Your earliest musical memories?

GAD

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Speakn' o' veers, how's the recovery going?
Appendix, wasn't it?

I feel fine, thanks. The most frustrating part is that it mucked up all my schedules. I'll complain about not getting something done and my wife is constantly reminding me that I had pretty major surgery not long ago.

I'm finally past the "can't lift anything over 10 pounds" date so I'm out of excuses for not being useful around the house. :joyous:

Thankfully all my guitars are under 10 pounds.
 
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walrus

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Well, I guess I have to honor the veer even though it's my own thread. I'm contemplating some surgery that will give me the "no more than 10 pounds" limit, too. I'm trying to time it so it will not suck so much.

walrus
 

Aristera

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I've been at my childhood home for the last week and after reading this thread I came across this photo of me when I was about 4 years old. I just turned 62 last week. I noticed too that in the photo I'm playing left-handed and have no idea when I switched over to playing right-handed.

Uo6m32.jpg
 
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bluesypicky

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What a great pic James! You haven't changed a bit. :)
You were definitely a natural lefty... that right hand looks right at home on the fingerboard, that's amazing.
Are you, or were you lefty for anything else, like writing, eating etc? I'm really intrigued about this... does anyone in your family remember your early "leftist tendencies"?
 
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5thumbs

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What a great pic James! You haven't changed a bit. :)
You were definitely a natural lefty... that right hand looks right at home on the fingerboard, that's amazing.
Are you, or were you lefty for anything else, like writing, eating etc? I'm really intrigued about this... does anyone in your family remembers your early "leftist tendencies"?

…and more importantly, what kind of strings were you using? :friendly_wink:
 

griehund

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So anyway, when I was a kid, my oldest brother went to Boston University School of Music. While he was there he worked with a group called "The Tune Weavers".
In our dining room we had an upright piano where he practiced with the group as they were getting to record their song, "Happy Happy Birthday Baby". So, to make a short story long, I must have heard that one song at least 200 times before it went vinyl. I don't know how high they got on the Top 40 but they did make it to The Dick Clark Show.
 

davismanLV

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James, that's a kick-a$$ photo!! Maybe if I'd started at that age I'd be a better player. Then again, maybe not!! :encouragement:
 

jp

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Sitting with my brother and sister in the back of our 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury, while my mom and dad sang along to "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" on the radio. I can't have been more than two or three years old, and it's the first memory I have of being aware of the notion of a song.
 
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Aristera

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What a great pic James! You haven't changed a bit. :)
You were definitely a natural lefty... that right hand looks right at home on the fingerboard, that's amazing.
Are you, or were you lefty for anything else, like writing, eating etc? I'm really intrigued about this... does anyone in your family remember your early "leftist tendencies"?

I write left-handed, throw left-handed, kick a ball with my left foot, when I eat, the fork is in my left hand. I bat right-handed as well as play guitar right-handed. My mother was left-handed and I always attribute writing and eating with my left hand because of that's the hand she guided me with. My uncle played acoustic guitar and it was almost always tuned in open E. Whenever I visited my Grandmother's house I would pick it up and strum. The only left-handed guitarists I'd seen was Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix with their reverse strung instruments. There weren't any left-handed instruments readily available during my formative years so that's how I ended up playing right-handed.
 

rwmct

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I am 58. I remember when I was a kid the Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, and Hee Haw shows were all on the tv at our house. If you had asked me who my favorite musician was, I would have said "John Hartford" until I hit highschool.

My parents liked Glenn Miller and such, but my Mom had an older brother who used to play Jimmie Rodgers and Carter family tunes and such, and that kind of music still appeals to me a lot.

My oldest sister is 8 years older than I am. She had a pile of 45s and albums around, including Beatles records like Rubber Soul that were mono. 45s would be everything from Herman's Hermits to Simon & Garfunkle (I am another one who was very impressed with "Sounds of Silence").

Of course, I got into high school in 72 and started listening to Bowie, Mott, the Allman Brothers, Led Zep. And I loved the concert shows that used to be on late at night: Rock Concert, In Concert, Midnight Special. Saw lots of great acts.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I'm a converted left hander too. I broke my upper left arm and collarbone when I was three, and my mom (also a left-y) took advantage of my cast & sling to teach me how to draw with my right hand. I took to it so she taught me the upper case alphabet too. The rest followed. As a teen I played hockey and learned how to golf left handed (though I soon switched to right-y for golf) but in most other ways I'm a right hander.

-Dave-
 

bluesypicky

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Fascinating. Thanks James & Dave for sharing your ambidextrous upbringings....
I remember my father (a forced righty who was naturally a lefty) telling me about having been forced by his teacher in primary school to write with his right hand, because a lefty (at the time and the place where he grew up, we're talking the 1920's here) was considered an "anomaly".

:abnormal:
 

krysh

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I'm a lefty too, but my mum was a Primary School teacher and wisely let me choose The way i liked it best, so i Ended up playing guitar, using scissors and writing right handed, but The Rest as a lefty.
 
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