The first band I was ever in, no name, we tried for months and months but couldn't get a good sound down. Perhaps lack of talent was a key factor but our extreme lack of any appreciable equipment didn't help either.

I was still drumming, the lead guitarist owned two amps and the bigger one he let the "singer" plug a mic into since it was more powerful. That way we could really hear the quality vocals coming through that 12" speaker. The lead guitar was subsequently plugged into his portable Pignose amp. The rythm player was pretty horrible but he owned about four guitars so he was important just for that. The "bass" player, ugh, besides not having any skill, he didn't have a bass. He was was using a Harmony LP copy that he only put 4 strings on, than turned the bass all the way up and the treble off......

The first song we ever learned........yikes........Eye of the Tiger Our lead player thought the riff was cool. Needless to say we never played a gig, never got paid, just had a lot of fun getting shocks through the equipment and drinking whatever beer was scored from the someone's parent's fridge.

To have the freedom to be that silly again.

My first band was all instrumental, not because we didn't sing, but more because we couldn't afford a sound system (we called a PA back then).

We (tried) to play a lot of Ventures and Shadows tunes. We changed the name a few times before settling on "The Dynamics". This was about '63 or 45 years ago.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Darn I'm having flashbacks. I started at around 13. That age seems to be the magic number. I think its when you first noticed girls. What a great way to meet them, and of course the guitarist was always the coolest. We did a school dance. Played British Invasion, pop (hang on sloopy), and Ventures. Don't remember the name of our group. But, it brokew up because we couldn't get rides to the drummers house. Still have that guitar.

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2015 Epiphone Casino Goldtop
2011 Taylor 814ce
2009 EC Custom Shop Merc Blue
2008 Schecter ATX
1964 Epi Granada E444T
Fender Super Champ XD

"The Lincoln Knights" because we were attending Lincoln Jr High.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Wow.
Seriously?

"The Dynamics" was the name for the first band I planned on forming when I first started taking guitar lessons!!
I still think that's a good band name.

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"If it's planned, it's boring." - Freddie Mercury

I was a sophomore in highschool...1981 and we were called Excalibur...we did Genesis ,Hall and Oats, J Giles mainly top 40 stuff. It was awesome because we were always playing out in different high schools in the area and well...it was just plain old fun. We all played in our school's jazz band so we had access to a rehersal place for free...with a nice big stage, lights PA and our music teacher even gave us a key to the auditorium. Graduation broke us up because we all went to the 4 winds for college...the good old days...

I was actually in several, but the first popular or top 40 type group I was in was in high school and called Del Sol.

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Don't worry, Be happy.

Did you all drive little sporty Hondas?

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

HAHA Nope, that was about 10-15 years before Honda did that.

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Don't worry, Be happy.

First band was myself on guitar (with a whopping 6 months practice) and two friends. The drummer had taken quite a few years of lessons and the other guy was the singer. He wasn't all that serious at the time and he had to sing through a cheap tape recorder mic we plugged into my Ampeg Jet (along with the guitar).

This was 1968 and we did Wipeout (drummer knew it), a couple of Beatles and Stones songs (had a Beatles songbook, figured out the Stones) and a few other pop songs of the day. But half were instrumental 'cause the singer didn't feel like singing and or the vocal was too distorted along with the guitar.

First gig: my aunt and uncle had an adult back yard party and they hired us to play. By then we'd "augmented" our set list with such classics as House of the Rising Sun (easy) and our awful, underpowered version of Purple Haze and Crosstown Traffic (with one singer, keep in mind).

Despite the inauspicious beginning, we stuck together for nearly 7 years including being a well known local act (as in worked 3 - 4 nights every week) for the final 4 years.

Originally we had no name and that remained true even after we'd done a couple paid parties for people our age. But one day, the drummer's dad came down, listened for a while and said "Boys, you know that sounds just like garbage" ... and it stuck. Garbage that is, though we used the Greek word for it (scarbittia) as an inside joke.

My first real band was called Silver Rock, in about 1972. I dragged my dad into the music store to show him the Sunburst Strat on the wall I wanted. He huddled with my uncle, the salesman, and made they made a deal in a red Coronado II. Try doing Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Black Oak Arkansas on that! Played our first gig outside at the Drummer's dad's resort. The singer did the entire set with his back to the audience!

What a great time it was!

Barbed Wire Ballet. hey it was 1979. played anything. well played is probably a bit optimistic. fun tho.

patrick
auckland nz

The first band I was part of was because I had a guitar, a bass, and amps.
We jammed a few times.
But I went away over the summer, and they found someone else with better gear and who was a better guitarist.

That's okay--the personality clashes wouldn't have worked that well.

The first band I was in that actually played in public was when taking lessons.
Three bands lost members at the last minute, so we were put together from three bands, and had very little practice, and only had one hour with everybody together.

If we'd been pros, that may have worked, but since we were newer players--it was a disaster.
My strap knob few off just before we started and I borrowed a guitar for the performance--and I sucked. I still cringe a little when I hear the songs we played--well the real versions.

It took a while before I could even stand to listen to them.

But it was a great learning experience.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

In 1987 we started a band called "Alexis Machine." Tight jeans, ripped shirts, leather jackets with chains and a couple of guys even teased their hair. Yep, you guessed it, we were glam rock. The best thing about that time was the girls in lace.

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!

my first band was a blues/rock/jam band. kinda pyscadelic (spellin?) three piece with some friends from high school. we put on our own shows at small concert halls, and played small clubs. the clubs were funny cuz we were too young to be in the bar so we had to sit in the green room till we played and then after our set finished we had to pack up and wait outside to collect. we all learned alot, and grew. it was probably the only band i've been in where everyone respected everyone else's playing ability because we were always trying to move forward. i moved to go to school and i guess everyone else decided they wanted to stop practicing. when i got back the bass player had pawned his bass and the drummer could hardly keep time. meanwhile i spent my time becoming a better guitarist so it hurt my feelings when we could't even make it through one song and had to borrow a bass from my dad. so i left. now i kind of go from band to band except i have one friend who i colaborate with quite often.

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"coretta" '71 tele thinline
"domino" '97 lonestar strat
"marie" squire strat
"lexy" jag-stang
"owa" martin 000

tone=fingers; fingers=tone