go-to riffs when auditioning gear

57Deluxe

I always advise my guitar students to have some non generic go-to riffs if they find themselves in a public environment when trying out gear. However, when at home checking my own stuff out I find myself resorting to the lowest common denominator which more often or not includes judicious use of Em and a handful of basic double-stops...!

Over to you.

strtdv

I find in guitar shops I immediately forget how to play anything at all..

IMO a few scales and chord shapes moving up the neck let you know everything you need to about playability, sound, resonance and intonation.

euan

Black Dog always just comes to mind 

gatheredinsong

Good advice, if I was a guitar teacher I would also recommend playing something familiar, like Stairway, when trying out gear. Particularly in a shop.

SteppedOut

mrkb

gatheredinsong said:

Good advice, if I was a guitar teacher I would also recommend playing something familiar, like Stairway, when trying out gear. Particularly in a shop.

I go more for a scale based motif - the introduction to “Sweet child of mine” is very good for that, needs to be played loud to really check out the pick-up clarity.

Yorkie

Great thread. 

I usually go through a very awkward panic the first time I play a guitar. Even worse if there are folks watching. 

Like, last time I went to try guitars in a shop I even forgot to remove my outdoorsy gloves. 

I felt like Alf. 

mo6020

Depends on the guitar, normally something out of the following: 

• Gardenia - Kyuss
• Love in Vain - the Stones version
• Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts - Gaslight Anthem
• Simple Man - Skynyrd

Cranking the amp, then downtuning and smashing out the opening riff to Gardenia often goes down pretty well in my experience...

Teleguide

Usually this! 

kentuckyklira

Depends on the mood I´m in, also the weather, I won´t be playing Van Halen with my fingers deep frozen.

Usually some Van Halen or Aerosmith.

blobb

I go straight into make it up / blag it mode. I want my try-out to be a representation of what I will actually be doing at home.

thermionic

In guitar shops I always play stuff I wrote myself (mainly many years ago). Although some of it has been released commercially, it's so obscure that I cannot be judged.

CaseOfAce

Pretty much what I do at home - blues exploration in E or A and see where it takes me - though the past week it's been in C cos I've been learning Hound Dog and Great Balls Of Fire...

I have been messing about recently with Iron Maiden's Phantom Of The Opera.

If I'm warmed up and feeling confident I go full on Guitar Center and they'll get snippets of Satch Boogie or Circles.

Lestratcaster

Whenever my guitar students test out a guitar they just whack the open strings in standard tuning haha. That ain't really going to test out the tone is it.

I usually do an E chord to check the guitar's in tune (provided its in standard) then do all the generic power chords and barre shapes before some bends and pentatonic phrases.

As for riffs it depends what tuning the guitar is in. In standard on an overdrive tone I'll do the AC/DC ones, or something like that. Maybe something I've composed myself. In drop tunings then a lot of the heavier metalcore band riffs I'll play, that no one knows.

inewham

I'm a freezer but if I ever plug into a chorus I have to play echo beach by Martha and the Muffins. I don't even particularly like the song but it takes control of my mind !

S56035

A long time ago I went to Coda to try out a very cheap guitar and the guy got it off the rack, tuned it up and played a whole load of intimidating jazzy chords and scales before handing it over to me to cack-handedly go through the intro to Enter Sandman.  The guy genuinely walked off shaking his head 

Nowdays I tend to chuck a few chords in and make some shit up.

Lestratcaster

S56035 said:

A long time ago I went to Coda to try out a very cheap guitar and the guy got it off the rack, tuned it up and played a whole load of intimidating jazzy chords and scales before handing it over to me to cack-handedly go through the intro to Enter Sandman.  The guy genuinely walked off shaking his head 

Nowdays I tend to chuck a few chords in and make some shit up.

This reminded me of a few years ago when I was hunting for a baritone guitar, I went to Andertons to try 3 out, but as the demo booths were all full (it was a Saturday afternoon so they were the busiest they'd been) they had to give me a Boss Katana on the shop floor. 

So there I was for about 45 minutes chugging metalcore riffs and doing pinch harmonics in drop a# and a in front of all the customers walking in with disapproving looks. One guy was trying to test an acoustic nearby, playing folky pretty chords, but asked to move as I was chugging so loud haha.

lewisanderson

Kid - Pretenders

BigAmps

Errrm the final countdown solo even though it may not sound like that lol

DrJazzTap

I cant remember the last time I tried a guitar out in a shop. Usually it's just cowboy chords or some generic wanky blues bending to see if it needs a set up etc 

Greatape

Sometimes I'll just play chords in different registers using different string groups, to get a sense of how the instrument copes. Or, choose pieces to play that get into that. 

Last weekend I tried a few cheap guitars and I remember playing a walking bass accompaniment for 'Sonnymoon For Two,' a strummy open chord number i.e. Neil Young's 'Down by the River', a bunch of James Brown stuff that uses the top four strings, etc.