What Got You Playing and What Keeps You Playing Guitar?

Great idea Vic.

Well, now that I've been playing guitar for a year, all over again, I would have to say the more I learn the more I want to play. Back in February I told my instructor (when I could afford one) that I wanted to have a CD within 10 years. I think he laughed at me. :roll:

It's real enjoyable to have learned some songs the whole way through. Another reason that keeps me going.

Now all I have to do is get my truck fixed (some short in the electrical system causing the battery to be drained), find a job so I can buy more gear and move out of my parents house. :oops:

Or - the more you learn, the more you want to put it into practise....you learn something new, you just HAVE to play it!!!!

:D :D :D

Vic

Wonderful thread! To pick up on the initial stuff ... Well, I always loved music, played string bass at school (orchestra, swing band(!)), and a bit of folk-oriented acoustic (wanted to play like Davy Graham - hah! Some chance!) and really enjoyed listening to Beatles, Stones, Pretty Things, Kinks et al., but it wasn't till I heard the first Paul Butterfield album with Mike Bloomfield's welding-torch Telecaster tone, and later more of the same stuff on Dylan's 'Highway 61 Revisited' that I knew I had to learn electric guitar. Joined my first (heavily Junior Walker oriented) band about a year later, and the rest is, like they say, history ...

Oh, the women question - it honestly never occurred to me - I just had a girlfriend or two like most of the guys, until I actually started playing out. Then I discovered my mistake :shock:

We should maybe add a second question to this thread...."What keeps you playing guitar?"

That's easy - it's therapy - After a long day, lots of noises, shopping, washing, organising and fixing, lovely kids being put to bed etc. - sinking down into the sofa strumming a few chords, singing along - it just makes me a new man! All the day-time parts of the brain are put into deep hibernate mode, and there is just music - my own (well more than often someone else's, but at least I'm the one playing it) - who needs television, stereo and magazines?

- BTW good luck with the (non-)smoking Vic! I may be joining you on that one one day... :)

Lars

In the mid sixties (my teenage) I got a acoustic guitar (the Bjärton) when everyone wanted to be in a band. This guitar was used by me for some years, my sisters used it for learning playing guitar in the seventies. And its been in a corner of my homes since then.
Two years ago my (then) sixteen years daughter wanted to play in a school band and we bought her a electric guitar and amp. After a while she lost interest in this and I started to play on that guitar. I then found out that I wanted a new acoustic guitar and bought the Tanglewood. Finding guitarnoise.com lessons I learned some of the songs there. And now I found some guitar players at my work that comes together and perfom acoustic guitar jamsessions every second week.
For me, learning playing guitar is new challenge that needs concentration and totaly disconnection from other problems at work etc.etc.
Being 55 and the the kids are growing up I have more time for my own interest and I am trying to find new challenges and friends for the future.

We should maybe add a second question to this thread...."What keeps you playing guitar?"

Done! 8)

Jason

What got my interest and what keeps me there......

BB King
Buddy Guy
Jimi Hendrix
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Eric Clapton
Luther Allison
Otis Rush
T-Bone Walker
Albert Collins
Freddie King
Albert King
Robert Cray
Carlos Santana
Doyle Bramhall II
Keith Richards
Steve Cropper
Mike Bloomfield
Roy Buchanan
Johnny Winter
Scott Holt
Chris Duarte
Danny Gatton

You're probably not looking for this kind of answer but it's all about inspiration.

In college I knew a lot of people who played music. Finally, in my senior year I dedided that I wanted to try my hand at it, and one guitar-playing friend took me to the music store, and he helped me pick out a Suzuki acoustic for about $100. That was in 1979, and I don't think Suzuki makes guitars anymore. Shortly thereafter I graduated and got a job in another town; I was no longer around many musicians, and I gradually lost interest.

Then, about eight years later, now married, we again move to a new town, and I decide to give it another go. So I dusted off the old Suzuki and actually took some lessons. I was finding it quite difficult- I believe now because the setup on the guitar was not right after sitting unplayed for so long. I put the guitar back up in the attic again after a few months.

Fast forward to April of 2004. Still married to the same sweet girl, but now the two kids are grown. I have a little more time on my hands. One night we partied real late and I woke up the next day feeling kind of low- if you know what I mean. I can still remember this. I decide rather than sit around and nurse my hangover I'd make myself useful abd go clean out the garage. So there I am, moving around, which did make me feel better, and I am listening to the Essential Bob Dylan CD. I'm listening to these songs, and while I'm doing it for some reason I start thinking about the guitar again- how I'd like to actually learn to play these Dylan songs I love so well.

The very next day I go up into the attic and pull down that old Suzuki. I go to the mall and buy some strings and a DVD with some lessons. I start searching the Internet and find Guitar Noise and start reading the forums. This is where I learn the importance of having a guitar set up properly, so I take the Suzuki to a music astore and the guy straightens out the neck and lowers the action. Boy what a difference it made! Also, at age 46 I had learned a little about success and how you need to stick with things and make a lot of mistakes before you succeed. So I had developed some patience that I hadn't had earlier. I made it a point to practice at lest an hour a day six days a week and this time don't quit. I spent that entire summer learning barre chords, which had always stoopd me short in the past.

I also learned from this site about the importance of playing with others. My wife sang in the guitar choir at church, so I approached them about playing and related my still-beginner status (I'd been at it about six months at that point. They allowed me to sit in on thier practices and gave me copies of the music. After about twoo weeks, on Thanksgiving Day of 2004, I played with them at a Mass for the first time. I considered that a major breakthrough, figuring that I can really say that I know how to play, although there was still a lot to learn.

Six months ago I started taking private lessons and the teacher is working with me on lead playing. My goal is to be in a band someday, but I feel like I still have some room for improvement before I am ready for that. I also need to work on my singing voice. I am hoping after about another year I might be ready.

I'm so glad I stuck with it this time. I's wanted to play practically my whole life, and it took until I was 46 to actually stick with it. But it is never too late. And in reading these forums, it seems I am not alone as a late-blooming guitar player!

Oh. and in case you were wondering- I still have the Suzuki, but I have since bought a better acoustic (with a pickup for the choir), and an Epi LP electrric. So the Suzuki pretty much stays in the closet (not the attic!), but I can't bear to part with it after having had it for 26 years now, even though it collected dust for 25 of them.

Jeff Beck amazed me on Beck-Ola and Joe Walsh(I Like Big Tits,Life's Been Good) is also a hero because he has so much joy in his (older music)
I use to have a really mellow Silvertone(somebody borrowed it up to now....)
Now I'm just playing my acoustic Yamaha and my Epi LP standard but if someone can take the joy out of my music
they're going down with me.
I wish i had stuck with it and not been married and divorced twice...
Ahh but the kids are priceless
There is so much talent out there today and so many toys
I listen to a ton of Petrucci and Tom Morello plays through his mind .

Bump

Too many great stories to let this thread slip away. Would this be something that might fit in "Meet and Greet"?

Jason

A friend in the early 80's got me interested. Sadly enough he quit a few years later due to religous reasons. I hope he came back to it. What keeps me going after 21 years? ... Holding a guitar in my hands, as many different as possible as often as possible. Trying to emulate my heros and also trying to be as original as possible to create music is just unbelievable. I love the emotional outlet, no matter the emotion. Just pick it up and play and let out the feelings and ideas and there you go, music. It is life for me.

Too many great stories to let this thread slip away. Would this be something that might fit in "Meet and Greet"?

Jason

Your wish (and it's a good one) is my command, sir!

Peace

Your wish (and it's a good one) is my command, sir!

Thanks Mr. Hodge! :)

Jason

Wonder why everybody loves david , now we know it :wink: