I thought it would be interesting to here some of your experiences and fond memories of your musically formative years. Here are a fue of mine to start.
As I was growing up as an Air Force Brat, I lived in Many cities around the world. I never realised it at the time, but certain ones were more musically enhanced than others. I think for me #1 would be Austin, Texas. It was the late 40's / early 50's. I think that was the time that I really became aware of music. At one time or another, all the country/western bands of the day, were playing somewhere in Austin. I think #2 would be Tacoma, Washington. It was 1955 and the beginning of the Rock'n'Roll phenomenon that was to sweep the land. At times it was almost as if I was right in the middle of it. We had The Spanish Castle, Parkers Ball Room, The Tacoma Armory, The Cristol Ball Room and many other venues. All the greats were there at one time or another. Those were wonderful times. The most exciting performance I ever saw was 'Jerry Lee Lewis' at the Spanish Castel. He was a wild man on stage. I cant remember who was on the bill with him. Like the guy said, "oh what a night".
----Danny,

I was 8 years old. My mother told me The Beatles were playing on Ed Sullivan that night. She showed me a picture of them in the newspaper....I thought they were a clown act.

Watched the show....and the rest is history. Easily my most important musical influence. Many others to follow, but they laid the foundation. I still don't like to get my hair cut!

I saw the Electric Mayhem in The Muppet Movie and thought "Wow, I want to be in a band."

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Rated "M" for meaty.

My mom and dad showed me so many live performances, biggest impact of those being The Ramones, my main influence on lyrical style, and playing style.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

my folks took me for lessons in the summer of 1960 (age 6). it was not the easiest decision. i come from a big polish family, and they wanted an accordian player. i am greatful that dad didn't listen

in 1966 they asked some of the students at mt school to play. four of us got together and practiced for about a month. they liked what they heard, and a month later our first gig was at a church picnic.

it took off from there. since we were underage to play bars, we played tons of weddings and private parties. we would make in 1 night what friend flipping burgers made in a week

our career lasted from 66 to 72, and we played all over, sometimes in front of thousands, including many city sponsored events. it was a wonderful time. we were on tv, in the papers, and it never went to our heads

now i just sit in with friends now and then. after 50 plus years, i still love playing

In the late '50s early '60s I watched my uncle and his band practice,then the Beatles came along and I started messing around with a second hand acoustic rescued from the attic by my grandfather,with a new set of Black Diamond strings and a Mel Bay chord book,I was on my way!
Most of my life has been spent within a 75 mile radius of Music City,USA,musicians are a dime a dozen here,it seems like every other person you meet is a guitar player.

Used to watch my three uncles who played in a band and they practiced in my grandparents garage and at 8 years old it was so cool to watch them. I started playing because of them and when my uncle took me to see Derek & The Dominos, that was it...really started practicing after seeing that and the rest is history...and whoa did my uncle catch crap for taking me to that concert from my grandma!

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

"Spanish Castle Magic"
This link is to a little history of the Seattle/Tacoma Music scene from the 30's untill 1968.
Back in the 60's if you had wheels you were there Friday Night's.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/bslSvOKe5Eo

http://www.historylink.org/_content/printer_friendly/pf_output.cfm?file_id=3826

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bk7RoHTiiqE

http://www.youtube.com/embed/rnWAGimxFhA

Sadly, I'm too young to have seen the Ramones in person, but I remember as a kid digging out my Dad's Ramones lps and listening to "Beat on the Brat" and "We're a Happy Family" on headphones over and over and over again. Then when I started playing guitar he pulled out his copy of "Are you Experienced" for me and it just blew my mind. I had been listening to the Chili Peppers' "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" a lot, but then when I really heard Hendrix, the guitar playing on that album made sense. I could see where it came from. "May this be Love" is still probably the most life-changing guitar song I've ever heard. Still blows my mind today.

I'm still a big vinyl record guy, partially I think because that's how I discovered a lot of the music that really first blew my mind; digging through my Dad's crates. Lou Reed, Led Zep, Elvis Costello - good stuff.

Gene Autry had the horse and guitar, always got the girl!!

That was for ME......

I was fortunate enough to have a pretty hip Vice-Principal in High School. I remember being in grade nine when we had Jon Lee and the Checkmates for our Sadie Hawkins Dance, then the next month we had this little band called Levon and The Hawks and the Christmas dance we had Mandala...boy we were pretty lucky

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Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'

levon and the hawks? is that the levon helm of "the band" fame?
maybe the name is just a coincidence-maybe not

Yes, the guys who eventually became The Band, started out with Ronnie Hawkins, toured without the Hawk as Levon and the Hawks, met Dylan a little later.

As a little aside, the new Rush dvd has a video of them playing while still in high school, pretty tight even then.

Traded in my trombone (actually pretty good at it) and got a POS six string after hearing The Beatles, just like the rest of us. Next guitar was a Harmony Stratotone, because my guitar teacher had one. He later bought a Custom Telecaster on my recommendation, exactly like mine.

Major time playing was the six string, and my greatest success was as a lead guitarist. Laid the Telecaster down after the band imploded, got married, had kids, sold all my gear, didn't pick up a guitar or bass for years.

Finally had enough, bought a bass and amp, now there's a collection, including a Strat.

I think I'm done now, thank you!

The seminal moment in my life in music was on the night of Feb9 1964 and 4 guys from Liverpool wowed me and jump-started a life long obsession with music and guitars.Talk about coincidence-just as I started typing this "It Won't Be Long" by the Beatles just came on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius-a providential occurance for sure.

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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.