How did you get into the guitar?

I am 1 of 7 kids (the middle one) and the parents bought a used piano knowing it would last with kids beating on it. I had to take piano lessons in third and fourth grade in Catholic school. Kids hands aren’t that big at that age and I remember it hurting to stretch to play a chord. Never really any interest in grade school. Middle and high school I was in the brainiac classes taking all math and science classes, but at the same time I had long hair and drove hot rods and did burn outs in the HS parking lot. Needless to say cars were my passion and music was not even a thought.

So off to college, and well, no income, bored and looking for a cheap hobby I took the EL from Philly over to a NJ mall and bought a $49 electric Jap Strat clone guitar figuring once I paid for it there is no more costs involved. I practiced (no amp) in my frat room for a few years. Moved to CA in 1976. My first live in GF had a twin and her and her boyfriend need to a place to stay for a few months so we let them move in. Turned out Keith was a great singer (sang in the Morman Tabernacle choir) and he could play guitar very well. He had an Ovation 12 string. So after the first week I bought a Takemine 6 and we’d play in the living room. Mentioned this to a friend at work and he tells me he sings and has a Martin 12 string. The 3 of us played in the living room over the months and eventually Keith and the twin move out of state. By this time I had the bug. Bought a Takemine 12 string and then a Les Paul as a graduation present to myself. The rest as they say, is history, 50 guitars later. Just wish I learned how to play earlier and better.
 
After I had watched the Beatles in 64' on the tube that planted the seed ! After a long while asking for one I just went downstairs to the shop and built one out of formica w/ slot car track pins for frets and fishing line for strings. Year later , I finally got one BUT it was a classical guitar. Needless to say they didn't quite get the idea I had in mind.
 
My uncle is about 8 years older than me. When I was a young kid he was in a bar band. They were super cool to me and I always wanted to play guitar like him.

On several occasions he gave me his early 1950's Gretsch, but I never learned to play it due to difficulty and other things in life...

He ended up selling it and his 1971ish Les Paul and bought a Bass rig. I have always regretted losing those guitars to lack of follow through.

So...I decided to learn about 3 or 4 years ago and I'm still at it!
 
Robert Herndon said:
I was a nerdy, bookworm of a kid who grew up an only child on a small ranch near Visalia, California. One day, my Mom was spinning LP's and I heard "The Lonely Bull" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (early 1970's) and wanted to learn to play the trumpet. I just couldn't get it due to dyslexia and coordination/motor problems. My band teacher, Jerry Kuhlmann, told me, "Robert, you are wasting my time and everyone else's. You will never play an instrument. You need to be considerate of others and stop this nonsense." I was crushed. I cried all the way home with my rented trumpet.

We always had guitars laying around, so I tried to strum a little and my Mom showed me a few chords. She gave me a Mel Bay Chord Book with pictures of all the chords being fretted and I still have it. I was able to learn a few chords, but it was a real struggle. I was about 10 years old at the time and I was going to physical therapy 2 days a week for coordination and balance issues. My special ed teacher encouraged me to keep trying at the guitar and i just kept going. I learned a few more chords and I was eventually able to play "Wabash Cannonball" for my Mom & Dad which really inspired me to keep trying to learn new songs. The second song I learned was "Act naturally" by Mom's friend, Buck Owens.

Next I discovered 'Mr. Moto' and "Little Brown Jug" by The Bel-Airs and my fascination with learning lead guitar began. I would put the beanbags from a game of twister on the turntable to slow the record down, then retune and try to play along with the songs. Eventually, I could play them at regular speed on my 1959 Sears Silvertone. Then one day, I heard "Rumble" by Link Wray and I asked my uncle how he made his guitar sound like it was mad at somebody. My uncle kinda laughed and said, "Listen to this," and he put on Mississippi Queen by Mountain. I was blown away. I had never heard anything like that and I wanted to learn to play just like that.

I've been chasing that sound ever since 1973...

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Now that's what I call the Shidt. First thing is that trumpet teacher was an azz. 2nd, his remark reminds me of how my dad treated my mom, sis n me. Nothing we ever did was or would be good enough for him. Thankfully like your one teacher, an encouraging influence (stepdad) replaced the insensitive and discouraging crap I was first exposed to. My own dad was useless and if he gave me one thing in life, it was the will to never quit in the face of difficulty and to learn all I could about things I aspired to fill my life with. The goodness my stepdad showed me, sis and mom showed us how to be kind to others and to add joy and encouragement to their lives. While I could say any number of great musical examples fueled my love of guitar, I will credit my mom and stepdad for giving me a life that had hope instead of a dead end future with a jerk of a father and husband we had in my biological father.

Because of the love and provision of mom and stepdad, I played piano, trumpet then guitar. Rock n Roll would fill in the blanks that led to my enjoyment of playing and owning wonderful guitars,basses and drums today.
 
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Like Sérgio said, the story has been told elsewhere before, but this is roughly how it happened (rather long winded, I'm afraid):

My dad played the piano quite well, but he hardly ever played, usually only carols at Christmas. He is a theologian, he was a chaplain in the Norwegian navy for a little while, and worked as a high school teacher and university lecturer for most of his working life. But he is really a bit of a jack of all trades; he's a great carpenter (maybe the Jesus influence?:D), sings very well and plays both the guitar, piano, harmonica and recorder well if he wants to. It's just that he never really wants to... But he did encourage us kids to get into music.

I have three older sisters who all sang or played instruments. My oldest sister played a bit of classical guitar and sang in a really good choir. My youngest sister sang in the same choir and also took piano lessons. My middle sister played the recorder and tenor recorder for many years. All in all, music was part of my daily life, but I still wouldn't say we were a particularly musical household.

I started taking piano lessons when I was eight, and quit when I was 12. I still beat myself up about not having kept up what little skills I acquired; I never really liked it at the time, and I hardly ever practiced. I learned stuff by ear, and never put any real effort into learning to read music. What little talent I had was basically wasted. In the end my parents figured it wasn't worth the cash I guess. I had a pretty good voice as a kid; I used to sing in the school choir in primary school, and I performed solo in front of the whole school in assembly several times, singing traditional local songs accompanied by one of the music teachers on the piano. But the thing was, I did all of it simply because it was expected, not because I really wanted to. It's not like I hated it, but I never enjoyed it much either. My parent's wanted me to do theater as well, so I played in a couple of school plays, and on one occasion (around the age of 10) I got a small role in a kind of revue done by Per Asplin, who was a very well known Norwegian artist in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. But that wasn't for me either. To this day I really dislike having to act. It's just not for me.

However, I guess the seeds of my musical interests were sown early by all of this. But what made me really interested was my best friend's older brother. He was about 10 years older than me and my friend, and he was really into bands like Pink Floyd, Rush and Manfred Mann's Earth Band. We used to listen to Floyd for hours on end, not understanding any of the lyrics, but being completely mesmerized by Richard Wright's organ and synthesizers. The first album I ever got was "The Wall", when my friend gave it to me on cassette. And then there was Kiss! Even in kindergarten in the mid 70s, we were aware of the phenomenon that was Kiss. We used to imagine that we were Kiss when we were playing with our Matchbox cars in the sandpit. I used to be Peter Criss.

At first I wanted to be a drummer, but then I discovered Van Halen. I don't really know how it happened, because Van Halen were never big in Norway, but I remember seeing pics in a music magazine and being fascinated by the name. My oldest sister had a Dutch friend in the early 80s and I think that's why the Van Halen name caught my attention. And then I heard them on the radio and was sold. Van Halen was everything a slightly anxious 11 year old kid was not; the sheer exuberance, virtuosity and joie de vivre got to me instantly. I knew I had to play the guitar.

My parents bought me a nylon string acoustic for Christmas when I was 12. I got a guitar book a little later, and we started learning basic guitar in the music lessons in middle school. I but a microphone inside the body of the guitar and hooked it up to a cassette recorder. When I turned it up loud, it distorted like mad, and it made it possible to play the tapping runs from "Eruption" on the nylon string guitar. Naturally, I painted the guitar red with black and white stripes in honor of Eddie. When I was 14 I got my first electric (a rather good Tokai Stratocaster). I started playing in a band with some friends, and I have kept at it since.

Edward Van Halen's biggest hero was Eric Clapton, so I had to check him out. That turned me on to the blues. I immersed myself in blues records. So much so that when I was to write my Master's thesis in university (American literature) I chose to do so on blues lyrics. So I guess you could say that my education is, at least peripherally, connected to music.

Then life happened. I started working as a middle school teacher, got married and had kids. Brewing became my main hobby, and the guitar was relegated to the backseat for a few years. But when I started brewing professionally I had to get back to my old hobby, and picked up the guitar more seriously again. And that's where it's at today. I can safely say that the guitar has been a defining factor for my identity.
 
Wow, I read all your posts with great interest.
We had music in the house, pop radio, mom played records of bands like Seals and Croft, the Doobie Bros, Jefferson airplane/ Starship.
My uncle turned me on to the Beatles in middle school, and I was a rock music lover since.

Back in the 4th grade I took guitar lessons in an after school program. I had a plywood acoustic and started to learn to play and to read sheet music.
I was doing ok with it but lost interest; wish I had kept at it.

After I got seriously into rock music as a listener, I wanted to learn to play again. I tried 2 times stints unplugged on a borrowed electric something, I dont even recall.
Still had the old 4th grade song book too.
I just found it too difficult and gave up, wish I could have taken some basic lessons.

Fast forward to a few years ago at age 50 I had been telling the wife I really wanted to give it another go.
She laughed at my obvious mid life crisis. Really a hoot to her.

I bought a used Ibanez S470 (wish I never sold it) from a friend at work.
Youtube is my friend for lessons.

I didnt like the Floyd and bought a used ebay EPI SG special and a little Peavey practice amp at a 2nd hand store.
I started learning, got more cheap guitars and took to the hobby of learning how to work on them.
Then started scratch building tube amps and some simple pedals.

Like was said, at almost 4 years in I am probably at a progress point many would be at in a year or so.
Cant wait to tune up and plug in after work today!!!
 
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I was trained classical from age 4 8 hours per day practice 3 private lessons two hours each per week I could read music before I could read words.
I'm not sure how many bands I have been in but all way's had great teachers. Guitar I started in 1969 at school one year class
Band of Gypsy's Machine Gun Jimmi Hendrix changed everything for me it still blows my mind. I did get to play a show with Buddy Miles on guitar Buddy asked me to go on tour with his band I said no I make to much money in the corporate world. I played in bands to get my mind off work not for money.
 
need to add----- After I got hold of John Mayall w/ Eric Clapton in 66' album, well, at that moment it was over for me for the rest of my life! Of course the second one " Hard Road " w/ Peter Green was another booster stage to this day and the rest of my life. And what happens in May of 2006 in Philly … my life comes full circle ….

Peter Green Guitar.jpg Me with Peter Green's Guitar.jpg


I waited till there was a lul in the show and went right up to the owner of the booth , Maverick Music, and presented my dilemma to the British bloke, he just looked at me and said nothing at first .. then replied " Sure, why not, that's what there really for " and I spent a half hour undisturbed, and those that know me know that I'm rarely ever undisturbed, Playing that same guitar that Peter Green used on the second,
" A Hard Road " in 67' John Mayall album,and it just Oosed music and had an aura of energy around it! Gary Moore used it extensively till the proprietor bought it from Garry Moore .
 
Vox AC30 said:
need to add----- After I got hold of John Mayall w/ Eric Clapton in 66' album, well, at that moment it was over for me for the rest of my life! Of course the second one " Hard Road " w/ Peter Green was another booster stage to this day and the rest of my life. And what happens in May of 2006 in Philly … my life comes full circle ….

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I waited till there was a lul in the show and went right up to the owner of the booth , Maverick Music, and presented my dilemma to the British bloke, he just looked at me and said nothing at first .. then replied " Sure, why not, that's what there really for " and I spent a half hour undisturbed, and those that know me know that I'm rarely ever undisturbed, Playing that same guitar that Peter Green used on the second,
" A Hard Road " in 67' John Mayall album,and it just Oosed music and had an aura of energy around it! Gary Moore used it extensively till the proprietor bought it from Garry Moore .
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:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:
Most Excellent, Sir!
 
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