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Guitar store shredders

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(@grungesunset)
Honorable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 342
 

I've never had issues with other people in the stores. Well, music stores anyway. I've never sat foot in a Guitar Center, Sam Ash or any other major guitar store. The one I shop at is a "Ma and Pa' in the truest sense of the word. If you look through the doorway into the 'backroom' it's their house. The store is narrow enough that three adults standing side to side could block your way. Even with it this small the noise doesn't bother me. Of course someone playing the gear is the exception than the rule. If someone was playing the same riff loudly I wouldn't care. The salespeople will usually ask them to turn it down if you want to test some gear yourself. As for the riff being the only thing they can play, I doubt it. As mentioned people are self conscious and likely stick to what they know.

I've yet to hear Smoke on the Water or Stairway in the store. One time I was in there one guy was playing Wherever I May Roam and I walked up around the sales guy to watch and he stopped. I told him to turn it up. Some people these days, only care about themselves.

"In what, twisted universe does mastering Eddie Van Halen's two handed arpeggio technique count as ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?!" - Dr Gregory House


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

When I go into a guitar shop, I've usually got one thing in mind - buying strings. But every now and then, a little money comes my way, and I'll gravitate towards the nearest guitar shop. And I'll look at guitars, and I'll think, ooh, that's in my price range - think I'll try it. So I'll ask the nearest assistant can I try it out....and I'll ask, can I try it on a cube thirty if possible please, then I'll know what it sounds like through my amp?

And....they know me fairly well by now. They know I'm not going to crank it to the max, and they know that, whatever anyone else in the store is playing, I'm not going to turn it WAY loud and try to drown them out. That's for show-offs: All I want to know is how the guitar I might buy is going to sound through my amp.

Fortunately, after years and years and years of browsing, I've developed the knack of tuning out whatever anyone else is playing while I'm playing - I can concentrate on MY playing. And....in the unlikely event that I can't hear what I'm playing properly...I'll ask for a pair of headphones.

Guitar store shredders? I'll ignore 'em - they mean nothing to me. When I go in a guitar shop, I am FOCUSSED - and there's no way any EVH/ Vai wannabee is going to disturb my focus. They may be good - they may be VERY good, and way ahead of me in terms of technique AND ability - but, the hell with them...all I'm concerned is about how I sound.

And I know I can always get better!

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@coolnama)
Prominent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
 

Bwahaha well me and my friend are gonna head over to the biggest shop around and were gonna take our guitars and play some, I mean its cool to go to a guitar shop and Idk noodle, but you can't really do anything like improvised if you don't have a second person you know so he can do the progression and you solo and stuff ( and then switch )

So we are going there and play a while till they kick us xD, like a mini jam and I'll get to hear a Marshall, or maybe a smaller amp that is actually in my price range.

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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(@ghost)
Prominent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 815
 

I've decided when trying out guitars that it'll be unplugged for me. Embarassed myself enough times playing something like Paranoid or the Heartbreaker riff (which the owner actually liked hearing). My luck every time I step into the store these days there's a kid or a well learned musician also trying out a guitar. Some times I'm sad to admit, but it makes me feel unworthy of the guitar I'm trying even with all of my progress. Other times I can't hear what I'm trying out because the other guy has the amp cranked up.

"If I had a time machine, I'd go back and tell me to practise that bloody guitar!" -Vic Lewis

Everything is 42..... again.


   
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(@trguitar)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
Topic starter  

Well we come full circle. The return to guitar center. Took ThunderFingers and his squeeze with me topick out his Christmas present. Settled on a sparkly orange Ibanez with a razer thin laminate neck and active electronics. He played a wide variety of styles and riffs. I'm peeking to check out what the guys behind the counter (right next to the bass room) are doing as he rips through Primus' "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver". Next a little YYZ from Rush. Now obviously thare was Who .... I mean Duh! ThunderFingers and all. I'm sure if there were any bass players there they were thinking listen to the little show off. (Well, not little, ThunderFingers is 6'2" and goes 265 lb) He was simpy trying every style of music he knew and seeing what the instruments could do. He was playing stuff from high school jazz band, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult heck even some country sounding stuff. (I think it was The Folksmen :lol: ) He pluged into a GK half stack .... that's what he has at home. The boy did good. He twisted all the knobs, he hit every fret. Just like you should when buying a guitar.

"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --


   
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(@kingpatzer)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2171
 

I've decided when trying out guitars that it'll be unplugged for me.
Embarrassment issues aside, I'm a firm believer in the idea that great guitars sound great unplugged, and bad guitars sound bad unplugged. Plug it in a loud store, and you'll never really hear the little things that will come to annoy you about a guitar. Take it to the quite acoustic room and run through scales and arpeggios unplugged. You'll be able to know if it's a good guitar much faster that way than by cranking it up to 11 and blowing out smoke on the water.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

but beware: one common error made during unplugged assessments is overplaying the guitar in order to get more acoustic volume. to elicit the actual acoustic nature that will serve as the source timbre, you should take care to play it as you would when plugged in -- most solid and semi-hollows will be pretty quiet.

probably obvious: not every great-sounding unplugged guitar will sound good amplified. sometimes the pups and electronics just plain suck or are not well-matched to the guitar's acoustic nature.

as KP opines: a good acoustic timbre is the place to start, but I believe it's important to point out that one will occasionally find that some very interesting (in a good way) sounding electrics that have awful, anemic timbres when played acoustically. however, the frequency and dynamic responses of the electrics balance out or alter the acoustic nature in a way that produces surprisingly good results. not often the case, but there are occasional gems.

-=tension & release=-


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4459
 

Interesting discussion. I kind of had tought the same thing. I bought a new electric guitar last week and that's one thing I noticed that the new guitar didn't sound as good "acoustically" as my MIM Strat. We'll I'm not sure if not as good is the right description maybe different and I"m not used to the sound.

But plugged in it sounds OK, I say OK because it's not great. But I bought this guitar with the idea that I was going to upgrade the PUP's anyway so now I'm a little concerned that maybe I should return it.

It also has a very very slight buzz when I fret the strings at the 1st fret. The neck is straight I think it may need to actually have the truss rod adjusted so that they don't buzz down there. Otherwise the string height is fine. So I'm still up in the air about the guitar.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@kingpatzer)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2171
 

Interesting discussion. I kind of had tought the same thing. I bought a new electric guitar last week and that's one thing I noticed that the new guitar didn't sound as good "acoustically" as my MIM Strat. We'll I'm not sure if not as good is the right description maybe different and I"m not used to the sound.

But plugged in it sounds OK, I say OK because it's not great. But I bought this guitar with the idea that I was going to upgrade the PUP's anyway so now I'm a little concerned that maybe I should return it.

It also has a very very slight buzz when I fret the strings at the 1st fret. The neck is straight I think it may need to actually have the truss rod adjusted so that they don't buzz down there. Otherwise the string height is fine. So I'm still up in the air about the guitar.

Fret buzzing on less expensive guitars can often be a problem with fret dressing rather than neck alignment.

Apart from the fret issue as I noted for myself, I don't want a guitar that isn't acoustically sound. Ultimately the pick-ups work with the guitar and good pickups will only go so far when dealing with 'off' sounding guitars.

However, as you note, it might not sound bad, but just different. They are your ear, so you have to decide if it has the right sound for you.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@trguitar)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
Topic starter  

I was just strumming my Epi Les Paul unplugged the other day and said to my wife, "Listen to that!", and she was like .... yeah, whatever. :lol:

"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --


   
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 KR2
(@kr2)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 2717
 

. . . which is usually followed by,

"The garbage needs to be taken out."

Now how the conversation goes from guitar :P to garbage :( . . . is beyond me. :?

It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
Famed Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4459
 

Kr2 it's a G thing.

KP - That's what I'm struggling with whether or not my ears like what I hear. I'm not talking about a bad sounding guitar or anything and I may be nitpicking a bit on the sound so I'll have to give it alittle more time to decide. I guess it could be the frets but they actually all look and feel fine but I'll check those again.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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