What made you play guitar?

  • As a kid in the 60s with three older sisters I was exposed to all the British invasion stuff as well as the Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Ventures and all the AM pop. My dad had me join band in 5th grade and rented me a trombone. My arm was barely long enough to play the whole slide. I was terrible. I remember the teacher telling me my notes were off by an octave. What’s an octave? At the Christmas concert he pulled me aside and told me to just move the slide but don’t blow into the instrument. I was the Millie Vanilli of 5th grade band. I lasted half a term.


    I wanted to play the guitar. My mom had gifted my older sister a cheap Sears guitar but my sister didn’t take to it. So my mom bought it back from her (that means she actually bought that piece of crap guitar twice) and gave it to me so I could join 7th grade guitar class. It was a terrible guitar, smaller than everyone else’s, really a toy and I remember the teacher telling me that she couldn’t tune it. I persevered as the oddball and the next year a buddy of mine dropped the class and sold me his Lyle nylon string acoustic. Now I had a proper learning guitar. Now I could get the girls! Didn’t work. I was no better with the girls than I was with the trombone. But, maybe because I had all that extra time on my hands, I did become pretty good with the guitar.


    First real performance was the 9th grade spring concert. I and two friends had learned Stairway to Heaven on our own and the guitar teacher liked it enough that he gave us our own spot in the concert. I remember the three of us played it perfectly except our nerves got the best of us and we chased an ever increasing tempo till it mercilessly concluded.


    Been playing ever since but it has always taken second place to more stable earning pursuits. My PhD’s in engineering, not music, but I love music, not engineering. I’ve been very fond of classic rock ever since it took over my music life in the 70s. Not much of a market for it these days but it’s part of me and it isn’t leaving.

  • I took a thirteen-year break from guitars and music - all music. No radio, no media, I even turned off the muzak in the office.


    It was a prison of my own making without walls, bars, or fences.


    One day, I broke the bonds and acted on my yearning for music. I asked a local jazz legend to teach me to play the piano. He agreed, and I bought a piano. I took my first lesson, practiced hard and prepared diligently for my next lesson.


    "What made you play guitar?"

    After reviewing what I had done with the week, he gently closed the lid over the keys.

    He said, "Didn't you used to play guitar?"


    Then I went out and got this.



    Although I had never played Jazz, I joined his band a few weeks later. It was the best on-the-job training you can imagine, several nights a week. I learned my lessons live and in the moment from the piano player across the stage. I also learned from others who drifted in and out of the band.


    A few years later, our lead singer succumbed to a mortal illness. Her exit was sudden, short, and merciful. It was the death knell of the band and the scene changed shortly after that.


    I drifted with the musical currents picking up instruments to suit the times.


    I'll never forget that moment, "Didn't you used to play guitar?"



    Epilogue: I still have the piano and the guitar.

  • Chris,

    Far from my most expensive obsession.

    Yeah, some of mine have wheels. Others used to dance in nightclubs of dubious integrity. The guitar seems the hardest to justify. Finally I just gave up trying.

    After reviewing what I had done with the week, he gently closed the lid over the keys.

    He said, "Didn't you used to play guitar?"

    I'm glad I wasn't drinking coffee when I read that! It would have ended up all over the monitor. :)


    Bummer about your friend and the band. Nothing lasts forever but music, at least, endures.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Hey Chris,

    Yeah, some of mine have wheels. Others used to dance in nightclubs of dubious integrity. The guitar seems the hardest to justify. Finally I just gave up trying.

    I'm glad I wasn't drinking coffee when I read that! It would have ended up all over the monitor. :)


    Bummer about your friend and the band. Nothing lasts forever but music, at least, endures.

    Mine is a 77 and it really can sound like this.

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  • I started in '90 after hearing pearl Jams ten and the black album from metallica, A friend of mine was a drummer and at a rehearsal I thought , damn I wanna play guitar myself


    Never forget the struggle it was to get my fingers placed to grip a normal barre chord lol


    Raf

    Kemper stage with 2 mission pedals (in a Thon line 6 FBV case) and a Zilla 212 (K-100/V30) , SD powerstage 700 poweramp

  • No way the wife will ever let me throw 3 bills at yet another guitar...but if she ever changes her mind that one would probably be at the top of my list. Very nice.

  • Hey Chris,

    Mine is a 77 and it really can sound like this.

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    Man, what a gorgeous and great sounding guitar. And vintage guitar prices are certainly not for weak of heart!

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Chicks. Well, just one to be exact. The fact that I married her years ago and now any attempt to buy guitar equipment needs to go through her budget approval process is quite ironic.

  • Chicks. Well, just one to be exact. The fact that I married her years ago and now any attempt to buy guitar equipment needs to go through her budget approval process is quite ironic.

    If guitars lead to chicks, then more guitars leads to more chicks, right?


    Sounds like a perfectly reasonable strategy on her part. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • If guitars lead to chicks, then more guitars leads to more chicks, right?


    Sounds like a perfectly reasonable strategy on her part. :)

    Those were the days... Now, it may be my age, my being a guitar player, not a pop singer, or my less than awesome chops...I wonder. Not that I still look for chicks, mind you. Thank God I've grown out of teenage desires. Ok That may be it! Wishful thinking, ha ha.

    Never too old for rock'n'roll

  • If guitars lead to chicks, then more guitars leads to more chicks, right?


    Sounds like a perfectly reasonable strategy on her part. :)

    The more guitar you have, the more guitar players ask about you, I am pretty sure the formula doesnt work as intended. Seriously, I change more guitar during the gig, It is like 300% more probable that one dude comes saying "damn, your axe is gorgeous man". I wonder....

    The answer is 42

  • The more guitar you have, the more guitar players ask about you, I am pretty sure the formula doesnt work as intended. Seriously, I change more guitar during the gig, It is like 300% more probable that one dude comes saying "damn, your axe is gorgeous man". I wonder....

    Same with cars. People think driving a Vette is a chick magnet, but the only people who ever come up and say, "cool car, man" are the dudes.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Same with cars. People think driving a Vette is a chick magnet, but the only people who ever come up and say, "cool car, man" are the dudes.

    Just to say I had more times of bromance after gigs than "romance", long after-nights geeking about how cool valve amps sounded, why SRV used 13s and how nice is to play a Gibson compared to your average supermarket all-included-pack guitar. Good old times, didnt have girls, at least I had fun, and beers, thats important too.

    The answer is 42

  • Just to say I had more times of bromance after gigs than "romance", long after-nights geeking about how cool valve amps sounded, why SRV used 13s and how nice is to play a Gibson compared to your average supermarket all-included-pack guitar. Good old times, didnt have girls, at least I had fun, and beers, thats important too.

    But I'm still a big fan of girls. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Same with cars. People think driving a Vette is a chick magnet, but the only people who ever come up and say, "cool car, man" are the dudes.

    I met my wife when I was playing in a band, so if it weren't for guitars, I wouldn't have met my her and our kids wouldn't exist. That's the reasoning I give when she asks why I have the ever increasing guitar collection, and I seem to get away with it.

    The collection of Japanese performance cars though, she doesn't buy any excuses for them. But you're right, the dudes love them