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What Made you Pick up a Guitar?


Dennis G

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On a whim, way back in the summer of '61, a few of us went to see these guys. I realized about 20 minutes into the "show" that they weren't working, they were having fun. Two weeks later, I was taking lessons, and two years after that I was in a cover band

 

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Funny enough, I was playing "Hootenannies" before I got into a rock band.

For me there was never a time when there wasn't a guitar in the house, so it was kinda natural to pick one up to play......

But the "THING" that hooked me was the Beatles!

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My first conscious memory of wanting a guitar was when I was 10 years old, in the barn at my grandparents farm. My uncle was letting me help him work on a motorcycle (handing him tools) and he put on the TNT tape and I was hooked from the go. Had to wait another two years until I got my first guitar, a used Sigma DR-28, which I still own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCs7ijNUVM

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My Dad was very big in the country and western scene over here. He was not only an excellent guitarist but harmonica player as well. So there was always a guitar laying around the house (I don't think he ever kept one in it's case, ever!). Just from watching him play and making this instrument make all these great sounds, out of curiosity probably more than anything else, I picked one up one day and started to try to make the sounds he was doing. And the love affair went on from there.

I was only 5 1/2 years old. Blame dear ol' Dad (lol).

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KISS. On one night back in 2000 when I was 8 years old, my Mom and Dad were in the living room watching TV and I went in there to see what they were watching. They were watching the KISS: THE LAST KISS concert on Direct TV Pay-Per-View. The feeling I got was indescribable and it completely changed my life. BEGGED them for a guitar afterward and on Christmas morning of 2000 at 8 years old I got my first guitar. My all time favorite band and biggest inspirations and heroes. Ace is my guitar hero, all time favorite guitarist, and biggest inspiration.

 

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Well, it was mostly The Beatles/Paul McCartney that really got me into wanting to be a Rock and Roll star. [biggrin]

 

But when I was 10 years old, I heard "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and I wanted to be able to play that—"someday". It was the coolest think I'd ever heard. Enter the Sears Wish Book later that year at Christmas time, and I became obsessed with the "Electric Guitars" page. I didn't get the one I circled, but I soon got one that looked a little like it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMLiqEqMQyQ?t

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Guns N Roses version of Live & Let Die in 1991. I was watching the ITV Chart Show one day when I was about 7 and had never heard anything like it and thought Slash's playing was amazing. I then went out and bought Appetite and was blown away by it. A short while later I got the Use Your Illusion concert videos and remember watching the extended live version of Double Talkin' Jive over and over thinking Slash's sound & playing was the coolest thing ever.

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My parents had Ed Sullivan to blame. If he hadn't had those mop-top British hooligans on his show.....

 

Yes, another one that was mesmerized by the Beatles appearances on the Ed Sullivan show. I was too young to even be thinking about the screaming girls, it was the guy standing in back playing all the cool fill licks.

 

So, I guess I could really blame it on George.

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KISS and Ace were definitely the first influence on my desire to play the guitar. Especially the Live versions of "God of Thunder" and "Shock Me".

 

Another was when I heard the song "Sultans of Swing" on the radio. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I had to learn to play guitar, if for no other reason than to someday play that song.

 

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Elvis and Johnny Cash, I have had one in my hands since the age of two. I just cant imagine life with out guitars and music.

 

Come on Donny. You find a way to insert KISS into any other topic, and here you only list Elvis and Johnny Cash? [biggrin]

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On a whim, way back in the summer of '61, a few of us went to see these guys. I realized about 20 minutes into the "show" that they weren't working, they were having fun. Two weeks later, I was taking lessons, and two years after that I was in a cover band

 

^^This and I looked around and girls were drooling , I thought hmm this looks cool

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On a whim, way back in the summer of '61, a few of us went to see these guys. I realized about 20 minutes into the "show" that they weren't working, they were having fun. Two weeks later, I was taking lessons, and two years after that I was in a cover band

 

The Beatles did it for me and I never looked back0

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I started on bass. I play bass and sang for 5 years before I ever picked up a guitar. After 5 years of playing and singing in bands I decided I had had enough of the insanity of guitar players so I learned to play a little on my own so that I wouldn't have to deal with them.

 

Guitar players made me pick up the guitar. [thumbup]

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