amps in that room. That helped sell it. The close one? I play mostly acoustics there. Of course, they have a room for that. They recently remodeled an area inside that I hoped would be an electric guitar room. Nope. A couple of rooms for lessons. Oh well....

 

I stopped at a Walmart SuperStore on my way home from a gig this past weekend. It was around 11:00 pm.
I wanted to get some sandwich ingredients so I could eat when I got home.
Someone decided to play BroCountry Music on the sound system at very loud volume. I was having trouble hearing myself think. And I wasn't familiar with this store, so I asked an employee where mustard and pickles were. She couldn't hear me and thought I said something about mouse turds so she walked me to an isle where they sold pest control products.
I yelled "why is the music so loud?". I yelled hoping she would understand this time. Her reply was "We get to listen to music at night here. I love Billy Joe Bob Whatever!".

Why, I was miffed, nettled, rankled and galled, not to mention being totally brassed off.
I did go ahead and buy my sandwich stuff and had a good snack when I got home.
It was Walmart after all, not Uncle Nick's Deli.

 

At our house we have a term for the Steve Vai in scrubs type."Public (rhymes with Plaster Hater)"
Usually they're accompanied by a stringy haired girl who looks like she''d rather be somewhere else but has no place to go.

 

There is always a manager of sorts on dutry, regardless of their maturity. The GC I visit here in Matthews NC would have never allowed that to occur. Its not GC's in general, , it's specific GC's and whoever the on duty manager is. I have personally witnessed salespeople approach players and tell them to turn it down or turn it off. This particular GC has a small demo room, so if someone claims they need to test the amp they tell them to go in the amp "closet" and have a ball but not on the sales floor.

 

I walked into a GC a few years back with $2K cash in my pocket with the intent of buying a Taylor 314 CE, but two teens had decided to turn the humidified high-end acoustic room into their private rehearsal space. After waiting a solid 20 minutes, I walked out.

As I passed by the checkout area, I flashed the cash at the manager and told him I planned to give this to him, but apparently the teens were paying more for their rehearsal space. I got a blank stare in return... I hate GC.

 

I can only walk in my shoes, but debates like this give me the puzzles.

This situation doesn't make me wonder "what happened to politeness and manners," it makes me wonder "what happened to communication?" Issues get solved by talking. Why not just walk up to Mr. Scrubs and say, "excuse me, nice playing but would you mind taking a short break or turning it down so I can hear this Telecaster? I'll be done in five or ten minutes." Same goes for the guys rehearsing and the lady recording in the acoustic room.

Words were invented because glares and harsh thoughts are such ineffective modes of communication. I find most people who're acting like a**hats don't really mean to be, and they'll stop if someone asks them. They might even be embarrassed by their self-absorbed behavior and apologize. Mr. Scrubs could be a narcissistic jerk, or he might be an ER doctor who just finished an especially tough shift and needs to let off some steam. Unless and until someone takes the step of saying "excuse me," no one will ever know. Just talking to people can work wonders.

 

All he needed to do was ask a GC employee to intervene. That's part of their job and they will do it. Or ask for a manager.
These days, you never know who is carrying a concealed weapon. And maybe too much testosterone.
Threads like this are just a way of venting. Nothing else.

 

Yep and it’s all good.

I got my GC stories way worse than this but no need to spill em cause these threads tell me I’m not alone and walk away Joe is the way to go.

Carry on!

 

I experienced that once before. Guy had the amp turned way up, and was shredding some very odd scales. "Odd" as in non-musical. He was playing fast and with great proficiency, but it just didn't sound like music. And by his demeanor, it was like he was completely alone in the place, didn't react to anything or anyone else in the store.

 

The big stores in the 90s seemed to have an appropriate sound-proofed booth to number of guitars ratio. Now they seem to have got rid of those and save that space for the ukulele section.

 

Some folks enjoy / need attention, they don t care if it s the good or bad way to attract your attention, they just want it. He is probably a psychic vampire. Loads of them on youtube too.
I m not one of them, the less attention i get the better i feel. That s called shyness or something.

 

There are two things I do when that happens. It depends on which kind of ahole I want to be.
The highly invested one will borrow a snark, and do one of two things. Find a jazzbox or tele, wander over and find an amp uncomfortably close to the offending jerk. Turn it up loud, then attempt to tune, intentionally wrong and loudly. Talk to myself about my imaginary friends and ask them for help. Or. take a humbucker guitar, sit in the same place and then play similar notes to them just after they do. This takes some effort. Alternatively Just play the 12 bar blues right next to them.

The other option I like when less invested, is to walk by and hand them a snark, tell them it sounds better when its in tune, or say something like Music Called and wants you to stop.

 

Your family was with you? Have they got moves? Lay down some...



Note: a doctor's diploma is not required to walk around in scrubs.