How did you start learning guitar ?

[cwiebe888]

Im self taught And left handed so its harder for me to get a good selection of guitars . im not the greatest right now but im learning

[Kov]

Wow this is like an AA meeting.

I am Kov, and I am a guitar player. I've been playing for 6 years.

Well, back in '04, we were waiting for a class in high school (well not exactly, 8th grade, but it was an 8 year highschool) and my best friend just started playing guitar. I asked him to show me something, so of course he taught me the intro to smoke on the water, what else. I was hooked. After the class, I went home, and hijacked my brother's acoustic (which he never let me touch), and his computer (to which the same restrictions applied). I got the tab for the Blues Brothers theme, and started struggling with it. Then my bro entered the room, and when he saw what I was trying to do, he encouraged me. Then I got my first acoustic first christmas (steel strings, yay for learning blues, nay for the skin on my rookie guitar player fingers :P I did actually play that thing until my fingers bled), got a teacher, who taught me for over a year, and he was strict about the theory, thank him for that. That summer I went to work, and devoted all my summer to earn money to buy an Epi LP standard +.

I stopped going to the teacher eventually, because I went to the United States for a year, where I signed up for the high-school jazz band, where I was thrown into the deep water in the sense of seeing chord names longer than the actual bar itself, and having to figure those out on the spot.

Funny thing is that I took my LP with me, and on Delta Airlines they forced me to check the guitar in, instead of taking it with me as carry-on luggage. When I arrived, my guitar did not, and it only turned up in 5 days. And it was broken. (Well, the finish was chipped on several places.) I went to the airport, to get something for the damages. I asked them to take pictures as evidence, and when they wanted to take a picture of the headstock, I told them to photograph the bell thing, which (as most epis do) had "Gibson" written on it, so instead of a 400$ guitar, I was at 2000$.   They told me to get an estimate for the damages, so as the sly fucker I am, I went to the local guitar shop for the estimate, slipped the luthier a 20, told him to write 600$ on the estimate, and I promised him to spend the money there. So I have a mexican strat also.

That was my story. (Which included insurance fraud. What the hell, fuck the system.  )

[Euterpe]

I tried to teach myself. Learned a few chords and quit because I was going nowhere. I didn't touch a guitar until about 2 months ago when my mom bought me a bass, it sits in my computer chair because I can't get my heart set to play it (mainly because I'm clueless on how to start )


Long story short, I have no motivation to learn to play no matter how bad I want to learn

[The Spaghetti Incident?]

Use tabs, bass for the most part is a lot easier than guitar, Google the tab for Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) Roger Waters was a very simplistic bassist but his riffs were pretty iconic and memorable. Even some of Duff's stuff is simple, but fun.

Just wanted to. Listening to G&R I wanted to be like Slash. I was about 15 I think, Mum got me an acoustic, but I made her get me an electric. Became a bit disillusioned for a while there and just when I finally had the chance to perform at school, too. I just wasn't feeling it. I think mostly because I'd gotten into a rut listening to the same old shit day after day and also that whole Guitar Hero fad had come 'in' and everyone wanted to play guitar or join a band, kinda killed my hard on.

Finally out of that though, it's back

[better2112]

I tried learning like 8 years ago, and failed. SO I got a drumset like Max. Really want to be able to play though! Should be able to learn (probably take lessons) when the time is right. never to old right?

[Peaches]

get off your ass better, you're gonna be old as balls soon. not tomorrow but tomorrow will come fuggin-FAST. I'm already god damned 19! ooooooold. 

[AJH79]

I started playing about 7 years ago... I always wanted to learn guitar, just never had the time so when I was finally done school and had more time on my hands I went out and bought a guitar.

When I bought the guitar I also bought "Guitars for dummies".... I never played an instrument before.. other than the gay hand bells and recorder in elementry school  so I had no idea what I was getting into.. all I can say is thank god for tabs!  To this day I still cant read music.

Guitars for dummies helped me lots with the basics.. but I quickly got tired of rocking out to mary had a little lamb (with full distoration lol)... I then took some lessons, found that to be quite a waste of my time.. but I assume that would all depend on your instructor... mine was a total douche..  Then I bought a bunch of tab books with help cd's included.. this is where i probably progressed the most.. I started out with lots of green day and offspring because they are so simple and its a great feeling when you can finally play a full song.. no matter how easy it is.

After that a few more lessons and then I pretty much hit my plateau.. and now I haven't touched my guitar in about a year but after reading this thread it got me wanting to play again.

It's funny how I would definitely call guns n roses my favorite band.. yet I never learnt much gnr on guitar... only nightrain and sweet child o mine.. for some reason i didn't enjoy playing gnr as much as Metallica, AC/DC and Black Sabbath

[Chaser™]

One of the rockets from Ace Frehley's guitar hit my pregnant mum in the belly. The rocket which had been touched by Ace auto-taught me rock n' roll chords and eventually the left over residue taught me some solos. By the time I was born I was already playing solo's while wobbling in place.

True story.

[rocknroll41]

When I was 12 my bro asked for a guitar for his 9th b-day. My parents got him a cheap one from Toys R" Us as well as one for me, even tho I didn't ask for one cuz I thought I'd never be comitted...I WAS WRONG

The moment I strummed a C-chord for the first time I knew something special had occured with me. I finally found my talent...My calling.

Eventually my bro and I got serious guitars and took lessons with the guy who owns a minor label and has his own band. He was very nice and we learned fast.

Today, my bro doesn't write his own songs. He just learns covers on YouTube and likes to play the solos not-for-note (fine with me).

I, on the other hand, write loads of music and lyrics and have my own style of playing both originals and covers. Guitar is a part of me that will never leave...

[Faxl]

I had the first Guitar Hero game, and got bored/disillusioned with it, and decided to have a go with the real deal.

[jplpool]

Interesting story: I've tried several times to learn, but basically I was shit.

However, I've recently discovered that my ring finger on my left hand is partially paralysed (it can't move independently of my other fingers, due to getting my hand trapped in the hinges of a solid timber door as a youngster. To explain better; from a clenched fist, the only way I can raise my ring finger to a vertical position, without opening my fist, is by manually moving it)

So last week, I was fucking around with a mates old guitar. I followed the lead of Hendrix, put the strings on upside down and played left handed. I found it much, much easier.

So much so, that I should have my very own left handed guitar by the end of the week.

[pawnshop-guitars]

nice!

Personally I was inspired to begin playing after hearing the delightful guitar tones of the Fine Young Cannibals in seminal hit 'She Drives Me Crazy' then driven to achieve musical orgasms after hearing Phil Collins hanging himself to death in my favourite dream

[wyldechild]

I was fat but I wanted to get laid... guitar did wonders still does

[Peaches]

Interesting story: I've tried several times to learn, but basically I was shit.

However, I've recently discovered that my ring finger on my left hand is partially paralysed (it can't move independently of my other fingers, due to getting my hand trapped in the hinges of a solid timber door as a youngster. To explain better; from a clenched fist, the only way I can raise my ring finger to a vertical position, without opening my fist, is by manually moving it)

So last week, I was fucking around with a mates old guitar. I followed the lead of Hendrix, put the strings on upside down and played left handed. I found it much, much easier.

So much so, that I should have my very own left handed guitar by the end of the week.

Excellent, Good job bra.

Guitars fun but...lately been getting bored of "expanding" my skills. I mean i might be just a notch above mediocre now, i aint no wyldechildlifegonet oomild but hey, enough skill to write songs and do some slash solo's minus 25% of his skill. yes i measured his skill universally.

spanish style is the bomb. or the black keys on a piano and transfer that to the guitar. fucking chinese IT UP!