questions about this life!

[Venomboy]

Re: questions about this life!

20 years, May 1983. Fender Bullet S2 and Roland 10 watt amp. I took lessons for almost 4 years. Took me at least 6 months to start getting comfortable. Having a good teacher really helps. I was really dedicated and read every GFTPM mag cover to cover and tried to learn riffs from every song.

[Chuckracer]

Re: questions about this life!

Well, I started playing at 7 and I'm almost 42, but I took about a ten year break in my thirties (burnout), so I've been playing 25 years. One lesson and a whole lot of GFTPM and I still can't play!

[jinx]

Re: questions about this life!

well since i started this i figure ill charm in also.

I got my first guitar about 8yr old...many scale sears accuoustic...to bad i dont know where that is [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] well i didnt get any lessons so i didnt persue it...I got my next guitar at 13...it was a peavy preditor with a peavy amp and once again nobody gave me lessons so i forgot abvout it plus i wasnt into rock so how was i gonna play a guitar lol.(guitar was pawned [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] )..then my friends dad was throughing out a sweat electric acustic...i forgot the name of it but still couldnt play but i wasnt going to let a good guitar hit the trash so i strumed around on it a little while and pawned it too and got 400bucks for it....after that i gave up the idea of playing for about 3 yrs....

Now that i live in houston and alot of my friends are older than me...like 28+ and im only 22 yesterday actually...i have been around alot of metalheads and truely enj0y the music more than ever..so about a yr ago i buaght a pos squir and amp for 25 bucks at mars music....well that guitar sucks balls so i recnetly buaght a jackson js30 which i still really cant play and am in search for a good guitar teacher in the houston area...looks like i started late but its the one thing thats always come back to me i just looked the other way

[Hotrodder]

Re: questions about this life!

My first guitar was a Teisco that I got from an uncle right after my parents got divorced '80ish. Never really did anything with it, a few lessons that were crap etc..

When I joined the army I got a MIJ Squire Strat (In hindsite that was a pretty good guitar) and a Washburn practice amp was introduced to powercords and that was it. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

After about 3 months I got my Model 4 because the Strat didn't have a good metal sound.

[diablomozart]

Re: questions about this life!

how long have you been playing? since 1987...too tired to do the math right now...i was 17 at the time...

how did you start? a drummer talked me into playing...

how long did it take before you could actually play something and play it good? some people still say i suck...lol

did you take lessons? no...listened to records and slowly but surely picked them out...d.m.

[Hamner1]

Re: questions about this life!

I started at age 13 (now I'm almost 31). I took about 3 years off ('97-'00) when I had to sell all my gear.
I saw Mick Mars with a Warlock in a video. Mom and dad ponied up the money for lessons (the lessons included a guitar and small fender amp). I continued with lessons for about a year, then it was GFTPM.

It took about a week to play an open G chord good [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] After about 3 or 4 months my teacher showed me how to play the intro to Wasted Years.

[cryoprison]

Re: questions about this life!

started when i was 12, lost a lot of time here 'n there due to surgeries, injuries, illness and other commitments that needed attention, i'm 17 'n some change so um... i'll say i've been playing roughly 3yrs. give or take a few months.

i had played a buncha' other instruments before guitar. a kid i usedta' hang out w/ had a drumset, bass, and guitar. i originally was goin' to the store to pick up a bass since bassists seem to be relatively tough to come by and i figured i'd enjoy it. thought about it for a few months and realized i wanted the limelight involved in playing fast, being heard, standing infront of everyone and being the center of attention. loved the idea of a dueling solo infront of an audience w/ a friend just going back 'n forth. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

play something and play it good... the first thing i really put a lot of effort into was Mr. Crowley, took me about 1 month to get it down right, not counting solos. the solos took me an added 2 months together. first solo was always easier for me for whatever reason. so i guess the answer would be 3 - 3½ months. this was after playing for 6 months already. hmm, that changes the answer doesn't it? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] whoops. alright, so 9 - 9½ months after i started playing. never worked on a full song before that. just different licks / riffs 'n all.

i took lessons from a guy i saw in the... Sam... Ash... when i bought the guitar. he was playin' some jazz sorta' stuff, but then kicked up the distortion 'n started jammin' out some Megadeth. we got to talkin' and sure enough i got my lessons from him for awhile off 'n on. stopped 'em completely a little over a year ago. 'eh well. he helped me a lot. lotta' stuff for me to practice 'n warm up w/.

[1trussell]

Re: questions about this life!

I got my first guitar when I was 8, an Alvarez acoustic practiaclly bigger than I was. Everyone in my family was "forced" to play an instrument and I chose guitar (also did some alto and tenor saxophone in the elementary/high school band for 8 years). My first electric was a Yamaha RGZ and it didn't take me long to progress past that. I could play some bits of songs when I was junior high, AC/DC, Ozzy, Van Halen... I got my Charvel 650XL in 92 when I was 13 and it is still one of my main playing guitars. I took lessons for years, but my main interest was learning other peoples' songs. Eventually I got to the point where I could play very well and my instructor told me there wasn't much more he could do for me unless I wanted to join a band and learn how to play with other people. Since I was a college freshman at the time, and I had found other interests, I chose to go my own path. With a surgery on my right hand that caused me to take a 3-4 year hiatus, I began to pick up the guitar again about 2 years ago. I never bothered to learn theory/scales and such and now it is the only thing that is hampering my playing. I can play pretty much anything if I spend enough time to learn it. The problem is having that time (just got married a month and a half ago.) And now I'm here.

[Kamo]

Re: questions about this life!

I've been playing about 5 years. I originaly wanted to play bass, but i decided to have some fun. I got my first guitar after mowing lawns over the summer. Made 160 bux, and got a GRX40 package, with a GRX20 in it. I don't know if that's good or bad.
I took lessons for 2 months, and stopped taking them after he tried to get me into country. [img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
After that, i got bored with guitar, and then i met my cousin, and it turned out that he was very good. I watched him play, and that inspired me to get back into it. So right after i did that, i went out and bought a bass, and now i play that primarily. I've been playing Bass for 3 years. Had lessons for a month, but quit after he tried to get me into country. What is it with guitar teachers and country? o.O

[Sunbane]

Re: questions about this life!

Originally posted by Kamo:
What is it with guitar teachers and country? o.O

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It's a conspiracy! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I've been playing the guitar for... *thinks* ...12 years. Although I was on a long hiatus after I quit my last band.

I've been playing the violin since age 9, being classically schooled on that instrument.

I started with the guitar at age 16, when a friend of mine said that he was going to buy a guitar and get famous. "Yeah riiiight" I thought, but it sounded like fun, so I bought one too. We started our first band and all that.

I've never had a guitar teacher. I've only felt the need to learn technique, which I've learnt from listening and reading. I've never been very interested in leads though - I've mostly been a rhythm player in the Slayer-vein. Playing leads is a fairly new passion with me, and the reason I got into Jacksons. =)

A bunch of years and a couple of bands later, I ended up being lead "vocalist" and rhythm player for a death/doom metal band. It was a lot of fun, but I bailed in the end. They weren't very serious about rehearsals (the drummer wouldn't show up half the time) and they relied on me alone for writing songs. I also had studies to take care of, so I decided to retire any dreams of "making it big".

Nowadays I only play at home. I'm composing a little bit when time allows it, but otherwise I'm fully content with playing Ozzy and Judas songs and polishing my technique. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

'bane

[peabuddy]

Re: questions about this life!

i started out running sound for some friends band at 18. the bass player got married and quit. i wanted to be on stage, so i got a bass for 21 birthday. those bastards still wouldn't let me play!so i started jamming with a drummer i worked with and bought my way in the band(i paid the rent on the pratice room and bought some pa)never had lessons but learned alot from playing with different people.i'll be 40 in nov and i'm still in a working band today [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]