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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink "in-the-music-store-trying-out-an-instrument"

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so...what song do you play when you are trying-out that great vintage instrument in the music store? you know, there are always those "other" music dudes playing metallica's "enter sandman" or some wicked primus bass lick...

what song do you play?

for me, on guitar, it's inevitably one of these:
Pipeline
Walk, Don't Run
Miserlou
James Bond Theme

of course, i always ask the music-shop dude if there is some sort of tube amp around with reverb to plug into...

for bass, I almost always play:

Hicky Brrr (Carole King/Quincy Jones...from the way old Bill Cosby Show, remember back in 1969 or so after I-Spy went off the air??... Cosby was "Chet Kincaid " the high-school coach ??? Whooo lord!!!)

or The Barney Miller Theme from the 1970s...way cool bass there...

usually I ask the music store dude to plug me into an ampeg or mesa or some other awesome bass amp i can never ever afford in a million years...
Wink

-dp

I usually do somewhat of a medly of the following:

Faraway Places
Lanky Bones
Squad Car
Mr. Rebel

Then once I'm warmed up I go through Hornet's Nest by Los Straitjackets. The last time I did that, I realized that there was a guy standing behind me listening. He asked me if I would join his band. I said, "Oh, you have a surf band?" He said, "No, we play speed metal. What's 'surf'?"

I don't know dude, whenever I go to the music store I forget just about every lick I know, because the guy next to me is usaully whaling away so ridiculous tune that far supercedes my ability.

i play as quietly as possible..........when i was searching for a jag i tried out one that had humbuckers and went through a long list of surf tunes not realizing one of the shop guys was standing behind me. he said he'd never heard anyone play surf tunes in the store before. (at least he recognized what they were Shocked )

www.surfintheeye.com

dp
Hicky Brrr (Carole King/Quincy Jones...from the way old Bill Cosby Show, remember back in 1969 or so after I-Spy went off the air??... Cosby was "Chet Kincaid " the high-school coach ??? Whooo lord!!!)

-dp

"Gonna get some raggots, and some rolls...." Laughing

Everyone always whips out their hot licks at the music store.

I'll usually pick a guitar with a whammy bar, plug into a twin reverb or something similar, and play that opening lick from Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game". That always gets a few nods.

It's kinda funny; at the music store I usually go to, there's a sign that the owners posted under the guitars that says "PLEASE, NO BLINK 182". Laughing

Jon
Then once I'm warmed up I go through Hornet's Nest by Los Straitjackets. The last time I did that, I realized that there was a guy standing behind me listening. He asked me if I would join his band. I said, "Oh, you have a surf band?" He said, "No, we play speed metal. What's 'surf'?"

hehe, good story. i enjoy playing around with that tune as well.

Science friction burns my fingers.

tonybologna

Jon
Then once I'm warmed up I go through Hornet's Nest by Los Straitjackets. The last time I did that, I realized that there was a guy standing behind me listening. He asked me if I would join his band. I said, "Oh, you have a surf band?" He said, "No, we play speed metal. What's 'surf'?"

hehe, good story. i enjoy playing around with that tune as well.

I third that one...

I'll usually mess around with "Diamond Head," or "Journey To The Stars" but my default warm-up/try-out-gear song is almost always "Hava Nagila" though.

The Disasternauts

For some reason when I'm playing clean (95 percent of the time) I always play Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand, or some other slow Hendrix song. I guess cause they use the whole fret board. Otherwise I strum chords and stare at the guitar like I'm setting up a golf shot.

Dirty= Van Halen, Led Zep, or Link Wray.

Bass=Sly and the Family Stone.

What I most often here:

Clean: just chords

Dirty: Nirvana

Bass: 100 percent of the time, RHCP

drpluto
Bass: 100 percent of the time, RHCP

That's funny, and true! Man, that Flea has had a HUGE impact on modern bass playin'...which is pretty amazing if you think about where the RHCP started out: psycho hollywood punk rebel kids on smack playin' the p-funk grooves down at the Cathay de Grande and the Anti-Club way back in 1981-82...

now, he's venerated like the freakin' Andres Segovia of all bass-dom!

true men, don't eat coyotes,
-dp

"Stairway to Heaven" and "Crazy Train." Always.

Wait a sec ... what do <i>I</i> play in a music store? Usually either "Squad Car" or "Jack the Ripper," but if no one else is around I'll mess around with Slayer's "War Ensemble."

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

CaptainSpringfield
but if no one else is around I'll mess around with Slayer's "War Ensemble."
-Warren

Now that's what I like to see on a surf list, A SLAYER reference, ha ha!!

For me on Bass, I usually just noodle around on scales and patterns.
I'm more listeining to the tone, not my playing( which is bad).

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Stream of consciousness....
I rarely play specific songs or licks.
I just kinda make stuff up.

Bob S.

Bob

Last edited: Apr 18, 2006 20:55:16

bigtikidude

CaptainSpringfield
For me on Bass, I usually just noodle around on scales and patterns.
I'm more listeining to the tone, not my playing( which is bad).

Jeff(bigtikidude)

me too, how stuff reacts to high notes, low notes, chords etc. with a guitar, I'l play chromatically open string to high up the fretboard just to check for buzzez ... play achord and adjust pots just to see what they do.

must say I hardly ever try out stuff in a guitar store anymore though.

incedently, when I happened to walk accross the surf trem (see other thread) a few weeks ago, i wanted to check it out in store, and in the cabin next to me where two young guys pumping away metal power chords in the cavin next to me very loud. I cranked up the amp OD and started to play along, just the one or two shredd licks I know. I suck at that stuff but they were at least impressed enough to shut up for a couple of minutes and let me try my tremolo.

WR

oh, the 'no blink' thing - wasn't there a scene like that in Wayne's world, with indeed "no stairway to heaven'?

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

In the rare occasions that I do go to a music store, I just try different strings and sounds. Since I'm a not really a guitar player (I just know how to play the songs that I know... Laughing ), I usually try to stay away from emberassing myslef. But if I play something it's usually my old song "Arab Bush", or Time Bomb, or maybe Hava Nagila.

Ran

The Scimitars

WR
oh, the 'no blink' thing - wasn't there a scene like that in Wayne's world, with indeed "no stairway to heaven'?

Yep, there sure was. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw it. Laughing

I'll usually play stuff that takes me through the range of sounds I'm looking for in a guitar, songs like:

Ghost Riders in the Sky
Apache
Walk Don't Run
Pipeline

or one of Longboard Ranch's originals in a similar vein.

Bruce D

I almost always start with some Chuck Berry style lick in the key of A.

It's been a while since I've actually plugged a guitar in at a shop, though.

image

for guitars:
1983 (a mermaid i should turn to be)
surf rider
thats alright mama

for bass:
random walking basslines
lowrider
money

I have quite a bit of a wide range of what I'll play, when test driving a guitar or bass.

On guitar:
"Walk, Don't Run" - "Wipe Out" - "Memphis" - "Rumble" - "Green Onions" - "You Really Got Me" - "Twist and Shout" - several of my own jams

On bass:
"Money" - "We're An American Band" - "Whole Lotta Love" - "Peter Gunn Theme" - "Mission Impossible"

On bass, one that I'm more likely to play before anything else is "Inertia!" (The Hustlers). On two occasions, at different stores, I was playing "Inertia!" and somebody actually recognized it as such. The first time was an "older" (50-ish) gentleman that happened to be browsing close to where I was playing. His reaction was "man, I haven't heard that one in ages!" The second time was a store employee, either younger than me (36) or somewhere around my age. He's like "Inertia...pretty cool." I don't know about the "cool" factor, other than I was playing an obscure surf guitar bass line, since the bass line is just a straight-8...I was more shocked that somebody actually recognized what I was playing.

Matt in Indiana

Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!

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