How old were you when you started playing guitar?

wileypickett

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Fourteen. Bugged my dad to get me a guitar after picking up *Axis: Bold as Love*.

Tried out bunch and chose a new Harmony, for $45.00, from some store in south Jersey.

Thanks Dad!
 

Grassdog

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Age 7. Grew up in a house with 4 older sisters that were huge Beatles fans in the 60's. So many hours spent learning learning Beatles songs (and Harrison leads) from LP's and 45's. It was an art form in and of itself to learn how to drop the needle where the phrase started.

Nowadays there's Youtube guitar tutorials available galore. And yet I wonder, with all this information available today (and technology in recording) how can there be nothing that matches what the artists of the 60's and 70's accomplished? I've given up trying to figure it out, I just consider myself lucky to have grown up and watched it all unfold.
 

Cougar

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Must have been around 14. My dad played old swing style stuff on his old Epiphone, but I was mainly just messing around on piano since about 5 or 6 - had a few lessons on that. Then John Welsh, a very good guitar/banjo picker moved into the back house next door. Showed me how to pick a little and play Freight Train. I started trying to cover early Donovan tunes after that. I was already covering some Ramsey Lewis and Vince Guaraldi stuff on keys. Hooked on music!
 

jp

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I was eight when I first bugged my parents about playing drums. I imagine they became ill at the prospect of me pounding all day and night in the basement. Fortunately for them my brother said he wanted to play guitar, and they convinced me to start lessons too. We learned beginning chords at an adult education folk class in the local high school with about 40 adults and us strumming to the instructor singing "Lemon Tree" and "Edelweiss." I wanted to barf. After a failed session of this, they found us a private instructor, and the real learning began.
 

davismanLV

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My piano teacher told my Mom she was wasting her money on lessons when I was about 9 or 10 yeas old. "He won't learn to read the music; he just memorizes everything." I'd play my recital pieces just fine, but I wasn't looking at the sheet music, LOL.

I still play "by ear" to this day; works fine for me. Of course, not reading music has its limitations too - I need to know how the melody goes in order to play a song.


Great stories - keep 'em coming!
DREAD!!! HAAAAA HAAAAA!! That's what THREE piano teachers said to my parents. They said, "He's quick and he just memorizes everything and plays them fine but he's not learning music!!" That was my defense with my parents when we had first one, then three horses..... "They need riding and apparently I'm not doing well in music so.....???"

LMAO!!! Keep 'em coming guys!!! And gals. Jane when did you start playing??
 

davismanLV

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I was eight when I first bugged my parents about playing drums. I imagine they became ill at the prospect of me pounding all day and night in the basement. Fortunately for them my brother said he wanted to play guitar, and they convinced me to start lessons too. We learned beginning chords at an adult education folk class in the local high school with about 40 adults and us strumming to the instructor singing "Lemon Tree" and "Edelweiss." I wanted to barf. After a failed session of this, they found us a private instructor, and the real learning began.
OMG!! These stories are killing me!! When we first moved to Thousand Oaks, CA Mrs. ...... dear Lord, I can't remember her name came driving up the circular drive for my piano lessons in a RAMBLER and had snow white hair. I knew I was DOOMED!!! OMG!!
 

JohnW63

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Gene Conely was one of the early rare atheletes who was allowed to and skilled enough to play 2 pro sports.

Yep. Kitty Conely. She also let me try to drive her VW Thing around in a lot next to the school, for some reason that is way beyond me to this day. Who would let a 13 year old do that ?
 

davismanLV

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John, that's so funny!! We only had 4 acres in Thousand Oaks, but with all the stacking and delivering of hay and work that had to be done, my dad was like, "Okay, you can drive it around here to do your chores!! And maybe out on the street in front of our house. But nothing beyond that!!" When I took driver training in HS I'd been out on the highway so much and the instructor said, "Has anyone here ever driven?" I raised my hand up reluctantly and said, "I have." He said, "Have you been on the freeway or over the Camarillo grade?"
"Yes sir, many times, pulling a horse trailer with my dad." He said, "Jump in front, get us over the grade and out to Camarillo."

I did so and by the time we got out to the middle of nowhere he said, "Tom, get in the back seat, you're done. Now does anyone else have ANY experience driving??"

It was funny because from then on, he'd say, "Tom, get us to _______ and fast, we only have a 45 minute period and these kids need driving experience!!"

We'd end up in the middle of nowhere and he'd say, "Tom, get us back to school!!" I'd say, "Sir, we only have 20 minutes to the end of the period!" And he said, "I'm a teacher, don't worry, you can push the limits!!" So I did. We got back in time..... JEEZE that was a long time ago..... sorry for the VEER!!!! LMAO!!
 

fronobulax

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And yet I wonder, with all this information available today (and technology in recording) how can there be nothing that matches what the artists of the 60's and 70's accomplished?

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but the phrase "lack of accomplishment" says much more about your personal musical taste than it does about the talent or musicianship of people who started their careers much later. Not a knock on you personally since numerous studies have established that the music listened to during one's teen years has a tremendous influence on what people like and listen to as they grow older. There is probably a filter factor going on here as well - the accomplishments of the Beatles, for example, are not really in doubt but was the comment supposed to include (for example) Strawberry Alarm Clock or Paul Revere and the Raiders?

To end the veer, I don't play guitar so whatever age I am when I do pick it up will be sometime in the future. I was about 17 when I started bass, having played and quit piano and baritone horn, currently playing tuba and with about 10 years of choir behind me.
 
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I started playing when I was 12 years old. By the age of 14, I was playing in strip clubs up and down the East coast. At 16, I quit high school, left home and went on tour. Haven't seen my family since. Still on tour. I got some stories.
 

steve488

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Age 10 (1964) - via a Tijuana build nylon string classical. It did not fare well on the trip back to Denver and dried out and split the top. A set of steel strings pretty well finished it off and it was last seen painted gold, hanging on the wall in my parents stairwell with plastic flowers erupting from the sound hole....
 

guitarslinger

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Summer of 1959, I was 7 years old. My first guitar was a 1959 Fender Musicmaster. By 9 I got my first Guild, a 1960 X-175 with Franz pickups over which I could barely get my arm into playing position. Guild for me ever since.
 

adorshki

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I started playing when I was 12 years old. By the age of 14, I was playing in strip clubs up and down the East coast. At 16, I quit high school, left home and went on tour. Haven't seen my family since. Still on tour. I got some stories.

I was 12 too.
NOW I understand why my folks started me on a classical guitar and said "Let's see how this goes, then we can talk electric guitar"
And there weren't even any strip clubs in San Jose!
Anyway I proceeded to treat the classical like Richie Havens treated his Guilds.
After the first few lessons had a vision and started trying to figure out how to play raga rock, too.
I never recovered.
 

Grassdog

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the accomplishments of the Beatles, for example, are not really in doubt but was the comment supposed to include (for example) Strawberry Alarm Clock or Paul Revere and the Raiders?

What's wrong with Paul Revere and the Raiders? I kinda liked them. Some good garage rock from the great Pacific Northwest.
 
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