Another thread got me thinking about this question. Seems to be a general love (or at least an appreciation) for the blues on this forum and amongst guitarists in general. Just wondering if folks out there were into the blues before they started playing or if guitarists out there were generally drawn to the genre after they started playing. Put another way, did the music get you into the guitar, or did the guitar get you into the music.
For me it was the later, never listened to the blues until I decided to learn how to play (outside of blues influenced classic rock, but that was before I even knew it was blues influenced). The blues and the electric guitar just seem to be made for one another.
Hard to say, for me. Just as I was starting out learning to play, SRV hit the scene. I became a fan of his and the blues. I was also learning about the blues in lessons. So, for me the chicken came WITH the egg.
Chicken came first. I really liked country and I wanted to learn so I did :)
Well, my first records were John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry, from there I just locked into the blues and kept listening to various artists and searching them out and the folklore that is attendant to the blues.
But it wasn't really that which got me playing, although it undoubtedly did have a strong influence. I just took it up because my pops played guitar and he was never gonna take me to a footie match (he supported Man Utd, I'm a Liverpool fan, and there was no way I was gonna go to one of Man Utd's games, vice versa with him, lol), so learning to play guitar was a great excuse to spend more time with him. He also got me into tons of stuff, like Chris Rea, who he used to play in his car all the time when I was yay high (that record deffo had me wanting to play guitar, it just sounded sooooooooooo kewl - Road To Hell), and Johnny Cash, Hank Williams. The Drifters, etc, etc.
From there it was mixed love of blues and guitar. Until I discovered jazz. Now its all just a love of music, in whatever form. Some of my fave records don't even have guitar on them (gasp), like Kind of Blue.
The egg. Definitely.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I'd say that learning guitar helped me appreciate other styles of music that are guitar centered, and my love of the blues evolved from my love of the guitar.
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
For me, since I originally started playing at 13, the guitar came first, then came the blues! :D
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Blues first for me, but guitar enhanced my appreciation for the Blues just as it did with other genres.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Now its all just a love of music, in whatever form. Some of my fave records don't even have guitar on them (gasp), like Kind of Blue.
A shameless plug for Kind of Blue:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY
:)
Don
The egg. Definitely.
According to a panel of researchers, you are correct. Their reasoning was that only an egg can mutate, once the egg hatches, the chicken can no longer physically mutate. So it was in the egg that the final mutation to a chicken took place.
Which also answers the question as to why the chicken crossed the road. The egg couldn't. :D
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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The egg. Definitely.
According to a panel of researchers, you are correct. Their reasoning was that only an egg can mutate, once the egg hatches, the chicken can no longer physically mutate. So it was in the egg that the final mutation to a chicken took place.
Which also answers the question as to why the chicken crossed the road. The egg couldn't. :D
Maybe the chicken went through a metamorphasis? :)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
For me, the blues came later.....oh, I'd heard stuff like Little Red Rooster etc by the Stones, Yer Blues by the Beatles, and when I was first struggling with guitar, I was into Led Zep and Nazareth - tracks like In My Time Of Dying and Guilty got me wanting to listen to more blues.
Still, it wasn't a genre I particularly sought out till I joined GN; seemed I'd get at least half-a-dozen different artists recommended to me on a daily basis! Checked a lot of 'em out, liked what I heard, sought out more....
BTW, country music was a pretty similar kettle of fish - again, since joining GN, had a lot of different artists recommended and checked them out.
I still listen to mostly classic rock, though.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
it was the egg for me. I grew up in a music filled household. my dad listened to country and my mom Harry Belafonte and R n'B..
my brother and I would play the records at higher RPMs, grab our air guitars and sing Day-O in our high funny voices.
zI think I drove my parents nuts. one day they said they were going to buy me a guitar.
after that it was surf music and playing the song Telstar.
and right after that I got wiff of the British invasion. Beatles, Stones, Animals...and then the blues.
Funny you mention country music. I keep telling myself that I would like to get to know and get into that style of playing one day as well. Never really been into country music before either (although I do like southern rock, ie. bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.) and can see the guitar taking me to that genre similar to the way it's taken me to the blues. Granted, that is what I keep telling myself rather than just admit I'm looking for an excuse to go out and buy a Tele- one of these days :mrgreen:
