Why I started guitar and why we started naming guitars

[Hobowillreturns]

This is a long, rambling, pointless story about our (me and my friends) tradition that every guitar must have a name; and about how I started. This is really long and lame, but it's late here, okay? =D

~

My friend, Maria, brought a guitar to school to play in some function or other; quoth I, "Wow, I never knew you played guitar?"
"Yep, have for 2 years!" said she, and then proceeded to rock out for a few minutes. I was well impressed; "Wow! That was awsome! I wish I could play guitar, but I should have started when I was younger."

The next day Maria had TWO guitars at school, "TWO guitars?"
"Here," she handed a guitar to me, "learn."
"Nah, it's too late, I'm--"
"Learn."

And so I started learning (check out the About.com tutorials, I pimp them everywhere I go!). Because I had started learning, I inspired several of my friends to also start learning, in particular my friend Oliver. However, Oliver didn't have a guitar of his own.

~

Maria was at school and witnessed some kids actually playing cricket with a guitar. It had a whole bunch of knarly dents and scratches and the strings were broken; so she stole it.
"I didn't bloody steal it! I liberated it."
Okay, sorry Maria; she "liberated" it. And lent it to Oliver with some cheap $6 strings.

This brings Maria up to three guitars; one with her, one with me and one with Olly. We'd often get together and jam (Olly and Maria are dating, and his Dad plays too, so we'd jam at his house); and with three guitars we met the unusual problem of needing names for them; better names than "the purple guitar".

Jimmeny was named after Jimmeny Cricket (this being the now-free cricket bat), Fred was named for his generic appearance and pawn-shop heritage and I named the nicest of the three 'Jane', in honor of the prettiest girl from Pride and Prejudice (the most boring novel in the world until you study it - it's an accquired taste).

~

Fast forward a mere two months and I've never been so thoroughly entertained and kept from boredom - guitar playing ROCKS. I've just bought my first guitar of my own and I'm thinking of names. Awsoma.

As an extra bonus story - we all walked around the supermarket at midnight with bare feet, ragged clothes and cheap acoustic guitars and pretended to be Maori (New Zealand polynesian minority culture; steryotyped, even by themselves; as poor, rude, food obsessed, guitar players - I'm not racist!).


Edit: Why don't you share how you started playing? That'd be fun for all! What was your first experiance with a guitar? Did you just play Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters' on the open strings? That's cool, me too.

[L-reaction]

Intersting story. You got some great friends! What were the people thinking when they used a guitar to play cricket???? :nono:

I started playing only recently, not much time to practise being a full time student aiming for high grades. Can't play anything worth hearing yet, fingers not strong enough.

I decided to take up guitar so my mom won't get mad at me for not going to church. Yah lame, but I'm starting to like it very much!

[Hobowillreturns]

Yeah! New guitarists represent!

I was a full time student until a few days ago, and I was aiming for high grades. I guess I find out next month whether I got them or not... For now, I'm living at home and waiting for the air fares to go down so I can go back to England to work and party - so I've got ALL DAY to play. My fingers hurt so bad.

I'm not sure how playing guitar gets you off church, but that's cool! I'll tell you what I tell everyone else; Red Hot Chili Peppers make satisfying music for beginning guitarists. Save the Population has an awesome easy melody, as does Otherside - and both have good chords in them to practice!

[genereaux]

I started playing 'bout 22 years ago. I got a guitar because it dawned on me that I couldn't carry a drum set home(it was like, 25 blocks!).

I name them because there are just too many to keep up with otherwise.

Sean

[Leo Fender]

I was always fascinated with guitars.. whem I was like 6 I got my first real(after a bunch of toy guitars:p) from uhmm yea well I got for what we call "sinterklaas" but let's just say the second santa claus(he comes the 6th of december, but whatever, has nothing to do with the thread:)) :p And my dad never thought I would actually seriously play the guitar, but I'm so glad I did:p and about the names.. I'm thinking of names for some time now, but only one has a name... : Vittorio (don't ask me why, my sister just thought my guitar had to have that name :D well the rest will get names too sometimes..

[Mazz]

Cool Story...My friends got to big-headed about guitar, so I honestly just disconnected myself from the guitar-playing kids in my high school (one of those kids who started taking lessons when I was in 6th grade won one of those Guitar Center "Crossroads" (based around Eric Clapton) Guitar Play-Off's & I never really talked to him after like 7th grade... I started playing when I was 3 & a half or 4...I was playing guitars before I could read a book or write my name; my father (who was Not like a divorced-un-involved parent or anything) started playing guitar when he was in 4th grade in 1963 & he's been gigging since he was 16 (he was born in 1955 - I was born in 1985...)
I suppose that the reason that I started playing would be because I was born around it, raised around it, & it's simply just always been just *there* for me to just Do...since I was in a baby's crib next to my parent's bed when I got home from the Hospital after birth...it was like my father put a Strat in the crib with me instead of a baby's toy (LOL)...
When I was 17 I got into a horrily morbid car accident street racing in a Honda Del Sol Vtec (200 (front)Wheel HP Honda Vtec engine & SMALLER/LIGHTER than a Mazda Miata Which is a MATCHBOX CAR itself...it had the power to weight ratio of a Formula one car, & the crash-worthy-ness of a remote controlled car on a busy highway...) I got F-ed up horribly bad, teams of Doctors at Mass Genral Hospital told my Mother, Father, Kelli - my Sister, 2 of my Aunts (one from my mother's side, one from my father's side...the one from mom's side was a Mass General Trama-Unit Nurse...), Anthony - The kid who I was racing when I crashed (who had/has been my best friend since 2nd grade), & Jenna - My Ex-Girlfriend (a Team of Doctor's told all of them "He's never gonna wake up from the coma, if he does he won't even be able to swallow he'll have to be kept on a feeding tube for the rest of his life --it's only a matter of days" & then about 13 hours later when all of my friends were making their "Last-Visit" (as they thought) I Came out of the Coma & began responding to my friends (mostly 3 of the girls that I used to dig; Valeri, Kathy (who had a twin sister; Karen who was not there at that time), Shannon (who's been like "the-1-that-got-away since I could have intrest in girls), Jenna my (Ex)Girlfrien...who was my woman at that time... & there was a bunch of my guy friends there at that time too, but none of my family was there at that time... & then when I first started to get tested & S••• I was parylized in my right-side from the neck-down. but I guess that was more of a "Mental" thing as my Neurosurgon's tell me...I like couldn't use it so I (mentally) was like "F••• YA Then, U wont listen to me...FINE-- You Don't Exist then!!" (I was WAY TOO F•••ED-UP for Rational-Thought...)
But when I started to come back a little my father brought one of My Guitars & one of my home made 9v Amps to the Hospital. & after that was all over, & I came home...it seemed like all of my friends just took off(most went to away to College or into the military...) My license was suspended for over 2 years. so there I was; stuck in my house - Isolated from everyone - with $35,000 worth of Guitar equipment just "sitting-there" so I picked one of 'em up, & I started playin' it --through my JCM50 Marshall Stack (Full-Stack; Head[over]Slant-Cab[over][B]Straight-Cab) & I just played...
I Started Naming my guitar's following the influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan...after girl's I was close to; but now my issue is that I have more guitar's than girlfriends (that weren't one-night stands or weekend fling "Chew-Toys" in a matter of speaking) I have 7 guitars, i'm 20 years old, & I've had 4 long-term (meaning over 2 or 3-weeks long...)

[Slipstream]

Hey Hobowill, I enjoyed your story. It was interesting and well written.

Here's how it happened for me. I got kicked out of the house when I was a young teenager, about 13 or 14, and ended up at my Grandparent's house. Grandma had a Lowry Organ. I liked picking out songs on it. At first I figured out Mary Had a Little Lamb, and soon I was plunking out InnaGodda Da Vida and House of the Rising Sun.

Grandma took notice of this, and gave me a guitar that had been in the family for generations. It was an old Gene Autry guitar (acoustic). Gene Autry was a cowboy singer from way back (the 30's I think). It was old and beat up, and had been painted hippy-style with flowers and such (in the '60s). I took to this guitar and my Grandma bought me a Silvertone electric from the Sears catalog for my second guitar.

I carried the Gene Autry guitar with me everywhere I went. I played it on the bus, walking down the street, betweeen classes at school, everywhere. I never put new strings on it the whole time I owned it. I eventually made it into a four-string guitar and gave it to a bass player friend of mine. The last time I saw the Gene Autry guitar was in '73.

I have several guitars now. I call my three favorites "The Three Amigos", but only two have names. My SG is Stormbringer, Les Paul is Mourneblade, and the Epi 335 is unnamed. Stormbringer and Mourneblade are named for swords in a novel series about the "Champion Eternal" - Michael Moorcock.

http://www.alvarious.com/graphics/ThreeAmigos.jpg

[Mazz]

WOW, an ES-335...those Semi-Hollow body Gibson's are NOT CHEAP!! a friend of my Father's has an Original Gibson ES-335 (from the 50's) & it's in real good shape (it's got the obvious wear & tear for being *that* old...hell I have a Mexican Std. Fender Strat from 1989 that the finish wore all the way through on...got it when I was like 5 years old though...that was 15 years ago...I'm 20 right now...) but I gotta be honest w/ you...the only thing I've ever played that was More uncomfortable to play than the ES-335 was a BC-Rich... the ES-335 was HUGE, it was Real heavy (except my dad's Fender Custom Shop Full-Heavy Ashbody stratocaster weighs more than my '67 Vibroverb Re-Issue...) & It was like Awkwardly thick in some spots & then real skinny in close procsimities... & plus...it was from the 1950's...you gotta be gentle with any guitar like that...

The Les Paul is SICK!! One of the most Rad Guitars I ever owned was a 50's Les Paul Junior Re-Issue with on Dog Ear P-90...That Axe was AWESOME--I Traded it (to my father...so that les paul is still in my house...) for an Original 1969 Pink Paisley Fender James Burton Telecaster (Which my father found in a pawn shop in one of the seediest, crappiest, most gang-ridden, S•••HOLE Neighborhoods around Boston, the guy wanted $650, he had No Idea what it was...he just knew that it was moderatley Old, & Not a Squier... My father Heckled him down to $250 & then bought it & got the F••• out of the pawn shop & Brought it home where it sat in a case under his Fender Custom Shop Heavy-Ash Body Stratocaster (ALSO in a Case...) & He traded it to me...I use it once in a while (take it to a blues jam or something...) but it sits in a case under my White Telecaster which is in a case which sits under my Ernie Ball Music Man (which is on a Stand) in front of my Peavey 6505 4X12 Slant-Cabinet (WHICH IS F•••ING HUGE!! 4 12" Peavey Old Green Speakers...I've had FULL Marshall Lead-12 "Mini" Stacks which were "[8" Speaker]under[8" Speaker]under[Head]" that were SHORTER than this cabinet & about 1/3 as wide...)

[Slipstream]

The 335 is an Epiphone, cost about $400 with a hard case.

[Mr. Boston]

I've just bought my first guitar of my own and I'm thinking of names. Awsoma.


Dude- I don't know if that was a typo or what- but I saw a pic of that guitar and I think "Awsoma" would be a GREAT name for it. Sounds like a girl's name.

[Ebene]

I remember always hearing my brother play guitar at night in the mid-90s. He would play the usual Nirvana and Pearl Jam stuff. I always wanted to play and found my self sneaking into his room playing with his then always breaking the strings on accident. Every now-and-then we'd find a cheap acoustic at yardsales and get them for $20 and tried to teach myself to play... I was about 7 so that never happened.

Fast forward, I moved to Tennessee. Since there were no kids in my neighborhood I began browsing the internet until I eventually became pretty good with computers... one Christmas decided I was going to get either a new computer or a guitar... I chose the computer. But having the computer opened up a new door to music for me. I discovered new styles, genres, and met people who played guitar. THEN the Christmas after that I decided I was going to get one of those Squier Starter Packs...

Two years later... here I am jammin' the blues.

[Tingly]

I often refer to my guitars rather formally, with the word "Mister" in front of them. So I will tell my girlfriend "I'm going to see Mr. Washburn" (meaning I am going to play my Washburn guitar). I don't know how that started, but it continued when I got Mr. Seagull.

[breedlovelove]

Hey man that was a freakin cool story, New Zealand sounds fun-- I always picture it as hobbitland. Anyways-- yeah always excited when someone loves the guitar.

Heres my (not so interesting) story. So its the middle of my 8th grade year and my friend who is two years older was in a guitar class at school. He had an old classical guitar that his mom played, and would practice really simple 3 triad chord songs, and one day he showed me, and I was like... wow, teach me. So that night he taught me how to play a song with D, A, and Em in it. Im telling you, from the moment could actually press the chords and started strumming, I was in love. So I "borrowed" my older brothers (hes 32) old rusted washburn, and forced myself to learn the chords on rust strings with an inch high action. I was so happy just to play and watch myself progress, and then I asked for a cheap electric for my birthday, and then a year and a half later bought my breedlove. As for naming my guitar, I must quote William Shakespeare, "What's in a name..." Thats the relationship I have with my guitar. (Get yer mind out of the gutter).

[Deji]

Not really that interesting how I started playing:

Was at a friends house, saw him play, became hooked, spent the next 2 hours playing the main riff from Smoke on the Water (poor audience). Next thing you know I pulled out the family acoustic guitar from the attic and the rest is history.

My electric guitar does have a name however, which is pretty interesting.
First, "Anna" in Estonian means "Give" or "Give it".

So I was with my mates, one of them was playing my guitar and I wanted to play a bit. So this third guy who hadn't seen what we were doing had heard me say "Anna" and immediately jumped in and asked "Anna who?"

So from that day forth I call her Anna :p

[sharkydude501]

I started playing the guitar my first year away @ college. My best friend was a lefty Strat player. Since I'm a righty he took me out to this old guitar store in SC and I bought a $200 Martin Sigma DR9. Had me playing the 12 bars blues rhythm for hours at a time - "till my fingers bled". Best time of my life!!!

I named all my axes (6 total) after women, usually using a derivitive of their manufacturer's name. For instance- I refer to that old Sigma as "Siggy". My Explorer is named "Annabelle". There's also "Takie", "Ibby", "Baby Taylor", and "Inez".

[shredding]

Hey Hobowill, I enjoyed your story. It was interesting and well written.

Here's how it happened for me. I got kicked out of the house when I was a young teenager, about 13 or 14, and ended up at my Grandparent's house. Grandma had a Lowry Organ. I liked picking out songs on it. At first I figured out Mary Had a Little Lamb, and soon I was plunking out InnaGodda Da Vida and House of the Rising Sun.

Grandma took notice of this, and gave me a guitar that had been in the family for generations. It was an old Gene Autry guitar (acoustic). Gene Autry was a cowboy singer from way back (the 30's I think). It was old and beat up, and had been painted hippy-style with flowers and such (in the '60s). I took to this guitar and my Grandma bought me a Silvertone electric from the Sears catalog for my second guitar.

I carried the Gene Autry guitar with me everywhere I went. I played it on the bus, walking down the street, betweeen classes at school, everywhere. I never put new strings on it the whole time I owned it. I eventually made it into a four-string guitar and gave it to a bass player friend of mine. The last time I saw the Gene Autry guitar was in '73.

I have several guitars now. I call my three favorites "The Three Amigos", but only two have names. My SG is Stormbringer, Les Paul is Mourneblade, and the Epi 335 is unnamed. Stormbringer and Mourneblade are named for swords in a novel series about the "Champion Eternal" - Michael Moorcock.

http://www.alvarious.com/graphics/ThreeAmigos.jpg

is that LP wine red? then mine found her lost sister/brother. (see the one in my picture above)

[Slipstream]

My Les Paul is black, and I don't see a picture of a guitar above. I don't understand? :confuse:

[ACE CT]

Well, i first started back in the seventh grade with my freind Dave. I had always wanted to pick it up but my dad ,who used to play for a band called Steel Fury(which got a record deal), always told me when i went to try and pick it up again to play basic 3/4 finger chords that sounded nothing like what i wanted to play. So one day me and my friend dave were talking on the buss and we were talking about music and stuff when i brought up my dad. So we all started thinking about it and said we were going to pick it up. I thought we were just messing around and were going to give it up in a few days. Well that weekend i go to his house and hes got a guitar and is getting 2 hour lessons a day. Now being the compettitive person that i am i wasnt about to let him get good at something i always wanted to do. So i ran home grabbed my guitar that i had had for 5 years and tried to teach myself something. Then my dad comes in and teaches me some things that i actually liked and this got me started. Needless to say for the first month i did not like to play that musch and neither did my friend but we just kept trying to be better than the other and ended up loving it more than anything else: ). Today almost a year later we are both still playing and loving it more than life it self.

[ModestCargo]

I just started basically because my dad was always in a band and I thought that he was the GREATEST and wanted to be just like him.

I named my guitar HAWK for two reasons - after seeing Ronnie Hawkins play with The Band on the Last Waltz, and because it's black and the name just seemed to fit :D

[Hobowillreturns]

Dude- I don't know if that was a typo or what- but I saw a pic of that guitar and I think "Awsoma" would be a GREAT name for it. Sounds like a girl's name.

Heh, not a typo. It's a cool way of saying "awesome" and I saw it on this site: http://www.rot13.com/

I'd love to call it Awsoma - but since I use that as a real word it wouldn't sound right :-( I'm thinking of just translating random words into other languages and seeing if the result sounds nice.

The story about 'Anna' is totally awsoma.

lol @ Tingly. If I called my guitar Mister Samick I'd just think of the Guns song, 'Mr. Brownstone'.

Weee've been dancing, with Mr. Brownstone!

[GuitarownzU]

Well I am into alot of heavy metal and just listening to the music got me inspired, but then i heard my dads friends band and they were awesome, so for christmas i asked for a guitar. what a merry christmas it was, i got my first guitar, an IbaneZ gax 70, so i have been playing for 2 years since then and self taught myself with the assistance of Hal lenaord books, but have also moved on to guitars with...you know...good sound...friggin ibanez...well that is my story.

[Domb]

Hobowillreturns... that was an incredibly cute and interesting story! haha I don't mean to bring down it's value by saying it's cute but I did say "awww" when she brought the guitar for you.

MMM I started back in February of 05. My sister had played for a good 4 years but I never really looked twice at her guitar. I really started really getting into music around Sept. of 04 when school started. I mean like really listening to it. Before then, music was just music, and something I would hear when someone turned on a radio. I was feeling down you know and I had to find something to put my time into. My father had always listened to a lot of classic rock and metal in my younger days, so I decided to start there.

I started off listening to The Doors, GnR, Led Zepplin, that kind of good stuff. I wanted a guitar badly after listening to them. I finally was able to get myself a Ibanez GAX around February. I've been playing everday ever since then. Besides writing, I don't know anything else that gives me as much joy as playing guitar.

My musical tastes are pretty broad now, mainly it just stays on the many genres that have come from rock.

[Puddlegum66]

I started when I was 16 in high school. My parents got me a MAKO strat and a lil 10 watt Fender amp. Thing sounded terrible. Soon after I got a 65w KMD and an Arbor Les Paul studio with a floyd on it. I played it to death. Then after high school I stopped playing, sold all of my gear for rent and went on with life.

About 2 years ago a roomate was dating a guy who left a Jackson guitar autographed by Slayer at the house. They broke up, but the guitar stayed. My new roomate was a new musician who played everything and came home with a PODXT one day. I sat and played for 2 hours with that thing and decided to get back into playing.

Now I have 2 guitars. One is a frankenstrat. I took the old Jackson body, stipped it and routed it how I wanted to and bought and Ibanez neck and slapped it on. That's called EJ, Excalibur Junior...also the initials of my old roomie who helped me with all of the guitar build process.

The other guitar I own is a 20th anniversary squier strat named Kenny. THe name comes from the guy who gave it to me for 20 bucks because he bought it for his son who never played it. It sat in the trunk of his car for over a year. I pulled it out and it was flawless. I've got a new set of pups coming this weekend to finish the upgrades on it.

[Snake]

Me and my brother started playing guitar when I was about seven (I'm 24 now). We wanted one of those plastic toy guitars that you press a button on and it plays a tune (so we could jump around in the lounge-room and pretend we were def leppard and poison). Our parents said "if you want a guitar, you can get a real one" at which time we said yeah and started lessons. I hated it at the start because we had to play the "beginner" songs. I then switched to bass for a couple of years before switching back and quitting lessons.

It's funny, because this was when I started to get good. I stopped learning what I was told to learn, and started learning songs that I loved. So my enjoyment while playing was so much more that I went from practising for 15 minutes a day to at least 2 hours.

I wouldn't say I was a great guitarist technically, but I can write a tune and hold my own in a band situation. Oh yeah, and I love to be mean to my guitars, so I don't name them. My squier tele custom is my favorite because it is cheap, fairly indestructible and sounds really decent. It has been thrown and kicked at the end of many-a-set.

[Les_Is_More]

i started at 8, i had 3 friends, and me and my best friend wanted a band (he came with me and got a set of drums) were both 13 now. hes better than tommy lee and about anyother drummer there is (fact, his teacher has worked with alot of pros and hes the best) and now im student council treasurer, sports teams, etc, more friends than i could ever have dreamed. but it started 2 years ago..... when i wasnt practicing, learning or trying even though i was getting lessons and i decided to get good. i have 3 bands and i LOVE IT MORE THAN LIFE (even though it is my life :D) and i owe it all to my first guitar, and old 3/4 neck blue washburn. and even more to my newest addition. a cherry sunburst vintage les paul classic!

[hostilepony31]

my mom thought it'd b good if learned to play an instrument so when i turned 9 she got me a half size acoustic. i lost interest after a while. then, in the 8th grade my friend brought a guitar to school. i played crazy train and carry on my wayward son (tried to play anyway...) and the girls were like "wow, thats awesome!"(in my head i was like "wow, this is awesome!" :_dazed: ) anyway... that got me back into guitars. never really gave much thought to naming guitars, but i guess i'd call my sg "belle" for the gorgeous curves and devil horns :D

[Hobowillreturns]

"I really started really getting into music around Sept. of 04 when school started. I mean like really listening to it. Before then, music was just music, and something I would hear when someone turned on a radio."

Yeah, I remember the transition from feeling like that to enjoying music. It was incredibly odd!

...guy who gave it to me for 20 bucks because he bought it for his son who never played it.

SCORE! I can't EVER imagine being given something like a guitar and not playing it... that's so crazy. If I was given *any* musical instrument I'd go rabid and play it all day! I did with my guitar, and when I finally go back to England (in 5 days, WOW, I'm going HOME!) I'm going to get out my old trumpet and play til my lungs bleed.

Wow! So many people here started so young! I wish I had started young... but I was always put off by the terrible steryotype of the spotty teen buying a guitar, failing terribly and selling it. Bah, how could anyone fail at guitar? Difficulty has no correlation to fail-rate, only enjoyment and effort!

[Jimi's Tribute]

im from new zealand and yes that is a very correct stereotype hahaha

[SKEETER]

It has never even occurred to me to name a guitar. Guitars are too special to have the characteristics of people. Guitars were always an alternative to people for me.
I consider my guitars my tools, and I don't name my power saw or my impact wrenches either.

[Deltablue]

I just made mine up.

[Sexymonkey]

I was in Mexico with my family for vacation, and I was meant to stay there for only a month, but I didn't wanna go back so I told my dad that I was going to take a guitar course, and therefore stay a longer time in Mexico. Luckly 10 years earlier my dad picked up guitar, but never learned how to play, so it was just there in the closet. Now I have a random Mexican Decade old guitar!

[blinkfreak182]

i started about a year ago. im 15, and a girl, and my friends influenced me alot. they arnt into it much more, but i play as much as i possibly can. but it all started with a "hey lets start a band" kind of attitude. we still dont exactly have a band but its getting there. :)

[Dark Ibanez]

I was sat round in a bar with a good friend in October 04 talking about the fact that we've been out drinking every night for the best part of a year and it is costing a small fortune. We desparately needed a distraction, something to sink our teeth right into that doesn't cost a lot and will stop us p*ssing all our money up the wall.

Loads of ideas we're batted back and forth until i suggested lets learn to play guitar. The idea stuck immediately and within a week i had an Ibanez GAX270, a small Marshall Amp and my mate had bought some sort of Wahsburn.

As it turns out it did keep me out of the pub and saved me far more than i spent on the initial layout and i was hooked in minutes.

I've not really learnt how to play anything yet, i'm just happy learning the tools of the trade before i apply them, and have been having lessons for the last couple of months.

Incidentally the mate i started playing guitar with is no longer playinng, he gave up after a few months because it was too difficult.

I don't have any names for my guitars, which i have four of now (for some reason i thought the more guitars i have the quicker i'll learn :D ) and i only really play one of them. That reminds me, i need to get my Washburn acoustic looked at, as its a ***** to play because of the unfeasibly high action.

But when i decide to sit and practise i say to the other half i'm off to get my baby and she knows what i mean

Dark

[Sir Kevin]

Well, its all very interesting on how so many people have started playing guitar. hmm now my story.

I had jsut started getting into music like Led Zeppelin and Queen and Pink Floyd and i noticed/remembered that my dad has two acoustic guitars so i asked him to teach me something, first he started out just showing me all the basic chords: E, A, C, D, etc, etc, then a few nights later He showed me Stairway to Heaven, of course this is the first song nearly every guitar player learns. I stayed up all night trying to get my fingers to bar all three strings and still make a clear tone. I have since grown completely entranced with the instrument and have been teaching myself to play for over a year now and I dont mean to brag, but im a strong player. escpecially for having never taken lessons. I still play on the two acoustics of my dads and Im saving money for a guitar... not sure what kind yet, I dont think a les paul or a strat, too many ppl have them and I dont know, I have too much of an urge to be unlike the majority. so yeah... not all together thrilling or epic but thats how I started playing guitar.

As for naming my guitars... I dont and, I suppose, I really shouldnt as they are not mine but my dad's. I might end up naming my first guitar and going from there, only if I can think of a good name for her. perhaps Alexandra.

There's my tale.

[jewdo27]

i started playing about a year ago when i got my first guitar,i wanted to start playing becuase both my brothers did and i used to muck about with thier guitars and i thought that id never be able to play properly if i didnt have access to one at any time

[SKEETER]

Let me encourage all of you, even if you never become a virtuoso, or even play in a band. The pleasure of being able to hide somewhere with an instrument and play it for a while is well worth the effort and expense of learning to play, no matter what level you reach.
I am fortunate in that I never had dreams of fame , or a notion of making a living playing. I have played now for 41 years, and have quite a reputation locally for my playing, but that was not intentional, it is just a little icing on the cake.
My number one objective is to enjoy playing, whether by myself, at a jam, in a small bar, or in front of a thousand people.
My point is, having a passion for music is it's own reward, if you really love music then money and noteriety are not even important. The passion itself is it's own reward.
Never compete at it. It is not a competition.
Just do it because you cannot not do it, like I did. That way you are never dissapointed and can reap the true rewards of it, which is the self satisfaction of doing it, and the enjoyable act of taking part in your passion.
Everyone I ever knew that played music to be "cool" or because they seen money in it no longer plays. When they found out things don't always go as planned they gave it up. That is because they did it for the wrong reasons.
AND most importantly, don't just learn what is popular, learn all you can. Music styles change, and by the time you become good at what is popular now, chances are something else will be popular. I play blues and country and rock, all of which are now pretty much ignored by radio ( they play things like metal, alternative and "new country" instead).
If I really needed to make a buck, I could always go out and play what is popular now. Because even though I prefer rock era music, I learned some of the other stuff too.

[ZampraZ]

Well it all started for me like this.
I dance and perform, so once i was at this place where they had workshops, and i thought id be fun ( i dance with them they pay me like 12bucks a minute lol) and so on. And i looked around, tried some breakdance and african drums. Then all of a sudden i walk up and in the is my future guitar teacher, and im so sad cos i always feel bad for people of so small reasons, like if someone has a big nose i think hes bullied and have no friends lol. Anyway then there was nobody else there, and he was like, do you wanna play guitar? With a polish accent, hes from poland. I was like ok, weird accent. So we did nuthing special. Later on he was like, do you want me to learn you a song? And i was like sure whatever, and he taught me smoke on the water on 1 string, guess what? i was like, OMG MUM I WANNA PLAY GUITAR LOOOOL. So here i am, 1 year later jammin with 10 minutes solos n stuff!
My new guitar is named goldie ( new strat ) cos its so freakking beutiful with gold hardware n stuff, special thanks keith.b for the name...

[broken.]

My friend David inspired me to pick up guitar about 2 1/2 year ago. And he lent me a cheap acoustic on which I learnt on. After that I got a Strat for my birtday from my sister.. now I'm just dishing out money for music cause it sbecome my life.

I name my guitars too. My cheap red acoustic is named: Old Red (figures..)

And my strat: Eleanor ( from the song by Low Millions, one of the first songs I learned to play, the first song that I actualyl played was Wonderwall)

[rodderz]

i started playing guitar strangely enough, as a deal with my parents, which was if i continued to play the french horn then id b allowed to have guitar lessons. this was because i wanted 2 quit the horn and they wouldnt let me, so i started and loved it, soon i quit the frech horn and took up guitar as my only intrument

[S_C_L-1]

Hmmm, id be interested in the difference in sound (in feel) from those raised by musicians and those who havent... if there is a difference at all...



As for myself...

when i was young (like 3 years old) i HATED music... i dont know why...
anyway... one day, on a road trip (think we were going camping or something) my father, who, incidentally plays more instruments than i care to count, pop'ed in a Genesis casset into the radio... and from then i was hooked to music...

fast forward to 4th grade.

i start music class, learn some of the basic theory behind it and learn to play the recorder flute... as much as i hate that instrument, i did find out my brain was wired to play music.

3 years later

high school... getting 99% grades in music (played trumpet, french horne, baritone and tuba)... too bad playing those instruments make u feel like u were repeatedly punched in the jaw...

2 years later

i hear Perpetual Burn by Jason Becker and drool profusely at the skill. i decide to start playing in hopes of being able to reach that lvl...

so i get myself an old, beaten up classical guitar and practice for 6 hours a day... after 2 weeks of playing so abusively, my left hand gives out... turns out i tore the ligaments and couldnt play for a few months.

finally back to playing guitar (2 hours a day), and i find out im lethally allergic to penecillin... so i spend 2 weeks in the hospital with enough tranquilisers to kill a horse...

so, my weakened self finally gets out of the hospital and, after relearning to walk, get right back to the guitar.

so, here i am, a year and a half later, taking a 5 minute break from my extensive guitar practice to come back to this forum :D

[EKrim]

I took up new hobbies during my summer vacation, like art or language, then the summer when i was 18, i wanted to learn music because much less cleanup than oil painting. no one i knew played guitar and my parents didnt play instruments, so i bought one and bought a whole bunch of books to learn.
pretty boring story, sorry

[Etingi]

I started playing because of Nirvana. :uhuh:

That's embarassing.

[FretFirst]

Not really that interesting how I started playing:

Was at a friends house, saw him play, became hooked, spent the next 2 hours playing the main riff from Smoke on the Water (poor audience). Next thing you know I pulled out the family acoustic guitar from the attic and the rest is history.

My electric guitar does have a name however, which is pretty interesting.
First, "Anna" in Estonian means "Give" or "Give it".

So I was with my mates, one of them was playing my guitar and I wanted to play a bit. So this third guy who hadn't seen what we were doing had heard me say "Anna" and immediately jumped in and asked "Anna who?"

So from that day forth I call her Anna :p

Dude, you're from estonia? That's cool. Back in like 5th grade I had to do a report on a country, and somehow or other I got estonia...and if I've ever had to do something dealing with a country in school since then it's been estonia...sounds like an interesting place. I wish I could learn estonian...Oh Mazz I just thought it was interesting that you came out of the coma when the girls you liked (or used to, or whatever the case was) were in the area. Coincident? I think not ;) jk...anywho, now that I've gone completely and totally off topic...

Ok my tale of how I came to guitar (not exactly a riveting story, but oh well):

A little over a year ago (I was 15 then) at the start of summer break I was bored out of my frigging mind. Not only was I the normal kind of bored, I had moved away from my friends (it's only like a 20 minute drive to them, but since I couldn't drive then it didn't matter) and chances to hang out with them were few and far between, so I was driven crazy with boredom. Well I had invited my friend Stephen to come along with me to the July 24th (which is actually a year ago tomorrow, and the 24th is pioneer day here in Utah) firework show that my family was going to go see. Well we were sitting in my uncles backyard eating dinner and I was telling my friend about how bored I've been the entire summer and asked him for any suggestions. He told me I should look into guitar...kinda threw me for a loop. I was intrigued and thought it sounded like a good idea. The only problem is that my parents were more than a little resistant to the idea since I haven't had a good track record of picking something and sticking with it (I started learning trumpet in 5th grade...yeah that didn't work out, a lot of which had to do with the fact that I hated it). And I didn't have ANY income last year...so the situation was out of my hands. Well around came Christmas and my mom started asking me what I wanted. Top of the list was a guitar, I didn't care what it was, acoustic, electric, my only requirement is that I got a piece of wood with six strings. Well Christmas day I came out and was greeted by a few small boxes...oh sure there was good stuff in there such as an iPod (Yeah I know I sound like an ingrait, but I had really wanted a guitar) After unwrapping everything I was happy with what I had gotten, but then I could tell something was up from the way my parents were acting. Then they brought it out...an acoustic guitar...my heart skipped about 50,000 beats right then (Never fully recovered, sometimes I still have to stick something metal in the electric wall sockets to jumpstart my heart). Well I started taking lessons (I wasn't able to go during some months...I've only had a rough total of around 4 months of lessons) and here I am today! I know some basic stuff but I'm not that far into learning yet. Just this past week I got a Squire guitar, and yes I fully realize that it's a piece of crap, but I just wanted something I could jam on with Stephen. Plus no point slamming down the bucks on something more exspensive (I have my eye on the Special edition Koa Telecaster, or an Olympic white American Telecaster) that I can't fully use or appreciate yet. The squire will hold me up for a while.

Well that's it...my guitar history so far. May there be many more years of it.

Oh and hobowillreturns I love the chili peppers! Where can I get sheet music for their stuff?

[Hobolad]

Great story- and nice name, could we be related?

Mine's just the generic kid wants the ladies, kid gets a guitar, kid sucks so bad he hasn't told any ladies he plays yet :D

Does naming guitars help in some way, 'cause a lot of people seem to do it :confuse: Not sure how it would but Donovan talked about the name for his green and red acoustic for a good few minutes a couple of nights ago, I dunno, I'm confusing myself now. Maybe it's a confidence thing?

Surprisingly, no intoxicating substances were consumed during the making of this post.

[GuitarSteve]

When I came back from my first year of university I played my dad's acoustic guitar for the whole summer, every day. My dad saw this and knew that I wanted to get an electric, so he went down to the local music store and got me a guitar. He didn't know what kind of guitar to get me, so he asked the salesman to play two or three guitars. The first guitar that the salesman played was a strat. . . but he played some heavy rock that my dad hated. The second guitar that the salesman played was an Epiphone Dot . . . which the salesman played some Chuck Barry on. My dad loved it, so he got that and a Fender Frontman 15R for me. I got home that evening from work and could hear all these noises coming from the basement, so I ran down and . . . . had to hide my horror. I had really wanted a Strat, and here was my dad with a big weird looking guitar from the 1950s! Hid my disappointment from my dad, and packed it up for university. Over the last 7 years, I've really grown into my guitar, so much so that I've tried some strats, and they just don't feel/sound right to me.