What are some No-No's at a guitar shop

ummm, this is getting a little too serious. Of course you can play what you want.

Perhaps a better title is, what song gets played so much at guitar stores that even you can't stand it anymore?

Or what song at the guitar store makes you want to do a John Belushi folk singer number on the player?

My thoughts are, it doesn't really matter what your playing if your having fun right? Although it would suck to hear the same intro over and over, that would get pretty lame. But if you play the whole song I see nothing wrong with it.

Well, I think of it as a courtesey not particularly to other people shopping but to the guys working there. Would you want a bunch of people coming into your house to play a one finger Smoke On The Water riff on your guitar for 8 hours of the day, everyday? I don't think so.

So yeah, you're free to play whatever you want, unless the shop happens to have one of these plastered up on the wall:

Metaellihead brilliance !!!

Minus Human

give me head baby - THE RADIATORS

Whenever I play guitar, whether it be at a music store or anywhere else, I make sure to play a song I can play very well from beginning to end.

I've said this many times, and I'll say it again. If you play only one song, but you play it perfectly, people will believe you can play ANY song well.

If you play bits and pieces of many songs poorly, people will believe you cannot play ANY song well.

Now, of course you have to noodle a little bit. You have to see how the neck and action feels. You have to try the different pickups, check out the tuners and all that.

But if you play a song, play a song you can really knock out.

Well, I think of it as a courtesey not particularly to other people shopping but to the guys working there. Would you want a bunch of people coming into your house to play a one finger Smoke On The Water riff on your guitar for 8 hours of the day, everyday? I don't think so.

Last time I checked THEY were being payed to be there and WE were the customers. As long as I am not there as a hired entertainer I play whatever I feel like. As for overplayed songs: I'd much prefer if people stopped playing the first two measures of 'enter sandman'...

Quite true, but he's also the person you'll be hoping is going to be willing to talk about price (should you decide to buy something, that is).

Quite true, but he's also the person you'll be hoping is going to be willing to talk about price (should you decide to buy something, that is).And if he isn't willing to talk good prices, he's not going to make the sale.

None of the songs mentioned really do anything to help you discover the flaws of the guitar.

And if he isn't willing to talk good prices, he's not going to make the sale.[/quote

Perhaps he'd rather pass on an arrogant customer.

If I owned a music store the first thing I would do was install a couple of sound proof booths where people can go and play their hearts out. Solves alot of problems.

Shy players, loud players, noisy players, beginning players, whatever. Please feel free to grab an axe and go into that room and have a good time. That would be my stores motto.

The only reason people hate to hear Stairway to Heaven at a music store is because nearly everyone butchers it. But if you play that song from beginning to end well, the salespeople will come over and shake your hand and give you $50 off the sale!

It is not the song. It is how well you play it.

I was told by Rodders recently that our local guitar shop has a guitar lead jack socket connected to what looks like a mains power socket. With a message written beside it:

Anyone who wants `a Stairway to Heaven' plug in here!

A bit of useless info for you all. But its a damn good guitar shop.

Regards,

Chris

Last time I checked THEY were being payed to be there and WE were the customers. As long as I am not there as a hired entertainer I play whatever I feel like. As for overplayed songs: I'd much prefer if people stopped playing the first two measures of 'enter sandman'...

And like I says in my post, you CAN play whatever you like. I just feel it's nice to change things up instead of doing whatever you like and annoying the guys who work there. It's a courtesey. Stairway and all the other songs mentioned here really wouldn't be an issue if they simply weren't played so often. If we guitarists decide we're going to switch things up a lot more these songs won't be so stigmatized.