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Where did it begin for you?


britheguy

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I'm sitting here looking at various posts on here as you do.

 

This might have been covered before but I've not seen it....so how did it start for you? I mean the playing of a musical instrument?

 

For me it was a longish drawn out thing. When I was about 12-13 I remember my uncle coming into the house with Gibson SG. He must have been excited about it, but I didn't understand GAS at the time. I remember him clearly placing the strap button against the old wardrobe door and struming away on it...the wardrobe was sort of acting as an amp. TBH I wasn't impressed.

 

A couple of year later he dropped off and old Yamaha Acoustic. this is mid 70's. So I started pinging out stuff. Smoke on the water on one strings was about it. No idea if it was tuned at it was always one string only business. I thought I was the mutts nuts when I played it in the fashion of 'Made in Japan' the live album. Then things started to take off. I was playing along to harmonies on records.....all on the one string of course. Then a pal showed me that you could move down or up a string instead of sliding up the same string several frets. Wow! Breakthrough. Next came Caroline by Quo. Bye this time I was really looking at guitars of my own. Really struggling to get money for a decent guitar......a Baldwin Galaxy or something I can't remember now, so an Audition from Woolies had to do. No money for an amp of course...so wardrobe door came back. Got fed up of that very quickly indeed. Also began to notice that the thing didn't sound right so it lay in the corner of the bedroom for ages. God know how long after that, but at least 3-4 years passed before my then girlfriends friend brought her boyfriend (her hubby) round. He saw the guitar picked it up and mucked about with it (I now know he was tuning it) and he strummed out Tangerine by Led Zep. I was amazed. Plus I could see the girls were impressed and I wanted some of that action. Still no amp though. So swapped the electric for a old 12 string, removed 6 strings and I started learning Tangrine from him, and a few other.

The rest they say is history. 

 

How was it for you?

 

PS. Sorry if this has been done before.

Edited by britheguy
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Started when I was 12 or something, was always listening to my neighbour play every time I walked past his house as he sung at the same time, so I begged and begged for a guitar for Christmas and I got some cheap thing from asda, my first proper song was the eagles hotel California (one of my favourites) from there on I kept playing on got involved in a few bands and that. So it goes on.

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A friend at school taught me how to play Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd when I was about 13 or 14 (twenty years ago FFS!). I'd never been interested in learning guitar that much but that showed me that it wasn't all that hard to pick up the basics.

 

Borrowed an old acoustic from an auntie to try and see if I would keep at it then got a Squier Strat for Christmas.  Took lessons for a while and then spent a lot of time in a friend's garage with a couple of mates learning Metallica and Megadeth songs for the next few years.  Great fun.

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My dad played guitar when I was little, so I guess that was my introduction to it. I did play piano to a pretty decent level as a kid but I gave up when I was about 11 and I really wasn't interested in playing anything until I heard "Nevermind" by Nirvana when I was 14. Recognising that I was beginning to show a real interest in music (and cast an eye toward his acoustics), my dad took me guitar shopping in AC Yules in Peterhead and let me pick out a sunburst Tanglewood strat copy, which I loved to death and played for hours every day, (and which my nephew is currently learning to play on 20 years later). I took lessons from a guy in the Broch, gave him a copy of Nevermind and asked him to teach me to play the whole album, and that was me hooked.

Edited by Lucky Rathen
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Started off with the rents forcing me to piano lessons for about 5 years, but the whole time i was at primary school i wanted to try the drums, but i wasnt allowed because i already played piano. As soon as i got to secondary school i ditched piano for drums and been playing ever since. I taught myself basic guitar out of a book as well somewhere along the line. 

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My dad was in a folk band for forty years, so my whole childhood was entrenched in music.

 

He maintains that I was playing a Bontempi organ that he'd shoved in front of me from high-chair age, and that encouraged my parents to send me to piano lessons aged five. Took up the violin two years later through school lessons.

 

Taught myself bass and what little guitar I can manage by ear around age 14, when I joined ma pals in 10EW.

 

THE REST (as they say) IS HISTORY

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**** SHAGGY DOG STORY ALERT ****

 

I played recorder at primary school.  I bought a guitar from Bruce Millers in my teenage years, an Epiphone Special II like this one:

 

epiphone_lespaul_special_ii_popup.png

Didn't really "get it" though.  Puddled about with it on and off for a few years but eventually realised guitar was not for me.  Or I was too lazy at the time.  Or didn't get good enough, quick enough to maintain my interest.  And a hundred other excuses.

 

Years later (circa 2003) I bought a bass in Bruce Millers.  I can't really explain why.  I just saw this Epiphone EB-3 on the wall and thought to myself "that's bonnie, I think I'll get that".  So in order not to make a total arse of myself, I scurried home, learned the bass to "Peaches" by The Stranglers on the bottom four strings of my unloved and neglected Special II then headed back to BM for a try.  Didn't really know what I wanted from a bass yet, but I found I could play it (and it was a lot easier to play a bass line on a bass, funnily enough) so I went for it.

 

559d2788-6d50-4873-98a9-f2609a39df44.jpgThe day I got it home, I was sitting down playing it and didn't notice that I was standing on the lead.  Stood up and gave the jack socket a hefty yank.  Cracked the lacquer around the socket.  Bollocks, guess I'm keeping this then.

 

I puttered about on it for a while, pick it up, have a noodle, put it down.  Found out what GAS is and swapped around a few basses.  Made my first bitsa bass.  I eventually got off my butt in late 2008, did a quick turn at an open mic, played in a hastily ska/2-tone covers band for a birthday party (a week before my wedding) and joined Panda Eyes in early 2009.  Mostly got off my butt because Jayne kicked my butt off the chair and into doing something useful.  Instruments are not ornaments, as she so rightly pointed out.

 

Still playing, still loving it, still getting better, still buying basses.

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Are we talking about playing or just listening, this being music discussion?

 

Either way, I wasn't interested in music much until I was in early teens (unlike some of my heroes, or people in this thread, who've been listening and playing longer than they can remember), at which point it was late '90s nu-metal and pop punk, which all my friends were listening to. Slightly later I got into U2, and probably Stereophonics and whatever MOR rock was popular at the time, and from there into '80s, and then into all the usual classic rock suspects: I was a huge Dylan fan from about 16 on (though it didn't impact my playing much). Since every other guy seems to have mentioned his Dad: mine died when I was 15, and it didn't bother me (or much since) but I did regret it mildly when I started getting into all his music a couple of years later.

 

I had a few other friends getting into Jimi Hendrix, buying Squier strats and so forth, and I got a Les Paul copy, inspired mainly by U2 and Led Zeppelin. Jack White on Elephant was probably my other biggest early influence, as well as Nirvana and whatever I could actually play - usual suspect classic riffs, RATM etc. I then just kept learning more and more muso stuff and thus killing my chances of ever actually playing with other people :D

Edited by scottyboy
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My sister got a guitar for Christmas. Typical sibling jealousy made me want one. A year later, I got some no-name electric guitar. I piddled about with it, but didn't really know what I was doing. I hated it. Guitars were stupid. My fingers were terrible. All I had to learn from was a book, and books were stupid too. I can't remember what kind of guitar it was, or what happened to it.

 

 A few years later, I got given the guitar my sister got, as she didn't take to it, and opted for keyboards instead. It was some massive classical acoustic guitar. It was so uncomfortable to hold and play, but it started to click a little. I had a Green Day calendar on my wall, and in every photo of Billie Joe, he was making the same chord shape. I copied it. It was a powerchord, obviously. It sounded garbage on a classical acoustic, but I stuck at it, learned a couple more chords from the aforementioned STUPID book. I slowly got better, until the godawful flimsy classical acoustic broke. So I got one of these:

 

10038081_0.jpg

 

Straight outta Argos. Even though I had two guitar previous, I still consider this my first guitar, and I still have it. It's currently in the loft at my Dads house, sporting a fucking awful EVH Frankenstein paint-job attempt, and an EMG81 in the bridge, and the other pickups ripped out, covering the cavity in duct tape, and painted over.

 

6 months after getting that guitar, I started a band with some friends. All I knew was powerchords. We were bad.

 

Between then and now, I've gotten slightly better, at best. I still haven't had a lesson. I've pinched chords from watching other people play. I've discovered chords just from fretting strings and seeing what it sounds like. I don't know any scales. If it sounds good, it sounds good. I think I'm pretty good at writing riffs, even though I can't explain the theory behind it. It works for me, as I'm not really taking it all that serious. It's a half-arsed hobby at the most.

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If we're talking bands and how we started off in that side of things then my first band was me and 2 other guys covering 2 manics songs for a lunch time school thing we used to run for charity every year, they needed a drummer, i was in the room at the time and boom. I then went into an absolutely terrible punk band with Ryan Massie called "Situation 187" we lasted one gig before we all fell out with Ryan, and replaced him with a second bass player and a chick singer and re-named as Paralisys, (spelt incorrectly on purpose). We got asked to leave the malt mill stage after 3 songs during our first ever gig which prompted my dad to get banned from there for having a few choice words with the barman. 

 

From there me and the old man started a cover band with a few guys at school, 15 years later we are still playing gigs from time to time. After a while in the cover band i moved out of my parents house into a flat on Urqhuart Road, and just by chance bumped into Ryan in the chipper and he mentioned he was playing a gig, went a long, got back speaking to Ryan properly again and he wanted to start an Emo band lost. Started drumming in that for him, someone left point, i cant remember which drummer they were on at that point, probably Ross, so i took up the point drumming duties and left lost for Dan to drum instead. 

 

Eventually lost Ryan to the rock and me bob and dan did stayover for a few years, inbetween i also moonlighted for Baby Karma for a few months with Bigsby. Stayover died off and i moved onto playing in Kenetic with the much hated miss lucid members, we all lived together and did the band together, so after a while we naturally fell out and it disbanded. Ended up in a band again with Bob and Kai this time called Albyn School for Girls, we played a few gigs, then Kai went to jail so it fell apart. My last outting was in Celo Rosso, which might have actually been the best band of the lot, but sadly it never worked out like it really should have.

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I have always been in a musical family so came natural. I originally started with drums when I was around 7 or 8 but my dad had a guitar, so I started to get interested in that. He can still only play 2 songs after all these years, oh Diana and house of the rising sun. Getting my first guitar at 11 was quite funny. My mum and dad were divorced and didn't really like each other. My mum bought me a good old encore for Xmas but no amp. My dad being my dad and not liking my mum, went out and bought me a 100 watt Marshall just because he knew I couldn't play but damp I could make noise. I still want my dad's guitar now. It's a hofner senator from the 60s.

I had a few random lessons from a teacher and in school but found as most do the old scale thing boring so went alone to learn songs. I then met a guy who is now a good mate of mine who started to teach me but this guy was so good I used to just watch him play rather than learn anything. He is still my idol now. He has no desire to show his talent but this guy should be out on the road with Guthrie Govan and Co, he's that good.

Only thing annoys me is I was a far better guitarist when I was 16-18 than I am now. Used to play all my rock stuff, van Halen, extreme, Mr big anyone quite easily. Now I play chords with some random solos.

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It was meant as 'how did you start playing' but liking the other bits.

My sisters were 13 & 10 years older than me and they had a fair few 7" singles lying around that I listened to when I was old enough.

I first remember listening to stuff like Cash and Kristofferson as my (guitar playing) uncle used to try and play their stuff...especailly Cash. I remember him having the live album (San Quentin) and it's blue cover.....I thought it was cool. He also like Simon and Garfunkel and would listen to Bridge over troubled water for ages. He would make everyone that came ot his house sit in front of his B&O music centre and listen to the car going across the speakers in Baby Driver. First album I bought was on holiday to Northampton to my sisters. We went to the supermarket (I had never seen such a big shop) and I ended up buying a 'Tribute to Johnny Cash'. I can't remember who sang on it but it wasn't Mr Cardno :) although AC would have made a better job. I think it was 99p

Second album was S&G BOTW (see above) third one was Tubular Bells.

So between my uncle, sisters, brother in laws and neighbours my early memories are of above and Irish Ballads (BIL) and Frank Sinatra (doonstairs neighbour on a Sunday morning).

In early 70's it was Slade, Sweet, Bowie, then Quo and then Deep Purple, then some punk and then a jump to 2 tone later on.

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Just been thinking about how I went from playing Metallica covers in a mate's garage to being in a band.  While a lot of my friends played guitar none of them have ever really gone on to be in gigging bands doing their own stuff.  Fuck knows why, two of them were lightyears ahead of me in terms of ability. One did go on to study music and played in covers and weddings bands for a while but that was all.  Always struck me as a waste.

 

I think in 98 or 99 when I was 18 I tried answering a few adverts in R&B and then ended up jamming Black Sabbath songs with Paul Sammat in the old Captain Tom's on Dee Street.  Then both of us got involved with Pete Harper and Red By Choice (don't think Sammat was originally involved with this but joined later). Spent a year writing the music for the set then got sacked after the first gig in Exodus and watched every man and his dog go through that band's lineup before it inevitably imploded.

 

Kept writing music and got Dos Dedos together after a year or so. Great 3 years during what was a pretty fun time to be in a band in Aberdeen. Lots going on and seemed like everyone was on the same page. Drakes, Dr Drakes, Glow/Lava/Kef, The Palace all saw more of me than my home in that time. Kind of petered out a bit in the end and everyone quit after a shitty gig playing to nobody. Did have a few jams with some of the guys after that to do something else but it was done.

 

Next up was spending fucking ages trying to get a metalcore band off the ground with Phil Alkaline and others.  Fuck knows what happened but it just never got any momentum.  Eventually killed that after yet another drummer disaster without playing a single gig.

 

Think 1864 In Art followed directly after that. 2 or 3 gigs. Pretentious as fuck but good fun.  Post rock with annoying (for Martin) time signatures. Again lost momentum after a member left (bassist this time) and never quite got going again. Shame as there was some good ideas being worked on before it stopped.

 

Next few years I started writing some proper solo songs and was getting seriously into folk and trad by this point. Also spent a couple of months getting an alt-rock band up and running in a Tomahawk style but again it was struggling for momentum. Didn't feel like it was working so when I was asked to help out with Das McManus I knocked it on the head.  With me leaving Das at the end of last year that's us up to date.

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I'm sitting here looking at various posts on here as you do.

 

How was it for you?

 

PS. Sorry if this has been done before.

Epic thread ;)

Sometimes I cant remember, but an outline;

I was forced to take piano lessons as a 6/7 year old, absolutely hated it, I didn't get a choice, eventually got to give up when the family moved to aberdeen, fast forward to age 10/11 the school was offering guitar lessons, and we had a spanish acoustic in the house which I took along, I was totally dismayed when they started teaching "Daddy's Taking Us To The Zoo Tomorrow", I gave up immediately....

Got hooked up with a real guitar tutor about age 12/13 and he was an epic player, but taught "classical", so I just slacked it and eventually lost interest, My dad was playing full time paying our mortgage, so wtf, music, too normal....too ordinary.

My dad took a synth home to test from Brian Middletons shoppie, I sneaked a shot when he was out, and it blew up!!! WTF!!!  I was terrified of the consquences, but he never found out it was me wot broke it....

Later in my early teens I did try jamming the guitar again, but couldnt get it. Didnt matter, no ambition anyway, Then late teens, punk rock made low skill music popular... I got a shot of an SG copy, and jammed some UK Subs stuff with some guys fae Kincorth.... Never a real band, just garages and youth clubs,... Fast forward to mid twenties, and I found myself lying in the boneward with my guitar arm minced, and all I wanted to do was play, play music, my head was flooded with tunes, from rock to orchestral and everything in between, I simply couldn't switch it off. I had to buy a synth, I had to learn play and record these tunes,

I was in between bone ops, and living in student flats, art students.. heads full of dreams, and lots of music, I got asked to join Worser Than Louis, and then Hotlips formed, It got too intense, my head was spinning, I moved out of town to the highlands,

I played in a couple of awful bands, and a steady band, after years I moved back to town and joined an aberdeen band, they almost got famous after being on TV and then they split up, I've done solo stuff since then, recorded whole albums even, but I'm not chasing rainbows, I wanted this year to be different, to get some improving happening, but so far I've been dogged by depression, so I'm just taking it easy as far as music goes, no sweat, no rush, no hunger.

Still a good thread though :)

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1981 (I was 15) - our Geography teacher started a lunchtime guitar class using the schools yamaha acoustics, we learnt House of the rising sun and a few other standards. 1982, first gig at the end of school disco, I borrowed my uncles Kay LP copy and an amp, we played 6 songs, Teenage Kicks and London Calling being the 2 best ones (I still play them but hopefully a bit better now)! The valleys of wales rocked that night and I got lucky with a local lass, great gig ;)

 

Due to work/travel I never played again till 1987, then I returned to the UK and joined a band playing around Bristol, bought my first proper guitar, a Gordon Smith GS1 (bit like an LP Junior). After that I was hooked, in and out of bands, solo projects ever since. Always played for fun, no plans to give up the day job :)

Edited by DavetheRave
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Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my Mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch, I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

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The timing of this thread is rather coincidental, as it occurred to me the other day that  I got my first guitar when I was 12 and I'm now 24; so I've spent half of my life playing instruments.

 

I got my first guitar as a Christmas present, it was a squier strat starter pack with a wee 10 watt amp. My brother got a drum kit a short while after so we starting playing music together, and this got me really excited to form a band. None of my friends played instruments or had any interest in learning to play though, so I had to wait until I was 15 to find other musicians to play with. I met some like minded individuals in music classes at school who I formed Marionettes with, and we still play together 9 years on. Since then, I've been much more focussed on writing music as opposed to the technical aspect of playing, which isn't really a regret but I should definitely be far more technicially proficient for somebody who's been playing for over a decade.

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