What got you into guitar?

[Lindsey]

Just a question to get a conversation going.

I don't have the greatest story. We had an old acoustic guitar in the attic I picked up. It wasn't playable anymore so I was very lucky my uncle gave me one of his guitars. 10 years later, it needs some fixing but I still play it.

 

[Christian Schulze]

The sound of electric guitar basically. Always loved songs with guitar in it..and said one day I will try. Since I am a lefty I got a classical guitar and changed the strings. After years of having it ( but not playing it due to the fact that I loved electric guitar and several failed attempts) I decided to pick it up and this is now 3 years ago. Now I have 3 guitars 2 electrics

 

[Ed Seith]

I'm not young, so this will be from a "different era" than most of you (1983 or so). Two guitar solos stuck out to me - Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" and REO Speedwagen's "Keep on Loving You" (the reverb-soaked pick-scrape heard round the world). I was mildly autistic (Aspergers) before most people knew what that was, or that it wasn't just kids who sit silently and bang their heads against the wall. I didn't like being around people. I wanted something that would allow me to sit alone in my room for hours without being bothered. Guitar was it.

Eventually, I had to leave my bedroom and find a band, and that's when guitar helped me break the shackles of Asperger's and learn how to be around people. Bass players are quiet, drummers and singers are children, so it was up to the guitar player to learn how to lead and keep the peace.

So I did.

 

[Daniel Sobota]

Heavy metal. The passion for the music and the lifestyle I've had since I was a kid all boiled down to me picking up the instrument and wanting to create something that is able to stand alongside music that inspired me.

I live and breathe this music and would be completely lost without it. Some people have passion for sports, others for martial arts etc, but for me it's metal music.

So I feel like I was meant to do this. It's a part of me.

 

[Ezequiel Romanko]

From what i remember my mom told that when i was 2 years old i would stay for hours watching someone play guitar on the tv or even in person, and one day at the age of 14 or 15 my sister gift me an old nylon strings guitar, and just started learning, cuz i wanted to play Green Day songs on guitar at that age haha, was pretty fun cuz now i don't remember a complete song of GD , but i still like the band old albums haha

 

[Donnie Keeney]

I played trumpet already but I was just fascinated with the guitar. I thought it looked and sounded so cool. It took me forever to convince my parents to let me get one. When I finally did it was frustrating at first but then I just fell in love with the noise.

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

I was not supposed to play guitar initially. I was a singer and quite a decent one. Was winning small competitions and stuff. Then oneday my voice cracked in front of a lot of people on stage and was not fixed for quite sometime. My parents suggested I should learn some musical instrument to stay in touch with music until my voice recovers. First we went to a piano teacher but he was too costly. Then we decided to try guitar. It was a super instant decision but man was it an important one.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Honestly? I dont even know what pushed me to want to start.but I wasnt really all to into it until my girlfriend left me. All that open time. The rest is history really.

 

[Donovan Etue]

First time that something clicked that made me want to pickup guitar was seeing Avenged Sevenfold in the last cutscene in Call of Duty Black Ops 2 playing Carry On. It was my first time hearing and really listening to music that fast, that melodic, that aggressive! Growing up with Mom and my grandparents being 40's-80's Country/Folk/Bluegrass listeners. Dad listens to mostly classic 70's/80's rock music with some 90's grunge in there. So finding Syn shredding at what seemed like Mach 4 on that guitar was bewildering to me! I listened to a few more of their songs and thought they were alright initially but forgot about them for a few years. Time went on and I started searching for my own music taste so I asked my uncle about some metal bands to get into. His recommendations were to check out Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden. So when I had the chance I searched up Judas Priest on YouTube. First song that I listen to was Breaking the Law followed by You've Got Anotha Thing Comin'. I really enjoyed You've Got Anotha Thing Comin' so I listened to that on repeat for a half hour or so until I notice there is a recent live performance of the song so I had to check that out. It was off of their Epitaph DVD and I was even more amazed! The tone of the guitars was like sonic gold to me. Richie kicks in with his solo and it blew me away! That performance made me want to know how to do that! How to make something so melodic and fast can be played like that! After that I prioritized getting a guitar to learn to play! I didn't get one for a little over 3 years but when I did it felt just right in my hands. What I had dreamed about was finally here! I've enjoyed every step in the journey so far 8 months in and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon!

 

[Dominik Gräber]

My Brother. He got an acoustic one as a present in 2015, which was around the time I started listening to more Metal.
I listened with more Attention than ever before and started to Love the Sound of an electric guitar.
So as my Brother didn't really Show interest I picked it Up and what can I say, Christmas the Same year I Had my First amp and an Ibanez guitar.

 

[Ethan Keeling]

I watched the school kf rock and was into greenday and just wanted to do that. Then I became bored kf justpower chords and slown down. Then I found avenged, followed by the school and never looked back!

 

[idssdi]

Basically I started listening to Avenged Sevenfold and in particular City Of Evil a lot. Also the self - titled and waking the fallen as well. And there's this clip on YouTube called 'synyster Gates rock am ring guitar solo' and as a 14 year old that got me into playing guitar. I got myself one of those shitty cheap Spanish guitar and (attempted to ) learned how to play the ending of sidewinder and M.I.A and a bunch of other riffs of songs I liked.

 

[Rute Rodrigues]

Pretty good stories here. When I was 5 I went to a music store with my parents. I was amazed looking to all the guitars and drum kits!! The guitars were so beautifull! Then I saw a boy jamming with a guitar, and I asked my mum to buy me a guitar. She said "when you're older". Then, when I was 10 I moved to other school, were they learned music. They had a real studio with guitars, a piano and drums. (But they only teached flute, probablly they didnt want 10 year old kids near of expenssive gear) The first time I went to that studio, I didnt want to get out x) And then, my teacher told my parents that I should learn how to play an instrument. And then you know, I went learn how to play guitar finally at 11, after so many times asking my parents I think everytime I saw a guitar player I asked my parents a guitar When my local music school closed, I signed up here

 

[Edward John]

Led Zeppelin.

 

[Autumn]

I had a red Fender Squier kit that my brother had passed on to me after he gave up playing. I decided to pick it up after hearing Slash's "Anastasia". Slow progress and a few years later, I finally am playing consistently and I truly enjoy playing and learning. Regrettably, I tried my hand at guitar modification with the red Squier and ended up ruining it. However, that guitar will always be my fav RIP Squier

 

[Can_kaygisiz]

Smoke on the water

 

[Gabriel Perez]

I got into guitar mostly because my family wanted me to get into something to motivate me to do better in school. Now they have a college student who is going to school for Music Studies with an Emphasis in guitar. I really thank Avenged Sevenfold, Breaking Benjamin, and Green Day. They were huge for me when I was getting into guitar. What really turned me to stick with this instrument as my career is the Synyster Gates School, and I signed up November 14, 2017 and seeing some of the lessons that were available at the time it really just motivated me to get better.

 

[Akshat Rawat]

Started out with queen and Linkin Park when I was in kindergarten haha (my brother introduced me) , then went through phases over the years ( bLink, simple plan, green day, sum41, bfmv). Then in 4th grade I saw afterlife's video and I was like I WANNA BE ABLE TO DO THAT WTF xD
My brother had two guitars then and occasionally would give me lessons. But being the impatient little shit that I was, I never followed. I still used to pick up the guitar here and there over the years when I saw too many Syn videos () but never learned anything properly. Fast forward to two years back, I'm almost done with school and really started learning now (on the same guitar which was my brother's, now, almost a decade old). This was the time when music (especially Syn's work) wasn't just something to listen to for me. It sorta became a way of life. The one thing that kept thinking was,

"I don't love it enough if it doesn't push me to start learning". Never looked back since then

 

[Manvir B]

I remember my awesome Irish English teacher loved metal, and so did I, he showed me this amazing song called " Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Marty" by Trivium and i remember listening to it at home and i was like , holy shit I wanna do this, and so my love for metal grew and grew and so did my desire to do this stuff on guitar and eventually make my own songs.

 

[Alicia Willis]

I think for me, I always loved guitar. The sound of it. Whether it’s acoustic or electric. Growing up my mom listened to nothing but rock ! Real shit my earliest childhood memory is being in the back of my moms camero with the t-tops our blaring Metallica and singing to the top of my lungs (I know, that’s a pure white trash image isn’t it hahaha)

seriously though, my mother loved rock music. All genres of rock. So I grew up listening to stuff like Metallica, the scorpions, Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses, megadeath, slayer, sabbath, heart,Jimi, Stevie etc etc.

I had wanted a guitar for as long as I can remember. I got one when I was 14 and was stoked. My mom even had a tutor come to the house. But I got bored easily, as most teenagers do. He wanted to teach me theory and
I just wanted to jam ! Haha.
Many moons later I married a man who plays and he inspired me to try and learn again !
I’m now 30 and still just want to jam that’s the great thing about this site. I can learn some awesome shit and jam a little and then take my time learning the theory side of it as well.