My Dad died last Dec. 9, 2019 and he petitioned my Mom last June 5. I am totally devastated and alone. I was able to write a song because of so much sadness. It has melody but I want it to have a guitar sound. I decided to learn to play guitar maybe just 4 days ago. I bought a guitar online and still waiting for it to be delivered. I am confident it's not gonna be too late to learn at 35. I promise to create music that will be worth sharing to others. This is going to be my story.
I've seen a man in his 70s pick it up in one of these comment sections. Better times will come. In fact, it's been 10 months. Maybe they already have? Update?
I'm still quite new to guitar but here's my story.. when I was a kid I fell in love with rock, metal music like Blink, Sum 41, Metallica, Slipknot etc and I used to watch guitar covers just for fun. When I was 15 I decided it's time to get guitar to myself. Couldn't find any teachers so that held me back for a while but I found a summer job and that summer I got myself a good yamaha electric guitar. I practised all the time on my own, learnt notes, how to read tabs, simple songs and later moved on to music theory, recording covers for youtube. Now in my 20s I'm still trying to find my sound and style. I'm a fan nowadays of Ichika, Tom Henson, Wes Borland, Cole Rolland etc. I love writing and sharing my music much more than playing covers and I really hope I can make a living out of it one day. If you read this, thank you. I wish you all the best my guitarist fellas!
My guitar and music story: Ever since I was really young, my dad was always playing music. AC/DC and Black Sabbath were the bands of my childhood. My dad also played guitar, so I would often see guitar cases and amps a lot when I was a kid. When my parents got divorced, I wasn't as close to my dad due to having to go with my mom so often. Quite a few years went by, until I was watching WWE with my family on a Friday night, and I heard "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day (the old intro theme to Smackdown) and I got back into music. I also was introduced to Metallica from WWE (The Undertaker and Triple H end of an era fued) with "The Memory Remains." I decided I wanted to try drums, my dad had guitar and I wanted to try drums. One Christmas, my grandma got me a cheap electric kit and I tried to learn drums. To say the least, I sucked, but I was having fun. My dad kept playing guitar and kept showing me that. I continued on my path of metal, rock, and punk, and then in 7th grade I took a guitar class. I got a Fender acoustic and my dad taught me "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. I took that guitar class and learned the basics, but it wasn't the music I wanted to play. The only thing I really remember from that class was an E minor chord, and the basics to the into to "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. My friend also taught me "Hell's Bells" by ACDC during that class. I kept playing that fender acoustic, and played "Iron Man" in my 8th grade talent show. I kept learning new songs on it, a lot of Metallica riffs and then just random riffs I wrote. I started playing on my dad's electric because I found this band "Avenged Sevenfold." I wanted to learn their riffs and just play with distortion. The summer before my Sophmore year of high school, I got an Ibanez start style electric guitar. I fell in love with that guitar and learned so much more. I played 2 open mics for my school's drama club. The first one I played "Spit out the Bone" by Metallica and "Iron Man" again. I played that song a lot. The second I played "Seek and Destroy" and "Master of Puppets" by Metallica. Neither in full, but I had so much fun with it. Then that Christmas, I got my main guitar to this day, an Epiphone Special 2 Les Paul. When I got that, I just riffed and learned all sorts of songs. Again, a lot more Metallica and Black Sabbath. Later my sophomore year, I performed a Metallica medley in my schools talent show. That was one of my favorite performances I've had. I had so much fun with it and continued playing. Around that same time, I finished making my own acoustic guitar. My sophomore year, I took a woodshop class where I could make my own guitar. I finished it the last day before it was due after pouring blood, sweat and tears into it. I still have it and love that guitar. I then played another open Mic for my drama club playing a medley of songs from "St. Anger" by Metallica (I found drop C tuning and wanted to perform in it) and "Nightmare" by "Avenged Sevenfold" in drop C as well. I ended that school year off finding my own amp. I found a Vox modeling amp at a pawn shop and loved it. We bought it, but I couldn't play it until my birthday of that year. Also around that time, I learned the "Bohemian Rhapsody" solo after seeing that movie. I ended up getting my amp for my birthday and played the hell out of it. I loved it and it was so cool having my own gear instead of borrowing my dad's Fender amp. A few weeks after my birthday, I bought my first guitar with my own money. I bought an Ibanez 7 string and it was so cool. My dad and I loved it, so I got it. We stopped by our local guitar store to buy a whammy bar for it on the way home, and then I played it for hours. I kept playing guitar and just having fun. I played "Spit out the Bone" again at another open mic at the beginning of my junior year. I also listened to the first 3 Metallica albums on a bus ride to a Shakespeare theatre competition (yes I'm a theatre kid XD) and got a lot more inspiration to play again and learn some more older Metallica riffs. When I got back from that competition, I had my first experience with live music. One of my friends in theatre took me to my first concert. We saw Tool live, and that was the best experience I've ever had. Tool was incredible and getting to hear them live was amazing! I got so much more inspiration to learn and play more that night. I went home and over the next few days, I learned Tool riffs. I then fell into a depression, one of the lowest points in my life. I had no motivation, no creativity, and just full of hate. I dropped everything and just closed myself off. Thanks to my friends, I got through it a bit and got back around to playing guitar again. I'm still struggling with depression and anxiety, but I'm learning to handle it and cope with it. Guitar has helped with that and helped me cope with it all. Ever since this quarantine began, I have been spending a lot more time playing guitar. Each day, I spend at least half an hour playing and riffing around on my guitar. I've been playing guitar for almost 5 years now, and it has introduced me to so many more musicians, I've met some of the best people I know because of it, and it will always tie me to my dad. He got me into it, and I ran with it. Guitar will always be a part of my life, and I hope to make a career out of performing. Wether it be in music, or theatre, I will bring guitar into it. Love the videos man! Great work and thanks for being so dedicated to guitar, your students, and your viewers! Keep up the great work! \m/
My parents divorced at 15 and i was laitenung to ACDC, Metallica, Ozzy, so got a guitar, Epiphone SG, and learned to playy favorites. Started a band smashing pumpkins with electronic production, my HS friends stayed together into college then moved to LA to make it big. Signed a record deal but album never released. My teacher, who gave me his 96 foam green strat in pieces, my pride and joy, taught me blues and stones, strumming solos muting 5 strings but in rhythm. Learned to hit dissonant notes, play even flamenco and my signature was bending notes and playing in pocket. Vox valvetronix amp with 20 presets for live, love edge style delay riffs. Lived in south korea.. btw.. want to get back in after a decade of not playing much
I'm 57, I remember the first rock and roll song i heard was the Stones "I Cant get no satisfaction" I was alone and figured out how to play the record on one of those big cabinet record players that had a black and white TV in it. It was in 67 or 68, Anyway very long story short, love the 70's music mostly and play guitar just once in a while in spurts. Im envious of kids these days that have all these videos available to learn and how my musical life would have been so much different if I would had access to all this that we have today. I stayed mainly a fan of music and never took playing the guitar serious enough, but now since youtube I've gone back to the basics and learning the fretboard and some theory. Enjoy your videos and thanks for sharing your story. Your a very good teacher.
In 1967 a door-to-door salesman knocked and I answered. He asked the 10yo boy standing there if he wanted to be in a band. In 1967 what young male didn't want to be in a band! It turns out, he was a salesman for Milton Mann's Accordion Studio - but that meant nothing, I was going to be in a band! I begged my dad, he told my great-grandmother (a Lawrence Welk fanatic) and she paid for my instrument and lessons. I spent the next 8 years learning to read music and translate it to my hands. The school had a band, of 35 accordionists, and we played contemporary songs composed for the instrument. By the time I turned 18, playing Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love" on the accordion was not vey cool. I traded in my instrument for an acoustic guitar, bought a fake book and leaned all of the basic chords fairly quickly. I couldn't afford lessons, so It kind of fell off. In 1984 I bought an Ibanez Roadstar II from a pawn shop, found Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine and practiced every day. Started a band with my local mates and we played gigs around locally. I took up bass because other bands would ask if i could (Bass players were apparently hard to find back then). Gigged on bass for about 5 years and have been playing guitar and bass for personal enjoyment ever since.
Hi there my start with guitar was with my FATHER he played guitar, he played folk music but i was really young, and then years later i started trying to play guitar but i had so many ppl telling me that i could never learn to play and what not so i gave up 9 times untill 2011 and i started playing again and i have not stoped since and i proved to myself that I can LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR..... best thing i ever did
I'm 51 and had a hard shock 2years ago I had a stroke, luckily it only took my left side made it week and covid lock down left me isolated, so I've always loved to sound from guitar and thought no better time to learn get my hand moving again, I known cord shapes but can't get quick enough in changes so always a second pause between,,,, any ideas out there
My brother started playing when I was 7 or 8 and I never really ever wanted to be a guitar player well flash forward about 3 years and my brothers in a band now and they played a talent show at there school they played pool house by the backseat lovers and after that it changed my life . I started listening to music , I grew out my hair , and gained a good sense of fashion . Flash foward again about 2 years so now it’s 2022 my brothers band changed there name and started playing shows and put out music . And because of them I started playing ALOT of rockband 2 and for Christmas I was at my grandmas Christmas party and then I got a squier beginner guitar with a squier frontman 10g and back then I was not really all that good the only chords I knew where e, amaj7 and c . Another thing I didn’t mention was at my school they had beginner guitar lessons which I took but I didn’t have an acoustic but we got one just in time for the class and I was practicing about an hour every day . Flash forward to last month school was coming to an end and I didn’t want to not have lessons over the summer so I started with my brothers guitar teacher and right now I’ve been playing for about 5 and a half months . Another funny story is the day I was starting lessons with my teacher I have right now I broke my d string and we had to restring like 10 minutes before I left
I'm an eighteen years old guitar player from Syria I started to play guitar 3 years ago,started on classical guitar and it was really useful for me later because I developed legato and chord shapes early on in my long to be journey. now I play Electric guitar.it was my real intention when I wanted to pick up this hobby,I was inspired by Slash,Randy Rhodes,James Hetfield,Dave Mustaine and these kind of guitar gods,I was into some rock bands(Skillet) and mainly Heavy metal after a year of playing electric guitar,I've been on a stage 2 times,this is when it was turning to something more than a hobby,I started listening to some old amazing arabic music,and Progressive metal,mainly dream theater this when I started to enjoy every kind of music on it's own,and I took interest in other aspects of music went deep in music theory,started to research about composing and arranging,took a mixing and producing class,started doing gigs and live shows more often,despite the crisis and war,we don't kill our motives I know it's a long way to get out of this mad and cruel place,and it will be harder outside,but that won't stop me,I finished my senior high school class with excellent grades,and went to college to study Computer Science,in hope to get somewhere in my long life journey to not only start living off just making music,this journey is for greater things for me and for my country,in search for success and greatness in this charming art and craft
Your motivation and passion is just unbelievable. Just keep playing and progressing, and remember that no one and nothing can stop you. Hope your country will soon find some peace. Virtual hug from Italy.
You are my hero. You've faced overwhelming odds and continue to succeed. Going back to old serious music like Arabic classical music is awesome. Love to you from the USA!!
When I was growing up, my dad played guitar, my mom played autoharp and they both sang. Sometimes, they even visited my school and performed for my classmates and me. Of course, I wanted to play drums. We couldn't afford them though so I just drummed my fingers on anything I could find. Years later, I learned how to make beats on my computer. Then, my dad bought a second acoustic guitar so I started borrowing his first acoustic. I got good enough, watching videos like these, that he paid for 6 months of lessons for me. When he died, his guitar was the one thing I absolutely had to have. With the money he left my family, I finally bought some drums. I promised myself I'd learn how to sing and write songs. So I did. Then, I learned how to accompany myself on other instruments. Eventually, I learned how to mix/master music and I still write and perform songs. But these days, little gives me more joy than to teach others how to play music and write songs.
beautiful story - I think the ability to learn music and play instruments well is passed down through the family - hope if you have kids, you encourage them to play early in life -
I started playing at age 35 and had private lessons until just a few years ago. A good friend of mine who teaches said I don't need lessons anymore so I stopped . Sadly I lost my Daughter in April this year and now don't have the heart to play anymore . I'm 57 now .
It seems like there are 2 types of musicians. There is the Creator whom uses instruments to express themselves and there is the Embracer whom uses the instruments to bond and get a deeper closeness with the music that they love and to which they have an emotional connection. While there is crossover, you can see the dominate reason for playing when asked to play “something”. The creator will want to play something original and the embracer will want to play something they learned.
So... when i was a teenager around 15 i got my first acustic guitar,my folks never encourage me to play any instrument but then one day, one of my cousins broke his acoustic guitar and my father repair it and gave it to me. It was awfull but i learn my first chords with it. Later on around 18 me and my friends thought about join in a band, my friend was a bit ahead learning guitar so i got the bass. I bought a used bass and we started playing in rented rooms with amps. It was a blast we were into alternative rock i was in love with distorted guitar sound like in ramones the cult, dinossaur jr . But we knew we wouldnt get far cos we were just making covers of simple punk songs with power chords, i just following the guitar chords with my bass, and as i was more into college i droped out the band. Later on i bought a new acoustic guitar and learn a bit more chords and played in our house for fun. Fast forward, in 2018 i bought an epiphone sg an amp and a simple pedal board and started watching music channels like this one, and i learned how to read tabs, i know a lot more chords, improve thecnique like bends vibrato and its been a blast. My goal now is setup a track list i can play using backing tracks with solos and everything, i m getting there. My wife sometimes comes up to check if its the original music playing or backtrack with me playing so i guess im on the right path. :)
I'm a 17 year old aspiring musician from New York, and I have been playing guitar for 7 years. For my entire life, I've been surrounded by music. When I was born my parents played Nirvana/Alice in Chains unplugged in my crib as I napped (me being named after Kurt cobain, and Layne Staley). I remember one of my happiest childhood memories I must've been 4, or 5, driving with the top down to our jeep, blasting Sweating Bullets on a road trip. My dad is a drummer, my mother is a bassist in a local band, and my brother is a drummer in a local Thrash Metal band that has released an independent EP. Music is a major part of my life, specifically thrash metal. In complete honesty, I'm a complete Megadeth fanboy. I follow every band members Instagram, I even met Dave Ellefson for his Basstory tour, I read Dave Mustaines book, and both of Ellefsons, Hell they are my most listened to band on spotify for the decade(over 300 hours listened). Safe to say Megadeth is my favorite band. For years I took guitar lessons once a week, but eventually became financially unable to, so I had to put the guitar down. Eventually, I picked the guitar back up and began to self teach, which I still do to this day. My mom scraped together enough money to enroll me into a "music school". It basically was a class that teaches fundamentals of making a band, and you have an instructor help you create one with other students. for a little over a year it was just me, and the instructor in the band when I found that few people my age were as determined, let alone as interested in playing metal as I was. Fast forward 6 months, I managed to get a band together, Me on lead/rhythm guitar/ vocals, Tommy on drums, Evan on Guitar, and the instructor on bass. we called ourselves "KnuckleBeast", and previously "The Backhand City Steves". We played a few gigs with a setlist of Metallica covers, but eventually the guitarist stopped showing up, and even bailed out on the last gig, leaving me to do all the lead, rhythm, and vocals to all the songs, but I stepped up and nailed em. (thanks for posting a video on the AJFA intro!) The band fell apart after the last gig, and I left the school. It has been 2 years, and I've been practicing non-stop, and building a following on Instagram by posting songs I've learned, and my progress. My biggest accomplishment so far was when I taught myself the Tornado of Souls solo through the Rust In Peace tab book. While I consider myself to be a good guitarist, I want to be great, and to one day become the next Megadeth, Or Anthrax, or Metallica, or Pantera. I'm determined, but I lack the experience, and financially it's very hard for us to get me a guitar teacher, as my mother Is sick with an autoimmune disease, and mostly out of work, and my parents are divorced. I'm taking this time off on a so called " Corona-cation", to really become sick on the guitar (no pun intended) and your videos definitely help!
I have always felt hypnotized by the electric guitar, but never found or made the time to learn. Now I find myself in my 50s with a strong desire to learn. Here is how my journey to learning is going. It starts with a friend at work giving me an old electric Harmony just before Christmas 2018, it still had a thick layer of dust on it when he handed it to me, but hey I now had my first guitar, and it was free. A few weeks later after Christmas I stoped in to the local Goodwill and was stoked to find an old practice amp for only $3.00. Another stop by a music store for a cord and some picks, bringing my setup to a whopping $23.00. I jumped on line searching for some free lessons, I didn't need much, just to learn to play a few chords. I even found an old book at a used book store. I practiced learning some chords but felt that the frets seamed to close as well as the strings. I was getting frustrated and not sure what to do. I did not want to spend a bunch of money on a new guitar and still not be able to play. I was talking to my nephew one day and he said he had an acoustic he would loan to me. I was surprised to find that I could get my fingers to make the chords on the acoustic without much trouble. This helped my practice but was driving the wife a little crazy listening to my beginner plucking. So to keep a happy wife, my practice times got shorter and less frequent. Now you would think that would be the biggest practice issue, but it wasn't. I ended up changing jobs, on top of that the new job was in a different country. We pack up the house, including the guitar, to be shipped overseas. Once we finally get to Italy, and before we can get moved in to a house, Covid 19 locks down Italy, and we are stuck in a hotel. Now I can't get my guitar, and don't know when I will be able to, music stores are not open, so I do the next best thing. I ordered a new guitar set up online to be shipped to me, of course they can't ship the guitar or amp here for some reason, so I have it sent to my brother for him to mail it to me. This was a little over two weeks ago, still waiting for it to arrive. I have been staying motived watching lots of videos, some good like yours, and others not so good. I have also kept busy by learning the notes on the fret board, now if my guitar ever arrives I will see if I can actually locate them... and relearn the chords. I am still just as much a beginner as the day I received the Harmony, but I have developed a strong drive to learn how to play. Oh, and the new setup will allow me to use headphones so I don't drive the wife too crazy. Sorry for getting long winded for a guy who can't even play... Love your video's, keep up the good work!!!
I had a similar childhood in which my mother was very musical listening to her German polka music but she also loved Elvis. My dad loved country. So I would play our records on the same record player you had and you hit it right on the head about the tone and vibration that came out of those consoles. I also had a sister that was 14 years older than me and a brother 7 years older than me so I also played 45's of their music. My sister was into the Beatles, Tommy James, etc. while my brother was into all the huge bands of the late 70's like the Eagles, Boston, Foreigner, etc. When no one was home I would put on a 45 and pretend to play and sing. Then around 15 years old my friend and I started taking guitar lessons at Schmidt Music in the Northtown Mall (this is after an unsuccessful career playing the viola in junior high. I wanted to play saxophone and my mom said no!) I learned Smoke On The Water and Heaven's On Fire but the teacher did not really engage and I just didn't feel it. My true love was singing and that's where I wanted to focus. Ended up joining a band at 17 and we played everything from Bryan Adams to Metallica. They wanted to play more stuff like Lizzy Borden, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I never liked the heavier stuff like so I quit the band. Plus I didn't have the range to sing Halford, Plant, Dickinson, etc. So I started working at Great American Music selling records and tapes (and eventually CD's). That changed my world. It was like a kid in a candy store. What I realized is that I really love music. All music. To this day I think back to those years and all the bands I was turned on to simply because I had access to them. I also realized that although I loved singing what I missed was the creating side of music. So while managing a different music store I hired this kid who had no job history but we hit it off during the interview. We talked about KISS and Stevie Ray Vaughan and eventually we became great friends. He taught me a few open chords on an acoustic guitar and my whole life changed. I was able to write music. I never wanted to be Joe Satriani I just wanted an avenue to create songs. The first full song I learned to play was Let Her Cry by Hootie & The Blowfish and I would play it a thousand times a day. Eventually I started writing and after many years was able to work with that same kid I hired years before to record an album of my original songs. He played every instrument on the album and it sounded amazing even if the songs weren't all that great. We even recorded a second album with a couple of friends helping out on drums and bass. I still don't really consider myself a guitar player but I also was going through a very dark time when I met him and when he taught me those chords. It was such an incredible way to release anger, hurt and pain that in a lot of ways I think it saved my life. That kid I hired continues to inspire me with his dedication to his craft and all the people he has helped over the years. He also just happens to run The Art Of Guitar. It's funny that I am sharing my story on your timeline since you are the reason I play :)
2016,Freshman, playing bass,wonderwall kind of stuff 2017,get access to youtube(China blocked foreign internet),watching your videos 2018,2019,still watching your videos, begin to play guitar. 2020,graduated,still watching your videos. really,really, helped me a lot. I learned theory,technique..which is really hard to learn in China. Thank you, appericiate!
When I started listening to thrash and really feeling riffs and solos is when I got the idea. I wanted to play drums because I’m unconsciously obsessed with beats and my foot is always tapping and fingers always drumming. But drumsets were just so massive and loud it would have never worked. And I never made the step to learn guitar because I was trying to teach myself which obviously wasn’t going well. But I decided that if I never learned how to play and that I never performed the type of music I love for people, I would regret it for the rest of my life. So Here I am getting good enough to do thrash solos and looking for other people my age to play with
20 years ago a work colleague signed us up for a Tallent contest at our National Sales meeting in New Orleans. This was after he asked if I played guitar. I said I played stairway to heaven, like many kids in high school. I bought an acoustic guitar and shortly afterward a red ibenez. We practiced for 3 months prior to playing on Bourbon Street in front of a 100+ drunken (thankfully) coworkers. I sat on a bench while my leg shaked uncontrollably throughout the performance. My dream was to go back and actually play something recognizable. 2 years ago I had the opportunity to play 5 songs during our Global dales meeting with about 250+ people at preservation hall on stage and we even had a sound technician. I was definitely not great but less nervous and had a great time! Played the easy classics Stand By Me, Taking Care of Business, Can’t you see, La Bamba,Twist and Shout with a full band. This gave me motivation to keep playing and improving. 🎸 🎶
My mother had an old acoustic and tried to teach me when I was like 10y.o. but I didn’t really enjoyed it. Later when I was 14-15 I made metalhead friends at school who played guitar and I really enjoyed watching them play. I told them I had an acoustic and everything except one string broke and we never replaced them for ages so at my 16th birthday they bought me new strings and taught me basic songs that I could practice, I had no excuse not to learn it then LOL. During that year I bought a 2nd hand Nevada (cheap fender strat wannabe) and learned a lot with it, I made the high school talent show with my friend where we played Iron Maiden’s The Trooper. We also played during our graduation ceremony. With my guitarist friends we talked about our dream guitars once and they remembered what I said. For my 17th bday them and two other friends bought it together as a gift and I am forever grateful to them. This guitar is an Ibanez Jem. So yeah now I’m still completely addicted to guitar and learning new songs and trying to start a band😋🤘🎸 Btw, I have to thank you a lot because I learned a lot watching your channel as I am mostly self taught! 🙏 Keep rocking!
my story was i was about 9 years old and my mom wanted me to get into a different instrument then piano and she bought. me a cheap amazon guitar and it was winter 2022 and i had 2 guitar lessons in my life then started to teach myself now i have been playing for a year and a half and i played my first stage and played don't stop Believing in january of this year
First, thank you for your content and lessons. I’m 39 yrs old. Bought myself my first guitar for my 21st birthday. Self-taught. Tab books, guitar world, ect. Kurt Cobain inspired me to believe I could do it. Became a Dad. Years later, I’m still playing. Picked up drums about 10 yrs ago and Bass at some point as well. Now, over the last couple years, I have committed to building a usable recording studio in my basement. I’ve collected a heap of excellent gear. Now, I am currently getting reading to begin writing and recording what will be a full album.
Here's my story: I started in about 2019 when my parents made me take guitar lessons to give me something to do on the side, I got a cheap strat for christmas and a little vox practice amp. At that time, I really didn't like playing my instrument, it felt like homework to my young self, so I never made much progress in those years. Fast forward to the start of high school, my dad showed me one of his favorite AC/DC songs, Jailbreak, I heard it and immediately loved it, that was my introduction to rock music. I then took it to myself to learn the rhythm to that song, all of a sudden I just had a spark of passion, I went from struggling with open chords to playing solos in a year, I kept expanding and expanding my music taste until my buddies and I decided to start a band after learning my friend had a great singing voice. We started out as a bunch of beginners with me as the most experienced musician in the band. Fast forward to today. We're a lot better and have started playing classic rock gigs, I now play bass and drums along with guitar and even compose my own music at 16 years old! My first single has its own story in itself. In English class, for our final project, we had to do something creative involving one of the books we read. I decided to write a song about Macbeth, after a lot of work and collaboration, I submitted it and my teacher loved it so much that she suggested I put it on Spotify. So I did, and now I'm an indie musician with hopes of growing and getting to make music professionally! Thanks so much to whoever read my story, and by the way, check out "Out Damned Spot" by Benny Millman on Spotify!
Originally, I started as a drummer in 1976. Groups like KISS and Boston influenced me to become a musician. And there were a lot of musicians on both sides of my family. I used to beat this old chair with bird perches until I started using a drum-set at a rich kids' school my friends parents worked at. The music teacher there caught me playing and was impressed by my enthusiasm. So, he gave me the combination to the drum-set locker! Even then, I could never afford a drum set. I took up guitar in 1978 after seeing the picture of Ace Frehley looking awesome in the Evolution of KISS booklet included with KISS Alive II. That same friend of mine's parents (that worked at the rich kids' school) were trying to force him to learn guitar and he wanted none of it. So, he had a beat up 60's Teisco style guitar with no strings and 1 single coil. I got him to give it to me so I could learn. He secretly gave me the guitar behind his parents' back by running outside with it while they weren't looking and dropping it on the ground! I was waiting in the bushes. I ran out, grabbed it, and ran all the way home! I was poor - so I could only afford the high E string. My mom saw me playing and saw that I had a talent for it. She got the guitar restrung and set-up. She also got me enrolled in guitar lessons. I took ONE lesson and was very bored. I wanted to learn chords and this guy was teaching me leads on 2 strings. I had 6 strings now and wanted to play ALL of them! So, I went to the library, took out some books on playing guitar which had chord boxes and songs in them, and the rest is KISStory! 😎👍🎸
I suppose my story is quite different from everyone else. I was forced to play guitar by my mother. I was highly unmotivated by this because the music I listened to back then was primarily songs from the radio and 90's rnb. Because I was going to get music lessons regardless, I pleaded to my mum for me to play bass instead of guitar. She said no and a few weeks later, I got my first lesson. All I could tell you was that any 'homework' my guitar teacher set me I did not complete due to the sheer boredom and lack of motivation being forced to play this instrument. Over time I thought about quitting, but I feared that my parents weren't going to be happy with my decision. Surprisingly during the lessons, my guitar teacher and I would have discussions about music. And over time, my own music taste started to develop. I started to listen to Alternative Rock, which then evolved into Hard Rock, then Glam metal etc. Listening to these genres gave me a sense of motivation to my guitar playing and I then started to practice outside my lessons. However, my motivation only lasted for a few weeks and I relapsed back to not practicing. The next year, my music taste evolved even further to the point where I would listen exclusively to Metal. I had this sort of 'elitist' mindset back then regarding mainstream music as I avoided listening to anything on the radio (I got rid of that mindset the following year). My guitar playing during that time was a bit erratic, as I was playing continuously only at the start and end of the year. I stopped having lessons at the start of the year and focused solely on being self-taught. This time, I was progressing a lot faster as I was able to play the clean section of Fade to black in a week (I would only play about an 1-2 hours a day). During this time, I believed that I was able to finally gain momentum and continue practicing my guitar consistently leading to next year, but I was wrong. I quit guitar for about a year because as I mentioned earlier, I never fell in love with the instrument. I sold both my electric guitars and at around this time, I decided to play bass instead. I bought my first bass guitar with all the money I had, which meant that I practiced without an amp. But, I was still unable to keep myself motivated and quit after a month. However at the end of the year, my friends from school took up instruments and I decided to join in and practice with them. The next year, I would play in the school band and perform in front of the school during special occasions. As for my guitar playing, I took it up again and have been practicing consistently for more than a month now. I had to take a one week break though as the nerves in my middle finger were injured and I would feel sharp pain every time I would press it against the fretboard. For some reason though, I now enjoy playing the instrument and persevered through all the challenging phases that I have encountered during my practice for the past 5 weeks now. As for my mother, she isn't the villain in this. Without her forcing me to play this instrument, I wouldn't be able to find the genre of music that I connect with the most (metal), and instead, I'll be stuck listening to mainstream music for the rest of my life (which isn't all that bad but still, metal is cool). I think I wrote too much.
Lot of good things in life then a lot of bad things in life that lead to me getting my eggs scrambled. Doctor told me that I needed to do something to work my mind so at the age of 44 picked I up a 3 string fretless cigar box guitar. Went to some lessons to the only guy in my area that could teach cigar box and he told me its never to late to pick up a guitar. So I did and I loved it I am 46 now and I am not good but I go to my lesson each week and I have to practice a lot. I will say this when I first held a guitar in that first lesson there is no way I thought I would be where I am right now. I new that my goal was years and years away not weeks or months plus I got a late start. I love the work and the challenge because it feels great when you start something and weeks sometimes for me months you bust through a wall. So if you are reading this its never to late but it is hard to find a instructor that is good at teaching adults. I ran into a couple babysitters that looked like that hated teaching. I can't say enough about my instructor he is great we were making a lot of progress until this Virus. He back to doing studio work right now cant wait to get back at it...
I had two older brothers that introduced me to all the greats , one was into the eagles , tull , chicago...the other cream , zeppelin, doors....mom and dad listened to oldies rock and roll and classic country so I was exposed to pretty constant music at an early age. As I got older I loved all of the music my family listened to and I was the perfect age as I started high school in 1980 🤟 Van Halen was my first album I owned (graduated from 8tracks) I asked for a bass guitar for Christmas and santa brought me a bass. I knew nothing about playing , had nobody to teach me and no youtube ! Traded the bass for a guitar and had a couple friends that played so I learned some guitar but was not serious about learning so I eventually quit and went on with life. Flash forward to a year ago ...53 years old , wife , kids, great job and RV's. After two back surgeries the off roading hobby had to go but everyone needs hobbies and I have several friends now who play guitar. Asked around and a guy at work had a lyon Paul Stanley model for $75 and I picked up an amp from a pawn shop. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money incase this wasn't gonna take hold. Well it took hold and if I was as into it back then ? I would be "like mike" . Since I restarted my journey not quite a year ago , i have 3 basses , two bass amps , 11 guitars (including the American standard strat i found at a pawn shop) 3 amps and various effects. Most of my guitars come from pawn shops and I'm constantly working on them and having a blast learning how to upgrade them and set them up. Kids are grown so it's the wife , me and the dogs so I practice atleast an hour a day and spend most of my UA-cam time watching something to do with the guitar. Long story I know (I'm 54 soo....) but I am having a blast and enjoy the guitar community so rock on my brothers and sisters !
I went to see a mandolin/ fiddle ensemble named "Barrage". I was 43 yrs old. I fell in love with the Shape of the f style mandolin and I wanted one just as apiece of art. The next day I bought one. I learned to play it in a half assed manner. And then I figured I'd try a guitar. I immediately left the mandolin behind (as my main instrument). And now at 70 yrs. old I am proud to say that I've become a half assed guitar player. Now, being a coffin dodger, I don't think I have enough time left for anything else. So I will stick with guitar and watch my half assed abilities decline but I will go out playing Hendrix double stops for as long as I can! Kevin O'Rourke
Elvis opened the door for me with the '68 TV special. I saw it in the summer of '69 (I was thirteen); the next day I went in for ear surgery. My parents asked if they could get me something to help with my recuperation. I said I wanted guitar lessons...
I started playing guitar because my dad had an old Ashland acoustic in a case in the office that was a little beat up, missing the high e string, just not that playable overall. They noticed my attraction to that guitar and for my 17th birthday they got it cleaned and restrung and handed it down to me. I played that for about 6 months, then when I went to my grandma's house to help with chores that she needed my truck for, and as I was leaving she gave my my aunt's Samick strat copy (still trying to convice my dad to let her give me my aunt's drums) and that was my start into rock, listening to Motley Crue all day. I've now aged out of youth soccer, graduated high school, and lost my main passion in soccer since I don't have the time with school to coach. Guitar has now become my release that soccer used to be. My parents hate me because I don't let my little 15W Marshall go below 4 on the volume so they can hear me in my room from across the house. Lol Edit: Your videos have taught me alot and I love your voice. A podcast would be great for putting it on as background noise while I'm doing homework and playing video games
Always loved rock&metal guitar but never had the time and patience to learn to play. Now I'm 60, retired and have a lot of time so I began 6 months ago and I love it !
The song Plush on "Core" by Stone Temple Pilots made me want to play bass and electric guitar because It was my favorite album at the time and it still is. Love that album and it inspires me to this day (thank you Radio X from GTA San Andreas)
That album is godly! I became an instant STP fan after hearing (and seeing the video for) Plush! I've loved everything they've put out since - even this latest new all-acoustic album. While I, like everyone else, DO miss Scott. The new guy isn't bad at all!
I also was inspired to learn guitar by the song Plush off the Core album. It was the first album I hear by them but I'd say my favorite STP album right now is Tiny Music. I'd say that that album is where they hit their peak creatively, although I still enjoy their new stuff with Jeff too.
Mesmerized by the guitar since 10 y.o., buying my first LP in 1980 with my own coin; 'Live at Last' ... Sabbath... now nearing 50, the bug and drive remains unabated! Rock On!!
My grandfather was a bass player back in the 60s-70s, and kept playing till he had his first stroke. He was a second father figure to me, so to get closer to him I picked up a guitar so I could play with him on bass. After his stroke, I also picked up his bass. I was always looking for the next thing I could play to impress him. Last one I learned was outside of his music taste, as he liked country, but I learned the first solo from Fade to Black. Before I could finish the song, he passed from cancer. 4 years later, and I still play, partly bc of my love for music, and partly bc it makes me feel like he's still with me.
I am fairly new to the guitar. I started last year in November and I started on acoustic guitar even though I was into rock and metal at the time. My uncle taught me a few things and told me that if the next time he saw me and I impressed him he would get me an electric guitar for Christmas. So I spent a ton of hours working endlessly on learning scales and chords and by the time of Christmas I had impressed him and he got me a Fender Stratocaster which Is my favorite type of guitar. I was able to get that because he wasn't using it as much and he knew It was my favorite.
started playing guitar just after my 21st birthday a little over a year ago. coming up on the 2 year mark in november and i’m just hoping that i didn’t start to late to become something great. i played the flute back when i was in school and used to really enjoy it, but stopped in high school cause i no longer had the opportunity to play with others. ever since i’ve felt kinda unfulfilled and like something was missing. then i picked up the guitar cause i always loved rock and metal, and have had a hard time putting it down ever since. i remember when starting it felt really hard, but i had this passion in me to try to do something bigger than me and try to perfect my sounds. so many people on youtube teach guitar, but few of them teach ideas the way you do. thank you for teaching me to keep trying no matter how hard it is and inspiring me to try to make my sound the best i can!!
I started in March of this yr, at age 41. I have wanted to play since I was a kid, but my parents never got me a guitar. Growing up I was exposed to all genres of music, my mom would just pick a radio station & we would listen to it all day. So I grew up with a love for all types music. There is just something about guitar music, whenever I hear a really good riffs & solos. it's an undescribable feeling, I can feel it through out my whole body.. all the way to my soul. So I just decide it time & I'm very happy that I did.
My earliest rock n roll experience was Kiss Alive II. One day when I was a little kid, my mom bought a cheap record player at a thrift store and dug out her old records. She showed me how it worked. One day I was flipping through her records, Sonny & Cher, Barbara Streisand, etc, etc, and then...KISS. I remember looking at the cover art and thinking, "whoa, what is this." Loved it. Anyways, at 16, a friend of mine gave me a crappy Harmony Strat copy because his parents got him a new guitar (my parents couldn't afford to get me a guitar). Been playing ever since. I really should be a lot better than I am though. I just don't understand why I'm not improving more. I am 33 now so been playing 17 years (wow). I have played guitar in one band that never ended up playing shows (our drummer passed away as we were writing material) and have played bass in 2 bands that gig and do a little touring (all original music). I would describe myself as an intermediate guitar player. I can perform a setup on my guitars and have basic theory knowledge (all the basic modes, scales, etc). I just can't seem to get my playing more fluid, effortless, and accurate. Any of the bands I've played in have been punk rock. I am a good enough player for that genre and can even do basic punk solos if needed. There's no way I could hang in a metal band. Also, I have never written an entire song and don't know how. I've written a ton of riffs and then never know where to go next. And lyrics...forget about it. I got nothing to say. I primarily listen to punk rock ('77), power pop, glam, etc. but I do also enjoy some metal (especially black metal) as well as blues, bossa nova, and other styles. I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have learned little techniques over the years from so many different genres. Maybe a jack of all trades, master of none kinda thing? I dunno. I don't wanna be the next Malmsteen (honeslty find that level of virtuosity boring) but would love to at least be as good as Johnny Thunders. Sorry to ramble on so long. Take care.
I am still a noob at playing guitar. My parents gifted me a classic Spanish guitar with nylon strings. I was about 12 at the time, I was also quite fat as a kid, so I guess parents gave me that guitar to boost my confidence a little. Good plan but I never connected with that guitar and after a month of having lessons with a tutor I was basically done with it. After that I had no real interest in guitar for 10 years. When I was 22 my grandmother passed away. It was quite a hard time because of that loss and due to me completely stressing out at work. In October that year I started listening to a lot of Black Sabbath (probably my favorite band since about I was 11). For some reason, I suddenly got really into music and guitar in specific. All of a sudden I was up until 4AM and just watched guitar lessons and guitar reviews, I did not have a guitar at that point. After weeks the edge to start learning guitar did not go away. I decided that it was time to get myself a guitar. Since my birthday was just around the corner in early November, right on my birthday I went out and bought myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio in ebony (early 2019 model). Since then I’ve been slowly getting better (as I like to think) and never regretted my decision to get into music again. Oh and weirdly enough I started watching The Art of Guitar before I even had a guitar, and this channel definitely contributed to me getting a guitar for my 23rd birthday.
My dad played bass in local bands for about 20 years, he's always been a huge metalhead throughout my childhood. My parents were always supportive of whatever strange instruments us kids would play, I remember I was really in to the ocarina for a few years, but my dad consistently pushed us to play the guitar or bass, which is something that we were never interested in. He gave me an old Sigma acoustic guitar when I was 8, but it sat and collected dust in my bedroom for years. At around age 15, I started getting in to punk rock, mostly old Green Day songs but also some Ramones and Black Flag, that kinda basic stuff. It was around this time that my dad left my mom for another woman. We were all devastated, none of us could have ever expected it. To cope, I picked up that Sigma to learn something for the first time, being my favorite Green Day song, Dry Ice. Playing those simple power chords read off of ultimateguitar tabs filled a void that I didn't realize was there. It was more fulfilling than anything I'd ever experienced. That impulsive interest in the guitar quickly turned into a love for the instrument, steering away from tabs and developing a knack for playing by ear. I eventually got bored of playing sloppy punky power chords and gravitated more towards metal music due to the sheer speed and precision of their playing, I wanted to play just like that. I can't explain the feeling of playing The Four Horsemen all the way through for the first time; it was a euphoric high, I felt like I had a purpose for the first time. I've never been in a band, unfortunately, especially considering I'll be 18 in a few weeks. I've still yet to find that "scene" around here or meet local people who are in to playing this type of music, so I've just spent the past 3 years playing alone in my bedroom for hours lol. Holy shit that was a lot haha kinda went off. I love hearing other people's guitar stories, thought I would share mine for once. Thank you for reading :)
One of he first albums I ever listened to was (GI) by The Germs. When I listened to that record and learned that they could barley play their instruments at the start but said fuck it, it gave me motivation. That’s what I love about about Punk Rock. Passion over technique.
Hell yeah. Germs rule. One thing I always wondered though: in the intro for "No God" it has that little part taken from that Yes song (I think it was "Roundabout"). Always wondered who played that or if it was sampled. I doubt Pat Smear would've been able to play that at that point in his career. Great transition into the song though.
Hell yeah on The Germs. Pat Smear is still kicking ass with the Foo Fighters!! Check out my new track when you get a second - here it is - ua-cam.com/video/Y6AGtxbVbZw/v-deo.html
My guitar teacher introduced me to MASTER OF PUPPETS and I was sold right there. I couldn't sleep until I could play it and I now just love metal and other so.e genres as well and man that song is inspirational!!!
I always had a guitar lying around, but, didn't get serious about playing until I was 40-ish. I took lessons for a while with a guy who I became friends with, but, he wasn't the right teacher for me. As I continued to self teach I developed a circle of friends who were/are much better players than i was/am. Playing with them has made me better. We write and record songs, totally have fun with no pressure. Plus, UA-cam and people like Mike have been a huge help.
My Mom was playing classical guitar not very often. 3 Years ago I was listening to ACDC-Live in my dads car. Hells Bells was totaly fascinating to me and I learned the Songs by ear on my mums old nylon. I took piano lessons so it was easier to me. One of my inspirations were Malcolm Young Jimmy Page Randy Rhoads.
My dad has been playing guitar for 33 years and when i was little, he showed me AC/DC, Iron Maiden and a lot more bands and i loved them, but eventually i got bored. When i was 12, almost 13, my parents asked me what i wanted them to give me for christmas and i didn't know what to say, so i just said: "well, why not try the guitar" and they got me one for christmas. The first to months i didn't really play it but then we had to do a project for English class in my school where i had to pick a band and stand in the front of the class and explain all about the band, the members, their best songs, etc. For the project i chose the band Iron Maiden because it was like the only one i kind of knew. So doing the presentation, made me hear Iron Maiden again, and I loved it. I loved it so much that i asked my dad to take me to the Iron Maiden concert, which was in September, I was going to have to wait 7 months for it but i didn't care. So then I realized that i already had a guitar of my own and that I could eventually play all that music, so basically when i got into rock and metal again was when i really started playing more seriously the guitar. And i haven't stopped until then. I'm 14 years old now, i'm Mexican, and i got to see that amazing Iron Maiden concert. Thanks for reading.
always wanted an electric but i got an acoustic, its okay i can work with this. started playing guitar 8 months ago. now playing and practising it is all i do.
I got into a lot of classic rock as a kid after having had listened to the music from my parents’ generation (bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who) and the very first band I ever got into when I was 10 years old (I’m 21 now) was The Beatles, and after listening to the music I knew that I wanted to play guitar. As I got a bit older I got into bands like Van Halen wanted to learn some cool fast stuff, and when I heard my first Pink Floyd song (Comfortably Numb) in one of my guitar lessons I realized that you can also do melodic stuff on guitar. Those bands are still some of my favourite bands and I still credit George Harrison, Eddie Van Halen and David Gilmour for getting me into guitar. When I was 13 or 14 then found out about this program my music school offered that allowed kids to to get together and play in a little band, so I started doing that and at first I wasn’t very good (as I had been playing for only a few years), but now I’ve been doing that probably for the last 7-8 years and I’ve been enjoying it ever since (I play lead guitar and sing, and a lot of people tell me I’m the most energetic person onstage, which is true because I do jump around a lot), I also have a band that my friends and I made a few years ago (we were called CAGE after our initials) and it’s a lot of fun, we mainly play covers but we’ve also written (and recorded) a couple of originals. Lastly, I got accepted into this music program at a college I had been applying to a few weeks ago (I had auditioned with my guitar) and I’m really happy that I’m going to go to school for music, which is what I’ve always wanted to do after graduating from high school
When I was 7 my parents took me to some sort of open day at our local music school and there I apparently decided that the guitar was the instrument for me. For the first three years or so I had lessons at that music school, but then my teacher stopped (the situation at that school was pretty bad since the government decided to cut back on funding), so I went to another teacher, played there for about two years, but he was already in his 60's or something and in a pretty bad place personally as far as I remember, so I had to find another teacher. Anyway, my first two teachers were both pretty theory-oriented and I think that might have partially been the reason why I feel that I did not make a whole lot of progress in that period. My current teacher however focuses more on actually playing and really tries to get all of his students excited about music and that made such a huge difference for me, because since then I've really become quite passionate about music in general and it makes playing guitar so much more rewarding. I really advice anyone to look for a passion of music in a teacher, cause if he's not enjoying himself, chances are you probably won't either.
I'm a lifelong Prince fan, and there is a great podcast about Prince where all the hosts are musicians and had insights on his music that I couldn't get, and I started thinking of taking up bass. Then in early 2015 I was getting tired of just watching TV after my kids went to bed so I went to buy a bass but decided on a regular guitar instead. Never looked back.
I bought my first guitar when I was 15 (38 years later I still have it). My big influence when I started was George Harrison. The Beatles' album were always available at my house growing up. The more I managed to isolate George's guitar work, the more I wanted to learn it. All my friends were into Van Halen (which I'm still not a fan of), but I found many guitarist of the 1960's to be more organic in their playing. Later a friend got me into Jimi and I was hooked. The first time I listened to "Are You Experienced?", my playing was never the same. When I was 25, I sold all my gear, I had a family to take care of and we needed the money. In my 40's, my wife surprised me with an Epiphone Las Paul Junior and I fell right back into playing. Now at 53, my morning routine is practice and coffee. Playing guitar is something I hope to stay with the rest of my days...🎸
I’m a newer guitarist. This is my story so far. So I’ve always loved music it’s always been a big part of my life as fare back as I can remember. I always thought drums looked cool my grandmother had pianos I would play she would always tell me it was great and even as a little kid I could still tell that she was curious that she wasn’t just saying it to make me feel better and as I got older I saw this in her responses to my playing even more. Then I found a old instrument in my mums house is was a peace of wood with metal strings on it (I didn’t know what guitars were wet) eventually I found out it was a 12 string acoustic that my great uncle Bobby owned then not long after that I found out I come from a long line of musicians. I saw someone on tv playing a guitar and I got the old 12 string from the corner and tried to play my mom told me that it sounded good. A few years later my mom said that because I have long fingers and big hands I would be good at playing guitar or piano. A while after I wanted to learn to actually play a guitar so my mom helped me find a local teacher and it makes me chuckle that he said he’s been teaching for almost 30 years and has never had a lefty until I came along. When I first started I was playing upside down because I was using a loner guitar but eventually I got my own guitar and it is a right handed guitar but the strings are made for lefty. Ever since I got that guitar I see peoples faces light up when I play even my teacher. Everyone tells me I should be a singer and guitar player because I have a unique voice. Some people even tell me I should put my voice to good use before they even know I play. Now playing is my passion it’s my favorite thing to do even if I’ve had a bad day I still think I can go home and play. That’s my story so far but I’m positive there will be more.
I am 15. I started playing 2 years ago. I was self-taught on guitar for about a year and a half. Before finding the guitar I played clarinet for school band for 4 years, about a year of that I played at the same time as the guitar. I don't play clarinet for school band anymore. I started listening to a lot of Green Day and RHCP and wanted to play their stuff. I borrowed my older brother's guitar and amp and started out. Again I was self-taught for a year and a half. I didn't really know what I was doing during that year and a half. I was mostly just learning songs rather than skills and theory. Then I convinced my parents to let me have lessons. And my playing has improved so much, so fast! I play every day and am trying to work my skills and get a better understanding of theory. I'm really not all that great but I'm working every day to improve. I'm trying to regiment my practice and find some exercises right now. I really hope to be able to teach when I graduate high school!
I used to not like music. Until 4th grade when my teacher did a guess the song every day and most of the songs were classic rock which I’ve never heard before until then. In 5th grade I thought it would be a good idea to play guitar and since I have no musical person in my family and my mom wanted a musician in my family my parents said yes. I slowly got into heavier music and now I listen to Metallica, Megadeth, and Godsmack for the most part. I’ve been playing for almost 4 years now
When I was eight I heard the intro to Holiday be Green Day and knew I wanted to be a guitarist. My mom bought me a cheap acoustic guitar and signed me up for lessons at my local music shop. I quit after three weeks because I was impatient. 10 years later I was at my cousins wedding and was fascinated by the guitar player. I went home and grabbed the guitar I recieved when I was eight. I looked up some basic open chords and started enjoying it. A few months later I bought a cheap electric guitar starter pack and got a guitar teacher. This time I was serious about learning. Already knowing Am, Em, G, C, and D my teacher was able to get me strumming along to some songs quickly. I took lessons for about half a year and decided to stop. Since then, I have played just about everyday for 3 years. It all started with hearing Green Day for the first time.
I really like how you give something from you before you invite others to follow your example. I don't think I'd write this otherwise. The very first girl I fell in love with.. someone told me she was into Iron Maiden, so i asked the metal guy in my class to make a tape for me. The first time listening to Live After Death made me almost nauseous, that wall of sound was like nothing I had ever experienced. It quickly got under my skin, and when i saw the video for Indians by Anthrax my life had taken a direction of its own. I bought a cheap guitar and started The Journey With No End: bedroom guitarist, cover bands... you know, cheap distortion pedals and hired amps. About 10 years ago, so 14 guitars, two Marshall stacks and three 19" racks later, i was asked to play lead guitar in an Obituary tribute band, which changed my approach in playing and practicing. I really had to sit down and analyze songs, note for note which made me a lot more time-effective. Also, my singer and I had the same attitude in wanting to make that band something awesome. Giving our t-shirts to Obituary, and their awesome response to that, was a real great incentive. From there, I met a lot more bands in the metal scene, and ended up touring Europe as a guitar tech, and stage manager for a US band. Last year, we discussed how the band sounded, the singer found it hard to combine singing and playing guitar and it came up that I'd play on the next run. Complication was that I live in Europe and there really wasn't an opportunity to get together before the tour, so I got both the albums and locked myself up for 3 months to learn these ridiculously complicated, horribly fast 80s thrash metal songs. One of the songs is even called 'Technical Arrogance'. My practice motto was "Play it like you wrote it", and that pushed me a lot to try harder and really nail the songs, get the stops right, all that stuff. When the tour came, last november, the band and I met in Germany. We had no time to practice together, so our first rehearsal together was on stage on a festival. For me, that tour was the finale of my musical journey. I felt proud, supported and humble. Everything that comes next is a bonus. I hope sooner rather than later.
I've been playing for about 2 1/2 years. I got really into Metallica in like May of 2017 in the 6th grade, had never heard anything like it before and fell in love upon my first listen of Master of Puppets. In September or so of that year I was doing warmups on clarinet for morning band practice and 4 of the notes in one of the chromatic runs in the song we were doing sounded like For Whom The Bell Tolls. After that I realized that I really wanted to replicate this kind of music I'd been obsessed with for months, so I started to teach myself to play with some of my dad's guitars. My dad suggested I learn Sad But True, so he taught me that for a day or two and after that I started practicing guitar all day after school to procrastinate on my homework. I used Songsterr to eventually learn basically every Metallica song written, and then moved on to other harder things. I'd like to think I've progressed somewhat faster than average, because of how much free time I have, how often I want to practice (all of the time of course), and because of how much great info there is to be learned from UA-cam channels like this one. I now write music for fun and am actually considering a career in something music-related, but I still have a few years to get that all figured out.
began with bass back in 2014 because I heard a solo from that. so I began learning it. Had a lot of experience and after a long way practicing, I decided to experiment to guitar. From then I had too much fun enjoying playing them.
1.5 years in to learning. 46 years old. My mom bought me a guitar about age 13. It came from K-mart and had a built in speaker. Sounded horrible. All my friends made fun of it so I didn't try much. Plus I didn't think my hands could do what they needed to do. Fast forward to age 45. Not married, 1 kid grown and gone. Why not chase a few dreams. Bought a Kona acoustic guitar and on day 1 the finish was pealing off. So I bought a 2010 Melody maker, soon after that a 1985 Peavey Falcon. I have spent the last 1.5 years strictly working on the physical aspects. Finger, hand strength, speed and precision. Using all the scales and arpeggios, moving up and down the fret board. I change angles often. Guitar height, neck angle, hand angles so I never get stuck in one position and be able to hold the guitar any way I want. Now working on speed picking and hand sync. I am getting bursts of real speed finally. Before I even try to learn songs, licks, riffs, I want to be able to play through any scale at any position as fast as any rock star. Once I break that ceiling I think the rest of the learning curve will be very sharp and fast. Every morning I spend an hour with a coffee in my right hand, and hammering out scales with left hand. Today I was finally able to use my right hand to get a cigarette out and light it will not missing a note with left hand. I would like to be able to write my name with my right hand wile not missing a note with the left. Is that too lofty of a goal? I wonder if any one an even do that. A few months in to it i was given a 4x12" speaker cabinet. So I bought a 150 watt mixer. I pump a Peavey Back Stage plus as a pre-amp through the mixer. Along with a Bad Monkey peddle. Sounds pretty awesome. I put a P94 in the Melody maker, same exact set up as PhilX in his stage Viper. EMG's in the Peavey Falcon, and now also have a Ibanez with S&D high distortions. I think I have one hell of a set up for such a beginner that can't even play a song. But it's very motivating to have this nice stuff and the sounds that come out are amazing. It's going to be pretty bad ass once I can actually play. I have enough gear to play a local bar or something. That's actually my goal. To retire and play live. I am thinking very hard on another childhood dream instrument. Saxophone. That was actually the first instrument I ever wanted to play. But I think multiple instruments will aid in learning music theory. Not too worried about that yet. I took a coarse in music theory and was a ton of information, most of which I forgot. I'll get back to it soon enough. These vidoe's are a HUGE help. A LOT of stuff I figure out on my own(techniques) and then there validated when I see you or another teaching it. I am at that super boring stage. With the speed picking starting to get faster the excitement is coming back. I am almost through the "how bad do you want to play" section or my journey. Quitting is not an option. Did that when I was a kid. Now it's just a matter of time and persistence.
I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but never had that motivational push to actually do it. One random day in 2017, a friend brought his guitar to school and started playing Californication, i was totally amazed. He kinda noticed and handed it to me and started teaching me how to play it. 2 months later i asked for a guitar as my 17th birthday present and that is where it all began.
I'm actually new again to guitar. My father was a guitarist who was a fantastic player & gave me & my sister a guitar when we were just teenagers & started teaching us to play though I was already playing the flute & has been for years. I picked up the guitar very easily but just didn't have enough time to play the flute, learn the guitar, keep up w/my studies, athletics & any other hobbies so, I sort of gave up the guitar until after I learned to play the drums. After I learned to read drum music & became proficient enough playing the drums to play with a band & perform in public I did that for awhile & decided it's about time I picked up the guitar again. So, I purchased a new beginner acoustic guitar I started trying to learn how to play scales, chords & a few songs on my father had taught years ago. Then, I bought a new Taylor electrified, acoustic guitar, a new electrified, acoustic PRS guitar & a new amp, as well. I'm just beginning to look for an instructor to teach me & to help me decide what type of guitar (acoustic or electric) I should invest the bulk of my time, energy & money into learning to master playing. That's why I've subscribed to your videos & going to visit your website to see what else you have to offer there. You truly are a phenomenal teacher & inspire me thus far to pursue guitar more intensely than I ever have. So, though I consider myself a beginner, I cannot wait to learn from you. I have a feeling I'll advance as rapidly as I'm possibly able to.
When I heard The Cure when I was like 4 or 6 yrs old. And opus 10 "Life is life". After that my dad would play a bunch of records. Pablo Milanes, a Cuban musician, was big presence in the house whenever something was played. I remember how powerfully emotional the music was. It would involve you emotionally in a very significant way. It was Latin music, but very blues-like. Unafraid of dealing with that aspect of human experience. Then I would listen to popular things like Juan Luis Guerra and 4:40 "Bachata Rosa", and I thought every song in it was very good. Then I heard "The 90s Revolution" (mainstream) and that reminded me of wanting to play guitar. After that, I saw a group of people playing Metallic covers: Enter Sandman at an Opus Dei high school (see Jesuits in the music industry youtube. Chicago school i think). My mom wanted to learn English. So, I began to watch it when we were like 10 or 11 "Smells Like That Spirit Will Be Done In" every day on MTC and "They are the ones who know all our pretty songs, and they like to sing them along with etc" and me and my brother would be jumping up and down the bed watching those videos all day long. We would enjoy listening to the Mario Bro rap from the cartoons: and look forward to listening to them. And MTV YO raps: Onyx made an impression. And seeing kids rap "Kriss Kross" was kinda a big deal here In Vzla. It made it seem reachable. Method Man´s cover of a 70s sound tune. He is displayed with eyed pull upwards so they reveal only the while of the eyeballs as in unconscious. Also "Get the money $,$,$ bill y´all" Wreck n Effect: the hot lady on the beach playing Saxophone. Then the megadeath video where he was wearing a mental patient jacket in a jail. Something like a symphony for destruction. When we moved to the States. I got a Mexico made Fender guitar, and then a Jag Stand, and began to learn the stuff I listened at 10 or 11. I would go shopping for CDs and found Nirvanas D7 "D matches 7....mayday, mayday". I began to take guitar lessons at DeWitt music studios. I asked them if they could put 11 gauge strings on the guitar. They said it was no problem. But when i returned to pick them up I was told that they had dislodged the neck from the body as they tried to put the strings, but that "they had fixed it nevertheless". I had no other choice, but to take it, and not demand that they would get me a new one. I began to learn "Killing in The Name Of" by Mike at Dewitts. He would tell me about "root notes", but theory seemed weird and unconsented at the time to my goal of jamming, and playing what I wanted so I did not give it the importance that I wanted. I kinda stop taking lessons from Mike, because I thought I could proceed to simply learn from tabs printed of the net. So, I began to play from printed tabs from the net. In the door to a biology class there were a couple of really kinda violence projecting individuals. They did not look very approachable. But I remember they kept on laughing about "Senior was like Señor frog" and how much they dug AEnima. So, I began to look for tabs on that and began to try to learn from the chants. The low-lives from tool would insist over and over on saying "Yeah, we were experimenting with how prejudiced people are if they listen to germans, and heavy music. Not all Germans are Nazis". I would go to the school library every day after lunch hr, not very many friendly people, and would begin to look for paper articles on bands. DeLa Roca was asked by Rolling Stones what CDs he thougth were relevant that yr: Unwound "Repetition", and Girls vs Boys "House of GvsB" the car. So, that was the way I was introduced to indie stuff. Then I met someone at work and insisted he loved tool. Invited me to go to a concert at memorial hall: aenima tour. So, we ended up going together. I had gotten nose-bleeding seats. During Hooker with a Penis, they brought out a muscle builder guy wearing a mask as in pulp fiction (a gimp I was 16 or 17. Double the suspension of disbelief) on stage, and he would begin modeling in front of the crow. The crowd mirrored in approval as to how funny it all was. The also played 8 degrees from undertow, but their chanter would begin to deliver these passive-aggressive bouts towards the audience saying "And this song, like all our other songs is about anal sex". Really angry as if he knew he had to battle the idea that he was being applauded for the wrong reasons. As if he had heard it from the crowd even though no had said anything, and they would just kept on being applauded. Their drummer is from KS. I would return every day from high-school, read Tropic of Capricorn for a number of hrs, and after I was done I would take my guitar drop D tune it and play all the chants from Deftones "Around the fur" and "Evil Empire" (the victims of the US empire were psychotic according to them). I would read Guitar World magazines. Learn from the tab, and read interviews. To see if they would say what allowed them to improve it. The military guy from tool would always insist on Peter Gabriel and his feminine side would resonate with Jonni Mitchell. In an interview with an Asian-American reporter, he gave more details about his peers. And with an Australian guy they talked about how their guitar player would like to hand pictures of crimes against humanities, carried out by them or their friends, in their walls. How they used a lot of math (sacred geometry I guess) in the chants. The Master's Discourse issue. After that I was invited by the same individual that invited me to memorial hall to a very special concert in Wichita. Adam Jones and Bozzo got close to me and told me that "it was in the cards" and left insisting they were God the latter was before the show began as people would hang out in the parking lot.All I coudl say was "Hmmmmm, Ok" After Adam got that off his chest. I entered the venue, and they had this guy next to me pretending he was on acid staring at the stage. They had an opening band called blue chip, or, blue tip. I thought they were good. They were followed by Bozzo (a big friend of Cobain before he pretended to commit suicide (see Hollywoods latest ops on suicide to exploit moral faculties), and Cobain a big friend of my Ambassador step-uncle (not blood-related) that was a military attache to China, and met J.P. the number 2. He did a favor for him during the unplugged record years, I must have been 14 or so, to send a threat to me with a Doppelganger. After that I kept on learning from tabs and getting into things that were not played on radio. My capacity to listen to music radically changed when I began to learn an instrument. You look for other things. So, I would begin to listen to non-standards things like "Street Peterson´s Crab" by Helmet given how unexpected the shifts were on the guitar. During the 2000´s and with the rise of napster I began to listen to a lot of hip-hop and techno. Dj Krush, The Future Soudn of London. Dj Cam, Dave Grohl was giving a mad boost to Josh´s project so I thought I would listen to it. That must have been around 2002. I had been playing since 1996. My family had been attacked by the US military to the point of mentally fragmenting my brother. They had to leave. I stayed, because I wanted to kinda hold on, and be a precense until they could return so all their efforts would not go to waste. I studied a lot. Philosophy, and literature. The humanities. "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell was a good introduction to Asian theology. So, I would begin to read a good deal about it, and get into their music which in turn found its way into people like "Thievery corporation" The same guy that invited me to his favorite band, tool, would keep on complaining about the betrayal of tool, and how his favorite collection of chants was aenma. All the violence in it I guess, and the crucifixion thing, the German experiment, the pretension they are exploited sex workers, etc. He would invite me to the bottleneck in Lawrence KS to watch bands. He was really into Ken Andrews "Failure" (a big friend of Jones). He was also obsessed with the Jesus Lizard so we went to a concert and say their frontman drop his pants in the middle of the set, and began to sing naked. During the failure concert there was this guy that kept on telling Andrews to play "Slayer". At the bottleneck I also got to see, from a very far distance, Sunny Day Real Estate. The same person expressed anger at the singer´s "Christian Turn", but was approving of how record of theirs made him cry. The one with the statur of an angel holding a soldier. I also remember this short-hair girl at the bottleneck. I wanted to talk to her. I could have even tried to talk about music since I played guitar. But I was too shy, and thought that I could be invading her personal space. I did not feel relaxed enough for some reason. But she was memorable in a pleasant sense. This same guy that played bass would always make a great fuss about "The Get Up Kids" a band from KS that had signed up a millionare record deal with Warner Brothers. He was friends with them. Apparently they toured the world, and even either met, or, played with Jimmy Page. He also insisted I would go watch with him “Standford Prison Experiment”, and “Man or Astro Man” the latter´s 1000x was his favorite, and would look at the rest is disfavor. I had purchased tabs for a lot of pink Floyd records: Dark Side, and some collection of greatest hits, but all stolen by the KBI. The latter work to assist Hollywood to look for isolated kids (I was born in Ann, Arbor Michigan) but that did not matter so they may abuse them. There is a documentary made on the matter: “Open Secrets” is called.
I got really into guitar when I was stationed in Japan, just for something to do after work besides drink. When I got out of the military and started school, my band teacher pressed me into bass, and as much as I liked bass, I wanted to make death metal riffs on guitar. Been about 6 years now since me and Sapp jammed on duty together.
Cheers to that! Even if Im having something of a not very musicly inspired moment, I can rewire myself back to brutality by plugging, (either my Jackson sl2, or oddly my Mex Fender Telecaster std, because death metal tele!) Into the bonsai pedal, to 25 watt jcm800 lunchbox head, & the goofiest mini mongrel stack ever. (1×12 egnater somethin'? I put a celestian Creamback 75 in, it, under a no clue , could pass for blue... maybe tolex, w/ unknown brand knockoff vin 30 on top) simple, loud, and old Death, Sepultura, & Nile riffs sound demonic, & yet perfect. Because what is more fun than death metal riffing on guitar... doing with a nice high gain amp
Guitar Hero made me want to play guitar when I was 8-9 years old. I got my first guitar age 10, started lessons a year after, stopped for some reason, and came back to it in 2013 when I really started learning seriously. I stopped lessons in 2016 I believe. Now, I'm learning by ear as much as possible.
My dad used to play guitar, and I would sing 'killing me softly'. Well I was 15, and I asked for a guitar and he bought me a beautiful yamaha acoustic for my Xmas present that year. He got me a couple lessons and within the year I got thrown out and I was hungry and I sold it for wayyyy less than it's value and he got so upset. But I'd always wanted to replace it. Well he passed away in 2014, but I bought my ibanez electric guitar this year and want to learn properly how to play so that's why I am here. Its for a love of the instrument and metal and in honor of my father. I write metal songs and I want to play them properly too!! Thanks for all you've done for me Mike!!
Early 50's here. Left handed and a never time for myself. Music has always played a roll in maintaining sanity. the late 80's and 90's military career was one for the ages, to family life with times that were again for the ages. Finally, I now have a Ibanez Gio Blue Burst and a Marshall amp for the past year that I've learned a lot of as time permits. The influences of those from early days, Ozzy, Slash, Maiden, Metallica and many other bands from back in the day. Just a joy to play is the only rule. Playing by ear is more natural but learning the chords and scales is necessary too. Finding the right "youtubers" is also paramount in learning. Finding your channel has been good so far. Thanks!
My cousin started attending guitar lessons at a place 5 minutes away from my home. My mother got to know this and immediately wanted me to take them as well. I wasn't even interested in music at that time, but being 11 years old I had to follow her command. My mother was so keen on sending me there that I didnt even have a guitar during my first class. The teacher just laughed at me and told me to observe others, which i did for the next one and a half hours. Good times. Now after almost 8 years my parents live in constant fear that someday I'll abandon my studies to take up music somewhere. That's what they get for embarrassing me :P
Started when I was 18 cause I loved music and thought it was a great way to communicate and I thought people would like me more, I guess... As soon as I had the basics down, I started writing songs and basically stopped to practice new things for most of the time. Progress was super slow, but still I am happy with where I am. I guess I am more a writer than a guitar player. But I love playing, too. And singing. Don't know what I would do without it. And I just love guitars. Always got "just one more". It's the biggest part of my life and I'll never stop.
My story goes back to 1986. Had just turned 16 and bought my 1st guitar and amp with money from my first job . I bought a Yamaha SE150 and a peavy rage amp. Lol! Also bought guitar for the practicing musician and learned fr0m tabs....remember Wolf Marshall? Jammed with other friends who played guitar. Never could find drummer or bassist. Joined the Army in 1989 and was deployed during Desert Storm. While in i bought a Fender Strat HM series and Princeton Chorus. Just recently bought a Wolfgang signature MIJ and Blackstar HT club 40. Aying the guitar has been a blessing and has gotten me through some rough times. Its always there for me and is extremely therapeutic. 53 now and still playing and learning even though just as a hobby i still love it.
In 2013(when I was 13 yrs old), I was diagnosed with a chronic illness called ankylosing spondylitis. My bone joints started fusing and I was always in pain( I still am but it's not as bad). To cope up with all that I was going through I started listening to metal. Over the years my tastes started developing and eventually I got into prog. In 2018, I was at a friend's place who had recently bought an electric guitar. I tried playing it and obviously I sucked. But I instantly fell in love with the instrument. My family was going through some financial problems so I couldn't afford to buy a guitar back then. One of my brother's friends had an older electric guitar to spare so he literally gave it to me and did not ask for any money. I always will be very thankful to him. Fast forward to 2021, I still play guitar and always will. My joints hurt like a bitch but that's what keeps me going. I bought a squier recently. Waiting for it to arrive. ✌🏻
I always thought electric guitar was the coolest thing as a kid in the ‘80s and there was this toy called the “Solid Gold Rockstar” haha.. it was a guitar and mic combo and I wanted it bad, but never got it. My uncle plays guitar and we used to go over for family parties and such and he always would let us kids plug his guitars in and play them in his “man cave” even though I don’t believe “man cave” was a term yet back then. I begged my parents for a guitar, but they couldn’t afford that and there weren’t beginner type “combo packs” back then like they have today. I truly believe that never really having my own guitar within reach was the driving force for me. Some children have instruments all over the house and aren’t even the slightest bit interested. By seventh grade, I had saved up $200 and bought my first guitar, a Washburn Lyon sunburst, which I still have. Now I have a pretty extensive collection of high end guitars, but I also play drums, which is my main instrument. I’ve been in several bands over the past 15-20 years drumming. I still love to play guitar regularly though.
As with guitar, my great grandparents had a old Japanese made Classical Guitar. And I had a friend that really encouraged me to get into music *i was never really into music* and I asked one day if they still had it. And they did! In 3 months I felt like I've gotten somewhere with it, I then started getting lessons. This is where I purchased my first ever acoustic guitar. This was the first time I did anything with the steel string, and then here I am today😄
I did not come from a musical family, but I gravitated toward it. Hearing Randy Rhoads for the first time really set things in motion. I wanted to become the second best (because Randy was the best). I bought every guitar magazine and tab book I could afford. I was a sponge for any music theory, because Petrucci, Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani, etc. I was chasing the metronome, trying to be the fastest shredder ever. I hated anything that wasn't complex, heavy and fast. Life happened and I stopped playing for a while. About 4 years ago, I dove back in. But this time, I prioritized learning songs. Being a lot older and slightly wiser, I embraced all the bands I hated in my teens and 20s - Green Day, Weezer, Nirvana, Blink 182, etc. This is also when I decided to stop relying on tab and train my ear. In 3 years, I learned more songs start-to-finish and note-for-note than I did in the 30 years prior, all relying primarily on my ear. I discovered that the more songs I learn by ear, the faster and better I got at it while that doesn't happen with tab. Learning songs by ear is the best thing I ever did for myself as a musician. It has benefited me more than any piece of gear, book, video, etc. I only recently discovered your channel from the "Fix This Band" series, and was hooked immediately. Keep up the great content.
I remember my older brother came home from my grandpas house from staying there for a weekend, and he walked in with this beautiful red Jackson electric guitar and that's when I started, been playing on and off until I turned 17 and took it seriously with a buddy of mine, and here I am at 23, trying my best
My story is that I started in middle school in May of 2017. I loved music to death back then and still do. I would listen to isolated guitar tracks of my favorite songs and just wonder how the hell they even pulled that off. Had a lot going on at home as well, so guitar was my escape. One day my mom and I went to Guitar Center. There was a crappy 24 fret Ibanez Gio on the wall for $60. Convinced my mom to buy it and it was my starter guitar, still got it too. Went home, plugged in my friend’s crappy amp and tried to play Em. He said “uhh, dude. It’s not supposed to sound like that.” I got better and better at it and was able to acquire my dream guitars over the years. Now it’s my life, and nothing makes me more frustrated, happy and rewarded. If I’m not playing, I have music playing. It’s my life, what I’m destined to do.
I just got interested in playing guitar, because i was getting more into metal and music became more important to me. I was watching videos about playing guitar, without even playing guitar. But one riff really made me want to play, that riff was the crazy train intro. So i got myself a electric guitar and a little practice amp, that is pretty much one yeahr ago and i really have much passion for it. Just like drawing, what i do over two years
I started learning violin at the age of 7 because my deceased Aunt was a violinist. After my family shifted to a new location I was forced to stop learning violin. At the age of 12 I fell in love with Rock music after listening to rock songs from the GTA games.At the same time there was this Rock radio show by RJ Joey D and slowly became obsessed with rock music. In my first year of college at age 18 I bought my first guitar ,an acoustic initially i didn't learn much but my first guitar teacher taught me chords and the note names But I really went deep into the guitar after watching video's by the art of guitar,Rick Beato and signals music studio Last summer I bought and electric and practiced a lot!
I'm a bit late, but here's mine. I have always been interested in music, but I didn't start having an interest in guitar until I heard of Queen only a few years ago. The music just spoke to me, particularly with Brian May. The fact that this gritty and powerful sound was coming from one guy amazed me. As I listened to it more and more, I wanted to be able to play like that. So for Christmas, I got a Strat knockoff that was actually really good, and its still my main guitar. I started taking lessons, and I quickly became dissapointed with the fact that Brian May was just too complex for me at the time. I also have elos danlos syndrome, which has affected it to some degree, mainly when I started out. After a while, I switched teachers, and I met my current guitar teacher for the first time, who I still learn from today. I definitely began to get better more and more overtime. At this time, I started listening to The Rolling Stones, who still are a massive inspiration to me. I found Stones songs to be more simple, which was great as a basis to learn more complex cords and riffs. I then played my first live show with the music school, which was a huge motivator for me. I've still continued to play live, and I don't think Ill stop anytime soon.
I came late to this party, obviously. ;) I grew up in a very musical family. Mom played piano every day for her peace and sanity (6 kids) and as a preschooler I would fall asleep listening under the piano bench. Dad would play his acoustic guitar at the bottom of the stairs every night as a lullaby. Entertainment on road trips meant singing harmony to old show tunes, folk and cowboy songs. My 4th grade teacher, Mr. Brendell, was a nerd and a Vietnam veteran who was passionate about learning and music (our poor public school in Burbank, CA was lucky to have him) He had a record player and shelves of albums in the classroom with which he taught us music history and appreciation, all the way from tribal music to Rachmaninov, Etta James, Glenn Miller, the Everly Brothers, the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, BeeGees and Michael Jackson. It was an amazing education. After my mom passed, I married, my Dad's guitar was given to my brother and my Mom's piano was promised to another family member, I felt a little lost. I'm 43 and my cute, tone-deaf husband and I are starting a family with foster kids. I had no idea how to raise kids without music in our home. A friend of ours bought me an acoustic guitar for my birthday this year. I'm only self- and UA-cam-taught so far, but my brother and I are practicing "Streets of Laredo" for my dad, who is passing soon. When my dad told me I couldn't have Mom's piano, I asked for his record player and vinyl collection, which he agreed to, so I am content. As our family grows and changes, so will our music. I anticipate my next guitar will be a bass or jazz guitar so I can jam with my kids while they rock out and I embarrass them in front of their crushes.
I am 32 now but my musical story starts when I was young too. My dad plays guitar and when I was young he would play albums such as Satriani's Surfing or Metallica's Black album. When I was in 6th grade I started to play the recorder then from 7th-10th grade I played the clarinet during this time i was playing in the regular school band and the Jazz band. For the last 2 years of high school I decided to start playing piano. Maybe 6 years pass after I graduate and not really playing any instruments I decide one day I am going to learn guitar. So I pick up my first guitar which is a Ibanez RG350MDX after maybe a few weeks of playing I decide I'm going to take private lessons. I had about a year and a half worth of lessons when my teacher moved but I had a good amount of knowledge under my belt. I've been playing guitar for roughly 6 years. Admittedly I'm not very good, maybe a low level intermediate but I'm a causal player. I've recorded 3 albums and still enjoying playing till this day, even if its just noodling or playing songs on rocksmith.
I was at a Fall Out Boy concert in Tuscon, AZ in November 2018 and I was like, I want a guitar and learn to play it. Last year my girlfriends got me my first acoustic guitar and painted it with all the Concerts we've been to. Been fun learning it from you!
My first guitar was a copper pipe with a ruler taped on and glued on a paper with some lines drawn for frets and strings so I was able to learn some open string chords. Took me years to know how they sound too...
I used to be a creative kid, painted a lot of scale models and toy cars. when i was around 8 years old I saw a guitar in a movie and asked for a one for christmas. I recieved an acoustic guitar and let it catch dust for 6 years. In my puberty years i wanted to "get girls" and took guitar lessons and kept playing for 2 years. I discovered the magic of alcohol and video games and let it consume most of my time and made me forget about guitars entirely for 10 (very sad) years. I finally picked back up on my creativity and started woodworking which got me into a massive rabbithole on youtube, which inevitably recommended me a video of someone "building a guitar". I got hooked and built a "guitar" myself. I got reminded of the times when i was actively plaing. I convinced a friend to sing and found a band. We made music for a few years until we went separate ways. Thanks to all the good content on youtube, I decided to pick my guitar back up and practice again. I'm having a hard time anwering the question "how long do you play guitar for?"
My story has just begun a couple of years ago. One day I just picked up my friends guitar, and after some days just fell in love with the instrument. I hope to get somewhere with my love
I just started learning guitar about 2 weeks or so. The story was, back in nov '19 my Dad just got out from hospital. And the very first thing he asked me was to drive him to the nearest music store. He wants to learn to play guitar, because he felt it was one of his lifetime dream to actually have his own guitar and learn. So i got him a Yamaha c 70, and get a private tutoring set up. But he only had a week of tutorial before his health deteriorated fast and last January he passed away. And just 3 weeks ago, when i cleaned up the house that i saw his c 70. So i figured, while he might never really got to play music with it.. i might as well learn to play music on it. In a way it brings the good memories i had with him and honoring him. Thanks for your videos, yours is one of those tutorials that really makes sense to me. Thank you. 🙏
I grew up listening to the cars and always thought music was cool. About a year or two ago I discovered kiss and I was listening to parasite in the car and I heard all the music separately but together, if that makes sense. I began to take music seriously then. To go more into detail, my head was hearing all the music together but I could isolate the drums and vocals for example. I got my first guitar, a 2017 vintage les Paul for Christmas and picked my bass I got as a gift a couple months prior again. I decided I primarily wanted to be a bass player after I heard the bass line for 100,000 years and the bass solo in moving in stereo. Here I am a year later, I know the bass lines for the first 3 kiss albums.
a little late to the party, but my journey started maybe 8 or 10 years ago, for my one birthday I was given a Flamenco Guitar as a birthday present, and I got really excited to try and learn it. I unfortunately never received lessons and my dog at the time knocked it over and it broke. A bunch of time past, I hit 7th grade, and made a friend who introduced me into like rock and hard rock like Three Days Grace and Seether. I kept listening to music like that, then progressively got into heavier and heavier stuff. all the while I kept hearing classic rock songs and rock songs from the 70s and 80s thanks to my grandfather. eventually after listening to enough Seether and Shinedown and seeing them both in concert in my junior year, Sean Morgan became one of my guitar idols, so I basically begged for a guitar for christmas. and it seemed to work. I promised to learn how to play Wish You Were Here for my grandfather who unfortunately passed away a few days before christmas, but I have been playing guitar since then, and that was maybe 4-ish years ago, something like that. I've learned quite a lot of Wish You Were Here, not fully, but I'm getting there. I've been practicing a lot of other songs, and I'm in the works of releasing an self produced EP very soon, so I'm proud of that. I feel in my 4, almost 5 years, I've made a lot of progress, and I can't wait to become and 80 year old still playing through Pantera and Metallica solos
My dad had a guitar in his closet he would sometimes play and my grandparents had a few instruments of similar descriptions. My parents said me and my siblings had to learn an instrument and I was learning piano at the time and it wasn't doing it for me. I ended up just playing around on the guitar and I really liked it. Let's just say it spiralled out of control. Then I went to high school and I met some friends who were at a similar skill level and we just kept getting better.
I’m 22 I started playing when I was 12 or 13 I was already playing saxophone in middle school and I really loved it. I was taking it home and learning songs we weren’t doing at school (Pink panther, Super Mario Bros theme, Thrift Shop etc.) and then My dad who always wanted to play the guitar, bought me a cheap acoustic guitar from Ross that came with a DVD on the basics of playing guitar. I was playing it on and off and then everything changed when one of my dads friends gave me Rocksmith for Xbox 360 and an electric guitar cable and everything and then I was hooked. I learned so much on that game and eventually started playing with my local church and learned a couple other instruments too. Now I play in a band sometimes hop on drums and other times Rhythm guitar and sing.
I started playing at 15 years old. Stopped playing around 18,I picked it up again last year. I'm 52 years old now. If the internet and UA-cam was around back then I probably wouldn't have put it down. I've made considerable progress in the last year,your web site and channel have helped me,alot.
I started playing guitar because I love all kinds of music and my best friend played guitar so I figured why not. The magazine Guitar For The Practicing Musician took it to the next level and I worked so hard to play every song, the first one I bought had Stairway to Heaven, Mr Crowley, All Along The Watchtower and YYZ... I still have every one to this day. I joined the Army so I needed to take a break but picked it up after I hit my first duty station and after about 6 months in, I set my Charvel on the bed to answer the door and it slid off and the head snapped in half. It was too expensive for me to replace it so I stopped. Fast forward to today which is 20 years later. I've been playing again for the past 6 months and trying to break my old habits and learn some theory. This has been something that was missing from my life for so long and it makes me so happy. Keep on playing everyone!
I was never a musical kid, I was always more into art and literature. Funnily enough, I didn't really start listening to music until 6th grade (three, almost four years ago, I'm 15 now), and I listened to Owl City and Green Day (we all have to start somewhere 😂). The rest of middle school hit, and I got kicked out of my house, during that time I really fell into listening to music and all of my other creative hobbies. I started playing and learning the piano well over a year ago now, and just yesterday I got my first guitar. I've fallen in love with music, but I've always had this complex of being an imposter of sorts, seeing as my roots aren't in music, however, that hardly matters. Writing this with sore fingers. This is the start for me, and I'm excited to learn and grow, and I wonder where I'll end up.
My dad always listened to metal, but it didn't click for me until i was like 11 or 12. After spending a whole night listening to Megadeth's "Train of Consequences" on repeat, I decided I was going to learn guitar. This song blew my mind; the heaviness of the verses, the guitar's melody during the chorus, and the complexity of the rhythm/solo section all contributed heavily to my love of music. When I was 12/13, I started learning guitar on my own. The first song I learned all of the way thru was Metallica's "Seek and Destroy". I soon found, however, that I had a passion for constructing songs. Since then, with a collection of eclectic influences, from Tool to Johnny Cash to OneRepublic to various soundtracks, I have written and recorded a demo, an EP, an album, and several singles under the band name Fatal Cross. If you have time, check out my song "Soundtrack to the Coronavirus" here on UA-cam. It's a creative metal instrumental song 😝😅🙌
When I first heard Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon I was hooked on rock music. I must've been 15 years old at the time. I grew up listening to classic rock hits on my parents record player, but I just listened to what they put on. That year a friend from the neighborhood started playing guitar and I saw him play and I wanted to try. Alas his guitar was left-handed. Since I had been playing the trumpet in the school band since I was 12 I figured I could do it. So my dad took me to a pawn shop on my 16th birthday and we got an acoustic guitar. I played for several years, but eventually got disheartened by my struggle to play some songs as I lost my fretting hand pinky finger in an accident when I was 8. I've always had a guitar around even when I didn't play. During the coronavirus quarantine my computer broke, so I picked up my guitar and and started playing with some jamming tracks on UA-cam. I was "shredding" out solos and lead parts with blues rock backing tracks. It was too much fun. I recently started a garage band with some guys from Craigslist and I started to learn the bass to fill in for our bassist, because he wants to play guitar on some songs. It's my first band, but it's awesome. A little late to the game but it's no biggie.
Grew up poor. Fell in love with metal as a kid. Went to college. Graduated. Got a job. Finally bought myself a guitar and an amp. Started learning by myself. I know some chords and just enough to play along with some stoner doom songs. Still learning. Still loving it.
I was into Gangsta Rap at 1st year of high school. After one year some dude came to our school from another town and he was into metal. At some point when we were chatting during lunch break he send me 3 songs through bluetooth which were Bat Country, Death in Fire and All Nightmare Long, and l listened them nonstop and l started researching what instrument do l need to play these songs and l found that this is an electric guitar. So next year (October 2013) l bought a Cort X1 from one of my best friends, l played that for 4 years and gave it to my cousin and now l have a Schecter C-1 for 3 years. In total l play guitar for 7 years and l can call myself as a "good" guitar player in my own measurements. I played lots of gigs, some of them were big, some not but l tasted and still tasting the greatness of guitar music and l am so glad for that.
Started playing in my bedroom 10 years ago
10 years later and im still in my bedroom
Keep on rockin 👍
Story of many legendary bedroom guitarists :)
True story
inspirational
nothing wrong w/ that - as long as you're enjoying playing at whatever level you want to - not every guitarist is going to get to the stage.
My Dad died last Dec. 9, 2019 and he petitioned my Mom last June 5. I am totally devastated and alone. I was able to write a song because of so much sadness. It has melody but I want it to have a guitar sound. I decided to learn to play guitar maybe just 4 days ago. I bought a guitar online and still waiting for it to be delivered. I am confident it's not gonna be too late to learn at 35. I promise to create music that will be worth sharing to others. This is going to be my story.
I've seen a man in his 70s pick it up in one of these comment sections. Better times will come. In fact, it's been 10 months. Maybe they already have? Update?
It's never to late dude. I've had friends that started at thirty.
I'm sorry, man. I hope you'll find solace in the guitar, and in the melodies you create.
this is a heavy story
Hope you are doing better now.
I'm still quite new to guitar but here's my story.. when I was a kid I fell in love with rock, metal music like Blink, Sum 41, Metallica, Slipknot etc and I used to watch guitar covers just for fun. When I was 15 I decided it's time to get guitar to myself. Couldn't find any teachers so that held me back for a while but I found a summer job and that summer I got myself a good yamaha electric guitar. I practised all the time on my own, learnt notes, how to read tabs, simple songs and later moved on to music theory, recording covers for youtube. Now in my 20s I'm still trying to find my sound and style. I'm a fan nowadays of Ichika, Tom Henson, Wes Borland, Cole Rolland etc. I love writing and sharing my music much more than playing covers and I really hope I can make a living out of it one day. If you read this, thank you. I wish you all the best my guitarist fellas!
Nice.
Started on Metallica tunes too! Subscribed to your channel. Great job on what’s my age again!
Andy Dion Yeah it seems like lots of people really wanted to play Metallica on guitar.
My guitar and music story:
Ever since I was really young, my dad was always playing music. AC/DC and Black Sabbath were the bands of my childhood. My dad also played guitar, so I would often see guitar cases and amps a lot when I was a kid. When my parents got divorced, I wasn't as close to my dad due to having to go with my mom so often. Quite a few years went by, until I was watching WWE with my family on a Friday night, and I heard "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day (the old intro theme to Smackdown) and I got back into music. I also was introduced to Metallica from WWE (The Undertaker and Triple H end of an era fued) with "The Memory Remains." I decided I wanted to try drums, my dad had guitar and I wanted to try drums. One Christmas, my grandma got me a cheap electric kit and I tried to learn drums. To say the least, I sucked, but I was having fun. My dad kept playing guitar and kept showing me that. I continued on my path of metal, rock, and punk, and then in 7th grade I took a guitar class. I got a Fender acoustic and my dad taught me "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. I took that guitar class and learned the basics, but it wasn't the music I wanted to play. The only thing I really remember from that class was an E minor chord, and the basics to the into to "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. My friend also taught me "Hell's Bells" by ACDC during that class. I kept playing that fender acoustic, and played "Iron Man" in my 8th grade talent show. I kept learning new songs on it, a lot of Metallica riffs and then just random riffs I wrote. I started playing on my dad's electric because I found this band "Avenged Sevenfold." I wanted to learn their riffs and just play with distortion. The summer before my Sophmore year of high school, I got an Ibanez start style electric guitar. I fell in love with that guitar and learned so much more. I played 2 open mics for my school's drama club. The first one I played "Spit out the Bone" by Metallica and "Iron Man" again. I played that song a lot. The second I played "Seek and Destroy" and "Master of Puppets" by Metallica. Neither in full, but I had so much fun with it. Then that Christmas, I got my main guitar to this day, an Epiphone Special 2 Les Paul. When I got that, I just riffed and learned all sorts of songs. Again, a lot more Metallica and Black Sabbath. Later my sophomore year, I performed a Metallica medley in my schools talent show. That was one of my favorite performances I've had. I had so much fun with it and continued playing. Around that same time, I finished making my own acoustic guitar. My sophomore year, I took a woodshop class where I could make my own guitar. I finished it the last day before it was due after pouring blood, sweat and tears into it. I still have it and love that guitar. I then played another open Mic for my drama club playing a medley of songs from "St. Anger" by Metallica (I found drop C tuning and wanted to perform in it) and "Nightmare" by "Avenged Sevenfold" in drop C as well. I ended that school year off finding my own amp. I found a Vox modeling amp at a pawn shop and loved it. We bought it, but I couldn't play it until my birthday of that year. Also around that time, I learned the "Bohemian Rhapsody" solo after seeing that movie. I ended up getting my amp for my birthday and played the hell out of it. I loved it and it was so cool having my own gear instead of borrowing my dad's Fender amp. A few weeks after my birthday, I bought my first guitar with my own money. I bought an Ibanez 7 string and it was so cool. My dad and I loved it, so I got it. We stopped by our local guitar store to buy a whammy bar for it on the way home, and then I played it for hours. I kept playing guitar and just having fun. I played "Spit out the Bone" again at another open mic at the beginning of my junior year. I also listened to the first 3 Metallica albums on a bus ride to a Shakespeare theatre competition (yes I'm a theatre kid XD) and got a lot more inspiration to play again and learn some more older Metallica riffs. When I got back from that competition, I had my first experience with live music. One of my friends in theatre took me to my first concert. We saw Tool live, and that was the best experience I've ever had. Tool was incredible and getting to hear them live was amazing! I got so much more inspiration to learn and play more that night. I went home and over the next few days, I learned Tool riffs. I then fell into a depression, one of the lowest points in my life. I had no motivation, no creativity, and just full of hate. I dropped everything and just closed myself off. Thanks to my friends, I got through it a bit and got back around to playing guitar again. I'm still struggling with depression and anxiety, but I'm learning to handle it and cope with it. Guitar has helped with that and helped me cope with it all. Ever since this quarantine began, I have been spending a lot more time playing guitar. Each day, I spend at least half an hour playing and riffing around on my guitar. I've been playing guitar for almost 5 years now, and it has introduced me to so many more musicians, I've met some of the best people I know because of it, and it will always tie me to my dad. He got me into it, and I ran with it. Guitar will always be a part of my life, and I hope to make a career out of performing. Wether it be in music, or theatre, I will bring guitar into it.
Love the videos man! Great work and thanks for being so dedicated to guitar, your students, and your viewers! Keep up the great work! \m/
63 years old and two weeks in!
My parents divorced at 15 and i was laitenung to ACDC, Metallica, Ozzy, so got a guitar, Epiphone SG, and learned to playy favorites. Started a band smashing pumpkins with electronic production, my HS friends stayed together into college then moved to LA to make it big. Signed a record deal but album never released. My teacher, who gave me his 96 foam green strat in pieces, my pride and joy, taught me blues and stones, strumming solos muting 5 strings but in rhythm. Learned to hit dissonant notes, play even flamenco and my signature was bending notes and playing in pocket. Vox valvetronix amp with 20 presets for live, love edge style delay riffs. Lived in south korea.. btw.. want to get back in after a decade of not playing much
I'm 57, I remember the first rock and roll song i heard was the Stones "I Cant get no satisfaction" I was alone and figured out how to play the record on one of those big cabinet record players that had a black and white TV in it. It was in 67 or 68, Anyway very long story short, love the 70's music mostly and play guitar just once in a while in spurts. Im envious of kids these days that have all these videos available to learn and how my musical life would have been so much different if I would had access to all this that we have today. I stayed mainly a fan of music and never took playing the guitar serious enough, but now since youtube I've gone back to the basics and learning the fretboard and some theory. Enjoy your videos and thanks for sharing your story. Your a very good teacher.
In 1967 a door-to-door salesman knocked and I answered. He asked the 10yo boy standing there if he wanted to be in a band. In 1967 what young male didn't want to be in a band! It turns out, he was a salesman for Milton Mann's Accordion Studio - but that meant nothing, I was going to be in a band! I begged my dad, he told my great-grandmother (a Lawrence Welk fanatic) and she paid for my instrument and lessons. I spent the next 8 years learning to read music and translate it to my hands. The school had a band, of 35 accordionists, and we played contemporary songs composed for the instrument. By the time I turned 18, playing Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love" on the accordion was not vey cool. I traded in my instrument for an acoustic guitar, bought a fake book and leaned all of the basic chords fairly quickly. I couldn't afford lessons, so It kind of fell off. In 1984 I bought an Ibanez Roadstar II from a pawn shop, found Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine and practiced every day. Started a band with my local mates and we played gigs around locally. I took up bass because other bands would ask if i could (Bass players were apparently hard to find back then). Gigged on bass for about 5 years and have been playing guitar and bass for personal enjoyment ever since.
Hi there my start with guitar was with my FATHER he played guitar, he played folk music but i was really young, and then years later i started trying to play guitar but i had so many ppl telling me that i could never learn to play and what not so i gave up 9 times untill 2011 and i started playing again and i have not stoped since and i proved to myself that I can LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR..... best thing i ever did
Mate hearing that inspires me please please don't stop ya teaching cos you've inspire me
I'm 51 and had a hard shock 2years ago I had a stroke, luckily it only took my left side made it week and covid lock down left me isolated, so I've always loved to sound from guitar and thought no better time to learn get my hand moving again, I known cord shapes but can't get quick enough in changes so always a second pause between,,,, any ideas out there
I play bass.
LageUA-cam EPICC
Same
I'm sorry to hear that.
LageUA-cam im sorry brother
LageUA-cam I’m sorry
My brother started playing when I was 7 or 8 and I never really ever wanted to be a guitar player well flash forward about 3 years and my brothers in a band now and they played a talent show at there school they played pool house by the backseat lovers and after that it changed my life . I started listening to music , I grew out my hair , and gained a good sense of fashion . Flash foward again about 2 years so now it’s 2022 my brothers band changed there name and started playing shows and put out music . And because of them I started playing ALOT of rockband 2 and for Christmas I was at my grandmas Christmas party and then I got a squier beginner guitar with a squier frontman 10g and back then I was not really all that good the only chords I knew where e, amaj7 and c . Another thing I didn’t mention was at my school they had beginner guitar lessons which I took but I didn’t have an acoustic but we got one just in time for the class and I was practicing about an hour every day . Flash forward to last month school was coming to an end and I didn’t want to not have lessons over the summer so I started with my brothers guitar teacher and right now I’ve been playing for about 5 and a half months . Another funny story is the day I was starting lessons with my teacher I have right now I broke my d string and we had to restring like 10 minutes before I left
I'm an eighteen years old guitar player from Syria
I started to play guitar 3 years ago,started on classical guitar and it was really useful for me later because I developed legato and chord shapes early on in my long to be journey.
now I play Electric guitar.it was my real intention when I wanted to pick up this hobby,I was inspired by Slash,Randy Rhodes,James Hetfield,Dave Mustaine and these kind of guitar gods,I was into some rock bands(Skillet) and mainly Heavy metal
after a year of playing electric guitar,I've been on a stage 2 times,this is when it was turning to something more than a hobby,I started listening to some old amazing arabic music,and Progressive metal,mainly dream theater
this when I started to enjoy every kind of music on it's own,and I took interest in other aspects of music
went deep in music theory,started to research about composing and arranging,took a mixing and producing class,started doing gigs and live shows more often,despite the crisis and war,we don't kill our motives
I know it's a long way to get out of this mad and cruel place,and it will be harder outside,but that won't stop me,I finished my senior high school class with excellent grades,and went to college to study Computer Science,in hope to get somewhere in my long life journey to not only start living off just making music,this journey is for greater things for me and for my country,in search
for success and greatness in this charming art and craft
Your motivation and passion is just unbelievable. Just keep playing and progressing, and remember that no one and nothing can stop you. Hope your country will soon find some peace. Virtual hug from Italy.
interesting story - be safe in Syria.....
Everything we learn is a gift that we keep. Those gifts also keep us strong, because we know we have that strength inside us.
You are my hero. You've faced overwhelming odds and continue to succeed. Going back to old serious music like Arabic classical music is awesome. Love to you from the USA!!
@@matteobonichi2843 Thanks man,Be safe ::)
When I was growing up, my dad played guitar, my mom played autoharp and they both sang. Sometimes, they even visited my school and performed for my classmates and me. Of course, I wanted to play drums. We couldn't afford them though so I just drummed my fingers on anything I could find. Years later, I learned how to make beats on my computer. Then, my dad bought a second acoustic guitar so I started borrowing his first acoustic. I got good enough, watching videos like these, that he paid for 6 months of lessons for me.
When he died, his guitar was the one thing I absolutely had to have. With the money he left my family, I finally bought some drums. I promised myself I'd learn how to sing and write songs. So I did. Then, I learned how to accompany myself on other instruments. Eventually, I learned how to mix/master music and I still write and perform songs. But these days, little gives me more joy than to teach others how to play music and write songs.
beautiful story - I think the ability to learn music and play instruments well is passed down through the family - hope if you have kids, you encourage them to play early in life -
A favorite story of mine so far
I started playing at age 35 and had private lessons until just a few years ago. A good friend of mine who teaches said I don't need lessons anymore so I stopped . Sadly I lost my Daughter in April this year and now don't have the heart to play anymore . I'm 57 now .
It seems like there are 2 types of musicians. There is the Creator whom uses instruments to express themselves and there is the Embracer whom uses the instruments to bond and get a deeper closeness with the music that they love and to which they have an emotional connection. While there is crossover, you can see the dominate reason for playing when asked to play “something”. The creator will want to play something original and the embracer will want to play something they learned.
So... when i was a teenager around 15 i got my first acustic guitar,my folks never encourage me to play any instrument but then one day, one of my cousins broke his acoustic guitar and my father repair it and gave it to me. It was awfull but i learn my first chords with it. Later on around 18 me and my friends thought about join in a band, my friend was a bit ahead learning guitar so i got the bass. I bought a used bass and we started playing in rented rooms with amps. It was a blast we were into alternative rock i was in love with distorted guitar sound like in ramones the cult, dinossaur jr . But we knew we wouldnt get far cos we were just making covers of simple punk songs with power chords, i just following the guitar chords with my bass, and as i was more into college i droped out the band. Later on i bought a new acoustic guitar and learn a bit more chords and played in our house for fun. Fast forward, in 2018 i bought an epiphone sg an amp and a simple pedal board and started watching music channels like this one, and i learned how to read tabs, i know a lot more chords, improve thecnique like bends vibrato and its been a blast. My goal now is setup a track list i can play using backing tracks with solos and everything, i m getting there. My wife sometimes comes up to check if its the original music playing or backtrack with me playing so i guess im on the right path. :)
I'm a 17 year old aspiring musician from New York, and I have been playing guitar for 7 years. For my entire life, I've been surrounded by music. When I was born my parents played Nirvana/Alice in Chains unplugged in my crib as I napped (me being named after Kurt cobain, and Layne Staley). I remember one of my happiest childhood memories I must've been 4, or 5, driving with the top down to our jeep, blasting Sweating Bullets on a road trip. My dad is a drummer, my mother is a bassist in a local band, and my brother is a drummer in a local Thrash Metal band that has released an independent EP. Music is a major part of my life, specifically thrash metal. In complete honesty, I'm a complete Megadeth fanboy. I follow every band members Instagram, I even met Dave Ellefson for his Basstory tour, I read Dave Mustaines book, and both of Ellefsons, Hell they are my most listened to band on spotify for the decade(over 300 hours listened). Safe to say Megadeth is my favorite band. For years I took guitar lessons once a week, but eventually became financially unable to, so I had to put the guitar down. Eventually, I picked the guitar back up and began to self teach, which I still do to this day. My mom scraped together enough money to enroll me into a "music school". It basically was a class that teaches fundamentals of making a band, and you have an instructor help you create one with other students. for a little over a year it was just me, and the instructor in the band when I found that few people my age were as determined, let alone as interested in playing metal as I was. Fast forward 6 months, I managed to get a band together, Me on lead/rhythm guitar/ vocals, Tommy on drums, Evan on Guitar, and the instructor on bass. we called ourselves "KnuckleBeast", and previously "The Backhand City Steves". We played a few gigs with a setlist of Metallica covers, but eventually the guitarist stopped showing up, and even bailed out on the last gig, leaving me to do all the lead, rhythm, and vocals to all the songs, but I stepped up and nailed em. (thanks for posting a video on the AJFA intro!) The band fell apart after the last gig, and I left the school. It has been 2 years, and I've been practicing non-stop, and building a following on Instagram by posting songs I've learned, and my progress. My biggest accomplishment so far was when I taught myself the Tornado of Souls solo through the Rust In Peace tab book. While I consider myself to be a good guitarist, I want to be great, and to one day become the next Megadeth, Or Anthrax, or Metallica, or Pantera. I'm determined, but I lack the experience, and financially it's very hard for us to get me a guitar teacher, as my mother Is sick with an autoimmune disease, and mostly out of work, and my parents are divorced. I'm taking this time off on a so called " Corona-cation", to really become sick on the guitar (no pun intended) and your videos definitely help!
I have always felt hypnotized by the electric guitar, but never found or made the time to learn. Now I find myself in my 50s with a strong desire to learn.
Here is how my journey to learning is going. It starts with a friend at work giving me an old electric Harmony just before Christmas 2018, it still had a thick layer of dust on it when he handed it to me, but hey I now had my first guitar, and it was free. A few weeks later after Christmas I stoped in to the local Goodwill and was stoked to find an old practice amp for only $3.00. Another stop by a music store for a cord and some picks, bringing my setup to a whopping $23.00.
I jumped on line searching for some free lessons, I didn't need much, just to learn to play a few chords. I even found an old book at a used book store. I practiced learning some chords but felt that the frets seamed to close as well as the strings. I was getting frustrated and not sure what to do. I did not want to spend a bunch of money on a new guitar and still not be able to play. I was talking to my nephew one day and he said he had an acoustic he would loan to me. I was surprised to find that I could get my fingers to make the chords on the acoustic without much trouble. This helped my practice but was driving the wife a little crazy listening to my beginner plucking. So to keep a happy wife, my practice times got shorter and less frequent. Now you would think that would be the biggest practice issue, but it wasn't.
I ended up changing jobs, on top of that the new job was in a different country. We pack up the house, including the guitar, to be shipped overseas. Once we finally get to Italy, and before we can get moved in to a house, Covid 19 locks down Italy, and we are stuck in a hotel. Now I can't get my guitar, and don't know when I will be able to, music stores are not open, so I do the next best thing. I ordered a new guitar set up online to be shipped to me, of course they can't ship the guitar or amp here for some reason, so I have it sent to my brother for him to mail it to me. This was a little over two weeks ago, still waiting for it to arrive.
I have been staying motived watching lots of videos, some good like yours, and others not so good. I have also kept busy by learning the notes on the fret board, now if my guitar ever arrives I will see if I can actually locate them... and relearn the chords. I am still just as much a beginner as the day I received the Harmony, but I have developed a strong drive to learn how to play. Oh, and the new setup will allow me to use headphones so I don't drive the wife too crazy. Sorry for getting long winded for a guy who can't even play...
Love your video's, keep up the good work!!!
I had a similar childhood in which my mother was very musical listening to her German polka music but she also loved Elvis. My dad loved country. So I would play our records on the same record player you had and you hit it right on the head about the tone and vibration that came out of those consoles. I also had a sister that was 14 years older than me and a brother 7 years older than me so I also played 45's of their music. My sister was into the Beatles, Tommy James, etc. while my brother was into all the huge bands of the late 70's like the Eagles, Boston, Foreigner, etc. When no one was home I would put on a 45 and pretend to play and sing. Then around 15 years old my friend and I started taking guitar lessons at Schmidt Music in the Northtown Mall (this is after an unsuccessful career playing the viola in junior high. I wanted to play saxophone and my mom said no!) I learned Smoke On The Water and Heaven's On Fire but the teacher did not really engage and I just didn't feel it. My true love was singing and that's where I wanted to focus. Ended up joining a band at 17 and we played everything from Bryan Adams to Metallica. They wanted to play more stuff like Lizzy Borden, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I never liked the heavier stuff like so I quit the band. Plus I didn't have the range to sing Halford, Plant, Dickinson, etc. So I started working at Great American Music selling records and tapes (and eventually CD's). That changed my world. It was like a kid in a candy store. What I realized is that I really love music. All music. To this day I think back to those years and all the bands I was turned on to simply because I had access to them. I also realized that although I loved singing what I missed was the creating side of music. So while managing a different music store I hired this kid who had no job history but we hit it off during the interview. We talked about KISS and Stevie Ray Vaughan and eventually we became great friends. He taught me a few open chords on an acoustic guitar and my whole life changed. I was able to write music. I never wanted to be Joe Satriani I just wanted an avenue to create songs. The first full song I learned to play was Let Her Cry by Hootie & The Blowfish and I would play it a thousand times a day. Eventually I started writing and after many years was able to work with that same kid I hired years before to record an album of my original songs. He played every instrument on the album and it sounded amazing even if the songs weren't all that great. We even recorded a second album with a couple of friends helping out on drums and bass. I still don't really consider myself a guitar player but I also was going through a very dark time when I met him and when he taught me those chords. It was such an incredible way to release anger, hurt and pain that in a lot of ways I think it saved my life. That kid I hired continues to inspire me with his dedication to his craft and all the people he has helped over the years. He also just happens to run The Art Of Guitar. It's funny that I am sharing my story on your timeline since you are the reason I play :)
2016,Freshman, playing bass,wonderwall kind of stuff
2017,get access to youtube(China blocked foreign internet),watching your videos
2018,2019,still watching your videos, begin to play guitar.
2020,graduated,still watching your videos.
really,really, helped me a lot. I learned theory,technique..which is really hard to learn in China.
Thank you, appericiate!
The best A-o-G video ever
When I started listening to thrash and really feeling riffs and solos is when I got the idea. I wanted to play drums because I’m unconsciously obsessed with beats and my foot is always tapping and fingers always drumming. But drumsets were just so massive and loud it would have never worked. And I never made the step to learn guitar because I was trying to teach myself which obviously wasn’t going well. But I decided that if I never learned how to play and that I never performed the type of music I love for people, I would regret it for the rest of my life. So Here I am getting good enough to do thrash solos and looking for other people my age to play with
20 years ago a work colleague signed us up for a Tallent contest at our National Sales meeting in New Orleans. This was after he asked if I played guitar. I said I played stairway to heaven, like many kids in high school. I bought an acoustic guitar and shortly afterward a red ibenez. We practiced for 3 months prior to playing on Bourbon Street in front of a 100+ drunken (thankfully) coworkers. I sat on a bench while my leg shaked uncontrollably throughout the performance. My dream was to go back and actually play something recognizable. 2 years ago I had the opportunity to play 5 songs during our Global dales meeting with about 250+ people at preservation hall on stage and we even had a sound technician. I was definitely not great but less nervous and had a great time! Played the easy classics Stand By Me, Taking Care of Business, Can’t you see, La Bamba,Twist and Shout with a full band. This gave me motivation to keep playing and improving. 🎸 🎶
My mother had an old acoustic and tried to teach me when I was like 10y.o. but I didn’t really enjoyed it. Later when I was 14-15 I made metalhead friends at school who played guitar and I really enjoyed watching them play. I told them I had an acoustic and everything except one string broke and we never replaced them for ages so at my 16th birthday they bought me new strings and taught me basic songs that I could practice, I had no excuse not to learn it then LOL. During that year I bought a 2nd hand Nevada (cheap fender strat wannabe) and learned a lot with it, I made the high school talent show with my friend where we played Iron Maiden’s The Trooper. We also played during our graduation ceremony. With my guitarist friends we talked about our dream guitars once and they remembered what I said. For my 17th bday them and two other friends bought it together as a gift and I am forever grateful to them. This guitar is an Ibanez Jem. So yeah now I’m still completely addicted to guitar and learning new songs and trying to start a band😋🤘🎸
Btw, I have to thank you a lot because I learned a lot watching your channel as I am mostly self taught! 🙏
Keep rocking!
my story was i was about 9 years old and my mom wanted me to get into a different instrument then piano and she bought. me a cheap amazon guitar and it was winter 2022 and i had 2 guitar lessons in my life then started to teach myself now i have been playing for a year and a half and i played my first stage and played don't stop Believing in january of this year
First, thank you for your content and lessons.
I’m 39 yrs old. Bought myself my first guitar for my 21st birthday.
Self-taught. Tab books, guitar world, ect.
Kurt Cobain inspired me to believe I could do it.
Became a Dad. Years later, I’m still playing. Picked up drums about 10 yrs ago and Bass at some point as well.
Now, over the last couple years, I have committed to building a usable recording studio in my basement. I’ve collected a heap of excellent gear.
Now, I am currently getting reading to begin writing and recording what will be a full album.
Here's my story:
I started in about 2019 when my parents made me take guitar lessons to give me something to do on the side, I got a cheap strat for christmas and a little vox practice amp. At that time, I really didn't like playing my instrument, it felt like homework to my young self, so I never made much progress in those years. Fast forward to the start of high school, my dad showed me one of his favorite AC/DC songs, Jailbreak, I heard it and immediately loved it, that was my introduction to rock music. I then took it to myself to learn the rhythm to that song, all of a sudden I just had a spark of passion, I went from struggling with open chords to playing solos in a year, I kept expanding and expanding my music taste until my buddies and I decided to start a band after learning my friend had a great singing voice. We started out as a bunch of beginners with me as the most experienced musician in the band. Fast forward to today. We're a lot better and have started playing classic rock gigs, I now play bass and drums along with guitar and even compose my own music at 16 years old! My first single has its own story in itself. In English class, for our final project, we had to do something creative involving one of the books we read. I decided to write a song about Macbeth, after a lot of work and collaboration, I submitted it and my teacher loved it so much that she suggested I put it on Spotify. So I did, and now I'm an indie musician with hopes of growing and getting to make music professionally! Thanks so much to whoever read my story, and by the way, check out "Out Damned Spot" by Benny Millman on Spotify!
Originally, I started as a drummer in 1976. Groups like KISS and Boston influenced me to become a musician. And there were a lot of musicians on both sides of my family. I used to beat this old chair with bird perches until I started using a drum-set at a rich kids' school my friends parents worked at. The music teacher there caught me playing and was impressed by my enthusiasm. So, he gave me the combination to the drum-set locker! Even then, I could never afford a drum set. I took up guitar in 1978 after seeing the picture of Ace Frehley looking awesome in the Evolution of KISS booklet included with KISS Alive II.
That same friend of mine's parents (that worked at the rich kids' school) were trying to force him to learn guitar and he wanted none of it. So, he had a beat up 60's Teisco style guitar with no strings and 1 single coil. I got him to give it to me so I could learn. He secretly gave me the guitar behind his parents' back by running outside with it while they weren't looking and dropping it on the ground! I was waiting in the bushes. I ran out, grabbed it, and ran all the way home!
I was poor - so I could only afford the high E string. My mom saw me playing and saw that I had a talent for it. She got the guitar restrung and set-up. She also got me enrolled in guitar lessons. I took ONE lesson and was very bored. I wanted to learn chords and this guy was teaching me leads on 2 strings. I had 6 strings now and wanted to play ALL of them! So, I went to the library, took out some books on playing guitar which had chord boxes and songs in them, and the rest is KISStory! 😎👍🎸
I suppose my story is quite different from everyone else.
I was forced to play guitar by my mother. I was highly unmotivated by this because the music I listened to back then was primarily songs from the radio and 90's rnb. Because I was going to get music lessons regardless, I pleaded to my mum for me to play bass instead of guitar. She said no and a few weeks later, I got my first lesson. All I could tell you was that any 'homework' my guitar teacher set me I did not complete due to the sheer boredom and lack of motivation being forced to play this instrument. Over time I thought about quitting, but I feared that my parents weren't going to be happy with my decision. Surprisingly during the lessons, my guitar teacher and I would have discussions about music. And over time, my own music taste started to develop. I started to listen to Alternative Rock, which then evolved into Hard Rock, then Glam metal etc. Listening to these genres gave me a sense of motivation to my guitar playing and I then started to practice outside my lessons. However, my motivation only lasted for a few weeks and I relapsed back to not practicing. The next year, my music taste evolved even further to the point where I would listen exclusively to Metal. I had this sort of 'elitist' mindset back then regarding mainstream music as I avoided listening to anything on the radio (I got rid of that mindset the following year). My guitar playing during that time was a bit erratic, as I was playing continuously only at the start and end of the year. I stopped having lessons at the start of the year and focused solely on being self-taught. This time, I was progressing a lot faster as I was able to play the clean section of Fade to black in a week (I would only play about an 1-2 hours a day). During this time, I believed that I was able to finally gain momentum and continue practicing my guitar consistently leading to next year, but I was wrong. I quit guitar for about a year because as I mentioned earlier, I never fell in love with the instrument. I sold both my electric guitars and at around this time, I decided to play bass instead. I bought my first bass guitar with all the money I had, which meant that I practiced without an amp. But, I was still unable to keep myself motivated and quit after a month. However at the end of the year, my friends from school took up instruments and I decided to join in and practice with them. The next year, I would play in the school band and perform in front of the school during special occasions. As for my guitar playing, I took it up again and have been practicing consistently for more than a month now. I had to take a one week break though as the nerves in my middle finger were injured and I would feel sharp pain every time I would press it against the fretboard.
For some reason though, I now enjoy playing the instrument and persevered through all the challenging phases that I have encountered during my practice for the past 5 weeks now. As for my mother, she isn't the villain in this. Without her forcing me to play this instrument, I wouldn't be able to find the genre of music that I connect with the most (metal), and instead, I'll be stuck listening to mainstream music for the rest of my life (which isn't all that bad but still, metal is cool).
I think I wrote too much.
Not too much at all. I read the whole thing.
Tldr
Lot of good things in life then a lot of bad things in life that lead to me getting my eggs scrambled. Doctor told me that I needed to do something to work my mind so at the age of 44 picked I up a 3 string fretless cigar box guitar. Went to some lessons to the only guy in my area that could teach cigar box and he told me its never to late to pick up a guitar. So I did and I loved it I am 46 now and I am not good but I go to my lesson each week and I have to practice a lot. I will say this when I first held a guitar in that first lesson there is no way I thought I would be where I am right now. I new that my goal was years and years away not weeks or months plus I got a late start. I love the work and the challenge because it feels great when you start something and weeks sometimes for me months you bust through a wall. So if you are reading this its never to late but it is hard to find a instructor that is good at teaching adults. I ran into a couple babysitters that looked like that hated teaching. I can't say enough about my instructor he is great we were making a lot of progress until this Virus. He back to doing studio work right now cant wait to get back at it...
I had two older brothers that introduced me to all the greats , one was into the eagles , tull , chicago...the other cream , zeppelin, doors....mom and dad listened to oldies rock and roll and classic country so I was exposed to pretty constant music at an early age. As I got older I loved all of the music my family listened to and I was the perfect age as I started high school in 1980 🤟 Van Halen was my first album I owned (graduated from 8tracks) I asked for a bass guitar for Christmas and santa brought me a bass. I knew nothing about playing , had nobody to teach me and no youtube ! Traded the bass for a guitar and had a couple friends that played so I learned some guitar but was not serious about learning so I eventually quit and went on with life. Flash forward to a year ago ...53 years old , wife , kids, great job and RV's. After two back surgeries the off roading hobby had to go but everyone needs hobbies and I have several friends now who play guitar. Asked around and a guy at work had a lyon Paul Stanley model for $75 and I picked up an amp from a pawn shop. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money incase this wasn't gonna take hold. Well it took hold and if I was as into it back then ? I would be "like mike" . Since I restarted my journey not quite a year ago , i have 3 basses , two bass amps , 11 guitars (including the American standard strat i found at a pawn shop) 3 amps and various effects. Most of my guitars come from pawn shops and I'm constantly working on them and having a blast learning how to upgrade them and set them up. Kids are grown so it's the wife , me and the dogs so I practice atleast an hour a day and spend most of my UA-cam time watching something to do with the guitar. Long story I know (I'm 54 soo....) but I am having a blast and enjoy the guitar community so rock on my brothers and sisters !
I went to see a mandolin/ fiddle ensemble named "Barrage". I was 43 yrs old. I fell in love with the Shape of the f style mandolin and I wanted one just as apiece of art. The next day I bought one. I learned to play it in a half assed manner. And then I figured I'd try a guitar. I immediately left the mandolin behind (as my main instrument). And now at 70 yrs. old I am proud to say that I've become a half assed guitar player. Now, being a coffin dodger, I don't think I have enough time left for anything else. So I will stick with guitar and watch my half assed abilities decline but I will go out playing Hendrix double stops for as long as I can!
Kevin O'Rourke
Elvis opened the door for me with the '68 TV special. I saw it in the summer of '69 (I was thirteen); the next day I went in for ear surgery. My parents asked if they could get me something to help with my recuperation. I said I wanted guitar lessons...
I started playing guitar because my dad had an old Ashland acoustic in a case in the office that was a little beat up, missing the high e string, just not that playable overall. They noticed my attraction to that guitar and for my 17th birthday they got it cleaned and restrung and handed it down to me. I played that for about 6 months, then when I went to my grandma's house to help with chores that she needed my truck for, and as I was leaving she gave my my aunt's Samick strat copy (still trying to convice my dad to let her give me my aunt's drums) and that was my start into rock, listening to Motley Crue all day. I've now aged out of youth soccer, graduated high school, and lost my main passion in soccer since I don't have the time with school to coach. Guitar has now become my release that soccer used to be. My parents hate me because I don't let my little 15W Marshall go below 4 on the volume so they can hear me in my room from across the house. Lol
Edit: Your videos have taught me alot and I love your voice. A podcast would be great for putting it on as background noise while I'm doing homework and playing video games
Always loved rock&metal guitar but never had the time and patience to learn to play. Now I'm 60, retired and have a lot of time so I began 6 months ago and I love it !
The song Plush on "Core" by Stone Temple Pilots made me want to play bass and electric guitar because It was my favorite album at the time and it still is. Love that album and it inspires me to this day (thank you Radio X from GTA San Andreas)
That album is godly! I became an instant STP fan after hearing (and seeing the video for) Plush! I've loved everything they've put out since - even this latest new all-acoustic album. While I, like everyone else, DO miss Scott. The new guy isn't bad at all!
@@Axess-sv8nq nicee , it's one of my favorite albums of all time, the deleo brothers are badass
Love STP! That whole album is so great! Check out my new track when you get a second - here it is - ua-cam.com/video/Y6AGtxbVbZw/v-deo.html
I also was inspired to learn guitar by the song Plush off the Core album. It was the first album I hear by them but I'd say my favorite STP album right now is Tiny Music. I'd say that that album is where they hit their peak creatively, although I still enjoy their new stuff with Jeff too.
The River...Crackerman...
Mesmerized by the guitar since 10 y.o., buying my first LP in 1980 with my own coin; 'Live at Last' ... Sabbath... now nearing 50, the bug and drive remains unabated! Rock On!!
My grandfather was a bass player back in the 60s-70s, and kept playing till he had his first stroke. He was a second father figure to me, so to get closer to him I picked up a guitar so I could play with him on bass. After his stroke, I also picked up his bass. I was always looking for the next thing I could play to impress him. Last one I learned was outside of his music taste, as he liked country, but I learned the first solo from Fade to Black. Before I could finish the song, he passed from cancer. 4 years later, and I still play, partly bc of my love for music, and partly bc it makes me feel like he's still with me.
I am fairly new to the guitar. I started last year in November and I started on acoustic guitar even though I was into rock and metal at the time. My uncle taught me a few things and told me that if the next time he saw me and I impressed him he would get me an electric guitar for Christmas. So I spent a ton of hours working endlessly on learning scales and chords and by the time of Christmas I had impressed him and he got me a Fender Stratocaster which Is my favorite type of guitar. I was able to get that because he wasn't using it as much and he knew It was my favorite.
started playing guitar just after my 21st birthday a little over a year ago. coming up on the 2 year mark in november and i’m just hoping that i didn’t start to late to become something great. i played the flute back when i was in school and used to really enjoy it, but stopped in high school cause i no longer had the opportunity to play with others. ever since i’ve felt kinda unfulfilled and like something was missing. then i picked up the guitar cause i always loved rock and metal, and have had a hard time putting it down ever since. i remember when starting it felt really hard, but i had this passion in me to try to do something bigger than me and try to perfect my sounds. so many people on youtube teach guitar, but few of them teach ideas the way you do. thank you for teaching me to keep trying no matter how hard it is and inspiring me to try to make my sound the best i can!!
I started in March of this yr, at age 41.
I have wanted to play since I was a kid, but my parents never got me a guitar.
Growing up I was exposed to all genres of music, my mom would just pick a radio station & we would listen to it all day.
So I grew up with a love for all types music.
There is just something about guitar music, whenever I hear a really good riffs & solos.
it's an undescribable feeling, I can feel it through out my whole body.. all the way to my soul.
So I just decide it time & I'm very happy that I did.
My earliest rock n roll experience was Kiss Alive II. One day when I was a little kid, my mom bought a cheap record player at a thrift store and dug out her old records. She showed me how it worked. One day I was flipping through her records, Sonny & Cher, Barbara Streisand, etc, etc, and then...KISS. I remember looking at the cover art and thinking, "whoa, what is this." Loved it. Anyways, at 16, a friend of mine gave me a crappy Harmony Strat copy because his parents got him a new guitar (my parents couldn't afford to get me a guitar). Been playing ever since. I really should be a lot better than I am though. I just don't understand why I'm not improving more. I am 33 now so been playing 17 years (wow). I have played guitar in one band that never ended up playing shows (our drummer passed away as we were writing material) and have played bass in 2 bands that gig and do a little touring (all original music). I would describe myself as an intermediate guitar player. I can perform a setup on my guitars and have basic theory knowledge (all the basic modes, scales, etc). I just can't seem to get my playing more fluid, effortless, and accurate. Any of the bands I've played in have been punk rock. I am a good enough player for that genre and can even do basic punk solos if needed. There's no way I could hang in a metal band. Also, I have never written an entire song and don't know how. I've written a ton of riffs and then never know where to go next. And lyrics...forget about it. I got nothing to say. I primarily listen to punk rock ('77), power pop, glam, etc. but I do also enjoy some metal (especially black metal) as well as blues, bossa nova, and other styles. I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have learned little techniques over the years from so many different genres. Maybe a jack of all trades, master of none kinda thing? I dunno. I don't wanna be the next Malmsteen (honeslty find that level of virtuosity boring) but would love to at least be as good as Johnny Thunders. Sorry to ramble on so long. Take care.
I am still a noob at playing guitar. My parents gifted me a classic Spanish guitar with nylon strings. I was about 12 at the time, I was also quite fat as a kid, so I guess parents gave me that guitar to boost my confidence a little. Good plan but I never connected with that guitar and after a month of having lessons with a tutor I was basically done with it.
After that I had no real interest in guitar for 10 years. When I was 22 my grandmother passed away. It was quite a hard time because of that loss and due to me completely stressing out at work. In October that year I started listening to a lot of Black Sabbath (probably my favorite band since about I was 11). For some reason, I suddenly got really into music and guitar in specific. All of a sudden I was up until 4AM and just watched guitar lessons and guitar reviews, I did not have a guitar at that point. After weeks the edge to start learning guitar did not go away. I decided that it was time to get myself a guitar. Since my birthday was just around the corner in early November, right on my birthday I went out and bought myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio in ebony (early 2019 model).
Since then I’ve been slowly getting better (as I like to think) and never regretted my decision to get into music again. Oh and weirdly enough I started watching The Art of Guitar before I even had a guitar, and this channel definitely contributed to me getting a guitar for my 23rd birthday.
My dad played bass in local bands for about 20 years, he's always been a huge metalhead throughout my childhood. My parents were always supportive of whatever strange instruments us kids would play, I remember I was really in to the ocarina for a few years, but my dad consistently pushed us to play the guitar or bass, which is something that we were never interested in. He gave me an old Sigma acoustic guitar when I was 8, but it sat and collected dust in my bedroom for years. At around age 15, I started getting in to punk rock, mostly old Green Day songs but also some Ramones and Black Flag, that kinda basic stuff. It was around this time that my dad left my mom for another woman. We were all devastated, none of us could have ever expected it. To cope, I picked up that Sigma to learn something for the first time, being my favorite Green Day song, Dry Ice. Playing those simple power chords read off of ultimateguitar tabs filled a void that I didn't realize was there. It was more fulfilling than anything I'd ever experienced. That impulsive interest in the guitar quickly turned into a love for the instrument, steering away from tabs and developing a knack for playing by ear. I eventually got bored of playing sloppy punky power chords and gravitated more towards metal music due to the sheer speed and precision of their playing, I wanted to play just like that. I can't explain the feeling of playing The Four Horsemen all the way through for the first time; it was a euphoric high, I felt like I had a purpose for the first time. I've never been in a band, unfortunately, especially considering I'll be 18 in a few weeks. I've still yet to find that "scene" around here or meet local people who are in to playing this type of music, so I've just spent the past 3 years playing alone in my bedroom for hours lol.
Holy shit that was a lot haha kinda went off. I love hearing other people's guitar stories, thought I would share mine for once. Thank you for reading :)
One of he first albums I ever listened to was (GI) by The Germs. When I listened to that record and learned that they could barley play their instruments at the start but said fuck it, it gave me motivation. That’s what I love about about Punk Rock. Passion over technique.
Hell yeah. Germs rule. One thing I always wondered though: in the intro for "No God" it has that little part taken from that Yes song (I think it was "Roundabout"). Always wondered who played that or if it was sampled. I doubt Pat Smear would've been able to play that at that point in his career. Great transition into the song though.
Hell yeah on The Germs. Pat Smear is still kicking ass with the Foo Fighters!! Check out my new track when you get a second - here it is - ua-cam.com/video/Y6AGtxbVbZw/v-deo.html
Gimme gimme this gimme gimme that ahhh ahah tahttttaaaa
My guitar teacher introduced me to MASTER OF PUPPETS and I was sold right there. I couldn't sleep until I could play it and I now just love metal and other so.e genres as well and man that song is inspirational!!!
I always had a guitar lying around, but, didn't get serious about playing until I was 40-ish. I took lessons for a while with a guy who I became friends with, but, he wasn't the right teacher for me. As I continued to self teach I developed a circle of friends who were/are much better players than i was/am. Playing with them has made me better. We write and record songs, totally have fun with no pressure. Plus, UA-cam and people like Mike have been a huge help.
My Mom was playing classical guitar not very often. 3 Years ago I was listening to ACDC-Live in my dads car. Hells Bells was totaly fascinating to me and I learned the Songs by ear on my mums old nylon. I took piano lessons so it was easier to me. One of my inspirations were Malcolm Young Jimmy Page Randy Rhoads.
My dad has been playing guitar for 33 years and when i was little, he showed me AC/DC, Iron Maiden and a lot more bands and i loved them, but eventually i got bored. When i was 12, almost 13, my parents asked me what i wanted them to give me for christmas and i didn't know what to say, so i just said: "well, why not try the guitar" and they got me one for christmas. The first to months i didn't really play it but then we had to do a project for English class in my school where i had to pick a band and stand in the front of the class and explain all about the band, the members, their best songs, etc. For the project i chose the band Iron Maiden because it was like the only one i kind of knew. So doing the presentation, made me hear Iron Maiden again, and I loved it. I loved it so much that i asked my dad to take me to the Iron Maiden concert, which was in September, I was going to have to wait 7 months for it but i didn't care. So then I realized that i already had a guitar of my own and that I could eventually play all that music, so basically when i got into rock and metal again was when i really started playing more seriously the guitar. And i haven't stopped until then. I'm 14 years old now, i'm Mexican, and i got to see that amazing Iron Maiden concert. Thanks for reading.
always wanted an electric but i got an acoustic, its okay i can work with this.
started playing guitar 8 months ago. now playing and practising it is all i do.
I got into a lot of classic rock as a kid after having had listened to the music from my parents’ generation (bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who) and the very first band I ever got into when I was 10 years old (I’m 21 now) was The Beatles, and after listening to the music I knew that I wanted to play guitar. As I got a bit older I got into bands like Van Halen wanted to learn some cool fast stuff, and when I heard my first Pink Floyd song (Comfortably Numb) in one of my guitar lessons I realized that you can also do melodic stuff on guitar. Those bands are still some of my favourite bands and I still credit George Harrison, Eddie Van Halen and David Gilmour for getting me into guitar. When I was 13 or 14 then found out about this program my music school offered that allowed kids to to get together and play in a little band, so I started doing that and at first I wasn’t very good (as I had been playing for only a few years), but now I’ve been doing that probably for the last 7-8 years and I’ve been enjoying it ever since (I play lead guitar and sing, and a lot of people tell me I’m the most energetic person onstage, which is true because I do jump around a lot), I also have a band that my friends and I made a few years ago (we were called CAGE after our initials) and it’s a lot of fun, we mainly play covers but we’ve also written (and recorded) a couple of originals. Lastly, I got accepted into this music program at a college I had been applying to a few weeks ago (I had auditioned with my guitar) and I’m really happy that I’m going to go to school for music, which is what I’ve always wanted to do after graduating from high school
When I was 7 my parents took me to some sort of open day at our local music school and there I apparently decided that the guitar was the instrument for me. For the first three years or so I had lessons at that music school, but then my teacher stopped (the situation at that school was pretty bad since the government decided to cut back on funding), so I went to another teacher, played there for about two years, but he was already in his 60's or something and in a pretty bad place personally as far as I remember, so I had to find another teacher. Anyway, my first two teachers were both pretty theory-oriented and I think that might have partially been the reason why I feel that I did not make a whole lot of progress in that period. My current teacher however focuses more on actually playing and really tries to get all of his students excited about music and that made such a huge difference for me, because since then I've really become quite passionate about music in general and it makes playing guitar so much more rewarding. I really advice anyone to look for a passion of music in a teacher, cause if he's not enjoying himself, chances are you probably won't either.
makes a huge difference in who the teacher is, doesn't it? outstanding story/point....
I'm a lifelong Prince fan, and there is a great podcast about Prince where all the hosts are musicians and had insights on his music that I couldn't get, and I started thinking of taking up bass. Then in early 2015 I was getting tired of just watching TV after my kids went to bed so I went to buy a bass but decided on a regular guitar instead. Never looked back.
I bought my first guitar when I was 15 (38 years later I still have it). My big influence when I started was George Harrison. The Beatles' album were always available at my house growing up. The more I managed to isolate George's guitar work, the more I wanted to learn it. All my friends were into Van Halen (which I'm still not a fan of), but I found many guitarist of the 1960's to be more organic in their playing. Later a friend got me into Jimi and I was hooked. The first time I listened to "Are You Experienced?", my playing was never the same. When I was 25, I sold all my gear, I had a family to take care of and we needed the money. In my 40's, my wife surprised me with an Epiphone Las Paul Junior and I fell right back into playing. Now at 53, my morning routine is practice and coffee. Playing guitar is something I hope to stay with the rest of my days...🎸
I’m a newer guitarist. This is my story so far. So I’ve always loved music it’s always been a big part of my life as fare back as I can remember. I always thought drums looked cool my grandmother had pianos I would play she would always tell me it was great and even as a little kid I could still tell that she was curious that she wasn’t just saying it to make me feel better and as I got older I saw this in her responses to my playing even more. Then I found a old instrument in my mums house is was a peace of wood with metal strings on it (I didn’t know what guitars were wet) eventually I found out it was a 12 string acoustic that my great uncle Bobby owned then not long after that I found out I come from a long line of musicians. I saw someone on tv playing a guitar and I got the old 12 string from the corner and tried to play my mom told me that it sounded good. A few years later my mom said that because I have long fingers and big hands I would be good at playing guitar or piano. A while after I wanted to learn to actually play a guitar so my mom helped me find a local teacher and it makes me chuckle that he said he’s been teaching for almost 30 years and has never had a lefty until I came along. When I first started I was playing upside down because I was using a loner guitar but eventually I got my own guitar and it is a right handed guitar but the strings are made for lefty. Ever since I got that guitar I see peoples faces light up when I play even my teacher. Everyone tells me I should be a singer and guitar player because I have a unique voice. Some people even tell me I should put my voice to good use before they even know I play. Now playing is my passion it’s my favorite thing to do even if I’ve had a bad day I still think I can go home and play. That’s my story so far but I’m positive there will be more.
I am 15. I started playing 2 years ago. I was self-taught on guitar for about a year and a half. Before finding the guitar I played clarinet for school band for 4 years, about a year of that I played at the same time as the guitar. I don't play clarinet for school band anymore. I started listening to a lot of Green Day and RHCP and wanted to play their stuff. I borrowed my older brother's guitar and amp and started out. Again I was self-taught for a year and a half. I didn't really know what I was doing during that year and a half. I was mostly just learning songs rather than skills and theory. Then I convinced my parents to let me have lessons. And my playing has improved so much, so fast! I play every day and am trying to work my skills and get a better understanding of theory. I'm really not all that great but I'm working every day to improve. I'm trying to regiment my practice and find some exercises right now. I really hope to be able to teach when I graduate high school!
I used to not like music. Until 4th grade when my teacher did a guess the song every day and most of the songs were classic rock which I’ve never heard before until then. In 5th grade I thought it would be a good idea to play guitar and since I have no musical person in my family and my mom wanted a musician in my family my parents said yes. I slowly got into heavier music and now I listen to Metallica, Megadeth, and Godsmack for the most part. I’ve been playing for almost 4 years now
When I was eight I heard the intro to Holiday be Green Day and knew I wanted to be a guitarist. My mom bought me a cheap acoustic guitar and signed me up for lessons at my local music shop. I quit after three weeks because I was impatient. 10 years later I was at my cousins wedding and was fascinated by the guitar player. I went home and grabbed the guitar I recieved when I was eight. I looked up some basic open chords and started enjoying it. A few months later I bought a cheap electric guitar starter pack and got a guitar teacher. This time I was serious about learning. Already knowing Am, Em, G, C, and D my teacher was able to get me strumming along to some songs quickly. I took lessons for about half a year and decided to stop. Since then, I have played just about everyday for 3 years. It all started with hearing Green Day for the first time.
I really like how you give something from you before you invite others to follow your example. I don't think I'd write this otherwise.
The very first girl I fell in love with.. someone told me she was into Iron Maiden, so i asked the metal guy in my class to make a tape for me. The first time listening to Live After Death made me almost nauseous, that wall of sound was like nothing I had ever experienced. It quickly got under my skin, and when i saw the video for Indians by Anthrax my life had taken a direction of its own. I bought a cheap guitar and started The Journey With No End: bedroom guitarist, cover bands... you know, cheap distortion pedals and hired amps.
About 10 years ago, so 14 guitars, two Marshall stacks and three 19" racks later, i was asked to play lead guitar in an Obituary tribute band, which changed my approach in playing and practicing. I really had to sit down and analyze songs, note for note which made me a lot more time-effective. Also, my singer and I had the same attitude in wanting to make that band something awesome. Giving our t-shirts to Obituary, and their awesome response to that, was a real great incentive. From there, I met a lot more bands in the metal scene, and ended up touring Europe as a guitar tech, and stage manager for a US band. Last year, we discussed how the band sounded, the singer found it hard to combine singing and playing guitar and it came up that I'd play on the next run.
Complication was that I live in Europe and there really wasn't an opportunity to get together before the tour, so I got both the albums and locked myself up for 3 months to learn these ridiculously complicated, horribly fast 80s thrash metal songs. One of the songs is even called 'Technical Arrogance'. My practice motto was "Play it like you wrote it", and that pushed me a lot to try harder and really nail the songs, get the stops right, all that stuff.
When the tour came, last november, the band and I met in Germany. We had no time to practice together, so our first rehearsal together was on stage on a festival.
For me, that tour was the finale of my musical journey. I felt proud, supported and humble. Everything that comes next is a bonus. I hope sooner rather than later.
I've been playing for about 2 1/2 years. I got really into Metallica in like May of 2017 in the 6th grade, had never heard anything like it before and fell in love upon my first listen of Master of Puppets. In September or so of that year I was doing warmups on clarinet for morning band practice and 4 of the notes in one of the chromatic runs in the song we were doing sounded like For Whom The Bell Tolls. After that I realized that I really wanted to replicate this kind of music I'd been obsessed with for months, so I started to teach myself to play with some of my dad's guitars. My dad suggested I learn Sad But True, so he taught me that for a day or two and after that I started practicing guitar all day after school to procrastinate on my homework. I used Songsterr to eventually learn basically every Metallica song written, and then moved on to other harder things. I'd like to think I've progressed somewhat faster than average, because of how much free time I have, how often I want to practice (all of the time of course), and because of how much great info there is to be learned from UA-cam channels like this one. I now write music for fun and am actually considering a career in something music-related, but I still have a few years to get that all figured out.
began with bass back in 2014 because I heard a solo from that. so I began learning it. Had a lot of experience and after a long way practicing, I decided to experiment to guitar. From then I had too much fun enjoying playing them.
1.5 years in to learning. 46 years old. My mom bought me a guitar about age 13. It came from K-mart and had a built in speaker. Sounded horrible. All my friends made fun of it so I didn't try much. Plus I didn't think my hands could do what they needed to do. Fast forward to age 45. Not married, 1 kid grown and gone. Why not chase a few dreams. Bought a Kona acoustic guitar and on day 1 the finish was pealing off. So I bought a 2010 Melody maker, soon after that a 1985 Peavey Falcon. I have spent the last 1.5 years strictly working on the physical aspects. Finger, hand strength, speed and precision. Using all the scales and arpeggios, moving up and down the fret board. I change angles often. Guitar height, neck angle, hand angles so I never get stuck in one position and be able to hold the guitar any way I want. Now working on speed picking and hand sync. I am getting bursts of real speed finally. Before I even try to learn songs, licks, riffs, I want to be able to play through any scale at any position as fast as any rock star. Once I break that ceiling I think the rest of the learning curve will be very sharp and fast.
Every morning I spend an hour with a coffee in my right hand, and hammering out scales with left hand. Today I was finally able to use my right hand to get a cigarette out and light it will not missing a note with left hand. I would like to be able to write my name with my right hand wile not missing a note with the left. Is that too lofty of a goal? I wonder if any one an even do that.
A few months in to it i was given a 4x12" speaker cabinet. So I bought a 150 watt mixer. I pump a Peavey Back Stage plus as a pre-amp through the mixer. Along with a Bad Monkey peddle. Sounds pretty awesome. I put a P94 in the Melody maker, same exact set up as PhilX in his stage Viper. EMG's in the Peavey Falcon, and now also have a Ibanez with S&D high distortions. I think I have one hell of a set up for such a beginner that can't even play a song. But it's very motivating to have this nice stuff and the sounds that come out are amazing. It's going to be pretty bad ass once I can actually play. I have enough gear to play a local bar or something. That's actually my goal. To retire and play live. I am thinking very hard on another childhood dream instrument. Saxophone. That was actually the first instrument I ever wanted to play. But I think multiple instruments will aid in learning music theory. Not too worried about that yet. I took a coarse in music theory and was a ton of information, most of which I forgot. I'll get back to it soon enough. These vidoe's are a HUGE help. A LOT of stuff I figure out on my own(techniques) and then there validated when I see you or another teaching it. I am at that super boring stage. With the speed picking starting to get faster the excitement is coming back. I am almost through the "how bad do you want to play" section or my journey. Quitting is not an option. Did that when I was a kid. Now it's just a matter of time and persistence.
I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but never had that motivational push to actually do it. One random day in 2017, a friend brought his guitar to school and started playing Californication, i was totally amazed. He kinda noticed and handed it to me and started teaching me how to play it. 2 months later i asked for a guitar as my 17th birthday present and that is where it all began.
I'm actually new again to guitar. My father was a guitarist who was a fantastic player & gave me & my sister a guitar when we were just teenagers & started teaching us to play though I was already playing the flute & has been for years. I picked up the guitar very easily but just didn't have enough time to play the flute, learn the guitar, keep up w/my studies, athletics & any other hobbies so, I sort of gave up the guitar until after I learned to play the drums. After I learned to read drum music & became proficient enough playing the drums to play with a band & perform in public I did that for awhile & decided it's about time I picked up the guitar again. So, I purchased a new beginner acoustic guitar I started trying to learn how to play scales, chords & a few songs on my father had taught years ago. Then, I bought a new Taylor electrified, acoustic guitar, a new electrified, acoustic PRS guitar & a new amp, as well. I'm just beginning to look for an instructor to teach me & to help me decide what type of guitar (acoustic or electric) I should invest the bulk of my time, energy & money into learning to master playing. That's why I've subscribed to your videos & going to visit your website to see what else you have to offer there.
You truly are a phenomenal teacher & inspire me thus far to pursue guitar more intensely than I ever have. So, though I consider myself a beginner, I cannot wait to learn from you. I have a feeling I'll advance as rapidly as I'm possibly able to.
When I heard The Cure when I was like 4 or 6 yrs old. And opus 10 "Life is life". After that my dad would play a bunch of records. Pablo Milanes, a Cuban musician, was big presence in the house whenever something was played. I remember how powerfully emotional the music was. It would involve you emotionally in a very significant way. It was Latin music, but very blues-like. Unafraid of dealing with that aspect of human experience. Then I would listen to popular things like Juan Luis Guerra and 4:40 "Bachata Rosa", and I thought every song in it was very good.
Then I heard "The 90s Revolution" (mainstream) and that reminded me of wanting to play guitar. After that, I saw a group of people playing Metallic covers: Enter Sandman at an Opus Dei high school (see Jesuits in the music industry youtube. Chicago school i think). My mom wanted to learn English. So, I began to watch it when we were like 10 or 11 "Smells Like That Spirit Will Be Done In" every day on MTC and "They are the ones who know all our pretty songs, and they like to sing them along with etc" and me and my brother would be jumping up and down the bed watching those videos all day long. We would enjoy listening to the Mario Bro rap from the cartoons: and look forward to listening to them. And MTV YO raps: Onyx made an impression. And seeing kids rap "Kriss Kross" was kinda a big deal here In Vzla. It made it seem reachable. Method Man´s cover of a 70s sound tune. He is displayed with eyed pull upwards so they reveal only the while of the eyeballs as in unconscious. Also "Get the money $,$,$ bill y´all" Wreck n Effect: the hot lady on the beach playing Saxophone. Then the megadeath video where he was wearing a mental patient jacket in a jail. Something like a symphony for destruction.
When we moved to the States. I got a Mexico made Fender guitar, and then a Jag Stand, and began to learn the stuff I listened at 10 or 11. I would go shopping for CDs and found Nirvanas D7 "D matches 7....mayday, mayday". I began to take guitar lessons at DeWitt music studios. I asked them if they could put 11 gauge strings on the guitar. They said it was no problem. But when i returned to pick them up I was told that they had dislodged the neck from the body as they tried to put the strings, but that "they had fixed it nevertheless". I had no other choice, but to take it, and not demand that they would get me a new one. I began to learn "Killing in The Name Of" by Mike at Dewitts. He would tell me about "root notes", but theory seemed weird and unconsented at the time to my goal of jamming, and playing what I wanted so I did not give it the importance that I wanted.
I kinda stop taking lessons from Mike, because I thought I could proceed to simply learn from tabs printed of the net. So, I began to play from printed tabs from the net. In the door to a biology class there were a couple of really kinda violence projecting individuals. They did not look very approachable. But I remember they kept on laughing about "Senior was like Señor frog" and how much they dug AEnima. So, I began to look for tabs on that and began to try to learn from the chants. The low-lives from tool would insist over and over on saying "Yeah, we were experimenting with how prejudiced people are if they listen to germans, and heavy music. Not all Germans are Nazis".
I would go to the school library every day after lunch hr, not very many friendly people, and would begin to look for paper articles on bands. DeLa Roca was asked by Rolling Stones what CDs he thougth were relevant that yr: Unwound "Repetition", and Girls vs Boys "House of GvsB" the car. So, that was the way I was introduced to indie stuff.
Then I met someone at work and insisted he loved tool. Invited me to go to a concert at memorial hall: aenima tour. So, we ended up going together. I had gotten nose-bleeding seats. During Hooker with a Penis, they brought out a muscle builder guy wearing a mask as in pulp fiction (a gimp I was 16 or 17. Double the suspension of disbelief) on stage, and he would begin modeling in front of the crow. The crowd mirrored in approval as to how funny it all was. The also played 8 degrees from undertow, but their chanter would begin to deliver these passive-aggressive bouts towards the audience saying "And this song, like all our other songs is about anal sex". Really angry as if he knew he had to battle the idea that he was being applauded for the wrong reasons. As if he had heard it from the crowd even though no had said anything, and they would just kept on being applauded. Their drummer is from KS.
I would return every day from high-school, read Tropic of Capricorn for a number of hrs, and after I was done I would take my guitar drop D tune it and play all the chants from Deftones "Around the fur" and "Evil Empire" (the victims of the US empire were psychotic according to them). I would read Guitar World magazines. Learn from the tab, and read interviews. To see if they would say what allowed them to improve it. The military guy from tool would always insist on Peter Gabriel and his feminine side would resonate with Jonni Mitchell.
In an interview with an Asian-American reporter, he gave more details about his peers. And with an Australian guy they talked about how their guitar player would like to hand pictures of crimes against humanities, carried out by them or their friends, in their walls. How they used a lot of math (sacred geometry I guess) in the chants. The Master's Discourse issue.
After that I was invited by the same individual that invited me to memorial hall to a very special concert in Wichita. Adam Jones and Bozzo got close to me and told me that "it was in the cards" and left insisting they were God the latter was before the show began as people would hang out in the parking lot.All I coudl say was "Hmmmmm, Ok" After Adam got that off his chest. I entered the venue, and they had this guy next to me pretending he was on acid staring at the stage. They had an opening band called blue chip, or, blue tip. I thought they were good. They were followed by Bozzo (a big friend of Cobain before he pretended to commit suicide (see Hollywoods latest ops on suicide to exploit moral faculties), and Cobain a big friend of my Ambassador step-uncle (not blood-related) that was a military attache to China, and met J.P. the number 2. He did a favor for him during the unplugged record years, I must have been 14 or so, to send a threat to me with a Doppelganger.
After that I kept on learning from tabs and getting into things that were not played on radio. My capacity to listen to music radically changed when I began to learn an instrument. You look for other things. So, I would begin to listen to non-standards things like "Street Peterson´s Crab" by Helmet given how unexpected the shifts were on the guitar.
During the 2000´s and with the rise of napster I began to listen to a lot of hip-hop and techno. Dj Krush, The Future Soudn of London. Dj Cam, Dave Grohl was giving a mad boost to Josh´s project so I thought I would listen to it. That must have been around 2002. I had been playing since 1996. My family had been attacked by the US military to the point of mentally fragmenting my brother. They had to leave. I stayed, because I wanted to kinda hold on, and be a precense until they could return so all their efforts would not go to waste. I studied a lot. Philosophy, and literature. The humanities. "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell was a good introduction to Asian theology. So, I would begin to read a good deal about it, and get into their music which in turn found its way into people like "Thievery corporation"
The same guy that invited me to his favorite band, tool, would keep on complaining about the betrayal of tool, and how his favorite collection of chants was aenma. All the violence in it I guess, and the crucifixion thing, the German experiment, the pretension they are exploited sex workers, etc. He would invite me to the bottleneck in Lawrence KS to watch bands. He was really into Ken Andrews "Failure" (a big friend of Jones). He was also obsessed with the Jesus Lizard so we went to a concert and say their frontman drop his pants in the middle of the set, and began to sing naked. During the failure concert there was this guy that kept on telling Andrews to play "Slayer". At the bottleneck I also got to see, from a very far distance, Sunny Day Real Estate. The same person expressed anger at the singer´s "Christian Turn", but was approving of how record of theirs made him cry. The one with the statur of an angel holding a soldier.
I also remember this short-hair girl at the bottleneck. I wanted to talk to her. I could have even tried to talk about music since I played guitar. But I was too shy, and thought that I could be invading her personal space. I did not feel relaxed enough for some reason. But she was memorable in a pleasant sense.
This same guy that played bass would always make a great fuss about "The Get Up Kids" a band from KS that had signed up a millionare record deal with Warner Brothers. He was friends with them. Apparently they toured the world, and even either met, or, played with Jimmy Page. He also insisted I would go watch with him “Standford Prison Experiment”, and “Man or Astro Man” the latter´s 1000x was his favorite, and would look at the rest is disfavor.
I had purchased tabs for a lot of pink Floyd records: Dark Side, and some collection of greatest hits, but all stolen by the KBI. The latter work to assist Hollywood to look for isolated kids (I was born in Ann, Arbor Michigan) but that did not matter so they may abuse them. There is a documentary made on the matter: “Open Secrets” is called.
I got really into guitar when I was stationed in Japan, just for something to do after work besides drink. When I got out of the military and started school, my band teacher pressed me into bass, and as much as I liked bass, I wanted to make death metal riffs on guitar.
Been about 6 years now since me and Sapp jammed on duty together.
Cheers to that! Even if Im having something of a not very musicly inspired moment, I can rewire myself back to brutality by plugging, (either my Jackson sl2, or oddly my Mex Fender Telecaster std, because death metal tele!) Into the bonsai pedal, to 25 watt jcm800 lunchbox head, & the goofiest mini mongrel stack ever. (1×12 egnater somethin'? I put a celestian Creamback 75 in, it, under a no clue , could pass for blue... maybe tolex, w/ unknown brand knockoff vin 30 on top) simple, loud, and old Death, Sepultura, & Nile riffs sound demonic, & yet perfect. Because what is more fun than death metal riffing on guitar... doing with a nice high gain amp
Guitar Hero made me want to play guitar when I was 8-9 years old. I got my first guitar age 10, started lessons a year after, stopped for some reason, and came back to it in 2013 when I really started learning seriously. I stopped lessons in 2016 I believe. Now, I'm learning by ear as much as possible.
My dad used to play guitar, and I would sing 'killing me softly'. Well I was 15, and I asked for a guitar and he bought me a beautiful yamaha acoustic for my Xmas present that year. He got me a couple lessons and within the year I got thrown out and I was hungry and I sold it for wayyyy less than it's value and he got so upset. But I'd always wanted to replace it. Well he passed away in 2014, but I bought my ibanez electric guitar this year and want to learn properly how to play so that's why I am here. Its for a love of the instrument and metal and in honor of my father. I write metal songs and I want to play them properly too!! Thanks for all you've done for me Mike!!
Early 50's here. Left handed and a never time for myself. Music has always played a roll in maintaining sanity. the late 80's and 90's military career was one for the ages, to family life with times that were again for the ages. Finally, I now have a Ibanez Gio Blue Burst and a Marshall amp for the past year that I've learned a lot of as time permits. The influences of those from early days, Ozzy, Slash, Maiden, Metallica and many other bands from back in the day. Just a joy to play is the only rule. Playing by ear is more natural but learning the chords and scales is necessary too. Finding the right "youtubers" is also paramount in learning. Finding your channel has been good so far. Thanks!
My cousin started attending guitar lessons at a place 5 minutes away from my home. My mother got to know this and immediately wanted me to take them as well. I wasn't even interested in music at that time, but being 11 years old I had to follow her command.
My mother was so keen on sending me there that I didnt even have a guitar during my first class. The teacher just laughed at me and told me to observe others, which i did for the next one and a half hours. Good times.
Now after almost 8 years my parents live in constant fear that someday I'll abandon my studies to take up music somewhere. That's what they get for embarrassing me :P
Started when I was 18 cause I loved music and thought it was a great way to communicate and I thought people would like me more, I guess... As soon as I had the basics down, I started writing songs and basically stopped to practice new things for most of the time. Progress was super slow, but still I am happy with where I am. I guess I am more a writer than a guitar player. But I love playing, too. And singing. Don't know what I would do without it. And I just love guitars. Always got "just one more". It's the biggest part of my life and I'll never stop.
My story goes back to 1986. Had just turned 16 and bought my 1st guitar and amp with money from my first job . I bought a Yamaha SE150 and a peavy rage amp. Lol! Also bought guitar for the practicing musician and learned fr0m tabs....remember Wolf Marshall? Jammed with other friends who played guitar. Never could find drummer or bassist. Joined the Army in 1989 and was deployed during Desert Storm. While in i bought a Fender Strat HM series and Princeton Chorus. Just recently bought a Wolfgang signature MIJ and Blackstar HT club 40. Aying the guitar has been a blessing and has gotten me through some rough times. Its always there for me and is extremely therapeutic. 53 now and still playing and learning even though just as a hobby i still love it.
In 2013(when I was 13 yrs old), I was diagnosed with a chronic illness called ankylosing spondylitis. My bone joints started fusing and I was always in pain( I still am but it's not as bad). To cope up with all that I was going through I started listening to metal. Over the years my tastes started developing and eventually I got into prog. In 2018, I was at a friend's place who had recently bought an electric guitar. I tried playing it and obviously I sucked. But I instantly fell in love with the instrument. My family was going through some financial problems so I couldn't afford to buy a guitar back then. One of my brother's friends had an older electric guitar to spare so he literally gave it to me and did not ask for any money. I always will be very thankful to him. Fast forward to 2021, I still play guitar and always will. My joints hurt like a bitch but that's what keeps me going. I bought a squier recently. Waiting for it to arrive. ✌🏻
I always thought electric guitar was the coolest thing as a kid in the ‘80s and there was this toy called the “Solid Gold Rockstar” haha.. it was a guitar and mic combo and I wanted it bad, but never got it. My uncle plays guitar and we used to go over for family parties and such and he always would let us kids plug his guitars in and play them in his “man cave” even though I don’t believe “man cave” was a term yet back then. I begged my parents for a guitar, but they couldn’t afford that and there weren’t beginner type “combo packs” back then like they have today. I truly believe that never really having my own guitar within reach was the driving force for me. Some children have instruments all over the house and aren’t even the slightest bit interested. By seventh grade, I had saved up $200 and bought my first guitar, a Washburn Lyon sunburst, which I still have. Now I have a pretty extensive collection of high end guitars, but I also play drums, which is my main instrument. I’ve been in several bands over the past 15-20 years drumming. I still love to play guitar regularly though.
As with guitar, my great grandparents had a old Japanese made Classical Guitar. And I had a friend that really encouraged me to get into music *i was never really into music* and I asked one day if they still had it. And they did! In 3 months I felt like I've gotten somewhere with it, I then started getting lessons. This is where I purchased my first ever acoustic guitar. This was the first time I did anything with the steel string, and then here I am today😄
I did not come from a musical family, but I gravitated toward it. Hearing Randy Rhoads for the first time really set things in motion. I wanted to become the second best (because Randy was the best). I bought every guitar magazine and tab book I could afford. I was a sponge for any music theory, because Petrucci, Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani, etc. I was chasing the metronome, trying to be the fastest shredder ever. I hated anything that wasn't complex, heavy and fast.
Life happened and I stopped playing for a while. About 4 years ago, I dove back in. But this time, I prioritized learning songs. Being a lot older and slightly wiser, I embraced all the bands I hated in my teens and 20s - Green Day, Weezer, Nirvana, Blink 182, etc. This is also when I decided to stop relying on tab and train my ear. In 3 years, I learned more songs start-to-finish and note-for-note than I did in the 30 years prior, all relying primarily on my ear. I discovered that the more songs I learn by ear, the faster and better I got at it while that doesn't happen with tab. Learning songs by ear is the best thing I ever did for myself as a musician. It has benefited me more than any piece of gear, book, video, etc.
I only recently discovered your channel from the "Fix This Band" series, and was hooked immediately. Keep up the great content.
I remember my older brother came home from my grandpas house from staying there for a weekend, and he walked in with this beautiful red Jackson electric guitar and that's when I started, been playing on and off until I turned 17 and took it seriously with a buddy of mine, and here I am at 23, trying my best
My story is that I started in middle school in May of 2017. I loved music to death back then and still do. I would listen to isolated guitar tracks of my favorite songs and just wonder how the hell they even pulled that off. Had a lot going on at home as well, so guitar was my escape. One day my mom and I went to Guitar Center. There was a crappy 24 fret Ibanez Gio on the wall for $60. Convinced my mom to buy it and it was my starter guitar, still got it too. Went home, plugged in my friend’s crappy amp and tried to play Em. He said “uhh, dude. It’s not supposed to sound like that.” I got better and better at it and was able to acquire my dream guitars over the years. Now it’s my life, and nothing makes me more frustrated, happy and rewarded. If I’m not playing, I have music playing. It’s my life, what I’m destined to do.
I just got interested in playing guitar, because i was getting more into metal and music became more important to me. I was watching videos about playing guitar, without even playing guitar. But one riff really made me want to play, that riff was the crazy train intro. So i got myself a electric guitar and a little practice amp, that is pretty much one yeahr ago and i really have much passion for it. Just like drawing, what i do over two years
I started learning violin at the age of 7 because my deceased Aunt was a violinist. After my family shifted to a new location I was forced to stop learning violin.
At the age of 12 I fell in love with Rock music after listening to rock songs from the GTA games.At the same time there was this Rock radio show by RJ Joey D and slowly became obsessed with rock music.
In my first year of college at age 18 I bought my first guitar ,an acoustic initially i didn't learn much but my first guitar teacher taught me chords and the note names
But I really went deep into the guitar after watching video's by the art of guitar,Rick Beato and signals music studio
Last summer I bought and electric and practiced a lot!
I'm a bit late, but here's mine. I have always been interested in music, but I didn't start having an interest in guitar until I heard of Queen only a few years ago. The music just spoke to me, particularly with Brian May. The fact that this gritty and powerful sound was coming from one guy amazed me. As I listened to it more and more, I wanted to be able to play like that. So for Christmas, I got a Strat knockoff that was actually really good, and its still my main guitar. I started taking lessons, and I quickly became dissapointed with the fact that Brian May was just too complex for me at the time. I also have elos danlos syndrome, which has affected it to some degree, mainly when I started out. After a while, I switched teachers, and I met my current guitar teacher for the first time, who I still learn from today. I definitely began to get better more and more overtime. At this time, I started listening to The Rolling Stones, who still are a massive inspiration to me. I found Stones songs to be more simple, which was great as a basis to learn more complex cords and riffs. I then played my first live show with the music school, which was a huge motivator for me. I've still continued to play live, and I don't think Ill stop anytime soon.
I came late to this party, obviously. ;)
I grew up in a very musical family. Mom played piano every day for her peace and sanity (6 kids) and as a preschooler I would fall asleep listening under the piano bench. Dad would play his acoustic guitar at the bottom of the stairs every night as a lullaby. Entertainment on road trips meant singing harmony to old show tunes, folk and cowboy songs.
My 4th grade teacher, Mr. Brendell, was a nerd and a Vietnam veteran who was passionate about learning and music (our poor public school in Burbank, CA was lucky to have him) He had a record player and shelves of albums in the classroom with which he taught us music history and appreciation, all the way from tribal music to Rachmaninov, Etta James, Glenn Miller, the Everly Brothers, the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, BeeGees and Michael Jackson. It was an amazing education.
After my mom passed, I married, my Dad's guitar was given to my brother and my Mom's piano was promised to another family member, I felt a little lost. I'm 43 and my cute, tone-deaf husband and I are starting a family with foster kids. I had no idea how to raise kids without music in our home. A friend of ours bought me an acoustic guitar for my birthday this year. I'm only self- and UA-cam-taught so far, but my brother and I are practicing "Streets of Laredo" for my dad, who is passing soon. When my dad told me I couldn't have Mom's piano, I asked for his record player and vinyl collection, which he agreed to, so I am content.
As our family grows and changes, so will our music. I anticipate my next guitar will be a bass or jazz guitar so I can jam with my kids while they rock out and I embarrass them in front of their crushes.
I am 32 now but my musical story starts when I was young too. My dad plays guitar and when I was young he would play albums such as Satriani's Surfing or Metallica's Black album.
When I was in 6th grade I started to play the recorder then from 7th-10th grade I played the clarinet during this time i was playing in the regular school band and the Jazz band. For the last 2 years of high school I decided to start playing piano.
Maybe 6 years pass after I graduate and not really playing any instruments I decide one day I am going to learn guitar. So I pick up my first guitar which is a Ibanez RG350MDX after maybe a few weeks of playing I decide I'm going to take private lessons. I had about a year and a half worth of lessons when my teacher moved but I had a good amount of knowledge under my belt. I've been playing guitar for roughly 6 years.
Admittedly I'm not very good, maybe a low level intermediate but I'm a causal player. I've recorded 3 albums and still enjoying playing till this day, even if its just noodling or playing songs on rocksmith.
I was at a Fall Out Boy concert in Tuscon, AZ in November 2018 and I was like, I want a guitar and learn to play it. Last year my girlfriends got me my first acoustic guitar and painted it with all the Concerts we've been to. Been fun learning it from you!
My first guitar was a copper pipe with a ruler taped on and glued on a paper with some lines drawn for frets and strings so I was able to learn some open string chords. Took me years to know how they sound too...
I used to be a creative kid, painted a lot of scale models and toy cars. when i was around 8 years old I saw a guitar in a movie and asked for a one for christmas. I recieved an acoustic guitar and let it catch dust for 6 years. In my puberty years i wanted to "get girls" and took guitar lessons and kept playing for 2 years. I discovered the magic of alcohol and video games and let it consume most of my time and made me forget about guitars entirely for 10 (very sad) years. I finally picked back up on my creativity and started woodworking which got me into a massive rabbithole on youtube, which inevitably recommended me a video of someone "building a guitar". I got hooked and built a "guitar" myself. I got reminded of the times when i was actively plaing. I convinced a friend to sing and found a band. We made music for a few years until we went separate ways.
Thanks to all the good content on youtube, I decided to pick my guitar back up and practice again. I'm having a hard time anwering the question "how long do you play guitar for?"
My story has just begun a couple of years ago. One day I just picked up my friends guitar, and after some days just fell in love with the instrument. I hope to get somewhere with my love
I just started learning guitar about 2 weeks or so. The story was, back in nov '19 my Dad just got out from hospital. And the very first thing he asked me was to drive him to the nearest music store. He wants to learn to play guitar, because he felt it was one of his lifetime dream to actually have his own guitar and learn. So i got him a Yamaha c 70, and get a private tutoring set up. But he only had a week of tutorial before his health deteriorated fast and last January he passed away. And just 3 weeks ago, when i cleaned up the house that i saw his c 70. So i figured, while he might never really got to play music with it.. i might as well learn to play music on it. In a way it brings the good memories i had with him and honoring him. Thanks for your videos, yours is one of those tutorials that really makes sense to me. Thank you. 🙏
I grew up listening to the cars and always thought music was cool. About a year or two ago I discovered kiss and I was listening to parasite in the car and I heard all the music separately but together, if that makes sense. I began to take music seriously then. To go more into detail, my head was hearing all the music together but I could isolate the drums and vocals for example. I got my first guitar, a 2017 vintage les Paul for Christmas and picked my bass I got as a gift a couple months prior again. I decided I primarily wanted to be a bass player after I heard the bass line for 100,000 years and the bass solo in moving in stereo. Here I am a year later, I know the bass lines for the first 3 kiss albums.
a little late to the party, but my journey started maybe 8 or 10 years ago, for my one birthday I was given a Flamenco Guitar as a birthday present, and I got really excited to try and learn it. I unfortunately never received lessons and my dog at the time knocked it over and it broke. A bunch of time past, I hit 7th grade, and made a friend who introduced me into like rock and hard rock like Three Days Grace and Seether. I kept listening to music like that, then progressively got into heavier and heavier stuff. all the while I kept hearing classic rock songs and rock songs from the 70s and 80s thanks to my grandfather. eventually after listening to enough Seether and Shinedown and seeing them both in concert in my junior year, Sean Morgan became one of my guitar idols, so I basically begged for a guitar for christmas. and it seemed to work. I promised to learn how to play Wish You Were Here for my grandfather who unfortunately passed away a few days before christmas, but I have been playing guitar since then, and that was maybe 4-ish years ago, something like that. I've learned quite a lot of Wish You Were Here, not fully, but I'm getting there. I've been practicing a lot of other songs, and I'm in the works of releasing an self produced EP very soon, so I'm proud of that. I feel in my 4, almost 5 years, I've made a lot of progress, and I can't wait to become and 80 year old still playing through Pantera and Metallica solos
My dad had a guitar in his closet he would sometimes play and my grandparents had a few instruments of similar descriptions. My parents said me and my siblings had to learn an instrument and I was learning piano at the time and it wasn't doing it for me. I ended up just playing around on the guitar and I really liked it. Let's just say it spiralled out of control. Then I went to high school and I met some friends who were at a similar skill level and we just kept getting better.
I’m 22 I started playing when I was 12 or 13 I was already playing saxophone in middle school and I really loved it. I was taking it home and learning songs we weren’t doing at school (Pink panther, Super Mario Bros theme, Thrift Shop etc.) and then My dad who always wanted to play the guitar, bought me a cheap acoustic guitar from Ross that came with a DVD on the basics of playing guitar. I was playing it on and off and then everything changed when one of my dads friends gave me Rocksmith for Xbox 360 and an electric guitar cable and everything and then I was hooked. I learned so much on that game and eventually started playing with my local church and learned a couple other instruments too. Now I play in a band sometimes hop on drums and other times Rhythm guitar and sing.
I started playing at 15 years old. Stopped playing around 18,I picked it up again last year. I'm 52 years old now. If the internet and UA-cam was around back then I probably wouldn't have put it down. I've made considerable progress in the last year,your web site and channel have helped me,alot.
I plan on subscribing to Mike's site once my current basic class online is completed
I started playing guitar because I love all kinds of music and my best friend played guitar so I figured why not. The magazine Guitar For The Practicing Musician took it to the next level and I worked so hard to play every song, the first one I bought had Stairway to Heaven, Mr Crowley, All Along The Watchtower and YYZ... I still have every one to this day. I joined the Army so I needed to take a break but picked it up after I hit my first duty station and after about 6 months in, I set my Charvel on the bed to answer the door and it slid off and the head snapped in half. It was too expensive for me to replace it so I stopped. Fast forward to today which is 20 years later. I've been playing again for the past 6 months and trying to break my old habits and learn some theory. This has been something that was missing from my life for so long and it makes me so happy. Keep on playing everyone!
I was never a musical kid, I was always more into art and literature. Funnily enough, I didn't really start listening to music until 6th grade (three, almost four years ago, I'm 15 now), and I listened to Owl City and Green Day (we all have to start somewhere 😂). The rest of middle school hit, and I got kicked out of my house, during that time I really fell into listening to music and all of my other creative hobbies. I started playing and learning the piano well over a year ago now, and just yesterday I got my first guitar. I've fallen in love with music, but I've always had this complex of being an imposter of sorts, seeing as my roots aren't in music, however, that hardly matters. Writing this with sore fingers. This is the start for me, and I'm excited to learn and grow, and I wonder where I'll end up.
My dad always listened to metal, but it didn't click for me until i was like 11 or 12. After spending a whole night listening to Megadeth's "Train of Consequences" on repeat, I decided I was going to learn guitar. This song blew my mind; the heaviness of the verses, the guitar's melody during the chorus, and the complexity of the rhythm/solo section all contributed heavily to my love of music.
When I was 12/13, I started learning guitar on my own. The first song I learned all of the way thru was Metallica's "Seek and Destroy". I soon found, however, that I had a passion for constructing songs.
Since then, with a collection of eclectic influences, from Tool to Johnny Cash to OneRepublic to various soundtracks, I have written and recorded a demo, an EP, an album, and several singles under the band name Fatal Cross.
If you have time, check out my song "Soundtrack to the Coronavirus" here on UA-cam. It's a creative metal instrumental song 😝😅🙌
When I first heard Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon I was hooked on rock music. I must've been 15 years old at the time. I grew up listening to classic rock hits on my parents record player, but I just listened to what they put on. That year a friend from the neighborhood started playing guitar and I saw him play and I wanted to try. Alas his guitar was left-handed. Since I had been playing the trumpet in the school band since I was 12 I figured I could do it. So my dad took me to a pawn shop on my 16th birthday and we got an acoustic guitar. I played for several years, but eventually got disheartened by my struggle to play some songs as I lost my fretting hand pinky finger in an accident when I was 8. I've always had a guitar around even when I didn't play. During the coronavirus quarantine my computer broke, so I picked up my guitar and and started playing with some jamming tracks on UA-cam. I was "shredding" out solos and lead parts with blues rock backing tracks. It was too much fun. I recently started a garage band with some guys from Craigslist and I started to learn the bass to fill in for our bassist, because he wants to play guitar on some songs. It's my first band, but it's awesome. A little late to the game but it's no biggie.
Grew up poor. Fell in love with metal as a kid. Went to college. Graduated. Got a job. Finally bought myself a guitar and an amp. Started learning by myself. I know some chords and just enough to play along with some stoner doom songs. Still learning. Still loving it.
I was into Gangsta Rap at 1st year of high school. After one year some dude came to our school from another town and he was into metal. At some point when we were chatting during lunch break he send me 3 songs through bluetooth which were Bat Country, Death in Fire and All Nightmare Long, and l listened them nonstop and l started researching what instrument do l need to play these songs and l found that this is an electric guitar. So next year (October 2013) l bought a Cort X1 from one of my best friends, l played that for 4 years and gave it to my cousin and now l have a Schecter C-1 for 3 years. In total l play guitar for 7 years and l can call myself as a "good" guitar player in my own measurements. I played lots of gigs, some of them were big, some not but l tasted and still tasting the greatness of guitar music and l am so glad for that.