Stairway to Heaven of course doesn't everybody?Seriously though I usually play Spanish Castle Magic (hardly anyone plays that),some other Jimi and Beatles stuff and just riff all around the neck to make sure there's no intonation or string buzz problems,it's hard to compete with the tone deaf shredders sometimes though.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

When I play in the shops I play what I play at home. Usually some orginal stuff. Chords, metal riffs, blues riffs, ect... I usually play around with gear to see how I am going to sound with it, not how I sound playing other people's stuff. Incredibly I have gotten more compliments when playing my stuff than when playing songs people should know.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I play a little bit of everything--mostly stuff I've made up or that fiends made up.

I want to see the scope of what the guitar can do.

So open chords, bar chords, power chords, single notes, riffs, strumming, harmonics, double stops, vibrato, bends, hammer ons, pull offs, loud & soft--are there dead notes? How's the intonation?
(If it's off and I like the guitar otherwise I'd ask them to fix that.)

None of it is really to show off but to see what the guitar can deliver--besides if I tried to show off it would probably back fire.

And I always try it unplugged first. If I don't like the unplugged sound, I won't plug it in. If I like it unplugged, btu not plugged in, I can always change the pickups.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

I play my bands music with or without amplification, I would have to learn some other songs if I didn't have a band.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I can play "Louie Louie" in three different keys and I know all my barre chords so the possibilities are literally endless.

Usually though, I favor the solo riff to "Crimson And Clover".



Arjay

Locomotive breath wide open, on the biggest amp i can get my hands on! Seriously, i try lots of things to thoroughly get a taste of the guitars and amps voices. I usually use a Strat or a tele, through tube amps whenever possible.

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I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

I thought most music stores had explicit signs saying no playing of "Smoke on the water" and "Stairway to heaven" I guess there's always an exception.

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2010 American Deluxe Jazz V Sunburst
Cheap SX 5 string P-bass. Laney RB-9 300 watt head with 4 x 10 and 1 x 15 cabs Fender Blackout Telecaster 1997 G&L Tribute Strat 2007 Epiphone Dot 2009 Pro Jr 2X12 Monstrosity Sunn Solarus Head 40 watt 1969

The intro to Yes's "Roundabout." It starts with harmonics at the 12th fret and then some single-note stuff around the 5th fret, to some fingerstyle stuff on open chords, to the chunka-chunka E-F#-G-F#-G-F#-E barre chords.

It's a pretty good test of a lot of the neck in a short space of time.

And there's always "Stairway..."

i play at low volume and go when there is next to no one in there to keep from being embarrassed. i just play the songs I would normally play and the licks and scales I would practice at home.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

This is difficult for me. I have started just buying on line and only buy some small equipment at the local stores. When I was demoing guitars or amps, I just play whatever comes to the fingers and the next thing you know, I have an audience. People start asking if I'm a touring musician, am I giving lessons. I've had some people try to give me demo CDs to show to record companies.

Just kidding!

I do usually get compliments and every once in a while I have had people stop and listen or watch. I don't think I'm that great, just an average rhythm guitarist.

I wish ... this would be a great law! So if any "black helicopter" types forming the One World Government read this forum, this should be the first Universal Law.

Punishment for violation: you have headphones glued to your ears and you're fed a 24/7 stream of whatever the current Pop Fad song is. You're let go once your ears turn black and fall off.

I'll play some original finger picking stuff, some chunky chords, then a few riffs to check out the gain.

I usually stick to the Stones, AC/DC, ZZ Top, etc. to see if the fuzz is to my liking.

i'm a decent player and will play anything, anywhere, anytime. but lately i've done something differnt' when shopping for amps. i ask the employee if he or she is a guitar player which is usually a "yes". i ask them to play and run thru the operation and differnt' channels on the amp. i do this because they usually know the amp better and i'm not wasting time tweaking around on it all day. also, i'm not worrying about hitting every lick perfect. i just listen and turn a few knobs.
when i do play i do something like breadfan from metallica or ain't no good life from skynyrd. yes, i am weird.

I used to feel like I had to peform at music stores but now I don't really care too much. I plug in and if the dude next to me is a metalhead then I know we aren't comparable because, well, I'm not a metalhead. If the dude next to me has some hot blues licks I tell 'em "man, you got some chops". Or I ask 'em to show me the lick. This is all if I'm just trying out a guitar. If I'm test driving an amp I take the thing into the "loud lounge" or whatever place that is in the shop I'm at, cuz I'm gonna crank it. That's what tubes are for.

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"coretta" '71 tele thinline
"domino" '97 lonestar strat
"marie" squire strat
"lexy" jag-stang
"owa" martin 000

tone=fingers; fingers=tone

Spanish castle was the one and only jimi song my old band used to cover because of that!

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"coretta" '71 tele thinline
"domino" '97 lonestar strat
"marie" squire strat
"lexy" jag-stang
"owa" martin 000

tone=fingers; fingers=tone