What made you want to play guitar?

Hey monkfunk, there's a really long thread over in "Meet and Greet" with just these stories in it. I just bumped it the other day, in fact. Check it out! :)

Jason

:lol: Now that's a pretty entertaining tale. Mine is much more sedate.

I dabbled with guitar an eentsy bit as a 5th grader (strummed along to the 45 rpm of Don McLean's American Pie )with a cheap Harmony acoustic that was my brother's. Had no lessons, no teacher, no book, and didn't stick with it. (Did have many years of piano lessons, so it wasn't that my parents didn't support music education, because they strongly did.)

Then I bought a Fender Strat as a high schooler, mostly because my drummer boyfriend wanted to play around with it, but again I didn't stick with it. Eventually gave it to my nephew, who is a serious guitarist.

Fast forward twenty-five years, and once again I found myself wanting a more portable instrument than my piano. Rented a harp and enjoyed it, but an active household with children and pets racing about made me paranoid about damage to this large, beautiful instrument I couldn't afford, so I returned it.

Young son wanted to start guitar lessons, and the bug bit me, too. Now we have two acoustics, four electrics, and a bass, none of which I can play proficiently, yet. :lol:

Margaret

definatley the chicks :twisted: , oh ya, and i heard jimmy page for the first time, done deal 8)

those ol boys sitting on the front porch in the nights telling storys playin and just actually being human for a change. that is what set the hook

When I was just starting out, it was Ace Frehley that made me want to play guitar . . . I picked up Hotter Than Hell from the local record store the week it was released, the cover was just wild!

I still remember putting firecrackers on my guitar and trying to figure out how to light them to go off at the right times . . .

Once I got half-way decent it was Steve Howe. I saw Yes (the real Yes, not the fake Yes, not Asia, etc. . . you know Anderson, Buford, Wakeman and Howe . . well before they were Anderson, Buford, Wakeman and Howe . . .) play at a small hall and when they did an extended version of Sound Chaser I was totally blown away. I'm watching these guys change time signatures over and over again and all the while this increadible guitar playing is going on. The next tune was Steve doing "Diary of Man Who Vanished" solo . . .

I couldn't stop watching what he was doing, it was amazing.

After that I found my way into more and more complex guitar pieces, Zappa, Al DiMeola, those guys. I quickly realized that I had a long way to go to be anywhere close to good . . .

But I was still good enough to play theater pitts and do some studio work. But the music I was playing there didn't challenge me.

Then my guitar playing ended for a long, long time when I went through a window.

When I picked it up again, it was Django that inspired me. But now, my own skill level is so low the pieces I really love are just completely out of reach . . .

I enjoy live music and go to concerts as much as I can, even if it's just some indie band at a local bar. After a while of watching these and studying the guitarists in action I started to think that it was something I might be able to do. I bought a guitar and just started learning.

It's really made music even more enjoyable because now when I watch a band I can tell what they are playing and how that translates to the sounds I am hearing. It's really added a neat dimension to things that I never really understood before. I also hope to one day be the guy in that indie band playing in that local bar. Then things will have come full circle.

It may or may not actually happen but it gives me a goal and helps me focus.

what made me want to play guitar?

The Beatles! saw them on TV as a kid of 6-7, tokk me about another 12 years to get my first guitar....30+ years on, I'm still trying to master the damn thing......

I just wish, way back then, there'd been a site like GN around....I might actually be a decent guitarist by now....

:D :D :D

Vic

definatley the chicks :twisted: , oh ya, and i heard jimmy page for the first time, done deal 8)

Rocker has returned!

We lived in the country and had a lot of campfires in the backyard. My brother played guitar and it was always a great way to spend an evening. I was a trumpet player and that really didn't have the same affect. He gave me my first guitar and taught me how to play it. The rest of the story is a lot of good times. Years later he took up the banjo and the fun really started.

I'm a vocalist (not a bad one,trust me).My influences go from Bowie, Captain Beefheart,Bryan ferry to Peter Gabriel and Peter Hammill...that leaded me to start composing,but I had to use some pals to help me ,since I only played drums before...so now I'm composing my own stuff with the guitar.

Since I'm a bit older I think it was the illusion of chicks that got me playing..but mostly it was a bunch of friends jammed every week and I thought it would be fun to join them so I did.

KP - never thought you'd be a KISS fan.

KP - never thought you'd be a KISS fan.

Yup, I've seen every one of their "final" concerts ;)

i have to kp, seems they keep getting better, i'm sure i'll see3or 4 more farewell tours also, at least i hope so
8)

My fiance' had left me because she "forgot" that was still in love with her ex-boyfriend! I decided that I needed to learn guitar so I could express my pain by playing a little blues! I've been at it ever since!