Let's hear about your first guitar story

[bigtim]

I thought this would be kind of fun for everyone. There may be some other threads similar on here from the past but what the heck. Anyways so here is my little story.

I was 6 years old back 1979. A new bass player showed up at church and his bass was a white 1970's Fender Jazz bass with maple neck and black inlays. Man he was awesome and a bad a$$ bass player too. I really enjoyed watching and listening to that fellow so much that I do not remember anything else from that time in church but that guy who played the bass. I never knew his name and I really did not know it was a bass, I just thought it was another guitar.

I asked and bugged my parents for a guitar. Every Christmas my parents would throw the old Sears Wish book at me and my brothers and told us to circle what we wanted. Of course they did that every year and although we would circle stuff in the Sears catalog we never really got exactly what we circled. But none the less Christmas was never lacking in any way.

Anyways on Christmas morning in 1979 I was the first up and went to the tree and there was that weird triangle shaped card board box. It was not wrapped and there was no name on it. I opened it up and saw it was a little acoustic Harmony guitar. I did not know who it was for because there was no name on it.

So I ran into my parents room. Mom was still in bed. I asked her who the guitar belonged to. She told me "For you!!"

I told her "I kind of thought so but was not sure because I had never got any other thing I really wanted for Christmas before!"

 

What a little smart a$$ remark from me!! But I look back and laugh about it now.

 

So lets hear from you other fellow Gibsonites please!!

 

[LPguitarman]

I don't remember my age at the time, maybe around 10. My birthday is December 2nd, so I asked my parents for a combination birthday Christmas gift of an electric guitar and an amplifier. They got me a cheap "Grandpa Pidgeons" guitar, probably around $40. and a Fender Pro-Reverb Amp. Nothing special, but enough to get started. I later saved for an Elektra Omega, then finally a Gibson Goldtop Deluxe LP. That is all gone and replaced with my current Gibson LP Classic Antique and Peavey Classic 50 VT Series amp.

 

But, my very first guitar was an unknown brand small acoustic that I paid $1.00 for from a friend down the street. I played Smoke on the Water on the 1st string only and the rest is history.

Edited December 7, 2018 by LPguitarman

[Pinch]

13. A Jap strat. I was knee-deep in Iron Maiden. I'd also discovered thrash metal, and being a Swede, the death metal explosion was, er, exploding at the time. So singlecoils were perhaps an odd choice. But I did not have any offers from Entombed lined up.

[Karloff]

Christmas 1973. I was 13. got a Sears electric. it was $29. mom said she didn't have the money to buy the amp too (mentioned once in another thread my folks didn't have much $$). it was a piece of crap guitar, but it was mine. and I could play 3 chords & Smoke on the Water on the low E string. 6 months later I traded my Brooks Robinson Rawling's glove to a kid down the street for a cheap little amp he had. it had 2 5" speakers. I cut them with my pocket knife so I'd have a fuzz/distortion sound. wish I still had that glove.

[Rabs]

Probably like many.. My first ever actual guitar was a nylon string classical guitar type thing no name and cost £10 that I got when I was 11.. The thing is I didn't really want to learn at that age so while it was officially my first guitar I don't really consider it as I didn't really want to start learning properly till I was about 14 when I had got into rock.

 

So really my first guitar was a Tanglewood LP Black Beauty, which from what I know became a lawsuit guitar. The thing is that I always wanted a Gibson and it annoyed me so much that what I had looked like one but wasn't I quickly ended up part exchanging it for a Kay double cut neck through guitar that looked like this.

 

 

I gave that away to a flat mate when I got my first LP in the early 90s but which I hadn't. It was a cool guitar.. The pickups were total crap but with some decent pups in it, it would have been a stonker.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Rabs

[Valeriy]

Wow, my first guitar was unsuccessful, the hum from its humbuckers was too big, I bought it from a private master. But I decided to deal with it because a lot of money has been spent for this guitar. And finally, I made it as active guitar with active pickups, there were corrected some mistakes in those humbuckers and after this the guitar became just excellent in sound . I played for a long time and didnt intend to change it until the neck became too curved. Here is one of the things where I play on this guitar (instead of the piano part in an Elviss song)

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Valeriy

[NighthawkChris]

My first guitar was received on my 14th birthday. I was really into Metallica at the time and I wanted nothing more than to be able to play with my cassettes. The guitar was a used, all black Epiphone SG I picked up at the local music store literally down the street from where I lived back then. The guitar was pretty nice one to start with if I don't say so myself. I didn't get an amp until Christmas - a few months after my birthday - but I was still playing my guitar since my birthday... I was excited for my small Crate practice amp. It was a very basic amp, but when you have nothing, you learn to deal. Beggars can't be choosers, haha! Either way, this Epiphone made me a Gibson guy. I never bought another SG after that as it wasn't really my thing, but back then, I'd take anything with 6 strings pretty much. The SG was the best deal on the floor for me, so I treated it well, and it treated me well. Hey, it got me to the next level... I sold it after I got my Epi-Nighthawk a few years later. I don't think I miss it, but I miss those years!

[ksdaddy]

My brother bought a used Kay 3500 (circa 1960) at a second hand store around 1962 or 63. In 1964 he got a Holiday electric and soon afterwards moved up to a Fender Mustang, at which point he gave me the Kay. I was 7 or so. This is my brother Paul:

 

 

Once a year or so, my father would slap on a set of Black Diamond medium strings on it. Child abuse, plain and simple. My brother had the Mustang, my father had a Gibson Southerner Jumbo, and I had a medieval torture device. This guitar never should have existed. The neck was too narrow for a child learning to play. My stumps mashed down on two strings at once. The strings were very high and I think Dad made a new bone nut for it, which I'm sure was a horrible fit. I carried it around anyway. I still have the strap by the way.

 

 

I never did learn to play this colossal POS. I wish I could go back in time, cut a new nut for it and install some silk n steels.

 

In early '74 my brother gave me a Harmony archtop, which at least WORKED. The Kay hung around until 1977 when I stripped it down, meaning to refinish it. I never did, and it delaminated in the basement. It went in the trash. I sought redemption years later when I did neck resets and basic restoration on TWO Kay 3500s.

[Dennis G]

Okay, long story short (well, as least not as long as it could be LOL). On a whim, when I was 15, a bunch of us went to see the Kingston Trio (HEY, it WAS 1961, okay?), and I realized about 20 minutes into the show that these guys weren't working, they were having FUN! Told my Dad the next day that I wanted to learn to play the guitar. His only response was "If you're gonna play guitar, you need a Gibson". I guess that would be in honor of his older brother, who played a Gibby mandolin. My first guitar was a Gibson LG-0, that Mom & Dad financed (hey, it cost $85). Wish I still had it because it holds many memories of "sing alongs" in our kitchen and front porch, with friends, neighbors, etc. but it became the down payment for my first electric (a Fender strat) when I started playing in a cover band a couple of years later. And here we are, over 50 years later, and I'm still learning new things on this wonderful instrument.

[american cheez]

my first guitar? mukashi, mukashi... around 1983...i was working for minimum wage, at the time it was $3.35/hr. my take home pay was arounf $70/week. my brother in law told me "if you save up $300, i'll take you to the music store and help you choose a quality instrument." so i went for a looong time skipping lunches, not buying weed, walking to work, not going on dates. after what seemed like forever, i finally had $300, so my brother in law took me to some music store, i don't even remember what store anymore. i wanted to buy an SG because that's what angus plays, and as far as i was concerned there was no one else that cool except evh.of course, the price of the SG meant i would have to keep saving. what i ended up buying was as close as i could afford. it was a hcsb westbury deluxe. i named her wilamina. it was a great guitar, and i wish i still had it. if i ever find another one(i'm always looking) i will buy it even if it means selling my les paul.

 

it looked like this, but i had mini toggles for phase switching and coil taps, and a varitone knob as well. none of that worked, but i didn't care.

 

[Dave F]

1962 - First one was a pawn shop special that only lasted 3 days in a house of six boys before it got busted over someone's head.

Later that year I got this one for Christmas and no one was allowed to borrow it.

 

 

Two years later I was ready to go electric.

 

 

[Guitar God]

Let's take a trip back to 2000. I was 8 years old. My mom and dad were watching the KISS THE LAST KISS concert on Direct TV Pay Per View. I happened to walk in the living room to see what they were watching and I was glued to the TV. From that moment on KIS became my all time favorite band and I wanted a guitar so bad. I remember asking my dad, "What kind of guitar is Ae Frehley playing?" and he said, "That is a Gibson Les Paul." and I replied with, "That's what I want!" and I got on the computer - dial up days - and looked at every Gibson and Epiphone I could find online, haha. So, Christmas of 2000 comes around and there is a big box beside the tree with a note written from "Santa" with red ink taped to the box. I knew what the box was, I took the note off, glanced through it, and opened the thing, haha. There was my first guitar. Wasn't a Les Paul. It was a red Ibanez Gio AX series. I was just so happy I had a guitar. I liked the fact that it had that Gibson Grabber bass - like Gene played - or a Gibson SG body style. Broke my first string on it figuring out the bridge riff to Cold Gin, haha. I sadly don't have that guitar anymore. I wish I still did. If I ever see that guitar pop up again at a local store or Craigslist, it will be back in my hands again, just because it was my very first guitar.

 

 

 

 

[OldCowboy]

If y'all can tolerate a visit from an old guy - most of you are, by my standards, pretty young - and a confirmed acoustic player since day #1.... My first was a little Regal with a wonderful baseball bat sized neck that played like butter. That guitar is probably why I stayed with it at the attention span challenged age of 11. A couple years later, I got one of the first Gibson Epiphones, a Cortez from their 1st run - and a fine guitar. Both came used, so that might be part of why I still prefer vintage instruments. Still own both of 'em, as well, although many others have come and gone (and a few have stayed) over the past 60 years.

[zigzag]

My first guitar was a flamenco style early attempt by a local luthier when I was around 10 sometime around 1963. It was a POS, but I took lessons from the luthier's daughter whom I thought was a babe. I learned folkie and protest songs... mostly Bob Dylan tunes, cowboy chords, and finger picking.

 

My first electric was soon after. It was a one-pickup POS Kent that my parents bought used from a pawn shop. It had no truss rod (and the neck bowed beyond playability shortly afterward), and since my parents didn't know any better, I had no amp. So I had to rig a way to tap into our '50s RCA console record player for amplification.

Edited December 8, 2018 by zigzag

[NHTom]

I was twelve and since my birthday is on new years, I always got the birthday/Christmas combo gift.

 

I got a Kay KE10 like this one and a Peavy backstage amp.

 

 

NHTom

Edited December 8, 2018 by NHTom

[badbluesplayer]

My older sister had an acoustic and I played that a little and got in trouble for it. My mom let me use her nylon string guitar and I put a set of steel strings on it and pulled the bridge out. When I was about 13 I got a Sears strat type guitar with no amp. I hooked it into the aux input of my parents hi-fi. I don't think I ever had an amp for the thing. I broke the high E string and only had 5 strings for a long time. I had no clue what I was doing.

[Notes_Norton]

My first instrument was drums in the school music program. When a family moved and a rental tenor sax came available, I switched to the sax.

 

The sax was and still is my primary instrument, I played in school (placed first in all-state every year), toured the country in rock bands, and almost 'made it big' in one of those bands.

 

During my days with bands, usually drums, bass, guitar, sax (me), and later keyboards it became evident that not every songwriter or pop music producer had the wisdom and good taste to include a sax part :) so the guitarist in the band showed me barre chords and let me play his 'other' guitar to get lead and rhythm. I also learned to play bass and keyboards in these bands.

 

Fast forward a few years, I'm now in a trio with a keyboard player doing jazzy and light pop things for smaller rooms but with better money. I miss playing the guitar so I thought I'd buy one for my personal pleasure.

 

I walked into a music store and saw a Gibson ES-330 hanging on the wall. One of the bands that I played with the guitist's first guitar (the one I never played) was an Epiphone Sheraton I, and another guitarist in a later band sported a Gibson ES-335. I never got to play either of them, but instead played their 'other' guitars.

 

So when I saw the used 330 hanging on the wall for $300, I didn't know it was not the same guitar as the 355, and bought it on the spot. That was my first guitar.

 

I retrospect it was a happy case of mistaken identity because I actually like the 330 better than the 335. P90 pickups have become my favorite. I like the full hollow body too, the way it sounds unplugged and the way it vibrates against my body when I play it. I also appreciate the light weight.

 

I still have that ES-330 and don't plan on ever selling it.

 

Here it is along with a Epiphone Casino that I bought so that I wouldn't have to play the Gibson in an outdoor gig by the ocean that had a lot of salt spray in the air.

 

 

Fast forward to the present. I now play a lot of guitar in my duo The Sophisticats and settled on a Parker DF522NN (NN for Notes Norton) a custom job with Duncan P-Rail pickups that give me P90, Rail, Series Humbucker and Parallel Humbucker sounds. It also has a Piezo pickup under the bridge that I can use to blend with the mag pickup sounds to add some sparkle and twang. It's light (5lbs) has a solid body so I don't have to worry about the salt spray getting inside the guitar and corroding all the electronics. It's my gigging guitar now.

 

 

But I still don't want to sell my ES-330. It's a great guitar but in a different way.

 

Notes

[deeman]

Squirer Strat and Crate 15W amp for Christmas when I was 16 or so. In 1999 or 2000. Still have both.

[brad1]

I started playing drums when I was about 12 or 13. My brother took up the guitar soon after.

We jammed a lot growing up. I sometimes messed around with his guitars. But not often.

 

In my late 20s my brother bought me a Washburn dreadnought he bought at a yard sale.

I played it. And I began writing music. But there were long breaks when I did not even pick it up.

 

Then, when I was about 44 years old I bought this beat up Aria Pro II piece of sh!t and a tiny, crappy amp

from a student of mine (I'm a teacher). I had a blast with it for about a 2 weeks until the amp and then

the guitar just stopped working. They had both been stored in a garage for who knows how long.

 

That 2 weeks had a profound affect on me. I knew I needed to buy my first electric guitar and teach myself to play.

And that's what I did.

12 years later, and I now have 17 guitars. 13 electric, 2 acoustic, and 2 basses.

And I still have the Washburn. I still play the drums.

I threw the Aria Pro in the dumpster, and I'm glad I did.

['Scales]

Some Teisco or something from the 60's bought in the late 80's with a very low watt valve amp in a cardboard 'tweed' shell. Wish I still had the amp for curiosity sake, the guitar was horrible. Bought my 1984 Aria Pro ll RS second hand in around 89 and it's been there ever since. I'll be using it today and it remains my main guitar, which unfortunately means the old 60's Gibson and Epiphone live in their cases. - at least they aren't going to get damaged.

Edited December 8, 2018 by 'Scales

[Brytam]

My very first guitar was a cheapo K-Mart guitar my parents got for me at about 9 years of age. My fingertips hurt so much from learning to play that I switched the strings to classical nylon to ease the pain. It made the bad sounding acoustic sound even worse! I kept on playing & learning as some callouses began to form on my fingertips.

 

At the same time, my parents had me taking accordion lessons.....I know... But it was a foundation for music & theory that they hoped would propel me quickly to piano.

 

As I was going to accordion lessons every week, the guy who taught me had an office in a fairly nice music store & I would always veer into the showroom looking at the guitars. I kept telling my parents I wanted to play guitar, but they kept sending me to the guy in the store to learn accordion.

 

One Saturday, we were supposed to take a day trip to the mountains (Blue Ridge as I lived in North Carolina - still do!) but it was a rainy day. My parents said, "Let's just get in the car & go ride". So, we all got in the car & took off to I had no clue where. Come to have it, we arrived at the same music store where I took accordion lessons at. We walked in & as usual, I veered over to the guitars. My dad stopped & talked to the owner, a good friend of his (He was big into the big band era - actually playing trombone & arranging for the whole band. He really knew music! A big influence on me.) Anyway, I found an amazing acoustic dreadnought guitar that sounded amazing!! Especially compared to my K-Mart special. It was an "El-Degas" - a Martin copy of the early '70's. It was the best sounding guitar they had in the store! My parents were eyeing me the whole time as I was engrossed with that guitar.

 

What happened next shocked me! They had brought along the ol' bulky case that held my accordion & ended up working out a deal to trade the accordion for that guitar! We walked out of the store without the accordion - thank God! - and brought home that guitar.

 

I still own that guitar. It still sounds amazing. It has been re-fretted 3 times + had the bridge flattened down due to a slight bow forming from the string tension but it is still my go-to for acoustic. I have never seen another El-Degas but did a search some time ago & it gave more info on the guitar & company.

 

As a parent myself & only recently, now a grandpa, I really appreciate my parents "going on a ride" that day. They had it planned all along but saved the surprise for their son to pursue his true passion (Which did not include the contents of that ol' bulky case they traded in.)

 

 

[cody78]

My first guitar was passed down from my sister around 1991 when I was 7 and it was a BM Classico classical guitar. She had only learnt a few beginner tunes and lost interest. I took lessons at school for a year or so, but they were not teaching me the things I wanted. I wanted to learn things like Mr. Brownstone, but instead I was given Mary Had a Little Lamb. After a break of a couple of years, I started lessons in the first year of high school. Again I was presented with songs I didn't want to learn, such as Wonderwall. I got my first electric aged 12 which was an Epiphone LP100 in honeyburst and went on from there. My first breakthrough came by learning the rhythm parts for Guns N Roses' Civil War the same year.

 

I still have both guitars. I love the Epiphone and despite amassing many other guitars, that LP100 is still one of my favourites.

[Retired]

My first guitar at age 13 in 1966 was a cheap red hollow body guitar I could barely press the strings down. They were about an inch high off the bridge and I got it for Christmas with an amp. My cousin who played in a band gave me lessons but talked to my mom about how worthless that guitar was so I got a Gretsch metallic silver jet. Loved that guitar as well as Fred's Gibson he had. His guitar set my dreams on owning my first Gibson but that Gretsch was my main guitar I played.

[Twang Gang]

Fun stories to read guys. Like Dennis G and Old Cowboy I am lot older than most of you. My first guitar was a Roy Rogers model from Sears or Montgomery Ward about 1956 or 57. It was bright red with white silk screened pictures of Roy and Trigger on it. Top/body was some sort of pressed board, just a little sturdier than cardboard. The neck was wood, but the fingerboard was plastic with the frets molded right in (nylon strings).

 

It came with instructions on how to tune it. Tune the low E to your piano, then press the fifth fret to get the A, fifth fret to get the D, G, press the fifth fret on the G to get the B and then 5th fret again for the E. No matter what I did, it just didn't sound right. The error in the instructions made the B string into a C and the high E into an F (not a popular tuning to this day). So since it always sounded bad it collected dust in the corner for a couple years. Finally a friend of my Mom's from out of state came to visit and she tuned it properly pointing out the error in the instructions. After that at least I was able to play a few chords and get started on learning guitar.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Twang Gang

[brc]

Believe it or not, my first guitar was a Martin D18

This was around 1956/1957

Not knowing what I really had, I of course did not appreciate it, as I “had” to have an electric guitar.

I hung on to the Martin, but then picked up a 1958 Gibson Les Paul jr.

Boy, wish I had that Martin now, or even the Les Paul jr.