I have the same feelings! At first I was so bad that I could barely try an instrument at a music store. It gets better, slowly, at least for me. I keep telling myself the same thing that others have mentioned… we are beginners, and we make mistakes. If they laugh at us, then they are petty and unworthy of another thought. Keep on keepin on!
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Wow. I need this.
Being in Sonoma County, California… I double need this.
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We need more reacts than just “like” because I don’t want to “like” that your house is at serious risk of immolation…
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Like everyone else here so far, yes.
I’m quite aware of playing for other people too.
I cheat a bit by doing a regular “Andy Plays Bass Badly” segment on facebook where I spend hours recording 30 seconds of something (or less) and then asking my friends to listen and guess what it is.
This all came about when my friend’s daughter asked “Can you actually play anything?”
When I try and show someone live, I play FAR worse, but that’s in line with most things I’ve ever done until I became fully competent.
The method I use for this sort of thing works for me and that’s embracing the suckage as part of the learning process.
The best people to practice in front of is actually far superior bass players. They ABSOLUTELY know what the story is and don’t judge you for it.
They typically give you encouragement.
I used to freeze in the music shop when I was handed a bass. Now I’ll at least pop out Good Times with reasonable confidence that I’ll embarrass myself a little bit to the 70 odd staff and 30 odd customers. 
I only play for me, but when I hear other people practicing instruments, I always think of the work they’re putting in and I appreciate that.
I am happy to always be a competent beginner with nice toys.
I also just skipped the entire slap intro module because I just can’t make it work for me on any of four handy basses.
It’s only the ignorant who laugh at beginners. So who cares about their opinion?
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That is an excellent sentiment 
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The real good stores have little booths/cabins, where you can go inside with your bass, there is a cable and up to several amps/cabinets/combos and from the outside all you can see is someone playing something on a bass… 
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They’re at the other end of the shop where the guitarists NEED them to be.
That way they can play Stairway to Heaven and get around the ban.
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I really need to learn a song to be able to show that I am actually learning and making progress ^^
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I played Hysteria the last time I was bass window shopping and I regret nothing 
It’s probably the Bass Stairway.
(I usually go for “Lucretia My Reflection” or “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” but Hysteria is a good one if the sales droid is irritating you. They probably hear that 100x a day, and I’m not very good at playing it, which is the icing on the cake in that situation.)
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I’m incredibly lucky with my local music shop. The sales droid is awesome.
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They are usually good here too.
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When demoing an instrument in a music store, the idea is for the player to determine how good the instrument feels and sounds, not for the instrument to determine how good the player is.
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Yep. That’s why I usually stick to noodling things that will show off the tone and the feel rather than be technically challenging.
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Right on @Howard… a couple arpeggios up and down, some chord progressions, a walking bass line, 12 bar blues, or even just playing a few scales will do it for me.
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Just believe in the old adage - anyone who never made a mistake, never made anything!
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I must have made a lot of stuff in my life then ! 
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Yep. Last time in a store looking, I just played Rock You Like a Hurricane… one of the first things I ever learned to play on bass
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And when I just wanna rock and have fun. I also throw in some Highway to hell 
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"This all came about when my friend’s daughter asked “Can you actually play anything?”
I have kind of the same thing going on right now. i really don’t know how to play any songs. i mean, sure, i could sit down and learn some, but i really don’t have any interest in that. i am spending my time now going through the talkingbass cord tones course, and then i will move on to the scale course. so when people say can you play me something, i’m like umm… i could play you an extended C minor arpeggio 
i really have no interest in learning to play songs. because my long term goal is to be a poor man’s version of Lee and Nathan on “all about the bass”, to just be able to pick up an instrument and jam for a while, either alone or with somebody else.
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