What do you play when checking out a new guitar?

For the bass, I have a handful of riffs that I always play. I can remember how they sound from one store to the next, and I don't have to think about playing them.

In addition to the feel and action, I mess with the knobs a lot, listening to the various tones produced. I usually play bits from songs.

* The bridge riff from "The Chain" by F Mac, good for checking the low end
* Most of "Only the Good Die Young", good for action and feel, also check tone controls with this one
* The slide part for "Walk on the Wild Side". So simple, it's scary, but it gives you a good idea for the action and sliding

On rare occassions, I'll try to play along with the 6-shooters, without their notice.

-Laz

I DON'T play "Smoke On The Water" - I'm not into "suicide by guitar-shop owner" :lol:

Ah. Its 'Enter Sandman' that all the kids play over here. Its quite disturbing, especailly when theres more than one of them in the store and they start competing. :(

I personally just check out intonation and things. Except when some older men look at me as if I'm one of those children who plays one riff over and over... then I play Steve Vai. :D .lol.

Ah. Its 'Enter Sandman' that all the kids play over here. Its quite disturbing, especailly when theres more than one of them in the store and they start competing. :(

Amen. See sig.

In the words of Wayne Campbell, "No Stairway? Denied!"

And as for Enter Sandman, I could never figure that out. You'd be catching me paying the riff to their version of "One". (although now that I mention it, I will probably have to learn U2's version as well. Kick ASS song.)

I just learned an easier version of Sweet Child O'Mine (strumming pattern, anyway - I'm sticking to my guns on that classic intro riff, it's sounding pretty fluid now). That's on the testing block for the next time I go guitar shopping. :D

i always end up playing Wish You Were Here. i can bend, slide, and hammer on and pull off within the first minute of that one. then like nick, i play every note, and like noteboat, i hit harmonics. i have a few misc riffs that i know out too just too see how it handles different musical genres. Sultans of Swing always pops up too. Gotta play it with the fingers though

Open chords, barre chords around 12-14th fret (don't play them higher then that, so why try?), all notes. Then some standard riffs (Purple Haze, Plug in Baby, Home Sweet home alabama) and end with just noodling around. By then the store owner has usually found me and will hang that Custom Shop Fender back on the wall... :lol:

I went to guitar center the other day (bought a Beringer amp I'd seen good reviews of and 6 sets of strings).

Which Behringer did you get? I've got the GX210 and I absolutely LOVE it for playing around the house and at practice. My only complaint about it is that it doesn't have enough power for onstage. I can easily be drowned out (which at this point is not necessarily a bad thing!). I'm just curious about other Behringers, since I'm in the market for one that can hold it's own onstage and I'm quite happy otherwise with the GX210.

To the subject of this post! I don't get as involved in scales and barres and harmonics as Nick and NoteBoat when I go to try guitars! :D I probably should, but I don't. I usually run through some basic blues stuff (both flatpicking and fingerpicking), fingerpick the intro to 'Landslide' and then I have one of the 'guitar guys' play something for me (whatever they want), so that I can concentrate on the way the guitar sounds rather than on what I'm playing. Then, I do it all over again with the next guitar.

I think my advice would be to play whatever you're comfortable with, whatever style or genre interests you the most. It doesn't matter what the 'guitar guys' think of your selection or your playing ability. You're the one with the money to buy the guitar, you know what you want to play, you know what you like to hear and yours is the only opinion that matters in that situation. If you can only play three chords, play them. If you can only play one scale, play it. If the only riffs you know are "Smoke On The Water' or 'Stairway To Heaven', play them!!!! It doesn't matter what ANYONE else thinks or how many times they've heard those riffs that day. You're the one with the money and if they want to make a sale, they'll listen to those riffs all day, every day with a smile on their face. Every guitar player in the guitar store had to be a beginner at some point in their lives and every one of them understands exactly what you're going through and most (there's always a jerk somewhere!) will be patient and helpful and will play it for you if you're not comfortable enough to do it yourself yet. IMHO (and by my personal experience).

The GX112. 60W, very portable.

For trying guitars and especially amps, I like to play "Sleepwalk" or "Wicked Game" to hear the sweetness of the high end, "Walk Don't Run" to hear the midrange (and check out the vibrato), "Twist and Shout" to listen for low end twang, and a little Albert King like "Born Under a Bad Sign" for some deep low end. These are all songs for which I have a sound in my head that I can easily use as a reference. Then lots of bar chord progressions to check the action and frets and ease of strumming.

I am with Nick and Noteboat. I play every single note on every string up and down the fretboard and listen for fret buzz or uneven frets. I bend strings just about everywhere as well to test the finish on the frets. If I feel scratchiness when bending, I won't buy that guitar. I also feel for fret burrs up and down the neck. I tune the guitar up paying close attention to the feel of the tuners. Then I'll really bend the strings around to see if it stays in tune. I look up and down both sides of the neck and look for warp.
I turn all the knobs and flip all the switches to listen for noise. Then I will play some lead to see how the neck feels. I play some chords all over. I try all different tone settings. If there is a whammy bar I jam around on that. I look the whole guitar over for imperfections. I don't mind a small defect here or there. I look at all the joints.

I try the guitar through several amps on clean and distortion.

Hey, I'm not a rich musician, so if I'm gonna buy a guitar, I want to make sure I really like the feel, tone, quality, and performance.

Electratube: if you like the GX210 and just want more power either get the GMX212 or GMX212 powerpack. The GMX is the upgraded version of the older GX series. It still has the same MFX section, but now has two channels with analog modeling which can be set independent of each other, both with their own FX. The GMX212 has two 12"speakers and 2x60W output. The clean is still somewhat low, but add some overdrive and you only need to turn it up to 20% to have the drummer crying. Costs around $300, including footswitch.

The powerpack is the GMX 120W head with a 4x12" cab. Costs around $450 IIRC. Not very portable though.

Electratube: if you like the GX210 and just want more power either get the GMX212 or GMX212 powerpack. The GMX is the upgraded version of the older GX series. It still has the same MFX section, but now has two channels with analog modeling which can be set independent of each other, both with their own FX. The GMX212 has two 12"speakers and 2x60W output. The clean is still somewhat low, but add some overdrive and you only need to turn it up to 20% to have the drummer crying. Costs around $300, including footswitch.

The powerpack is the GMX 120W head with a 4x12" cab. Costs around $450 IIRC. Not very portable though.

Well, thanks, Arjen.... I hadn't thought of that, but that's an excellent idea. My original thought was to just buy another amp and keep the GX210 for here around the house and for places where I really didn't want to blow the windows out! :D One question, though. Would the footswitch that I'm using now work with the powerpack or would I need a new one? Doesn't really matter, just curious!