[rickc]

I can picture the scene. You are looking at guitars on a shop wall in front of you. You see the one you like. It's the baby you always dreamed of. You want to hold her.....caress her sweet neck and play something on her sweet, sweet, golden- silver strings. You yearn..... Now you have to ask the know-it-all bastard behind the counter to get her down for you. He does this with a sickly- smug half smile on his face. You look around you and see that all the other punters in the shop suddenly relax, because now they know THEY can play around on something quietly, coz it's YOU in the spotlight and therefore you have to think of something good. Something good because they all looking at you and you don't want to make a complete prick of yourself do you ? NOW......what tune do you play ?

Mine for record is " Early Morning Rain "....usually pretty bloody dreadfully.....

[Captain_Trips]

scales, I dont try anything to impress -- but you cant go wrong with just nailing down a few scales up and down the fretboard

[AcousticSmash]

Finger style stuff mainly, A Song for Life being one of them. I like to do some blues as well, and other styles to get a idea of what kind of sound and the responsiveness of the guitar compared to others. I also drop tune to D and play something because I want to make sure it wont buzz like a mother when its tuned down.

[billy16]

Usually, "Lenny". That hits a lot of the areas I'm concerned with on the guitar, neck feel and playability, how the guitar sounds, how it handles my style, that sort of thing.

[MakoMako]

Warehouse - Dave Matthews Band

I do this one mostly because it plays alot on the bass notes and it also runs on alot of the parts of the neck that alot of stuff doesn't tend to.

and then

Romanza

This is a well-known fingerpicking song that sticks up on the higher strings and runs on alot of the parts of the neck.

I play those two things, not to impress, but just to get the feel of the guitar. I tend to play really softly unless I'm the only one in the store and the employees don't mind me playing a bit loud. But I will say that I do like to ask some of the employees if they wanna jam a little if they're not busy. I find that jamming with the employees tends to be the best way to test a guitar out best.

[laker0902]

I usually play some random chord progressions to see if I like the tone and then do some scales to see how the neck feels to me.

[Londinium]

You just know that people judge you as a person on what you play. If you go for something obvious they assume you are a terrible person. Too obscure and they think you're pretentious. Oh how I hate playing in guitar shops...

[emalco]

I'll play what ever comes to mind weather its a song or just some improvised nonsense. Theres no reason to worry about what people think in the store. Play what you need to get a feel for the guitar and weather it works for you or not. Your paying for the instrument, your the one whose enjoyment its for. Who cares about the other people in the store who hear you play for a little while, once you leave both you and them will forget about it anyway.

[Will_Wood]

I usually play Blackbird. Yeah, I know, pathetic, but it gets me everything I want in a guitar try-out. I'm a finger picker, so it is perfect for that.

[dadfad]

Depends on what kind of guitar I'm looking for, but generally first a slow-blues with a lot of open-stuff (Hooker or Hopkins, etc); then a moderate-blues (Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, etc). That checks for tone and sustain. Then something a lot faster like Blind Blake or Lonnie Johnson to check for playability. Then medium fast but with a lot of different voicing-subs like Blind Boy Fuller or Blind Lemon. And then finally something more contemporary (Jorma or Watson or someone). That's pretty much the gamut for the kind of stuff I'd probably be likely playing on a regular acoustic (would be different for a slide-guitar or something more specialized).


(I checked out a really nice (near mint) 1911 Gibson L-4 yesterday, all original and played very little (even had original old-time square-wire frets with very little wear). Great for what it was, but a little overly-chunky with its extremely pronounced old-fashioned V-neck profile (I have a couple with V's from the 20s and 30s, but this was very extreme.) Nice guitar, had the owner been willing to negotiate I might have bought it, but he wanted absolutely top-dollar for what it was. Like I said, a very nice instrument, and maybe worth it to someone, but not to me.)

[rayvon87]

Usually I'll just start out with a little lick that I got from one of dadfad's posts, Am into E. Then maybe a bit of 'Anji' and 'Classical Gas'. Then maybe Korma's version of 'Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning' to check up the neck. Then maybe 'Freight Train', 'Trambone' and 'Copper Kettle'. And a few chord progressions and some harmonics.

Just anything that comes to mind.

This post has been edited by rayvon87: 17 May 2006 - 01:54 AM

[greatness7410]

Play all the chords, then a scale or two in all parts of the neck. Then a chromatic run to the top. Awesome, and all in about three minutes.