What the f***

So do you guys have any friends who absolutely insist on pointing out the fact that you play guitar, even though you wish they'd shut the hell up and leave you alone?
I've got a best friend who I haven't seen in about 10 years and his mom used to sing in a country band.
I go to a bar with her and my friend and sure enough, she's bragging like hell that I'm a guitar player and saying how I can play Stairway to Heaven....

Next thing I know, she's up at the mic telling everybody in the audience how there's a 'great guitar player with us tonight.... and he's going to play stairway to heaven for us'....
aaargh.... I haven't played that stupid song in years, so sure enough I have to go up and stand in the middle of the stage and play it all by myself.
The spotlight's on me and I'm trying to remember it... but all I can remember is the the 'joke' version.
So what the hell.... I played this...

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/mp3/stairwaytocrap.mp3

.... and they actually applauded like I'd played something amazing....
One girl comes up to me and says I'm really good.....

I'm thinkin..... like, what the f***
Am I tone deaf or is everybody in this bar totally wasted or what???

I know you said that was a joke version... but I've heard some "guitarists" who were actually trying play like that before.

To answer your question, yes, I've got a friend like that. Every time he introduces me to anyone he tells them I play guitar and basically forces me to play something for them... it's downright embarassing sometimes.

I know the feeling. I have a couple of friends like you have TheDirt. I normally don't mind playing, but sometimes it can get quite annoying.

lol at "stairwaytocrap". That's normally what it sounds like when I "try" to play it after about 12 or so beer's. But usually by then everybody else is so hammered they think I'm like a guitar god or something...lol

Hey man, it could be worse, remember most of the listeners don't know anything about guitar, so they can't really judge you.
and by the way, my friends usually tell people that I'm a guitar player too.
but at that point there is never a guitar around, so i don't have to play. :D

Dear god do I know what you mean..
My friends does not talk about the fact that I play just "for no reason" (luckily),
but if there is a guitar present, someone saying something about
a guitar, a guitar on TV, someone who's had a dream about a
guitar or whatever it might be, I'm always mentioned.
"Hey Marcus, you play guitar right?"
"Yes, I've known you for 10 years and I've played guitar all those 10
years and you know that very well"
"Oh right hey this guy's name is John, he plays guitar too. Who is the
best of you two? Battle battle battle!!"
"...."

Or if there's a guitar somewhere in a 5 mile radius, thats when things
start to get uncomfortable. Same guy as in the example above:
"Hey Marcus, you play guitar right?"
".....yea...."
"Allright! Come on, play this, and then that and then this!!!!"
It's ok as long as he is the only one prompting that I should play,
but after a while, this person has recruited a fleet of persuaders
who has now turned of the music and declared:
"Hey everybody shut up, Marcus is gonna play guitar!!!"
nnnnnnnggggggaaaaa!! I never said yes, and I never will!
So now I have 50 people expecting me to stand in the middle of
the room playing 10 rap-metal-songs I've never heard of on a guitar
with 2 strings whilst being under severe influence of alcohol.
That is just... ...not fun.

If I'm with a friend or two and they ask me
"hey can't you play something nice on the guitar?";
Sure, I'd love to. But by god, if I'm drunk and sitting at a table talking
to someone the last thing I want is for someone to state that I'm going
play all these cool songs when I've already said no a 100 times.

I know how you feel.

Man Schmange, I were you, I would just play the first 5 notes of Heaven and say SCREW THIS and bust out with somting else.

Same junk happens with me. My friends brag how great of a keyboard player I am. So whenever there is a piano, people want me to play something. Sounds reasonable right? Not when you are synth player, and play mostly rock music, where you need the other insturments to make your sound complete. They expect classical music, I gave them "Jump". I usually improvise and exaggerate the hell out of the keyboard solo, so it looks like I am some prodigy.

It's so much easier with the guitar. Everyone out where I live loves simple 3 powerchord songs. They shun guitar solo's, and I doubt I am exaggerating that. A simple "Smoke on the Water" and everybody wows my skill bwhahaha

Man, I can relate with you all as well. Excellent thread. My dad likes to mention that I play guitar whenever there is a family function (he's got 3 brothers and 3 sisters so you can imagine how many people are there when you start adding up my cousins), so there I go, a lonely soldier off to battle the requests of everyone's favorite cliche songs. BTW, stairway to crap was AWESOME! Usually I don't mind playing for a few folks, but by the time I'm nagged to death about it, theres just no hope left.

Also I must agree about the (people don't wanna hear a solo) post. Last time I was playing for people I was busting out the fiercest solos in my repetoire only to see looks of indifference on everyone's face. Lay people just don't appreciate the vast difference of skill between a well defined lead piece and some casual power-chordin'. Breaks my heart :(

Finally about the guy who said to play the first 5 notes of stairway... That's actually an inside joke between me and my best buddy. On cue, he'll request stairway, then I'll get a serious look on my face and play the first few notes, the drop my guitar (ode to vai from crossroads) and say, "F--- this, I'm out!". It cracks us up everytime. It stems from when I was first learning to play and couldn't do any more than the first few notes smoothly. It's a nice reminder of how much progress I've made over the years :)

Yep. I have that problem everytime people come over to my house or i take my guitar to a party.
My dad gets everyone to come and watch me play and then says "play that classical piece". :mad:
He always says it. It annoys me because i end up like you were... im just sitting there trying to remember how to play the stupid piece that i never play. I keep making mistakes and then at the end my dad says(or even while i'm playing) "he hasnt quite got it yet". I just sit there thinking "of course i cant f***ing play it yet because i never practice it :rolleyes:
I cant believe what he actually told some people yesterday just before i started jamming with a drummer and bassist. He said "he isnt that good yet but he is getting there". AAHHH. He usually tells everyone how i'm good. I cant believe he said that i'm not very good...

but.. back to the point. I do wish people would shut there mouths sometimes.
Oh, i know what you mean about people appluads you when you have just played something pretty crappy.

Okay well since there's no one fighting in the opposition of this discussion I will.

You all sound REALLY jaded. Not everyone plays guitar, so they'd rather hear a song like "Stairway to Heaven" then a real technical song that they aren't going to recognize. So what? I know it gets annoying, but just do it. The fact that a lot of people love the song Stairway to Heaven you've got to start thinking about why people love such an easy song. But thats really the beauty of it.
Personally I play for people every chance I get. Its part of the reason I started playing way back when, is because I love preforming. Not everyone is all for playing in front of people, and I understand that.
So yeah there are a lot of annoying things that come with people knowing that you play guitar. But I think sometimes if you deliver a song like "Stairway to Heaven", and it make them happy its worth it.

Originally Posted by: iiholly... Personally, I play for people every chance I get. It's part of the reason I started playing way back when, is because I love performing...

[font=trebuchet ms]EEeeeeewww! :D

But I do agree with the sentiment.







("...way back when..." ????) :rolleyes: Oh, my.[/font]

when ever my family comes they never really bother me about playing a song EXCEPT for my grandparents...they always want me to play somthing or when im at a friends house his mom likes to hear me to play this spanish piece or somthing...
Usually for my grandparents I just pull out some bach piece or travis pick the C, G, D chords into some sort of melody since they wont want to hear a massive solo..which is cool and all
my "step" grandparents if thts what you want to call them usually want me to play somthing but im either A) to nervouse or tired or B) have forgoten the song i was gonna play

Originally Posted by: iihollyOkay well since there's no one fighting in the opposition of this discussion I will.

You all sound REALLY jaded. Not everyone plays guitar, so they'd rather hear a song like "Stairway to Heaven" then a real technical song that they aren't going to recognize. So what? I know it gets annoying, but just do it. The fact that a lot of people love the song Stairway to Heaven you've got to start thinking about why people love such an easy song. But thats really the beauty of it.
Personally I play for people every chance I get. Its part of the reason I started playing way back when, is because I love preforming. Not everyone is all for playing in front of people, and I understand that.
So yeah there are a lot of annoying things that come with people knowing that you play guitar. But I think sometimes if you deliver a song like "Stairway to Heaven", and it make them happy its worth it.

Finally, someone who shares my opinion. nothing worse then hearing people "whine" about playing guitar when thats what they dream of doing for a living. This reminds me of that stupid thread Azreal posted about a year ago when he was going on a camping trip and he was annoyed that someone was going to be bringing a guitar with them and they might askhim to play. If these situations bother you work out a piece of music that you can play in these type of situations, something your proud of, sounds good solo, and can easily impress everybody.

> Finally, someone who shares my opinion. nothing worse then hearing
> people "whine" about playing guitar when thats what they dream of doing
> for a living.

Bwa ha ha.... try saying that after 30 years of being handed crappy Sears guitars at every party you go to. It's got nothing to do with being jaded, it's got to do with everybody thinking you play like crap because they hand you a crappy guitar under the worst conditions when you're half wasted.

Originally Posted by: chris moodFinally, someone who shares my opinion. nothing worse then hearing people "whine" about playing guitar when thats what they dream of doing for a living.

Well ok, let's say that you're a famous actor. Take Brad Pitt.
I'm sure he loves acting since he does it for a living and is good at it.
Then lets pretend he was talking to some people, drinking and having a good
time at a party, and all of a sudden a group of people started to scream
"Oh man you're an actor right?! Thats so cool, come on, can't you do
a little performance here? Just do like a cool scene from "Troy", that would
be so awesome! And then do that and that scene from "Oceans Eleven".
Make room people, shut up! Brad's gonna do some serious acting here!"
I'm pretty sure that even he would feel a bit uncomfortable.

I love to perform, I've done it since I was 10, but sometimes you just don't
want to, and I think people should be able to accept that.
As long as people makes me do things I really do not want to do, even though
I've said no 50 times, I think I have the right to whine.

Thats a bad example (no offense.)

Just say no if you don't want to, and it does have a little something to do with being jaded. Anyone with a talent usually is in a way, because they've been doing it so long they don't realize that its a talent.

Originally Posted by: iihollyThats a bad example (no offense.) ....

[font=trebuchet ms]I think it's brilliant example!

It sounds like a verbatim quote from a few situations I've been in. And Hootayah sound like he was there, too.

If I'm entertaining friends at home, it's OK - almost expected. I have the right gear close at hand, and I can give a reasonable sampling of what they want to hear. If the host made it clear when you were invited that you were likely to be requested to play, you would have had the opportunity to accept that condition or explain that you would be glad to attend as a guest, but you were not interested in being part of the entertainment. But to impose upon a guest is [u]very[/u] bad manners on their part. That's not a party invitation; that's an ambush!

Remenber the joke about the doctor and the lawyer at a party? The doctor complained to the lawyer that people kept pestering him for free diagnoses. The lawyer suggested that it would be appropriate to submit a bill for services rendered. The doctor enthusiasticly strode off to the bill the offendiing freeloader. When the doctor returned the thank him, the lawyer said "I'm glad I could help! Here's your bill for my services." [/font]:)

I think I was always sufficiently drunk not to care, and sang my little heart out!

This was generally enjoyed by everyone else, who, invariably were also completely pissed!

Ahh the joys of being in your 20s !

The next time someone annoys you by asking you to play, just try this, strum 3 chords, scream at the top of your lungs, then smash the guitar to bits and set the guitar and the house on fire, repeat as often as needed. :)