What made/inspired you to first pick up a guitar/bass?

Honestly, wanted to impress this one girl when I was 11. Grew up listening to 80’s music, well also country but not by choice. My being a fan both and all, but I was drawn to lynyrd skynyrd, ac/dc, Led Zeppelin, etc. but never thought about picking up the guitar or any instrument. Developed this one crush on a girl and she played piano, really well in fact. So my mind went to all those 80’s music videos and I went up to my parents and told them “I want to learn to play drums.” My mom’s eyes widened and said “how about guitar?” Well I mulled it over the course of a week.

Had a friend come over and he was learning guitar. He brought his over, it was a blue Yamaha strat copy with single coils. Well I showed a bit of an interest and at that time Linken Park had just came out with their Hybrid Theory album, just so happens that’s what my friend was learning how to play. So he taught me the intros to paper cut and in the end. First time picking up a guitar and already was learning how to do natural harmonics and what alternate picking was.

Suddenly it wasn’t about JUST impressing girls, I actually fell in love with it. Well my parents got me an acoustic guitar and typical of my hard headed impatient self, I wasn’t content with learning how to play “marry had a little lamb” screw that! I started learning Johnny B Good, then Wanted dead or Alive, which then advanced to Nothing Else Matters and the rest is history.

Since then it’s been my dream to have my own custom guitar specced out exactly how I like it with my own personal logo, and now my dream to see that “napalm Record” logo pop up right before the music video to one of my songs playing.
 
When I was 13 I wanted to play guitar, inspiration came from George Harrison, Keith Richards. My first guitar was a harmony electric in 1967. Took lessons for 1 year at the Conservatory of music, then just quit, sometimes when you are young your mind goes in a lot of directions. Even though I quit I still had desire to play. When I became retired 6 years ago, I said to my Wife I would like to take up the guitar. She said go for it, so I did. Started out with an instructor stayed with him for 4 years then we parted ways, he just wanted to teach me what he thought I should learn, well for the last 2 years I have had an instructor who teaches me what I want to learn, he makes it fun and we hit it off right from the start, we jam together and he has a way of teaching with that personal touch. He keeps it interesting. I play every day, in the last 4 months I have been able to play along with recordings and have trained my ear to listen better. I do sing as well. I never thought I would be able to play at the calibre of where I am right now, like I always say you are never too old to learn. The encouragement from my friends and family, help me to keep pushing forward. I always wanted to play those songs that I grew up with in the sixty's, seventies eighty's. Beatles , Animals, yard birds, Stones. and more. And now I can.
 
Mitch Pearrow SJMP said:
In 1971 I bought the Paranoid album , I had been listening to GFR, CCR , Hendrix, Cream, Chicago, est.
And for no other reason wanted to be able to play like Tony Iommi, a year later, I would also throw into the mix Ritchie Blackmore.
Pops bought me and my younger brother a Teisco del ray from the local K mart the music store was the place we got the amp a very small Alamo tube amp, got signed up for lessons, and imagine my surprise when I went in for my first lesson with my guitar and amp, and the whole class of about 20 people, are all sitting there with an acoustic guitar.
Was not what I was expecting.
Needless to say I really didn’t learn much !!
Cheers
Mitch
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Same thing happened to me in my school Strings class i took a couple years after already playing: showed up with an Epiphone G400 and a Squier Champ and.....it was an acoustic class lol
Eventually got a B because i took it with a buddy who started a band with me and we refused to play Yankee Doodle Dandy or Greensleeves from the book. Instead practiced Black Sabbath riffs. Didnt help that our instructor was in a Christian rock band lmao
 
Session 5 said:
When I was 13 I wanted to play guitar, inspiration came from George Harrison, Keith Richards. My first guitar was a harmony electric in 1967. Took lessons for 1 year at the Conservatory of music, then just quit, sometimes when you are young your mind goes in a lot of directions. Even though I quit I still had desire to play. When I became retired 6 years ago, I said to my Wife I would like to take up the guitar. She said go for it, so I did. Started out with an instructor stayed with him for 4 years then we parted ways, he just wanted to teach me what he thought I should learn, well for the last 2 years I have had an instructor who teaches me what I want to learn, he makes it fun and we hit it off right from the start, we jam together and he has a way of teaching with that personal touch. He keeps it interesting. I play every day, in the last 4 months I have been able to play along with recordings and have trained my ear to listen better. I do sing as well. I never thought I would be able to play at the calibre of where I am right now, like I always say you are never too old to learn. The encouragement from my friends and family, help me to keep pushing forward. I always wanted to play those songs that I grew up with in the sixty's, seventies eighty's. Beatles , Animals, yard birds, Stones. and more. And now I can.
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Never too late to start! I love that!
 
Jethro Rocker said:
My older sister had lots of good rock my bro amd I listened to. KISS Alive, Alice Cooper,
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Metal89 said:
Honestly, wanted to impress this one girl when I was 11.
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Jethro Rocker: right on! Hope to hear ya on the radio as well!

Metal89: same to you, go big! And by the way, picking up a guitar to get a chick is a noble cause :D
 
Session 5 said:
When I was 13 I wanted to play guitar, inspiration came from George Harrison, Keith Richards. My first guitar was a harmony electric in 1967. Took lessons for 1 year at the Conservatory of music, then just quit, sometimes when you are young your mind goes in a lot of directions. Even though I quit I still had desire to play. When I became retired 6 years ago, I said to my Wife I would like to take up the guitar. She said go for it, so I did. Started out with an instructor stayed with him for 4 years then we parted ways, he just wanted to teach me what he thought I should learn, well for the last 2 years I have had an instructor who teaches me what I want to learn, he makes it fun and we hit it off right from the start, we jam together and he has a way of teaching with that personal touch. He keeps it interesting. I play every day, in the last 4 months I have been able to play along with recordings and have trained my ear to listen better. I do sing as well. I never thought I would be able to play at the calibre of where I am right now, like I always say you are never too old to learn. The encouragement from my friends and family, help me to keep pushing forward. I always wanted to play those songs that I grew up with in the sixty's, seventies eighty's. Beatles , Animals, yard birds, Stones. and more. And now I can.
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I never took lessons. I should have. Even if it would have been Mary Had a Little Lamb...... etc, I would have learned some theory and techniques. As it was, teaching myself, when I started playing in the church worship band I had to “unlearn” some bad habits I’d picked up over the years. And like you. I probably would have only stuck with lessons for a short time.

As for picking up the guitar to get the girl. I shared this on another thread. I already had the guitar when the girl got interested. That was 1974. I still have that guitar AND the girl.
 
Economics...

Was a bored, dead broke, college sophomore at Drexel U in Philly in 1975. I was trying to think of a low cost hobby that could entertain me for a few years. Having had about 100 8 track tapes, all rock, I came up with, a guitar! After the initial purchase, there’s nothing to buy. So I hopped on the El over to a New Jersey mall and plunked down my entire $75 savings on some POS MIJ Strat copy. No case, no extra strings, not sure if I even bought a pick. Picked it up to practice many times a week for 2 years. Oh, no amp either. Moved to CA in Dec 1976 and got a real job in Jan 1977. After a few paychecks I went and bought a used Acoustic amp (still have it). Geez did that guitar’s pickups sound crappy :rolf:

Met a guy at work, Tim, who played and sang, so I invited him over. He shows up with a 1960s Martin 12 string! What a beautiful sounding guitar. Damn, I had to up my game, so I went and bought a Takamine F360S 6 string acoustic. Still have it. Fast forward another 6 months and I’m living with my girlfriend now. She asks one day if her twin sister and boyfriend can stay with us for a while as they are relocating from Utah to CA. Hmmm, sure I says. Twins, but I digress.

So they show up and Keith walks in with....a guitar case. OK, this is gonna work out. I invite Tim over and we have a blast playing acoustic. Keith had an Ovation 12 string AND he had sung in the Mormon Tabernacle choir! He had a great voice. 12 string GAS now. Went and bought an acoustic electric Takamine EF400s 12 string (still have it). While playing acoustic with these guys was fun, my heart was in Rock and Roll. I went back to college at night school and for a graduation present to myself I bought a 1981 cherry burst LPC, still have it.

That’s how I got started....
 
Saw Kiss on the Midnight Special.

To my ten year old self there was nothing cooler. Wanted to be the dude with the guitar with fireworks.

Then met my best friend, still buddies with. He turned me onto Aerosmith Rocks, that was it, next was Sabbath, Foghat etc...

Every Saturday we used to walk a few miles to the record shop/ head shop and spend our allowances. Always was trying to save mine for a real guitar!
 
I grew up surrounded by music. I was given my parent's record collection when I was perhaps 6 or 7. My Mom was a backup vocalist and solo artist who recorded several albums with Buck Owen's band (along with Merle Haggard's personnel) so I was always in a recording studio, because I went everywhere with my parents.

In my home, the only music I was exposed to was country, rockabilly, 1950's hits and the old blues greats.

Sometime around 1972, I started just plunking along little one-string melodies to the records I was listening too. From there, she would show me a few chords and gave me this huge paperback book on learning guitar by Mel Bay.

Around 1975, my uncle from Kentucky came to stay with us and he let me listen to his collection of rock like Mountain, Black Sabbath, Rick Derringer and the like. I got hooked on that overdriven guitar tone and it became something that I wanted to learn how to create.

He was cool. He had long hair and a goatee, rode a motorcycle and actually talked to a nobody like me. Being a tall, skinny, awkward farm kid, who was constantly bullied, his kindness really reached me.

Around this time, we somehow saw Hendrix on a TV special. He was wearing a black tunic and had 4 or 5 Marshall stacks behind him. I was really impressed at how cool he looked playing the guitar, maybe even more than I was impressed by his playing. My uncle had a lot of Hendrix 8 tracks and a new world opened up to me as I discovered Hendrix - 5 years after his passing.

My folks saw my interest and gave me a 1959 Sears Silvertone guitar and amp. I had to take it outside to the barn, along with a record player, to jam to records without making everyone go crazy.

A local Mariachi band down our street offered to let me play bass one day. I had never played bass, but accepted the offer and it just seemed like I could play it from the moment I first picked it up.

I would play guitar as much as I could after that. Every free moment I was playing or noodling or learning songs. On Saturdays I would spend 15-16 hours playing. I became possessed by the desire to play..

I would put LP's on the turntable and put the beanbags from a Twister game on the record to slow it down, the de-tune and learn the solos.

By 13 or 14, I was playing bass and guitar in my Mom's band and I got better fast, even though I wasn't digging the style of music. Dad built Mom a personal studio (the size of a house) and I became a registered BMI recording artist in 1979. I was getting paid to play bass and guitar on people's recordings.

I also recall seeing Don Felder playing live with Eagles around 1976 or 1977. I remember he was wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and suspenders and I thought, "Wow, he dresses like me!!!" So, in some ways, he made me feel like I could really do it.

I started playing Guitar with a kid down the road named Mikey Taylor. He was a rock n roll disciple and he introduced me to AC/DC. Soon, I was jamming with his band, made up of kids who lived nearby.

By 15, I was good enough to land a full time job at a dirt floor cowboy bar in Redbanks, California, earning $125.00/week. That was big money for a 15 year old kid in 1980.

From there, the desire to produce the meanest, loudest tone possible just grew and grew.

Every morning, I am up early, learning another song. Nothing has changed really...:-)

Robert 1984.jpg
 
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