Now I remember why I started playing guitar

[Sean.BB]

It was my dad that got me into music and guitar.

He always says that his brother (music mad) wanted one of his sons to play guitar but non of them did and hes got 5 sons. But im the only boy in my family so thats how it started.

 

Im 16 btw.

 

:-

I also sing to :D and im in a band as a matter of a fact my band recorded a song which was done in 20 minutes i most get it up for you guys.

 

I also write my own music i dont really like learning other peoples songs.

 

And as stan said also for the girls.

[SomeIdiotDreamer]

Im 16 btw.

 

See' date=' that's what made me nervous. I'm 22 and I thought that might be a bit late to learn an instrument. That BeatlesFan was in his late 20s before HE got his first guitar actually reassured me. People have started later. It'll work out! :D

 

Great guitar, right attitude..., you'll do just fine -- and reap a king's treasure (lifelong satisfaction and/or jewels) as your reward. Just hang on to your adventuresome spirit: Above all else hang onto that!

 

WELCOME to the forum SID! Visit here and tap into this vast base of helpful expert assistance anytime you're not playing your new Ultra II.

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-"

 

SID! I love it. On these forums I shall be SID henceforth! :D

 

Wow. Steve Lister, I can't imagine better, more eloquent words of welcome and encouragement You must be the board's poet-in-residence.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Inspiration is 99.99% of the game' date=' ISTM. Congrats on starting! I also have an Ultra-II- awesome versatility- and although it's my 5th guitar, I play it about 95% of the time now. I just started playing about a year and half ago, and it's been a great ride so far![/quote']

 

That was part of it's appeal for me: it seems like it can do anything. Electric or acoustic.... everything except the kitchen sink.

 

One way to ensure that your adventure continues beyond just one month is to play an entire song that you love. I learned The Beatles' "Mother Nature's Son" in my first week. I was playing music I loved! From that moment on guitar was never seen as a chore' date=' something to practice, or hard.

 

You mention you enjoy Hole. Well, some of their stuff can be learned by a beginner in a matter of hours.

- "Doll Parts" is just three basic chord that every beginner learns - A,C,G

- there's a fantastic song that Hole did on MTV's unplugged - "Sugar Coma" - that is easy as hell, just F,C,G

 

My point is, when you start playing along to songs you love early in your guitar journey, you're more apt to continue playing. And there's also this -- guitar playing is easy. My nine year old God child already has three Beatle songs down cold and she has been playing only since September. Believe it, playing guitar is not hard at all. If you want to be Hendrix, good luck. But if you want to play guitar and have a great time, man, that's easy. Start strummin "Sugar Coma" - by this time tomorrow you can call yourself a guitar player.[/quote']

 

Personally I think Hendrix already did Hendrix perfectly well. If i can pull out my guitar and play something that sounds good and makes me happy, that's all I could ask for. I want to enjoy what I make without stressing over it too much.

 

I'll take your advice about songs: "Doll Parts" is a favorite of mine (the girl with the most cake!)....

 

I agree with BeatleNut' date=' but remember everyone is different and that applies to the way we approach learning to play the guitar. You will learn soon enough that it's a journey and no matter how long you play, there will always be something new to learn - that's what makes it exciting.

 

I took a different approach than the one that is described by BeatleNut. My focus was on learning what made the song work. In other words, I wanted to know the "why" rather than duplicate a song. I wanted, and still want, to be able to sit down with other guitarist and musicians and be able to join in. I wanted the ability to quickly pick up what they were playing or trying to play.

 

My point, there are different approaches to learning the guitar, you've now read two of them. Neither one is the only way, neither one is the wrong way. Find what keeps you interested, realize that it's a long journey, realize that you will get frustrated - sometimes referred to as "the rut". However, you will have many times where it will all come together and you will get lost in your playing - sometimes referred to as "the zone". When you get into "the zone" it makes all the hard work worth the time and effort.[/quote']

 

I see what you're saying...It's not just about the notes, it's not just abut the songs. It's about everything, and if you can hone in on what makes something work, you'll understand it, faster and deeper.

 

And I understand what you mean about the Zone. I'm not a musician (yet) but I'm creative: I write and draw and paint... and I know what it's like, chasing that hope of the zone. When it works it just works.

 

To get girls. Stan.

Damn! What a waste!

I'm already a girl!

 

Thank you everyone for your words of welcome' date=' encouragement, and wisdom! What a great way to start off.

 

SID out!

[RichardLionhart]

Hello SID and welcome!

 

Don't worry about the age thing... I'm 30 and just ordered my very first guitar this weekend. I don't have a tracking number as of yet, but I'm hoping to get it from MF this week. Anyhow, I've spoken to a local instructor and will be taking private lessons as soon as it gets here. I can sympathize with the age thing, but I'm totally bright-eyed and ready to go!

 

I've enjoyed the guitar since I was little. My father played an acoustic, but it was always really in me to sing. I had years of voice lessons and went to college on a vocal scholarship... ended up with a BA in psychology and a minor in music theory. (Go figure) I always picked up guitars of my friends and plucked out individual notes to songs, but never could get past playing the piano and singing. Until recently...

 

I CANNOT STAND to screamed at in a song. That just is NOT music to me, but I've recently been listening to Avenged Sevenfold. That kind of hard stuff has never been my preference, but I love their electric and acoustic guitar riffs. Their lead guitarist, Synyster Gates, is who really set me off on this tangent to buy my own instrument and branch out into something new in the musical world.

 

So, to make a short story long... I've ALWAYS had a musical itch, it's just that I had managed to avoid the infamous guitar bug until recently. I couldn't be happier that I've been bitten.

[midiman56]

With me it was two words ... now don't laugh ... The Monkees!

 

I was just the right age, sixth grade or so, and that "band" just did it for me! All of the other real groups came later, but wanting to be Mike Nesmith had me begging my mother to buy me a nylon string, no name folk guitar from Korvette's depatment store to learn how to play. I got my first electric and amp ... a Kent or Cort or something like that from Lafayette Electronics (notice how all of these stores are also history?) for my eight grade graduation and was in my first group by freshman year of High School.

 

Over 40 years later and I still listen to The Monkees occasionally and have follwed Nez's career over the years. Its been a long, interesting journey with lot's of successes and gaps in between. Guitar has always been the thing that centers me and brings me peace ... that and babbling with you guys!

 

MIDI

[Dave]

Beatles lit the fire for me. Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Beach Boys, Keith Moon, and Carlos Santana added to the flames.

 

I just spent a vacation week in Las Vegas. The whole time, I was mentally playing licks in my head, wishing I was home so I could jam again. Playing the guitar is part of life to me as it always has been. The trip was nice, but being back on stage Sunday morning at church was a feeling of "being back in the pocket".

[tintin]

One thing about playing guitar: it seems to be making my life shorter! I spent the almost the entire weekend's waking hours playing, and it went by in the blink of an eye!

 

Every time I play, if I look up and see a clock, I wonder "where the $#%$ did all the time go!" ;]

[stan 58]

I was 26 when i started . welcome and good luck!! Stan.

[charlie brown]

One thing about playing guitar: it seems to be making my life shorter! I spent the almost the entire weekend's waking hours playing' date=' and it went by in the blink of an eye!

 

Every time I play, if I look up and see a clock, I wonder "where the $#%$ did all the time go!" ;']

 

Man, I hear THAT! Playing/practicing time, just flies! Even "Gigs"....often 4 hour ones, with no breaks,

just fly by! Of course, part of that (in my case) is "age" related. The old "toilet paper roll syndrome"...the closer to

the end you get, the faster it goes. LOL! But, I know exactly what you mean.

 

CB

[rlajack1217]

Money for nothing and your chicks for free!

[SomeIdiotDreamer]

Money for nothing and your chicks for free!

 

I'm a chick!

 

Does it work in reverse?

[rlajack1217]

 

I'm a chick!

 

Does it work in reverse?

 

 

It's usually a lot easier in reverse. :D/

[charlie brown]

No disrespect intended, but contrary to the "Money for nothing" song...I've NEVER

found a "chick" that was "FREE!" (Might feel/seem that way, at first?...but, there's always a Lot of "hidden charges," etc.)

;>b

 

CB

[brad1]

 

This could be totally embaressing. This could be awesome. It feels like the start of an adventure.

Don't sell away your adventure.

Make it an awsome adventure. With all the free stuff on the internet' date=' and your will to learn, you can teach yourself. I bought my first electric a couple of years ago, and thru a lot of hard work and a lot of practice time, I have managed to become a decent player. It just takes your love of music and your own "never-give-up" attitude.

I repeat, don't sell away your adventure before it even gets started.

Because playing a guitar is not a job, [b']IT'S AN ADVENTURE[/b]!!!!!

[Dennis G]

No disrespect intended' date=' but contrary to the "Money for nothing" song...I've NEVER

found a "chick" that was "FREE!" (Might feel/seem that way, at first?...but, there's always a Lot of "hidden charges," etc.)

;>b

 

CB[/quote']

 

Amen to that. And then add on the "not so hidden" charges...like "I'd like my half wire transfered to account #...and your check is due the first of the month for the next xxx years"!!

 

What got me started was a (of all things) Kingston Trio concert, but it was when that genre was hot (early 60's). They just looked like they were having a hell of a good time and I thought "I can do that", so started playing. Timing was great because I could play well enough to gig for a couple of years in a band at the height of the British invasion. Life was good :D/

[pohatu771]

Guitar IS easy to learn to play' date=' but because of the myriad of possibilities, it's also one of the most

difficult instruments, to learn to play WELL. But, for simple accompaniment to ones own (or others)

singing, sure.

 

As to "getting girls?" True...to an extent, and Really good looking bass players, who can write great

songs, sing and play at the same time, along with knowing guitar and piano, get LOTS of girls. ;>)

 

CB[/quote']It doesn't hurt when that singer-bass player-guitarist-pianist is cute and has an accent.

[charlie brown]

It doesn't hurt when that singer-bass player-guitarist-pianist is cute and has an accent.

 

LOL...exactly!

 

CB

[pohatu771]

Somehow, despite living in western New York my entire life (with one of the best accents around - nasal), I've developed a hint of a foreign accent. It's enough that people ask where I'm from, but don't immediately say "Are you from England?"

 

If I had to describe it, it's a mix of WNY/Ontario/Merseyside/Glasgow... I stress words differently, and add tiny sounds that aren't normal for the area (like "r" at the end of "saw"). My "sorry" is a noticable "oh" rather than "aw."

 

I suppose it's a side-effect of the Internet. It's changed my spelling, too.

[Doth]

Hello and welcome SID,

 

I learned when I was 19 and in college. It was to keep me out of most of the "experimental" trouble I found myself attracted to at the time.

 

I bought a guitar and took lessons with a gigging guitarist that was a huge Beatles freak. He taught me the strangest chords to play these songs. But the thing that really stuck out with me was his "Yo-Yo" exercises. He had me take two new chords and bounce back and forth between them with a metronome. One quarter note each. Start slow and then speed it up. It got to the point that with muscle memory I could hit so many chords. Then he taught me theory so we didn't have to interrupt the lesson with how to finger. It worked really well for someone that was an adult.

 

Because of this, I learned a great appreciation for the Beatles, and even named my late son after John's son, Julian.

 

Good luck to you. Remember it is all fun, and learn a few songs along the way, so you don't drive your significant other batty as you practice (mine is a huge Ramones fan, so it was easy to learn their songs to throw in the mix of a bunch of Yo-Yo's).

 

Doth

[harry]

32 when i started your never too old ! my parents were big fans of the who ,the kinks and the beatles ,i used to play air guitar thinking i was pete townsend when i were a nipper i think it must have started there!

[stan 58]

Ya, i have an accent, i sound like Sarah Palin. Stan.

[Stig]

I got an Emenee plastic toy guitar when I was about 5 in the late 60's. I loved The Beatles and The Monkees, and wanted to play guitar and be in a band just like them. I finally got to take guitar lessons at school in 8th grade on a rented, nylon string acoustic. Moved to a used Univox Hi-Flyer (Moserite copy), then to a Fender Mustang, then an SG.

32 years later, 13 guitars, including my newly-acquired new-old-stock Limited Edition Casino VS. (Sold my Sheraton II to pay for it.)

[CodeMonk]

Well, I used to race motocross. Not for a living or anything, but I was good enough at it to make a few bucks now and then.

Anyway, I messed up my leg while practicing and couldn't race/ride anymore.

I had a really close friend at that time that we did pretty much everything together.

We were sitting on the grass at CSUN (California State University, Northridge) and were saying to each other, "What are we gonna do now our time?".

One of us (I forget who), said "Why don't we learn how to play guitar?"

A few months later, we were both majoring in music at college.

We were pretty into music already then, so I guess that was sort of a natural way to go.

[Sheesh]

To get girls. Stan.

 

Who got me started : a girl.

 

Yeap, a girl. Well, we were going out and all, and she loved the song "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls.

So yeah, the usual "boy wants to impress girl" thing, so I kinda force-learnt that song in a month.

Prior to that, I had never touched a guitar or guitar string in my 18 years of life.

Also, there happened to be an acoustic lying somewhere in the house (brother bought it but didn't use it), so I conveniently made it mine heh heh =D

So yeah, learnt that song, managed to even strum and sing decently. All for her.

 

That all happened 7 months ago. She kinda was playing with me all along, so.. Bye bye to her.

Well, never regretted it though. I met a new love (my recently purchased Sheraton II).

So now, I'm able to sing and strum decent chords, thanks to someone who toyed around with me.

Ironic isn't it T.T

[SomeIdiotDreamer]

Hello and welcome SID' date='

 

I learned when I was 19 and in college. It was to keep me out of most of the "experimental" trouble I found myself attracted to at the time.

 

I bought a guitar and took lessons with a gigging guitarist that was a huge Beatles freak. He taught me the strangest chords to play these songs. But the thing that really stuck out with me was his "Yo-Yo" exercises. He had me take two new chords and bounce back and forth between them with a metronome. One quarter note each. Start slow and then speed it up. It got to the point that with muscle memory I could hit so many chords. Then he taught me theory so we didn't have to interrupt the lesson with how to finger. It worked really well for someone that was an adult.

 

Because of this, I learned a great appreciation for the Beatles, and even named my late son after John's son, Julian.

 

Good luck to you. Remember it is all fun, and learn a few songs along the way, so you don't drive your significant other batty as you practice (mine is a huge Ramones fan, so it was easy to learn their songs to throw in the mix of a bunch of Yo-Yo's).

 

Doth[/quote']

 

Doth,

 

Thanks so much the welcome and the story. So sorry about your son: it's touching to see how much music means to you. That teacher sounds like he was a real character; what a way to learn...

 

Your spouse has great taste: the Ramones are awesome.

 

Best wishes!