We’ve all been there. When you’re ready, you can strengthen your ability to ignore negative thoughts about what other people _might_ be thinking and just play. A lot of times the other people will just fade away. Some people are very kind, friendly and helpful too.

Some ideas:

o Signing up for an open mic session will strengthen your ability to play in front of strangers.

o Taking a guitar buddy with you to the store will provide moral support and strength in numbers.

o Work up a short repertoire of songs, and some coherent short sequences of chords and notes that you can play well, and play those.

And, whatever you do, don’t play “Stairway To Heaven” 🙂 Good luck!

Luckily, my local excellent guitar store in New Zealand doesn’t have very many customers per day, so I can walk in most of the time and take a guitar into their sound room and sit there totally alone. But just in case, like Mark H suggested, I keep a permanent repertoire of about 3 songs that I can play perfectly. These songs are fused into my muscle memory so I can play them without even having to think. Basically, I can appear to be better than I actually am.

I know exactly how you feel. Know that all those ‘incredible’ players all started out as beginners, struggling to keep their fingers pressed down on the strings hard enough to let a cowboy G chord ring out. No one is judging your skill level at the store. Everyone there shares the same passion. It might seem like everyone out there plays guitar, but really, we are a pretty small clique. Talk to people there, ask questions, don’t be shy! That store exists for YOU!

You picked out a very cool guitar! Hopefully one day it will be yours!
Keep at it

Yup, indeed, we’ve all been there. A very universal experience for guitar players. In reality, it’s almost certainly the case that no one is judging you. Play nice and slow, let some chords ring out and listen to them. Play some simple blues and enjoy the sound, that’s the whole point, right?

Also, I totally agree with Mark above, if you can find a guitar buddy to go with you it makes the experience a TON more relaxed and fun, in my experience.

Andy W wrote:

By the way Mark,perhaps I should include “Smoke on the Water” in addition to “Stairway to Heaven” on the no play list

You could play 4 bars of either and stop, people will think you’re just joking… 🙂

let me say this without a shred of animosity: no one outside of your circle really cares about your playing. HEAR ME OUT! you go to these stores and hear these fools shredding, they are there to hear themselves shred and that’s it. they will tune you out in a second, and who cares?!? i used to be really self conscious about playing and a big part of getting over that was learning that no one is really paying any attention to me, be that at an open mic night or in a music store. you can either let this get you down and let this help you relax. i chose the latter and i hope you do too.

play! enjoy yourself! your friends here and in your circles are listening.

I tend to agree with Dude…
Occasionally though, there will be a really good player sitting in a corner of the shop and totally worth listening to although (s)he isn’t showing off. Yes, it happens!