go-to riffs when auditioning gear

LionAquaLooper

Schnozz

Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Tuesdays Gone - Lynyrd Skynyrd
No More Mr Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
Only You Can Rock Me - UFO

^ Those cover the neck well and that particular UFO solo never leaves my head.

Philly_Q

It's a long time since I've visited an actual shop and tried out any guitars, but I demonstrate my entire repertoire.... i.e. some blues-scale licks with a lot of string bending, plus variations on a little riff I made up which is fretted notes on the D (or G) string alternating with an open A (or D) string.  The latter is good for getting an idea of how nicely the thing resonates.

LionAquaLooper

Depends on the gear but in terms of dirt, for low gain single coil bridge tones it's gotta be "Follow You Down" by Gin Blossoms. 

Neck single coil tones it's gotta be "Who Did You Think I Was" by John Mayer, or "Everybody Here Wants You" by Jeff Buckley, or "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam.  Hendrix "Little Wing" as well.

For heavy stuff I judge distortion/OD on whether they can handle riffs where higher notes are also used and I can hear them clearly, as opposed to just root/5th power chords.  So it's "Siberian Kiss" by Glassjaw, "Paperthin Hymn" by Anberlin or "Crawling in the Dark" by Hoobastank. 

Fuzz - it's always "Start Choppin'" by Dinosaur Jr

rze99

I only ever play things I've written.

tony99

My weird signature theme tune - a bizarre but hypnotic hybrid of Radar Love and Yakkety Sax

Jetfire

Slayer riffs. 

Ozzie744

"Smoke on the Water" of course! HAHA!

robgilmo

I can barely play at home, I wont be playing anything in a shop, years ago I could have banged out a few levellers tunes but these days I like my peace and quiet too much.

HandwrittenHero

I think it all depends on what your personal tastes are and what you're looking for. Mine as below:

All Right Now is my usual go to for bridge pickup, looking to hear that bit of kerrang but string definition.
The solo for Another Brick in the Wall pt2 for neck pickup and usually looking for clarity.
Sweet Home Alabama for mid positions if I want to figure quack/chirp.

None because I'm expecting whatever guitar and amp to sound like the record etc, but just that the how they sound in my head is something useful to dial in to.

Got to finish up with several cowboy chord Gs as well. It's just the done thing.

munckee

I play a 32 minute improvisation I call "death howl".

BillDL

Very much like @Philly_Q said earlier.  I haven't been into a proper guitar shop for many years.  I have been to peoples' houses to buy 2nd-hand guitars though.  I suppose that's a bit different in as much as "auditioning" them is actually checking the guitar out for "issues" in the same way as when I'm doing the initial check of a guitar that a friend or acquaintance has asked me to set up.  I do the same drill of looking at the relief, seeing how the nut slots are cut, and a very quick intonation check.  Having done that I then have some idea whether any issues I hear and feel when I actually play it are attributable to the setup or lack thereof.  I will then go through some open chords, some power chords and barred chords up the neck, and some double-stopped bends on a clean amp setting listening for overall resonance, string interplay, and so on. I will then play some scales, bent notes, and "tunes" of some sort to assess the range of tones available from the different pickup combinations and volume / tone controls. I don't have any predetermined musical repertoire with which to assess a guitar.  After tuning up I would guess that I know whether I like the guitar within about 5 minutes or less, and would then play it a bit longer if I do and test it with some gain on the amp.

The thing about shop demo guitars is that you never know whether they have had a proper setup before being hung up or put in a rack, and the strings may be brand new or old.  If I were to go into a guitar shop and pick up a shop demo of a model I was interested in buying (or a 2nd-hand guitar I liked the look of) and found it to be substantially out of tune from the outset, I would reasonably deduce that the guitar was probably straight out of the box (or straight from the previous owner) without a setup.  I don't think I would be shy these days if I was looking to buy any electric guitar priced something like £500 and higher and I initially liked what I was holding after doing my techie checks.  If the demo guitar hadn't been set up I would ask for the tools to do a quick very basic setup myself so that I could assess it properly, and if the staff declined I would leave.  I think I would be a real pain in the arse for guitar shops these days, whereas in the past as a younger man I would have been far less inclined to make that type of request.

guitars4you

Haven't got a clue as to why, but my initial test drive always starts off with The Rolling Stones 'this will be the last time' - The 3 open chords near the top nut 

I notice the biggest test, many customers carry out, when the guitar is still hanging on a stand, or sitting on a stand, is to just to strum the open strings once - Generally low E to high E and often with their nail - Not sure what they learn from this - Maybe I should find out - But so many do it 

Kebabkid

Depends on what I'm auditioning and it's normally a guitar or OD pedal, but here goes for a bit of everything:-

Something Nile Rodgers-ish - Le Freak or Thinking of you for funky cleans or compression
Dancing in a burning room (Mayer) or Josie intro (Steely Dan) - straight clean
Handle with Care (Travelling Wilburys) or Human Nature (MJ) - for chimey, arpeggiated sounds
King of Pain (Police) - for Chorus/Delay and arpeggiated sounds
It's only love intro (Bryan Adams) or You shook me all night long (AC/DC) or Stone in love (Journey) - Crunch
China Grove (The Doobies) or Wings by Tyketto or Armed and Ready (MSG) - Classic Rock overdrive rhythm
Something Lukather or D.Huff-ish like Hold the Line and I'm a believer/Stay - Lead

I have a song I composed, and it's still a work-in-progress, but chordally/rhythmically, it's got a tinge of both Andy Timmons and Eric Johnson and that's my singular go-to piece for medium gain crunch and cleaning up via the volume auditons, so for guitars and ODs, again.

Kurtis

I've never bought an electric guitar from a shop. 

Deadman

Always ‘A’ Bomb in Wardour Street (The Jam).

littlegreenman

strtdv said:

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

And for that reason I always use Zoot Allures as a starting point. Chords all over the neck, often having to be in tune with open low E. If that doesn't sound right, NEXT!

jca74

I don't play riffs...

I will play some open chords to see how it resonates and basic tuning/intonation is ok, then a bunch of barre-chords to see that these ring clearly along the neck.  Then I go into some noodling to get a feel for the neck and make sure bends aren't choking off. All stuff which is fixable but a decent out-of-the-box setup is a minimal starting point for me.

Then I will exercise it through some different clean/crunch/drive settings to see how it sounds. Again, stuff can be tweaked, but playing a bunch of off-the-shelf riffs doesn't help me get an idea of whether the guitar is right for me or not

Rocker

I always bring my tuner, strap and cable when trying out a guitar in a shop. After tuning I check the intonation, E shape barre chords up the neck always checking the tuning of the chords. I always play a few song intros, most of which I wrote myself (and thus fairly simple).  A few Johnny Cash type guitar runs and my take on Wildwood Flower in G. 

That usually tells me what I need to know about the instrument.  

Philly_Q

littlegreenman said:

strtdv said:

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

And for that reason I always use Zoot Allures as a starting point. Chords all over the neck, often having to be in tune with open low E. If that doesn't sound right, NEXT!

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