When I try out stuff at the local GC, I play all the Brent Mason/Brad Paisley lics I know. That always turns heads from the sales staff and the other players. I've even stopped and showed a couple of lics to the staff and to some of the rockers in there. When I'm done showing off, I usually play a few fat jazz chords , some ZZ Top and some old 50's lics. That way I've covered everything I might be using that guitar or amp for.

_________________
Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

I don't play anything particular ... scales up and down the neck, barre chords in various positions ... to get the feel of how the guitar plays. I do this with the volume low or completely off so I have an idea of how the guitar itself sounds. I'm generally only interested in a guitar that sounds inherently sweet with no amplification.

Now I turn it up some and try typically a blues pattern and a jazz like pattern. As un-amped, I will try each in various positions so that I know there's no obvious dead spots or positions that sound bad.

Finally, if I'm thinking of using it for any kind of rock, I'll turn it up a bit more and try various basic I/IV/V patterns up and down the neck. I may also toss in a few power chord progressions.

If I'm serious about the buying, I'll take a day off and go in on a Monday or Tuesday morning. At least here in the Valley, the local GC is almost always empty either morning. I guess most pros are still sleeping from the weekend gigs and the junior wanna-be headbangers aren't up yet either. The GC is invariably very quiet then, meaning I can try a couple low wattage Fender tube amps for the final decision. I have an old Super 210, a new Band Master VX and an SCXD, so I'd want to hear what the guitar sounds like through at least one of something like those.

My late uncle was a luthier, so I actualy learned to see the guitar before plug it in... then i plug and play something.
Once a clerk came to me and plug the guitar in and started showing off, and gave it back to me so i started playing the flight of the bumblebee for a minute or two. Plugged it off and continued the inspection.
I find pickups are probably less than half the story in guitars...

_________________
'when the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace' - James Marshall Hendrix

Nice to see others also play unplugged--it's a better way to get a good idea of how the guitar will play--and it saves time, as some guitars I will put back and not plug in at all.

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