How old were you when you started?

[TheBoot]

Not sure if a thread like this has been done but, how old was everyone when they started? I started summer of last year and haven't really gotten into it but I'm going to soon enough. I wish I picked it up when I had the chance back in 2nd grade though :p . I feel like if I started now I'd miss out on the fun of being in a small high school band. I'm 16 now.

[tvolkmann80]

I was 12

[Replica]

I was 13

[TheBoot]

I wish I started around that age. Better late than never I guess, my guitar is missing a string right now so I get to get learn how to install new ones.

[PhantomLord]

i was 12...almost 13...got my first guitar for my 13th birthday.

[fretflyer]

i was 13

[fornies]

I was about 11 or 12 and been playing seriously around 14

[aussie_skater]

14 for me

[FruscianteFan62]

I started somewhere around 13 years old. That means I've been playin for 4 years. Wow I can do simple math! Anyway, lately I've been getting more serious about my playing.

[AMusicalViking]

I was 12.

[Hobowillreturns]

Ha, don't worry about it. I started when I was 18... and I still am! The only thing that matters is how many cumulative hours everyone has practiced.. :D:D

[metalmachine]

15 but just started seriously playing like 5 or 6 minutes ago.

[BMG_SKULK]

Seriously...really seriously playing as if I might actually be able to really
do a serious piece.

2 years younger than I am now.

[FuriousGrimlock]

26 ---- I'm 27 now.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

[Jackmar]

13. I didn't really get serious until 3 weeks ago... I am 20 now...

[Eclectifish]

9, almost 10

[crusty]

14, almost 15

[vovin]

33 I got the inspiration after taking a bunch of pain pills when I pulled a muscle trying to get the lid off my bottle of geritol.

[Freyr]

Fourteen I believe... Seventeen now... Might of first plucked some strings when I was thirteen, but I can't remember.

[Reign in Blood]

I was 13 when i got serious,and i still am :) still serious too....

Well,i got a guitar when i was 12,but it collected dust because i was too stupid to learn back then. :D I sure have grown up in the last year though.

[KingAngus]

I was 2 months away from being fourteen. My birthday is in 3 days. And ill be 15.

[Sir Fire Hydran]

When I was a kid, I wanted a piano, but my parents were too poor to buy me a piano, so they got me a guitar instead. I started playing it for a few years, then one day, someone 'discovered' me and wanted to record me. That was, if you will, my lucky break. After that, I went on to record hundreds of songs, and sell millions of records.

During that time, I joined the army, and came back addicted to drugs. My musical carreer was never the same after that. I was still regarded as a sex symbol, but there was something about me that died.

A few years later, I developed an eating disorder, and put on a lot of weight.

Not long after that, I died on the toilet while trying to have a crap.

No wait, that was Elvis. My mistake.

I started when I was 15.

[fenderblender]

11--im 12 now.

[MN.LesPaul]

I started when I was 12, almost 15 now...

[speedymartinho]

i was 12 now i'm 15 and a half...i started cauze i liked guitar and i saw this awesome metallica video where kirk does an cool solo.....

[L-reaction]

17 now, started last november.. only play 2-4 hours a week. Damn, can't wait for the school holidays.

[Acoustic]

Ever since I heard Jimmy Page, around 1 year ago at 16.

[GuitarGuy]

Not sure if a thread like this has been done but, how old was everyone when they started? I started summer of last year and haven't really gotten into it but I'm going to soon enough. I wish I picked it up when I had the chance back in 2nd grade though :p . I feel like if I started now I'd miss out on the fun of being in a small high school band. I'm 16 now.
No sweat man, Tom Morello started when he was 17.

[Nameless]

hmm...9 or 10 i think.

[Les_Is_More]

just turned 8

[tinsmith]

I start when I was about 16, played seriously for two years, moved then stopped playing for about twenty-five years..............

which brings me to now floundering around today about eight years later.

[Reign in Blood]

When I was a kid, I wanted a piano, but my parents were too poor to buy me a piano, so they got me a guitar instead. I started playing it for a few years, then one day, someone 'discovered' me and wanted to record me. That was, if you will, my lucky break. After that, I went on to record hundreds of songs, and sell millions of records.

During that time, I joined the army, and came back addicted to drugs. My musical carreer was never the same after that. I was still regarded as a sex symbol, but there was something about me that died.

A few years later, I developed an eating disorder, and put on a lot of weight.

Not long after that, I died on the toilet while trying to have a crap.

No wait, that was Elvis. My mistake.

I started when I was 15.



:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:


thats quality stuff........

[GuitarownzU]

I was 14

[pml]

I was 16. November 1st 1979, to be precise. :)

PML

[darragh666]

I started playing bass at 18 during a september.Did that for few months then went to guitar month before turning 19.Ive now been playing guitar for a year.I play all the time so i managed to catch up to my friends who been playing for years.

[Chris=X]

Started playing at 14, played my first club at 18.

[Les_Is_More]

july of my 8th breathing year (i didnt breathe for my first 2 weeks so it kinda counts like thAat)

[Funkynassau]

I am a mom with kids of 23 and 18, and I started a year ago! So it's never too late.

[vovin]

I asked my teacher about this the other day and ths is what he told me.

A child learning to play the guitar develops reflexes much faster than a adult because their minds are still growing. But the discipline and knowledge doesnt come as readily to a youth as it does to a adult. He said that the younger students he had rarely finished their work he assigned. They would play for fun and were only semi serious whereas somone in their mid to late 20's tends to take it more seriously and practice more intensely.

So getting a late start isnt as bad as you think. Sure you may not be as fast or perfect as somone who has been at it since they were 12. BUt if you have lived a interesting life up to that oint your music will be much better imho. Many of my favorite songs are rather simple. Music is a art not a skill. You need ot know how to play but the ture sucess is in being able to create songs capable of enterancing your audience and how fast you canplay is a tiny factor in that great equation.

[GuitarGuy]

I was (am) 14

[x5150]

started at 13 never really got serious, then started playing daily when i was 23. now 25 and wish i woulda kept at it.

[Funkynassau]

My teacher commented yest. that once I nail a technique, I go at it pretty fast, he seemed surprised I could play my song as quickly as I was. Now, it was just straight chording, as I can do that quite well. It just surprised me when he said I was going fast as I didnt think I was. We are now working on syncopation and I can do it if I concentrate really hard. But when I add in singing, it all goes to hell! So today I worked really hard on it and it's slowly getting better. I've got two hands doing different things and now I want my brain to let me sing too - wow.......................

[Raucous]

I first tried when I was 11....Got disgusted and hung it up.....Then, when I was 13, I came home from school one day and caught "A Hard Day's Night" on the afternoon movie.....There was no turning back after that.....

[ZampraZ]

11, 10 months ago i am 12
i have played at least couple of hours each day and i still do cos i love my guitar! ( i dont really love my guitar because its a cheap and ugly behringer starters guitar id perfer a nice 3 tone sunburst stratocaster, maybe i should raip my guitar so it looks like stevie ray vaughans lol nah :P )

[chriswahwah]

I started when I was 8 and I'm still learning at 43. My coffin will have to accept a strat neck cos I ain't going anywhere without one!!! :eek:

[Jk]

Started at the age of 13.

I watched a Dire Straits consert in 1991 and when Mark Knopfler played a duet with his saxophone-player at the end of Sultans of Swing, I was lost.

I was given my fathers old semi-accustic guitar...
looks like a Hofner http://www.vintaxe.com/images/guitar_aria_hofner.jpg
Prodused in 1967 or 68... Its an Aria Diamond mod. no. 1402T guitar.

He made a sort of homemade guitar-amplifier out of my cassette-player... Thats where it all began for me...

I'm now turning 28 in quite near future, so this is a joy for life... :006:

[Submerged]

lol... i started about 2 years ago, with both guitar and drums. since then ive added piano and bass. I play all of them at my church, and play guitar in my own band, so ive done pretty well in that time.

so, to answer your question, i was 16 when i started. Okay, so I guess its been like a year and a half, im still 17.

[kingtriplet2000]

i was 13

[Terren]

I started immediately after my 18th birthay. (I remember this clearly, as I regard this as one of my life's epiphanies).

I haven't put it down since, and I'm 20 now. Not really special, but for someone playing guitar for only a couple of years, I'm fairly satisfied with my progress to date. I am constantly trying to prove to myself that I can still be a good musician, even after starting at such a late date.
My guitar journey will end the day my life will. I will never quit.

[HackerUK]

I started about 4 weeks ago and I've just turned 45, judging by the threads on here I'm about 35 years too late!

[Irontallica]

I Was Like 5

[Irontallica]

I Was Forced To Be The Best Its Not My Fault It Worked

[stratman50th]

I started about 4 weeks ago and I've just turned 45, judging by the threads on here I'm about 35 years too late!
Um, nope. Never too late! I happen to be an old fart as well.

[sharkydude501]

I didn't get started until my 19th birthday. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was away @ college in South Carolina and became best friends w/ a lefty Strat player named Tommy Hudson Crocodile. He went out w/ me after my b-day and helped me pick out my first git- a 1976 Sigma DR9 (a MIJ Martin D-28). Payed $200 for it and used to play the 4 bar blues rhythms for him till my callouses developed on my fingertips.

I've never stopped playing since then and never will. I just wished I started when I was like 12 or so. Keep rockin' y'all...and never stop!

[T-H-O-M]

I started around 14

[Vintage Picker]

Have faith, Boot. 16 is not a bad age to start. I got my first guitar at 12, but had it for a couple of years before I really started to learn to play. I was in a band at 15....now I'm 62 and still playing and still learning.....hang in there, little brother. When you're 18 and giving advice to 16 year olds, you'll be glad you started when you did.

[Green Day]

I started when I was 12.

[Pat Solo]

I was 17 years old. My parents offered me a classical guitar. I still have it.

[Raucous]

Started when I was 12. I struggled the first year with a Silvertone with mile-high action and steel strings. Then I got a nylon string with decent action, and the music world opened up....The Silvertone is probably the reason I still play with a lot of attack to this day...

[masterwok]

I "started" when I was about 15, played about once a month then, because I seemed to always have something else to do ;-). Started playing seriously about 4 weeks ago :-)

[GuitarDesperado]

Started when I was 14. Nylon string classical. Played for about a month, taking lessons along the way. Wound up quitting lessons, putting down the guitar, and seeking out something else.

Came around meeting a few people that needed someone that had played guitar to be a rythm guitarist. Took the guitar back up at the age of 17, relearning all that I had missed out on, and now am 19, rivaling others that started at my age of 14, but stuck with it.

Just keep in mind that, in order to be a good guitarist, drummer, etc, you do not have to neccessarily start out at a young age. It just matters how much of your natural talent you possess for that certain instrument, how much devotion you're willing to throw into learning all of its aspects, and how much passion you have for the music you play, and for the instrument itself. :cool:

[GuitarownzU]

I was 14

[saintal]

21... started playing about a week ago, got a Schecter C1 Classic for me birthday.

[Slipstream]

A thread like this pops up from time to time. I think I was about 14 when I started. I played every day for about three years, played in a few garage bands, then just plucked a little here and there until I was about 30. I played in a band for about a year then. More pluckin' here and there for a bunch of years, then about two years ago I started jammin' at Blues jams. I go every Thursday night now, plus I jam with a group that's got a breast cancer awareness benefit coming up at the end of April. I also get together with some members of the local Blues society once a week to help keep the Blues alive. We're putting together a curriculum for teaching kids in school about the Blues. We've been using the jams on Thursdays to practice some of the concepts in the course.

I also record and post stuff in the Showcase from time to time. :)

[Peeb]

I. Started playing? 18 (25 yrs ago)

II. Started seriously playing? Never have.

III. Skillfully playing? Still waiting (see II.. above.)

[flamin-gitaur]

I started playing music when I was in the 4th grade (how ever old that is). I am now 33, and its been a fun,yet challenging journey!!! ;)

[wackakapow]

Got a 4-string tenor guitar at christmas when I was 6, still going strong 15 years later.

[eexplorer505]

15 ony wish i started sooner

[GuitarDesperado]

15 ony wish i started sooner

I think we all wish we had started sooner, but we were too busy playing in sandboxes with our toy trucks and G.I. Joes and watching Looney Tunes to care about that. :p

[fused]

8 for me
I'm 46 now

[The_Strokes123]

I was about 8 or 10 when i got interested. 12 when i started playing, 12 and a half more serious. im still not 100% serious.

[Jay..]

Ehhhh when i had my first lesson i was, 11, 12 now. only had 3 lessons then i got a new teacher, and ive been playing for over a year. Taking it seriously for quite awhile though.

[lastplacedandy]

The reall FIRST time I played guitar I was 11, and I got one for Christmas I was in lessons for 6 months then my teacher moved too far away for me to keep going and I stopped for a couple years. I got back in at another music shop and after 4 months I got my report card and was taken out. Last summer, on my 15th birthday I got an electric, and I've been playing at least an hour a day since.

[I_b_a_n_e_z_e_r]

Umm... 11 I think... at least the first time I touched a guitar and attempted to play anything. Didn't really start playing until I was 12 though.

[SKEETER]

I was 11 when I started playing. That was 40 years ago. I play a weekly jam and am in a local band, and still write and record music.
I love playing now more than ever, which suprises me, I thought after a while it would get old, but the only thing getting old is me, and I doubt I will live long enough to ever get it all out of my system.
If you are a young guitarist, study hard and treat it as if you are going to do it for fifty years, because you might just.

[DeanGuitarPlaya]

My grandparents bought me a little Kay acoustic guitar for my birthday when I turned 6. My dad tuned it to open E where all I had to do was bar one fret to get a different chord so it was mostly E A B lol. I was about 12 when I got more serious about playing and learned how to play in standard tuning, got my first electric at age 14 and that is when I started learning rock music, always played by ear and made my own licks riffs and solos never knew anything about Music theory until about a month ago now I feel like I am starting all over. Wish I had known about it back at age 12. 21 now and still learning.

[ViOLATiON]

16, this year :p

[bugman]

16. And now I'm 23. Re-teaching myself the basics because I'm sloppy, have trouble playing slow tempos, and basic chords progressions confuse me.

[SKEETER]

My grandparents bought me a little Kay acoustic guitar for my birthday when I turned 6. My dad tuned it to open E where all I had to do was bar one fret to get a different chord so it was mostly E A B lol. I was about 12 when I got more serious about playing and learned how to play in standard tuning, got my first electric at age 14 and that is when I started learning rock music, always played by ear and made my own licks riffs and solos never knew anything about Music theory until about a month ago now I feel like I am starting all over. Wish I had known about it back at age 12. 21 now and still learning.

I started playing in 1966 and didn't study theory until around 1979.

[Sir Kevin]

I started a year and a half ago. I have been playing seriously for a year now with occaisonal breaks to eat and take a trip to the washroom. Ive been playing an accoustic for the whole time. Im saving up for an electric, Ill probably have it by summer. Im stoked! :D

I've been teaching myself music theory using books and music theory and I know about the same amount of theory, if not more, than my fellow band member who has been playing piano for alot longer than I have been playing guitar. And he (Steven) takes piano lessons, I havent had lessons yet, but I believe I am going to have some soon.

Ummmm yes, the original question is How Old Was I? 13 when first I picked up the guitar and my dad showed me Stairway To Heaven, 14 when I actually donned the instrument and made it my life. I was first inspired by the album Led Zeppelin IV (aka Untitled, Zoso, Four Symbols) and the Queen Live At Wembley version of the Brighton Rock Solo. Inspirations to play music are: Brian Ma, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones even though hes not a guitarist his excellence (too oft overlooked) is greatly inspirational, Freddie Mercury, and Yngwie Malmsteen. These are most certainly not the only musicians I am influenced by, just the most outstanding ones. The few on the high pantheon of my worship. Anyways this is already longer than any of the other responces in this thread. I could have just said "13 but i was 14 when I seriously got into it" but it doesnt make interesting reading.

The Grand and Most Royal Sir Kevin

[Jay..]

11, im 13 now.

[13randon]

13, two years ago

[Sir Kevin]

I could have just said "13 but i was 14 when I seriously got into it" but it doesnt make interesting reading.

hmm I guess my message never really caught on. hahaha. The fact of the matter is probably that people just post it without reading the whole thread.
no worries. I am guilty of that sometimes too.

[Richie Sambora]

started six months ago, im 16 now.

[jewdo27]

11 in 12 now

[SKEETER]

RICHIE:

Jesus IS God, and chances are he likes the best guitars, so He likely plays a Japanese or Korean instrument.

[bingnugget]

I started classical indian training from age 4. I started guitar from age 7. I am 25 years old.

[ZampraZ]

11 now im 12

[Acoustic]

Its been just over a year playing, since I was 16. Im 17 now.

[Slight Return]

Started when I was 14. I'm 16 now.

[disposed hero]

I started when i was 13. Im 16 now. Wish i started earlier.

[Hoopjam]

10 years old BEOTCHES! 13 right now tho :/

[curt hammet]

i started wen i was 14 years old..im 17 now

[blind0_0penguin]

18 and I still am.

[KingOfNoPants]

13...16 now, quickly approaching 17 (next month)

[Slight Return]

Started when I was 14. I'm 16 now.

[ForeverWritten8]

13, been serious since the summer after i started, which was total 2.5 years ago

[76Strat]

18 im 19 now

[Razzy]

I started when I was 11, I'm almost 18 now, and it's been just over six years.

[rodderz]

Started when I was 14. I'm 16 now.

same here, 1 and 3/4 years acoustic, 1 and a half electric

[FndrNO]

I've been playing guitar since I started with it at school. I was 13 years old at the time.. I started playing the acoustic guitar, and after 2 years I bought my electric :) I'm 16 now. I'm still playing some acoustic stuff ;)

[Blake]

I picked up the bass when I was 15 and I'm 23 now. I've been playing the regular guitar for less than a year.

[Peterw11]

I guess I've got you all beat. Picked up my first guitar about a year and a half ago...when I was 54.

Always meant to...never got to it, (job, wife, kids, mortgage, etc.)

I've been taking lessons for about 10 months...trying to find at least an hour a day to practice, making some progress and having fun.

Should have done it when I was 13.

[Frightcrawler]

I started at age 15, around December 2005. I learned Emin and Amaj chords. 6 months later I realize that more chords exist besides Emin and Amaj and here I am today, still 15 and learning for real. :)

[Prez]

17. Way too late for stardom. :( At 36, I'm finally becoming an advanced player. But I'm a fogey!

[Keith]

I started and stopped almost as quick as I started at age 7.
I wasn't until I hit 12 when I re-picked up the guitar. 13 was the age that I really got going and started to practice like mad.

[Plain G]

Not till I was 16, seemed late the first few years but almost 30yrs later....not so much.

[fastvfr]

I begged my folks for a guitar for years...so they bought one for my brother. And though he got dragged to lessons and all, he hated it and soon quit them-and then he threw the guitar away so I could not use it to learn on.

BTW, he did NOT improve with age. I'm surprised he isn't in prison. We don't talk.

BTT, I just started in June at the age of 37.

[Bound]

My mom bought me a Yamaha Drednaught when I was 11, the thing was a beast and I counldn't even play it until I was about 15. I'm 21 now and have been ripping electrics for about 5 years. Only seriously practicing for about 3.

[mattcymru]

24, im 25 now, been playing just over a month and dam its hard! but good fun ;)

[CopyCat]

wow, most of you guys are so young! get after those lessons, that theory, learn to make music! you'll have a great life with it along :)

I had an old standard when I was young, but never really played it. Took piano lessons, but that was it. Then I worked lights for a band while I was in my high-school years, and bought my first electric then. This was back in '69 - '71 or so.

I played that, copying albums, etc. all through my college years, and have bought a couple more since then and still play along with songs. Never had lessons or learned much music theory - and it shows! Now I am trying to go through that in order to put some music behind my playing.

You guys 'n gals should start with the music so your playing will develop with some meaning and structure, rather than haphazard like mine. Still fun, but can't do much with it.

[scott powell]

I was 15.

[Piet]

i started at 9. But i only got really serious, like playing 5 hours+ a day, about 3 months ago.

[I_b_a_n_e_z_e_r]

I started playing when I was 12, but not seriously until about 17, then I took about 10 years off and am now trying to get serious again.

[4thoseabout2rok]

a few months before I turned 14, I'm 14 still. Started playing seriously right when I got it

[teno]

15 then I took a break at 18, that was 24 year's ago !!

[Bud Berner]

Been playing one and a half months. Since my 43rd B-day.

[Kuro]

I started some where around the beginning of this year when i was still 13

[Minor Seventh]

I ... uh ... I can't remember (my age starts showing ...). I believe I started fooling around with a guitar when I was around 8 or 9. But it was nothing I was really into. I started really practising with 16 or so ...

[strat]

13. 14 now. I guess it take it pretty seriously. I love it.

[Lazero]

I got my first guitar for christmas almost 2 years ago. About a year ago, I just got better out of nowhere. I started to improvise alot and I just started to practice playing chords alot. Oh yeah, I can genuinely say the reason I got better was because for about a good month or two all I did was chromatics. They help alot!

[Fizzed]

Late one summer. Eleven or twelve I believe I was.

[Rohrix]

Last christmas. I was 17.

[isak_9]

13.

[Super Bozo]

I started about 3 weeks ago. I'm 16.

[wattage]

Started when I just turned 13. I started because Jimi Hendrix totally blew me awa when I first watched a video of him (Woodstock-Fire to be exact).

[Teletubby]

I started in the womb of my mother :P beat that

[pombalazio]

Hey Teletubby... where did you find the guitar to start with ? :P

I started with 17 in school, been serious from the start. I'm 21 now.

[GuitarownzU]

I was 14, I am 17 now.

[thelivingend]

When I was quite young but I never really liked it, and quit after learning hardly anything. Bout two years ago I picked it back up and enjoyed it more by teaching myself. However, I get lessons now and enjoy it just as much as ever

[John Burr]

I was 48, been at it 14 months now. Sort of wish that I started earlier but if I had been skilled enough earlier in my life to play for free drinks in a bar I would probably have been dead by now so I guess it worked out just right!

BSR

[FortePenance]

I'm 14 now so I'd reckon I started when I was 11 or 10.

[Arc]

I started when I was 14.

[T1Bone]

me 14-15

[broke_my_strat]

Thats alot of posts. But I was 12.

[Semi-Hollowbody]

I was 34...am now 37...
If I could have just one wish, it would be to go back to age 12 and have the same feelings towards the guitar that I have now!

[Jamie]

Started when I was 19, I'm 27 now. Man I'm so glad I stuck with it. Looove the guitar!!

[manjaganjaman]

I was on clarinet and sax for a few years. By age 12 I was switching to guitar and bought one at 13.
Now 52, still playing (and learning) daily.
As of 2 months ago I am selling guitars and amps at one of those major music store places. As a younger person I never could have done so as my entire check would go to gear. I have about everything I could want at this point. It sure is nice to work with something you actually care about.
I especially enjoy helping some young person down the endless road to the perfect tone and sound. A journey that's different for each of us.

[rotteneggz]

i've been playing since i was 10 and ive been serious about it since i was 11

[Peeb]

I actually started playing in about my 8th week of gestation. I was pretty darn good, too! Under the circumstances, it was strictly acoustic, as I could scrounge neither an amp nor a plug in.

Then I put it away for 18 years, and started up in the spring of my Senior year of High School.

[MAssenmacher]

I started at 53.

[Hobolad]

I was 16, just over a year ago. Good to say I ain't the only person who started "late" (Y'know, you read about most of the greats and they started at five :/)

[Chronicle]

Started when i was 14. Got a Hartke bass starter set. Then i got a MIM Fender 48th St. custom Fat[HSS] Strat for the next christmas. I was really into playing both but i perfered the strat cause it was cooler lol

Then a gf[now refered as pyshco slut lol ;/ ] got me a Fender MIM jazz bass but i had to pay her back lol- i told her i was gonna buy it but then i saw it at my doorstep and i was like "Wth..[whore]"

Next i found a 1976 Peavey Classic 100 all tube amp. It needed some new tubes and then i was rocking with my guitar again lol.

Finally i saved up and got a 2006 Rickenbacker 4003. After that, saved and got a Peavey 2x10 BAM combo to go with it.

After that i got the BOSS MT-2 and Flanger BF-3 and i started playing guitar more. But now one of my cables is broken so i have to wait a little while before i play with the pedals again lol.

In a couple of weeks i'm gonna get a Xaviere LP copy. And then buy some monster cables lol


oh and now i'm 19.

[broke_my_strat]

Wow, so many started at 12. I'll take it a step further, I Started on my 12th birthday!

[pageLZ]

I was 15 when I started. Got serious for a couple months when I was 16. Now I'm 17 and I'm obsessed.:)

[BKent]

I was 15.

[dickiebong]

46

im 48 now

[deathmedic]

i started when i was 21 and a half
i'm 22

[Steve080]

35, been playing about 1 1/2 years now

[LappEphone]

Guitar at about 16, but clarinet and chorus in grade school, now 57 and play more than ever.
Electric about 5 years...why'd I wait so long...?

[ozzyman]

Had my first guitar when i was 4 didnt get interested untill I was 12...

[gtrhrcane]

Tough call so I'll just lay it out, I had gotten an acoustic guitar and really tried playing back when I was about 16. But the neck was cracked so bad it was unrepairable and also would not stay in tune so I kind of fell off that idea for awhile.

In the summer of 2000 I got my own (new) acoustic, played that for awhile but nothing like I do since I got my first electric in December '01...I try to average at least 10 hours of practice or playing a week, 10 hours in my hands minimum...

I'm 29 now. I usually tell people I've been playing since about 2000 or so, but really seriously starting late '01.

[AcoustiGull]

I started 3 months ago at age 49.

[Richie Sambora]

i was 16

[Hitman!]

Cool! I never saw that thread before.

I started on trumpet and guitar at 14, on bass at 15 (and stop trumpet). I played mostly bass until college, started college on bass then switch to guitar again. Started mandolin, banjo and lap-steel at 19, stopped around 29. Now I'm 33, still play guitar and bass :)

[millrat]

I started about 2 yrs ago, I'm 42 now so I guess I was 40.
when I was about 29 a friend gave me this Yamaha FG-180 from the early 70's, and I took 2 lessons, then got stuck on a 7-day 12hr schedule and didn't really get started, so all I learned was a couple notes on the high E-string. So I guess I really staarted at 40.
I'm defintely hooked real bad now. I try to play every night for at least an hour or more.
I spend alot of that time writing lyrics and stringing chords to them.
I'm way better at the lyrics than the playinig, and would love to collaborate with some of the talented musicians on the forum.

[revelations55]

I started with piano at 5, guitar at 6, and cello at 9

[Itakesallkinds]

In December I will be playing (and still a student) for 20 years, and that will be on my 26th birthday. If it were not for an older brother and cousin that both played (they are both 10 years older than me) and the fact I wanted to be just like them (hey....I was 5 1/2...cut me some slack) I would have never gotten a guitar. Ten years after I started playing they stopped.

[j00ky]

I was and still am 24 when i started practicing and learning how to play the guitar properly.

[Blake]

I just passed the 9 year mark a month or two ago. I'm closing in on a decade now! I was 14 when I started, and I'm 24 now. (That sounds like ten years, but I started just before I turned 15 and I just turned 24 in March).

[mean]

here comes another 13-er. i also learned the drums at the same time but gave it up after a year because learning it was boring and somthing inside was telling me that i just loved guitar, and it's still telling me

[sixstringgod]

i was four, and am 12 now (hehe.....) i am now in a band, and i am currently gigging....have been serious for about 5 yrs.

[Dude Absher]

I think I was 5 when i first stared playing my friends guitar and 10 when I got my own guitar and still have a long way to go...

[chen34212]

i got my first guitar when I was 17 years old... I am 18 now :) But it feels like three decades

[aybase]

Learned chords and the basics on a hadmedown classical from my aunt at the tender age of 15, bought my electric and got semi-serious about playing in november of my 16th year, and now i'm 18, going on 19 this month. 3 years actual playing aniversary this november. i think i've come quite a ways... NEVER to late to start learning i don't think... besides, just because you might never become 'technically' AMAZING doesn't mean you'll never use talents or be in a band. i mean, i can easily play most alt-rock songs that i hear :-p and if they can get famous, so can i ;-)

[Cizzie]

I got my first "good" guitar on my 14th birthday, I already got an crappy old one when I was 9 or so but never bothered to learn to play it. I seriously started a few months after my 15th birthday. Just one more month and I'll be 16 :).

[music.ninja]

7 years ago when i was 13

[sixstringgod]

when i was 6...

[metalman1221]

I was 15,that was...gulp...24 years ago.....

[LaughingSkull]

I started seriously at 35:)

[Beanoman]

I started acoustic when I was 13, in 1963 and electric in 1978, when I was 31. I'm self-taught, but had lessons for 6 months a year ago, when I discovered a guy called Bill Parkinson, a 60 year old session guitarist and song writer who really rocks. He used to back Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey among others. He taught me lots of pro tricks.

[tcanova]

I was 9. Traded my Atari game system for a friends knock off SG and an amp.

[CatfishStudios]

13 years old I Got my first acoustic .. never stopped for more then a few weeks. That was 16 years ago?! Crap , thanks for reminding me that im not cool anymore! :D

[almost a regula]

12, when i got a J Reynolds. what a POS that was.

[cohenman]

8 or 9... really on and off though. so much so that my past guitar experiences count for nothing so I guess 16 :D

[Strat Kid]

Like 10.

[AcesHigh]

started play guitar last year when i was 17.... im 18 now.... played bass about a year when i was 14....nothing serious thou. we just where a couple of ppl messing around really. wouldn call it a band....

[FretMaster]

i started when i was 14. self taught...cause i couldnt afford lessons lol

[eko291]

Boy do I feel behind the curve. 30.

[Adwex]

I was 22

[Rummy]

i was 12 the first time i ever picked up a guitar. i strummed the hell out that acoustic for like a month and a half. then i was 16 when i picked up another, and i've been playin' like the dickens since.

[tbman]

I was about 9 when I first started, but I stopped and had to relearn so many times over the next 43 years that I lost count. My current playng stretch is almost 3 years, after an approx. 11 year layoff from playing.

[GibsonShredder]

I started at age 12-got my first guitar for Christmas :)

[LepRECONofficer]

Same, got my First Act bass for Christmas and decided "why waste money on lessons?" I've been doing okay ever since.

[ARSENIK]

i started playingwhen i was 16 almost 17, and oddly enough i had a lot of people say i was "too old to get any good at an instrument, you have to start when you're around 5 blah blah blah" but i have friends who've been playing for 10 years who cant play as well as me (not being arrogant, they said so themselves) so it just depends on how dedicated you are, like al these others are saying :)

[Dan07]

I started almost exactly 1 year ago at 16. Been playing for hours every day since then.

[Rockin4MyCHRIST]

I started playing when I was 5, played for about a year or two, then dropped it till i was 11, been playing ever since... im 17 now

[gusstro]

started at 9 got serious round 11 started to learn stuff like classical gas... i had lessons so
now im 15

[freya181]

you are never too old to learn music. i started singing when i was 12 or 13 and i started playing guitar when i was 17. it's going really well for me. you start playing an instrument when you start playing it so you just have to think of it like that.

[Sharon]

I picked up the guitar when I was 13. My older broker played a little bit and I have always had this drive to do things my brother can do as well (if not better) than him. After learning what he knew and learning a few popular songs with simple chords I guess I was content with leaving it at that for I stopped after about a year.

My interest in the instrument came back when I turned 17 and my other older brother and sister-in-law bought me my own acoustic guitar. I did stop again after a little while for I found myself moving from place to place and the guitar wasn't a big priority.

I've gained the interest back recently and now I'm trying to learn whatever I can. Hopefully I'll stick with it this time!!! :) I'm 19 now.

[nibroc]

Started at 34.

[Coalregion]

Started in at 11 and have been at it ever since. I'll be 44 in August, so that's more years than I care to admit to! :D

[ckmoose04]

I started when i was 14 at a friends house and im fifteen now i got my guitar last christmas

[OwNaGeR]

hmm I wonder how many people answered this post two times to get their post count up...


I started playing back in March.

[Benny99]

This age i am at currently...11 1/2....

[shaftmonkey]

12, im 14 now

[guitarist4doodd]

i started playing at 9 in a band by 11 now im 13 and i must admit im glad i started early now i show off playing my tap and stuff ha ;)

[Razzy]

I started at 11, but didn't get super serious until I was about 12.

[Laws]

Started playing the classical guitar at 9 and electric at 12. Studied classical to grade 8 at music school and went no further although I still play the classical from time to time. Stayed with the electric ever since.

Laws

[SaBeS-ESP]

i was 13 got my first guitar for christmas and ive been goin strong for 3 years now (im 16)

[Lucky13pck]

16..unfortunatley

[logjon]

019

[music.ninja]

14 started getting serious 2 years later, now im 19 and im still serious hooray

[4thStreet]

I received an Alvarez RD8 acoustic at the age of 16, played no longer than a week and quit because I wasn't tearing up, made some good friends not too long ago who played the guitar, after the first time hearing one buddy on guitar and one on the drums go at it together improvising saying "hey, give me something really upbeat" than the other matches like it was written.... I went straight home and dusted off the case ;) That was about 6 weeks ago! I'm 20 now and maybe my maturity has given me a better attitude towards it I think..

I don't want to be famous or sell cd's or be a guitar hero... I want to pick up a guitar and play it well with passion :)

[playinforHim]

16....47 now. Yeah, I'm an old fogie. But, remember, with age....comes wisdom, whether you want it or not. Or is that, with wisdom, comes age....whatever.

[Tekboy]

16....47 now. Yeah, I'm an old fogie. But, remember, with age....comes wisdom, whether you want it or not. Or is that, with wisdom, comes age....whatever.

I don't remember either! :D :LMAO:

[noskills]

12, got serious 6 months ago and now am 14