So who got you into playing guitar

I was listening to Run Run Run by the Velvet Underground when i decided to get a guitar so it was Lou Reed that got me into guitar playing but my interest waned a bit sometime after. Before interest was completely lost I stumbled onto Dick Dale and John Frusciante... odd pairing but anyways those guys gave me a new found love for the instrument. Gettin better and by some odd chance, my dad`s good friend has a studio in his basement and its a full on intense studio, not a 4-track in the den, so who knows what`ll happen.

Geez, had to get to page 4 before I saw the name of a guy that inspired many guitarists to play, Eddie Van Halen. Sure, I immediately became fans of others like Randy Rhoades, Angus, eventually Satriani, but EVH's style inspired me to want to make that kind of noise and have that much fun doing it.

Lot's of good names on this thread, but I gotta believe that more of us took some inspiration from Eddie's first couple of albums. 8)

Oh, and Skynyrd!

Dave Matthews for sure....

It was a mix of 2 things: my uncle was a well known guitarist in Lebanon and played in concerts throughout the country. So I wanted to be like him and eventually picked up the guitar. The second motivation was just hearing what so many poeple could do with the guitar (Led Zeppelin, the betales, cream, jimi hendrix, eric clapton) and I wanted to be able to do that myself

Isn't this thread also referring to Motivation??
It's one thing to pick up an instrument. It's quite another thing to keep playing it.
There's an article in http://www.scena.org this month on Motivation.
"According to a study done in France in 1995 only one per cent of violinists with approximately 10 years of training will eventually make a career of it...less than four per cent of this group will play the violin as amateurs, while 95 per cent will never pick up the instrument again."
"...a substantial number of young music students quit within the first 18 months and 40 per cent of those who do continue abandon the endeavour at age 11 or 12..."
"...70 per cent of stringed-instrument students quit playing ..."
"...it is important...to understand what factors influence whether or not a student continues to play an instrument."
"First and foremost , a desire to play an instrument is a must, along with a positive attitude to the repertoire, instructor, concert performance, and independent practice."
"A higher level cannot be reached without spending thousands of assiduous hours practicing over the course of several years."
Personally I've gone through many phases of what draws me to the guitar: first it was perhaps a celebrity (Joan Baez, Buffy St. Marie) singing a universal message in the song, then it was the wonderful sound of the melody accompaniment to the song but as time went on I'd reach plateaus of ability and the need to keep re-motivated grows more crucial as I wish to improve and expand my skills. Keeping at it becomes a more sophisticated challenge.
Friendly competition with a close friend who is also a musician can be a great motivator. We can share experiences and laugh at the world together. But without that one close friend who shares the experience of being a musician/performer, playing guitar can be a very lonely and isolated experience.

^^^^wow thats exactly what i was thinking, nice