Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Music Stores....That's where all the want -to- be's go to practise
There was a time years ago when I recall walking into H.E.L music on Broadway hoping that some hot guitar player travelling through town would be hanging out trying out one of the many, and now very collectable guitars hanging on the wall. This way I could catch a glimpse of how he played a cool riff and pick up a pointer or two then run home to practise. There was no You Tube back then so if you wanted a lesson you had to go and pay for it, then hope that the guy teaching you was hip enough to actually show you something of value.
H.E.L. was a place that always hired the pros. They had the staff that knew the scene and could understand what you were after even when you didn't know yourself.
It was simple.......you wanted to be cool like them.
As music styles changed you could hear the trends blasting out of the amps in the middle of the show room floor. Eddy Van Halen had every one talking and swiftly put to death those over played blues style Johnny B Good melodies and so on and so forth until now the young aspiring players can be heard showing off the latest "sweeping" technique (like Zak Wylde).
Still the scourge of the music store, no matter what the era remains the "Want -to- be- cool- too" guy who just has to use the show room of a store as his own personal practise spot. You know the one I mean, and he can always been found cranking out poorly rehearsed licks as loud as he can, rubbing his grimy greasy little sausage fingers on every high end instrument he can reach. He doesn't care which guitar or amp he is using, he only cares that you notice him.
When the Les Paul has a "Do Not Touch" sign on it, he will look for the closest holy mother of metal guitar, usually shaped like some futuristic dragon slaying sword and start jamming something until his fingers bleed. The same guy who NEVER buys anything.
I have come to believe that this is a time honoured tradition pass from generation of looser to the next, all the time looking for that little bit of recognition or acceptance from the musical community. Things have even got to the point where I saw a guy bring his OWN acoustic guitar to L&M Music, sit in the middle of the room to SING AND PLAY A Set.
The one thing that has changed is the demeanor of the staff. The guys today seem to be more tolerant and for the most part ignore the noise or just sneak out for a smoke.
I still fondly recall back in the days of HEL music on particular Saturday when two salesmen stopped the jam head with one taking the guitar out of his grasp while the other threw his lame ass noise making crap right out of the store........those were the good old days.
Remember Mike Myers "Wayne's World" where the music store had the sign "No Stairway"?
The moral of the story is: A music store you would rule if you had a room (a sound proof as possible) where people could go and "test" the stuff out. These guys could start there own community and meet every Saturday in your store showing each other how much they suck......
For those that break the sound room rule I would say "When in doubt, throw them out"
Some times humiliation is the best lesson of all.
H.E.L. was a place that always hired the pros. They had the staff that knew the scene and could understand what you were after even when you didn't know yourself.
It was simple.......you wanted to be cool like them.
As music styles changed you could hear the trends blasting out of the amps in the middle of the show room floor. Eddy Van Halen had every one talking and swiftly put to death those over played blues style Johnny B Good melodies and so on and so forth until now the young aspiring players can be heard showing off the latest "sweeping" technique (like Zak Wylde).
Still the scourge of the music store, no matter what the era remains the "Want -to- be- cool- too" guy who just has to use the show room of a store as his own personal practise spot. You know the one I mean, and he can always been found cranking out poorly rehearsed licks as loud as he can, rubbing his grimy greasy little sausage fingers on every high end instrument he can reach. He doesn't care which guitar or amp he is using, he only cares that you notice him.
When the Les Paul has a "Do Not Touch" sign on it, he will look for the closest holy mother of metal guitar, usually shaped like some futuristic dragon slaying sword and start jamming something until his fingers bleed. The same guy who NEVER buys anything.
I have come to believe that this is a time honoured tradition pass from generation of looser to the next, all the time looking for that little bit of recognition or acceptance from the musical community. Things have even got to the point where I saw a guy bring his OWN acoustic guitar to L&M Music, sit in the middle of the room to SING AND PLAY A Set.
The one thing that has changed is the demeanor of the staff. The guys today seem to be more tolerant and for the most part ignore the noise or just sneak out for a smoke.
I still fondly recall back in the days of HEL music on particular Saturday when two salesmen stopped the jam head with one taking the guitar out of his grasp while the other threw his lame ass noise making crap right out of the store........those were the good old days.
Remember Mike Myers "Wayne's World" where the music store had the sign "No Stairway"?
The moral of the story is: A music store you would rule if you had a room (a sound proof as possible) where people could go and "test" the stuff out. These guys could start there own community and meet every Saturday in your store showing each other how much they suck......
For those that break the sound room rule I would say "When in doubt, throw them out"
Some times humiliation is the best lesson of all.
