I got my 1st guitar for my 10th birthday in 1964 after seeing the Beatles on TV in Feb 64 and asked for a guitar for my birthday in March.I didn't start seriously learning until 12 (completely self taught)and was into the Beatles big.When I 1st heard Jimi that's when the guitar became an obsession 8-10 hrs a day and that kept up for years,I hardly took time for anything else.I played my 1st paying gig at 15 and gigged until my back gave out in the 90s the income generated by gigging on top of my day job allowed me to build up a sizeable collection of guitars.The arthritis in my hands prevents me from gigging these days and it's painful(very) to play but I do daily anyway.Within the next few weeks I hope to start on new meds that will combat the arthritis and with any luck I can start gigging again and feed my GAS and A5S habits.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Let's see.

I always wanted to play guitar--don't know why--I just always did.

I got a plastic guitar that was actually pretty decent--six strings--properly spaced "frets" (Bumps in the plastic) And a tuning record. This was Christmas when I was 6. It broke a couple of times when my brother stepped on it--and wound up as garbage.

A couple of years later I embarked on three years of piano lessons--which I enjoyed, but I knew one day I'd be learning guitar. I see this period as a detour, not as a piano player who switched to guitar, but a guitar player who detoured through piano. Still it was a good experience overall.

Then I tried for a year to teach myself--I bought a cheap K-Mart acoustic. the only guitar I ever sold, and I don't miss it. My parents bought me some picks and a couple of books.

That didn't work out so well, as I had trouble tuning and no way of knowing if I was doing things correctly, and I decided to ask my parents to take lessons.

During this time I met others who played different instruments as well.

I started off with learning the notes and basics on a classical--playing with my thumb, and for Christmas I got a classical guitar--I was ecstatic. That teacher though soon moved out of the city to train making guitars. I took classical for a couple of years. That second teacher stopped teaching, and I switched to a music school that focused on electrics--so I got Les Paul copy and later a bass (EB-3 copy) as bass was a pre-requisite to being in a band--although I only ever played rhythm guitar on any of the bands--which I liked.

The bands were a variety of quality--culminating in a real good one my last year. I also was trying to start bands with friends, but none ever amounted to much, other than fun--which is cool, and a few demos done on home recorders-some of them multi-track.

I later got a variety of other guitars paid for by various jobs.

I taught for a few years as well, and saw highs and lows.

Now I play for fun at home, and every now & then get to jam or play at Church.

I'm trying to learn slide better, and plan on modding my old LP copy to dedicate it to open G.

Most recently I got an Ibanez Artcore Archtop--not a top of the line, but not bottom eitehr, and a G-Dec Jr--because it's fun.

I play because it's fun, it's relaxing, and I enjoy it.

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

I started when I was about 14 at school, but never really took it seriously. Id pick a guitar up and play a few chords but that was it really.
At 17 I had a guitar and amp so I thought it was best I had some lessons. I learned all kinds of stuff like blues, flemenco picking, various songs to help in different areas of playing like bach bouree, r.e.ms everybody hurts etc. I was also heavily into punk music in various styles so I learnt alot of those songs. I am kinda glad I did now as although there wasn't much lead at all it helped my rythm a ridiculous amount. By this point I was hooked.
I also like things like metallica, ozzy and nirvana and wanted to explore those styles more so I did. Shortly after 2 years I gave up on guitar lessons and have been teaching myself. I got into a crazy amount of music and styles and several people really inspired me to be better and better like john 5 for example.
Now I learn songs that I want to and use youtube, magazines, the internet and books to help take my playing further. Its amazing how many people can influence your playing. Now my main influences are sstill john5, jerry cantrell, graham coxon, lenny kravitz, Jim Root, michael jackson, kim thayil and chris cornell. Not just as guitarsts (except mj) put as performers and songwriters aswell. There are hell of alot of people and things i take influence from but those are the main ones.
Since 14 aswell as teaching myself I have performed in bands which also helped alot as a guitarist, siniger and songwriter aswell as a person. Hopefully soon I will be able to resurrect a new band and do that

Hope that didnt bore you to much as there is a lot of waffle!

I started out three years ago, now; bought the worst instrument I could, an incredibly cheap Wal-Mart special (the classic black Strat knockoff) complete with cat-in-the-box amplifier. I fumbled along with that for a little while, teaching myself from method books, and then bought myself a nice classical guitar. Once I did that, I started taking private lessons.

That helped immensely. It taught me my way around the neck, and how to use my fingers instead of a pick (I'm a lefty, and learned righty; it took me ages to get a feel for the pick). Most importantly, it ensures that I practice daily, so that I don't make a fool of myself in my weekly lessons! I can't stress enough how much lessons have helped. Yes, they cost money every month, and it adds up over time. But I've learned so much. A good teacher is priceless.

I still take those lessons, and also have better electric gear to mess around with: a nice semi-hollowbody, a Jazz bass, and a good tube amp. Along the way, I upgraded the pickups on my first guitar, and had it set up professionally, and it's become a real player.

I'm just a bedroom player right now, unfortunately, but I've been writing and learning lots of my own original material, and I'd like to start playing out soon. Hopefully that's the next step.

im kinda the same way..... except for NEW 'rap' and hip hop..... which has no business being called rap, because all the do is scream T*TS, SEX, and CRACK through a voice synth and call it a song..... i dont much like this odd soft rock kinda thing either (i mean like jason mraz and train type stuff..... i think thats what passes as rythem and blues now )

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

I got my first guitar, a home made job, from my grandfather when I was 8, after seeing my first concert....KISS. I still have the guitar....I have no idea how I stuck to it...it's impossible to play.

I started taking lessons in the mornings at school, before classes. This was back when every school had music programs, but don't get me started on that. Then I moved to lessons at a music store, and got my first store bought guitar and amp. A Lotus Les Paul copy and a Holmes 25 watt amp with "Saturation" (that's fuzzy distortion). With that gear, I played my first live gig, a junior high talent show, in the 7th grade. Just me and a drummer, playing the intro to every song we knew for about 2 minutes.

from there I started playing school dances, biker bars by the age of 15, Air Force Base clubs by 17, and then the road; almost every dive bar in Texas on weekends and summers

I moved to Dallas in the late 80's and shared the stage with some amazing musicians. Delivering pizza and living on couches to keep the dream alive. Finally ending up in music retail. From there, I was lucky enough to make friends and not burn bridges, that led me to work for Fender. Since 2003, I've been spreading the word, and playing as much as possible.

I'm now 41, I've been playing live since I was 13, and have toured all over the world with my guitar. I've bought, sold, traded, pawned, and re-bought over 40 guitars in my life. Now I tend to hold onto them a little longer.

My current favorite piece of gear: my Custom Shop 64 Strat and my Gretsch Playboy amp

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Emery Fry
Product Education Manager
Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

Now THAT's a great journey!

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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!

Cool story, yes a great teacher really does help alot.

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riley

Haha, thanks!! I like yours better than mine, though.

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

Haha, yes, I COMPLETELY agree with you on that one!! And this supposed "genre" called "screamo"? I mean....seriously?
All they do is screech obscenities into the mic while they're almost drowned out by the never-ending distorted power chords and the drummer is having a seizure on those damn cymbals, and, BAM!! It's a new genre!!

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

yer i dont like songs that scream all the way through and you can understand a word there saying....

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riley

Thats funny, cause as i said on MSN i have a squier strat and an epiphone SG.
No luck in finding the lefty mustang you want

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riley

Thats funny, cause as i said on MSN i have a squier strat and an epiphone SG.
No luck in finding the lefty mustang you want, but I'll keep looking.

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riley

I only started playing six weeks ago. am 38 now. always had photography as a balance to work but with work becoming more time consuming and with only the weekends left my eye got lazy.

I always loved dire straits since first hearing them in the early 80s. my daughter had an old yamaha accoustic lying around so I thought of taking up guitar. one week later I had my first lesson and was immediately obsessed with it.

now I can't decide if I prefer the early strat dire straits or the later les paul sound that has also found it's way into some of knopfler's solo work