General Music Chat

Do you remember your first guitar
Did you think that you would stick with it.
What drove you to say to yourself this is what I want to do.
Finally where you self taught or did you take lessons.

I certainly do! It was a 64 VOX 12 string that played like a brick.

I knew I would stick with it, cuz it was the most important thing in the world.

What drove me was something deep inside, that almost felt like a programmed directive, & I knew that it was something I could never do without, if I were going to live a happy life.

I'm self-taught, in that I haven't had many lessons from teachers. I've picked up many things from musicians I've played with over the years, though.

Do you remember your first guitar
Did you think that you would stick with it.
What drove you to say to yourself this is what I want to do.
Finally where you self taught or did you take lessons.

I may have already mentioned it before. My first guitar was a late 60’s Tiesco I found in somebody’s trash. The previous owner had painted it with ugly house paint. It was missing most of the hardware. I got the electronic parts from a friend’s dad, who gave me the guts from a 1950’s guitar. I got a tune-o-matic bridge at a guitar store. I think I used an old vinyl LP for a pickguard, at first. I stripped off the paint to the original finish and assembled it, in secret. I was forbidden to have ANYTHING relating to music at the time. My parents thought that rock n’ roll was corrupting me or something. I even remember the first song I played, “Spirit In the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum.

I knew I would play music, or die trying, since I was about 12.

What drove me to say to myself that this is what I want to do? Music was the only thing that made me happy, keeping me sane. Honestly, I would have killed myself or someone else if it hadn’t been for punk rock. If I didn’t kill myself I’d be in prison without music.

I was mostly self taught. I took a few lessons in my 20’s before I realized I already figured most of it out without them. The teacher just made me buy a book at his store, then assigned chapters and “graded me” on my ability to do what was in the book. I figured, “if I already have the book what do I need HIM for?”

I think you hit on the the head,being truly happy in life.
I always turn to my guitar and music when things got stressful.
I loved it when I got it and still love it today.
That good ol' silvertone.

A flat top Stella acoustic guitar. It had strings about 2" above the finger board. I bought it because I had made an AM wireless transmitter back in 59 for a guy who played a flat top. You tuned it to a dead spot on a big AM radio of the day and it would allow you to use the radio as an amplifier. It worked so cool that I ran out to get a flat top so I could make one for myself.

I needed to learn a song first, so an old colored guy taught me the first two bars of "Honky Tonk". I kept learning to play and forgot about the transmitter. I couldn't get over the shock that I could play something. I was so excited about being able to play that I ran out and bought a single coil Gibson Melody Maker. I played it until the compartment it was in got flooded because someone didn't tighten a ballast tank cover. So I cleaned it up and went to San Diego and bought a ES355TD. I still have that guitar.

I am self taught and do not read music. While in school they said I was tone deaf and wouldn't let me take music classes. I would love to confront the teacher with my guitar in hand and show her just exactly how tone deaf I really am.

A flat top Stella acoustic guitar. It had strings about 2" above the finger board. I bought it because I had made an AM wireless transmitter back in 59 for a guy who played a flat top. You tuned it to a dead spot on a big AM radio of the day and it would allow you to use the radio as an amplifier. It worked so cool that I ran out to get a flat top so I could make one for myself.

I needed to learn a song first, so an old colored guy taught me the first two bars of "Honky Tonk". I kept learning to play and forgot about the transmitter. I couldn't get over the shock that I could play something. I was so excited about being able to play that I ran out and bought a single coil Gibson Melody Maker. I played it until the compartment it was in got flooded because someone didn't tighten a ballast tank cover. So I cleaned it up and went to San Diego and bought a ES355TD. I still have that guitar.

I am self taught and do not read music. While in school they said I was tone deaf and wouldn't let me take music classes. I would love to confront the teacher with my guitar in hand an
d show her just exactly how tone deaf I really am.

Wow!!!
what great story.
You were a Les Paul student and didn't know it.
I remember the first time those 2 chords I had learned came together.
I was then hooked.

a Kalamazoo Bass in a box. I never put it together though. I sold it for a profit and bought what I naively believed was an upgrade...
A Kay bass lol.

My dumbass also sold a 58 SG for profit. I bought it for $100.
sold it for $200

I was 19 and had no clue

Ive still got a couple of em

One was Sears Strat copy, I was given it for helping a guy paint a room in his house. I set it on the floor at home and stepped on the pick guard and crushed it and a couple of pickups. A buddy got me a bronze pick guard and we put these hot ass dimazio pickups in it. I ran it thru a morley wah/treble boost pedal and a tube screamer into a Sunn Model T and a 6x10 cabinet. I still have everything but the 6x10 cab! Yea you could say Im a packrat.

I had a Lincoln Les Paul. Hollow body howling thing. Still have it.

The other night my dad brought over the first acoustic I had. Its one of those 3/4 scale things and the strings are 2 inches off the frets.

These three guitars all play like sh*t, I used the strat til I was 19 yrs old when I got a real strat. Thinking back its a wonder with gear like this that I kept on playing! LOL But after playing guitars like these my damn Les Pauls are like butter!

Hmm... My first guitar was either a crappy little first act acoustic the neck snapped in half on when my uncle tried to tune it (which I did not stick to) or, years later, a Fender F-35 that's a hell of a lot nicer than anything I could afford to replace it with.

as to what drove me... I have no idea. I just had nothing better to do.

I'm mostly self-taught, I took theory lessons briefly.

Mine was a Stella 3/4 scale student model I kept til it was dedstroyed in a fight in the early eighties. I took lessons for about a year and leared most of the basics. I've had a lot of guitars since then but my favorite one is the last thing my mom left me after she passed on. A Yamahe SJ-180 that plays better than any of the expensive guitars I've owned over the years. I remember when it was the only guitar between 5 or 6 pickers and everyone had to wait there turn. And wait they did. I have 8 hanging in my music room now and a few more loaned out to a special freind or nephew. But if I'm alone I pick up moms guitar and play for hours.

Do you remember your first guitar?
*Yes. It was some frikin electric thing that came in a cardboard box(literally) and soon was sporting a little puffy plastic paul stanley sticker proudly on the body

Did you think that you would stick with it?
*no clue: I was like 13

What drove you to say to yourself this is what I want to do?
*n/a

Finally where you self taught or did you take lessons?
*self taught

Hamer custom V in blue, still own it.

Hate that Kahler Trem, though.. Collecting dust, just like my Ibanez RG 550 in road cone orange..

I want to thank you all for responding to this post.
When I put it out there it was to remind us all where we all started.
There is nothing like that time.
Look where your all at now.
Great bunch of guys and gals on this site,some times we have to go back to where we began to realize,hey were all the same,hell man,were musicians,
at that's what I want to be.
Thanks

holy sh*t I forgot... When I was about 8 I got a sears silvertone guitar. The amp was built into the guitar case.
Wow what a memory trip!

I could talk about my first guitar that is upstairs gathering dust. But instead, I am going to talk about my first flute. It was a rented nickle flute and all of the finish cam off of it <<<blech>>>. I did enjoy that bad-fella though and my dad broke down and purchsed the ugly thing for me.
My first "gig" I played "Hey Jude" in the elementary school gym, and was a hit. I realized music would be my career when I saw "Sir Elton John"...long before he was a sir and everything else. He was the most intense musician I ever saw. I was 12 years old at the time. Man, do I wish I could talk to that little girl now.