How not to impress a pro-guitarist.

Arno-West · 2011-11-28T16:53:36+00:00

I get it quite often at gigs that intoxicated strangers come and talk to me and claim to be guitarists. The next step is usually "Mind if I have go on your g...

How not to impress a pro-guitarist.

guitarboy2828

edgy wrote: I was at a store recently trying out an amp, and saw a man bring his son into the store. I happened to overhear their conversation with the salesman.

Man: "My son has just started to play guitar, I want to buy him the best Stratocaster. What do you have?"

Salesman: "Here is an American Deluxe Stratocaster"

Man: "How much?"

Salesman: (and I can't remember the exact price) "R20 000" or whatever it was.

Man: "Oh ok. Yes, I like Strats. A friend of mine was telling me about - humbackers, no, humbuggers, what are these things?"

Salesman: "They are a type of pickup, normally found on guitars such as this Les Paul here"

Man: "Oh ok"

Then he points to another Les Paul directly next to the Les Paul the salesman just pointed out.

Man: "Is this also a Strat?"

I turned away and burst out laughing.

I LOVE these stories, because it means (generally) that you can pick up a second hand strat deluxe in a pawn shop for a pretty good price! ?

Bob-Dubery

edgy wrote: X-rated Bob, I forgot to mention that the guy said that he plays a Stratocaster in his blues band. That's what I found really funny.

Oh well then. He's fair game.

Watch the beginning of this clip of the 69th Best Guitarist According To Rolling Stone being interviewed on the BBC

DonovanB

I Love hearing stories like this.
I blogged about my experiences a while back, too long to repost so check it out if you wish.

I also have video evidence,
=
That's me on the left being harassed.

Averatu

guidothepimmp

well slightly of the mark, but I have hd salesman in stores emerrily explain the merits of a certain guitar which he elaborated on... alder body, active pickups etc etc..

except it was an Ibanez, with a basswood body, and passive pups..

not everyone knows everything about fiddles! there are the few who genuinely want to learn something, then tere are the few who genuinely think theyre clever..

guitarboy2828

Donovan Banks wrote: I Love hearing stories like this.
I blogged about my experiences a while back, too long to repost so check it out if you wish.

I also have video evidence,
=
That's me on the left being harassed.

Don, that is too funny, I remember reading your blog and laughing so hard! This just makes me laugh again! ?

What we she trying to say anyway? Why was she on the stage??

DonovanB

She just saw the camera and wanted to be in the video.
She was trying to request a song. I passed her off to our bass player who, as you see, got her off stage.

Arno-West

Reading these posts made me think of comparable situations - Slightly intoxicated guitarist walks into operating theatre while heart bypass operation is being performed and says to head surgeon "That's a cool scalpel man, mind if I have a go?"

Warren

Arno West wrote: Reading these posts made me think of comparable situations - Slightly intoxicated guitarist walks into operating theatre while heart bypass operation is being performed and says to head surgeon "That's a cool scalpel man, mind if I have a go?"

When chord is wrong, people gonna die? ?

Malkav

guidothepimmp wrote: except it was an Ibanez, with a basswood body, and passive pups..

There's a general consensus about Ibanez specs, it's more or less expressed here:

Airguitar

I side with the other "Pro's" who let him have his 3 minutes, IF he isn't so tanked he's gonna hurt my guitar.
I've had some good fun with some good players, and some GREAT fun with the wannabees.
(I once was one, and have a lot to thank from the guys who "Let me have a go", so I feel it's my turn to give something back.)

Let's get another thing straight.. It's a GUITAR, not a human being.. It won't disintegrate in the hands of someone else..
If it does then you shouldn't be playing it but preserving it in an air conditioned glass case.
Furthermore, having a go on someone's girlfriend is a sh1tty comment.. If you want to say no, have the balls to say no, don't go the next step to becoming a dwis.

There, that's my rant..
The good guys get the good gigs, then they keep them.

evolucian

is now going to stalk brent... ask him to play on his git... proceed to play the whole of appetite for destruction, and each song will have the intro for sweet child of mine.... as well as every interlude.

Will then stalk Don

singemonkey

evolucian wrote: is now going to stalk brent... ask him to play on his git... proceed to play the whole of appetite for destruction, and each song will have the intro for sweet child of mine.... as well as every interlude.

Will then stalk Don

:roflmao:

shaundtsl

Airguitar wrote: I side with the other "Pro's" who let him have his 3 minutes, IF he isn't so tanked he's gonna hurt my guitar.
I've had some good fun with some good players, and some GREAT fun with the wannabees.
(I once was one, and have a lot to thank from the guys who "Let me have a go", so I feel it's my turn to give something back.)

Let's get another thing straight.. It's a GUITAR, not a human being.. It won't disintegrate in the hands of someone else..
If it does then you shouldn't be playing it but preserving it in an air conditioned glass case.
Furthermore, having a go on someone's girlfriend is a sh1tty comment.. If you want to say no, have the balls to say no, don't go the next step to becoming a dwis.

There, that's my rant..
The good guys get the good gigs, then they keep them.

+1

Dude, well said. I have been returning to this topic a few times and then leaving it. But I think you summed up the way I see it as well.

I learnt alot from being the "anoying dude" when I was younger.

Sebber

I have a cunning routine that tends to dissuade anyone from wanting to pick up my guitars at a gig: I sweat all over them so they're thoroughly soiled by the end of the first set.

If I use one guitar for the whole gig it gets so fouled with gig-juice that even I don't want to pick it up!

Jack-Flash-Jr

Sebber wrote: I have a cunning routine that tends to dissuade anyone from wanting to pick up my guitars at a gig: I sweat all over them so they're thoroughly soiled by the end of the first set.

If I use one guitar for the whole gig it gets so fouled with gig-juice that even I don't want to pick it up!

Averatu

Oh sweet "GIG-JUICE"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warren

"Gig juice?"

Sebber

Warren wrote: "Gig juice?"

Freshly squeezed...

PeachyDragon

I love the mid-song stuff... It's always during the solo isn't it?
People asking me whether they can have the champagne from our table while
I'm in the middle of improvising over Giant steps... okay okay... it wasn't giant steps
but it sure as hell wasn't Autumn Leaves.

It even happened Saturday, sortof... I was on stage with a student of mine at
a concert and we were going to play 2 jazz pieces. I started an intro/warm-up
which was a blues with a walking bassline... when the owner of the guitar school
who is also a pro(classical guitarist) walked up to me and started asking me to tell
the audience something about the student's history with the school... I was kind-of chuffed
that I managed to play the whole first blues form with the walking bass while having a conversation
off to one side. ?

Once I was making frequent eye contact with a girl in the audience so she wandered over to the owner
of the club and gave him a piece of paper to give to me with her number(later, or so she assumed...).
Instead he walked straight up to me after speaking to her in the middle of my solo saying things like
"you lucky bugger" etc etc.
Musical experiences are the best.