I was thinking about how I got into this world and I'd love to share it with the forum as well as learning how you guys got into the guitar world. If you have time, how about telling your guitar story and reading others?

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At the age of 15 I started watching "The Simpsons" a lot. It was my favorite show at that time. Inspired by Lisa Simpson I started looking at saxophones. After watching videos on YouTube I fell in love with the sound that instrument makes, so I asked my parents if I could learn to play it and they said yes. A couple months passed by and when I had enough money, I bought my saxophone and started taking lessons on May 2010.

As time went by, I started playing with friends and discovering new instruments such as the guitar. One day, two friends that play guitar came over and we were improvising some blues. My mom was listening to the sounds we were making and she fell in love with the guitar sound. This was around December 2010. I raised enough money to buy my first guitar and amplifier. On July 2011 I went to the music store and came home with my beloved Epiphone "Ebony" SG and my adored Roland Cube. I grew such love for the guitar sound and the blues tone I was hearing from the greats hat I wanted more and more out of the guitar and out of my playing.

There was a problem, though. Around November 2011 I discovered that I wasn't playing my guitar. I wanted something different, something that would be a better fit for my personality. Luckily, I had some money that my family gave me from my birthday in October 2011 and from my summer jobs. I searched the internet for the guitar that would suit me and I started loving the Stratocaster after watching Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Jeff Beck play live. When I saw the arctic white with maple neck I said to myself: "That is me, right there." On December 2011, 3 days after Christmas day, I bought my mexican Fender "Ivory" Stratocaster. I was so happy that I found my musical personality that I couldn't let go of it. Since then, I've been playing around 7 hours a day and always pushing myself harder everyday.

I hope you liked it and I'd love to read your story!

Cheers,

Rod

Very cool story, Rod...I will add mine later!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

my older cousin had a global strat copy guitar and sears amp. at that time he was more of an older brother than a cousin and i wanted to be just like him. he never played it at all and wanted to sell it. i begged my mom to buy it for me. at the time she worked 2 jobs after my dad left. well, she bought the guitar for me and made me promise that i would learn to play. i took 1 free lesson at the community center and the teacher quit. i got my hands on a mel bay bok and started learning basic chords. then it all happened.........
my older sisters boyfriend gave me a box of albums. yes, albums. ac/dc, black sabbath, deep purple, judas priest etc. then i dumped the mel bat book and learned barre chords.
the rest is history. my mom still smiles every time i play george strait for her.

oh yeah. i worked a whole summer hauling hay (age 14) to buy a MXR distortion plus.

edit. mel bay not mel bat. sorry mel.

Screamin Armadillo, I'll be glad to read it..!

Jeebus, that's a very nice story, man! I admire a lot the effort and sacrifice we make in order to get what we want. Working extra hours, raising money to buy a pedal, a new amp, a new guitar. And the satisfaction we get with a new toy is priceless.

None of my parents are musicians, so for them, when I decided to buy my second guitar I constantly heard "Why do you need two guitars for?". I never know how to give a well structured answer, but I always say that because one has humbuckers and the other has single coils, I have a wider range of musical styles that I can play.

I've been talking to my parents about pedals and "add-ons" to my gear and they don't understand why I need a TS-9 or Texas Specials or even why I plan to buy a Fender tube amp because the sound quality is better. They see it as a waste of money while I see improvements and investments.

I'm still 17 years old, so I still have a lot of time (if I don't get run over by a bus) to earn my money and buy whatever I want by myself. Although receiving things as presents is nice, nothing can compare to the satisfaction of buying whatever you want with the money you earned from hours of working.

Picked up a Hondo 6-string acoustic and a chord chart when I was in High School - after some off and on frustration trying to learn guitar in earlier years.
Landed a job as a janitor at the Lowell Federal Building where I'd arrive at 7:00 am to open the doors and turn either the heat or air conditioning on... then I'd sit in my basement dungeon waiting for someone to spill a cup of coffee upstairs until 5:00 pm.
Then I'd buff the floors and shine the brass 'til 9:00pm.

I took the daytime hours in the dungeon as my opportunity to learn guitar - songs from beginning to end, you know, not just the opening riffs to songs like "25 or 6 to 4" or "Smoke on the Water"... Actually learned "Mood For A Day" from a Yes songbook (not perfectly, still have a hard time with that run at the beginning). I'd get songbooks and songsheets, all with the finger charts for the chords. I played every day... all day... and I'm sure like many others around here, my fingers cramped, cracked, and bled all over the place. But I'd tape them up and keep on playing. (It was a VA clinic so there were plenty of bandages and medical tape in the storage closet.)

Then I went to college and met my life-long friend larry. That was Sept. 1976. Larry had a 1975 Telecaster that he bought brand new the previous year.
Larry still has the tele and we still play together whenever the opportunity arises... Man that's a nice guitar!

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I played flute in Junior High, and around that time my Dad picked up the bass and started playing again. I was also really getting into rock then and even though I loved Jethro Tull, I played classical flute so I had no idea how to improvise. Plus, I loved the sound of the electric guitar much more than flute overall. Since my Dad had a Jazz Bass, and I thought it looked cool, I opted for a Strat as my first guitar. I got a purple Squier Affinity Strat which I still play and love.

I didn't really start playing seriously until a couple of years after I got my guitar, and by the time I learned a couple of songs I was hooked. My favorite thing about it was that I could make up songs and improvise, something I never learned playing classical flute. I've been playing guitar six years now, and I'm never going to stop.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
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My first guitar was purchased from a drinking buddy who had purchased a Kramer Ferrington acoustic and needed the money to cover the hot check he just wrote (remember the days when you could write a check and then had to race to the bank to cover the overdraft?)

It was a Fender F250 acoustic, which I still own and play regularly. The next evening he came over to my house (I was still living with my parents then) and taught me four chords (three of them wrong...and I still play those three chords wrong, unless I think about it).

I bought my second guitar (first electric) from the same guy, under basically the same circumstances. He bought a G&L Rampage with hot pickups and a Kahler Floyd-like vibrato, but didn't have the money to cover the check, so he sold his 1980 G&L F100 to me. Two days later, he realized he made a mistake and wanted to buy it back, but there was nothin' doin' in that regard...I still have that G&L to this day, and he still asks me to sell it to him every time he sees me. Ain't happening.

I bought my first amp from him, too; a solid state Gibson G-20 with a broken  reverb tank and a killer vibrato/tremolo/whatever. $25 and three beers is what I gave him for it.

Since then there have been a couple dozen different guitars and a handful of amps to pass through my hands--some have stayed, some have gone away, but I remember them all...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

My story is pretty simple....my older brother who was my hero had an acoustic guitar. He said if I wanted to hang out with him and his buddies I had to learn a song. While he would go to his job at the local pizza place I would practice "new Kid In Town" by the Eagles until I knew it down cold. I played it for him and well...I was hooked. I always loved Fenders, however my folks got me a Gibson LP Custom for my 16th birthday. I never bonded with that guitar. I eventually sold it and after a 15 year layoff my Awesome wife bought me a Fender Strat then a bunch of Teles and more Strats. Needless to say I am a Fender guy...guitars and amps. I do have an Epiphone Dot and Gretsch G5120 but time after time I go for my Fenders!
ABS

I found myself in the Fender area as well in both guitars and amps. However, I do plan to own a Gibson ES-335 or a Gibson Lucille.

Back around 1962, one of my friend's had a brother that played guitar
in a well known local group. We'd see all of the pretty females hanging
around whenever they were rehearsing. When they finished, we'd use
their gear and try to learn what we saw them playing.

Eventually we learned a few songs and got a band together and
started playing for free anywhere that people asked us to. One thing
led to another and several years later I replaced my friend's brother
in the band that we originally used to listen to. He was just tired of
playing in a roadband and living out of a suitcase. We'd go on 'roadtrips'
in an old school bus and be gone for months at a time playing 7 nights
a week with a matinee at some venues. It was a band
that was booked full-time and we did a lot of miles in that old bus. I
saved just about every contact that I made while with that band for
about 8 years and then decided to start my own band doing the same
thing for another 12 years or so.

After too many years on the road and more stories than you
would ever believe (you learn and see a lot of things on the road!) I
decided to pack it in and only play 3-4 nights a week in a newly formed
band where I didn't have to sing all of the songs. I still play a few gigs
here and there and host, co-host and attend jams and open mic nights,
but medical issues have somewhat restricted me these days. I still love playing
both 'live' and enjoy home recording where I've had some success at
writing tunes and jingles. I have some scrapbooks loaded with all kinds of
'stuff' from my years on the road.

If I was just starting out now with all of the recording gear and tools
available to learn how to play, write and record, I'd choose that direction instead
of playing in 'roadbands', but I don't regret what I've learned about performing
and not just playing & singing.

Take care!

edited to add - My first guitar was a 50s Les Paul TV model that I stripped the
ugly yellow from and later traded it for a 60s Tele. I used that until '73 when
I bought a new Stratocaster (like Jimi's).

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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!

Lovely story, Mike!

You grew up and played during the years that everybody liked the music that was being played. I'm 17 today and I can't find a single person in my school or anywhere else that wants to start a blues and rock band. Everyone my age is turned to house music, techno music, dubstep and the new pop stuff together with all the computer generated music. The magic and satisfaction of playing the blues and going crazy with rock is gone, mate. At least here in Portugal with people around their teen years.

I won't give up, though. There must be at least one bass player and a drummer that wants to start something along the lines of Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, ZZ Top, Muddy Waters, Def Leppard, Slade, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kiss, Led Zep, Queen and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Hope is the last to die.

Many many years ago in a world far far away...the 60's...I was in High School.
The Beatles and the Stones and The Who and Hendrix were the heroes of the day and of course any red-blooded American boy wanted to be just like them.

So I bought a guitar, took lessons, studied hard and got pretty good. Went to College and was introduced to the wonders of modern chemistry, at the time. Joined a band with some others and we played bars, clubs, birthday parties, bar-mitzvahs (sp), just about any excuse to play. We were having a ball.

Fast forward to mid -70's...got married. Met her at a gig we were playing..she was fine with me playing. Still having fun and then couple of things happened...(1) a new music came on the scene, disco. All of a sudden no one wanted RnR.."can you play any disco?" Nope. Don't want to. Member of the band said we should learn a few tunes...I couldn't stand the music myself and was dead-set against playing it. Though I did cave in to trying one song, "Play that Funky Music White Boy" Man I hated playing it...same band member wanted to bring in a girl singer to do Donna Summer tunes. Exit stage right for me...a few months later ....(2) my apartment gets broken into and my strat is stolen. Along with my amp. Crushed. Lost interest.

Forward to the 80's. Have kids. Buy a house. No money for guitars. Still a junkie for RnR however and buy stereo equipment and records and new fangled items called CD's. Acoustic guitar that I bought in College collects dust in the closet...Disco dies.

90's. Buy another house. First house is too small for growing family. Less money and Economic downturn ( Recession) and fear of losing job force me to put nose to grindstone for a few years.

Y2K. World is doomed to end because of date change. Doesn't happen. "Oh, we meant 2001 will be the year..." Still doesn't happen. Finally gaining some speed in the mid 2000s. Late 2008, diagnosed with rare Cancer. Undergo chemotherapy to shrink tumor, size of a paperback book, before surgery can be attempted. Chemo nearly kills me in body and mind. Very depressed after losing hair, sense of taste ( I love to cook ) and being told chemo is having little effect on tumor. Outlook grim. Continue Chemo. Surgery may not be successful I'm told. Oddly enough, others take the news far worse than me. Have to cheer them up. Take acoustic out of closet just to look at... Hey! Still remember some chords! Fingers hurt but the pain is better than what I'm feeling with the Chemo.

Tell my wife and kids, I'm going to buy an electric guitar and amp. Shocked look on faces but no one says "are you crazy?", well except me, on the inside. Chemo fails. Decision to do surgery anyway. Scheduled in 4 weeks. WTF, may as well turn loose on the guitar! Can't play for crap but those few chords on the strat with the amp cranked up to 10?? Lord have mercy, it sounds good to me! "Ah well, I'll go out of this world having fun!", says I.

Surgery. I live through it! Surgeon is very happy with outcome but explains that what I had done to me is much like open heart surgery. Incision starts at just about the neck-shoulder and runs down to a few inches above belly button. Chest cracked wide open! Also from center of chest and over right breast. Told surgeon "at least you could have done the same over left breast so my initial would be carved into my body!" Also told I need to do 6 weeks of Radiation therapy! Whoa! Wasn't ready for that. Recovery is very slow and painful but with the help of modern chemistry, again, I keep on going. My left arm and hand are numb for weeks.
Surgeon explains it may or may not go away with time..."How much time?" No easy answer. "But I just started playing guitar again!" Asked if I like playing guitar? "Yes!" Well keep trying to. It may help to heal you.

And it does. Takes months to slowly get better.
Join Fender Forum and 3 years after the surgery, I'm still here. Still numb but confined on ring finger of left hand now. Still play like crap. But those few chords on the strat with the amp cranked up to 10?? Lord have mercy, it sounds good to me!

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Don't feel bad...as a teen, SRV auditioned for more than one group when he was a kid, and was told (and I'm paraphrasing), "Quit playing blues and that Jimi Hendrix crap and you could be in the band..."

I am having a hard time finding people who want to play blues and classic rock, and I'm not narrowing myself down to a single age group (like teenagers); a lot of people think they don't like blues or that blues is just boring 12-bar I-IV-V progressions---they don't even give it a shot.

That's why my band says we play "Texas Roadhouse Music..."; we put enough yee-haw for the rednecks and enough heck-yeah for the rockers, and they don't even realize we've been playing blues all night long.

Stick to your guns, but be willing to bend a little--tell them you'll play some other stuff if they'll play some blues...then just play blues without telling them. They'll think you came up with some new crazy style.

It works for me when I sit in with country bands and rock bands and funk bands and even the odd metal group....

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Sears Silvertone, books that showed where to put your fingers for G-C-D, House of the Rising sun, Neil Young...

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Gary

Say, Tyronne,
"But those few chords on the strat with the amp cranked up to 10?? Lord have mercy, it sounds good to me!"

Now that sounds like it would fit well in a 3 or 4 chord number... (maybe use that 4th chord for the bridge)

Rock on, brother!

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