glug
My Brother was best drummer at the national school of the arts a few years ago. All his band practices and gigs lead me to pick up the guitar. I then bought an acoustic Yamaha F340 and started learning but got no where after a year, i could only play a few Chords. The i stoped for about 6 months last month i bought an electric and want to get back into training my fingers. My 4 finger is so weak. especially when i play scales.
Oh yeah and Rodriguez Y Gabriella, love watching them play
NorioDS
Riaan wroteI find nowadays that I'm rediscovering the stuff I grew up with, and appreciating it much more now.
That's been one of the best parts of this whole journey for me. All the stuff we used to listen to and love as a kid had all these amazing solos that I never even noticed. Practically virtuoso stuff, some of it and who knew?
Now that I can appreciate it, I no longer
like those songs, I totally adore them and wanna hump them ?
Music means a whole lot more when you can appreciate what goes into making it!
Spyke
LMinnie wrote
My best friend Spyke.
Id always wanted to learn but never had the time or someone to teach me.
Enter Spyke and 6 months later we were jamming together.
Influences were basically 90's alternative/rock.Bush,Nirvana,Smashing Pumpkins,Offspring that kinda stuff
Ta, thanks bud! Still love jamming with you when we get the chance.
I can't really recall what inspired me.
My one friend at the time was keen to learn guitar and i think i just followed suit.
My love of guitar comes from the fact that i love music and i can think of nothing better than being able to recreate the music that moves me. This has now evolved into me writing pieces that move me.
arjunmenon
Wish i'd posted here earlier..
I was first inspired by the guitar player in my older brother's band. The band were doing Journey, Whitesnake and Van Halen covers when i was captivated by guitar music. However, the people who make me want to get better and better are (in no particular order) :
Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Steve Lukather, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Neil Schon, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Morse, Lee Ritenour, Tony MacAlpine, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Nuno Bettencourt, Brian May, Jimi Hendrix, Marty Friedman, Dimebag, Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Shawn Lane, Michael Romeo, Steve Howe, Gary Moore, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Eric Johnson, Billy McLaughlin, Eric Clapton, Freddie King and John Lee Hooker.
PaulJ
Jimmy Page...Led Zepplin, as soon as I heard "In my time of dying' it was tickets for me,and that's when the obsession started.
dee
My first inspiration must be Jimmy Page as well. No other guitarist grabbed me as much as with the opening lines of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Rock and Roll".
Jimmy Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen as well, and lately Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. Not because of their technical abilities, but their pure style and attitude while playing. They make it seem so smooth and easy.
LMinnie
Id like to add to my reply...
Girls!!
Alot of us start playing to impress girls!
Chicks dig guitarists.....easiest way to get laid in the 90's was to play a guitar!
Shallow I know.. ?
Riaan
Chicks dig guitarists.....easiest way to get laid in the 90's was to play a guitar!
...I wonder what I did wrong then.. ☹..?
LMinnie
It worked for me!
arjunmenon
Lawrence wrote
It worked for me!
Ye lucky sod ?
whusmaname
My first thought when I saw this question was Dave Matthews, but that'd be a lie. My mother was the one that taught me how to play, starting with House of the Rising Sun by whoever it was that played it (Forgive my ignorance, I just never bothered to find out who the original artist was.)
AlanRatcliffe
Gee wrote
House of the Rising Sun by whoever it was that played it (Forgive my ignorance, I just never bothered to find out who the original artist was.)
One of the first I learned too. It's a traditional song of unknown origin, but the bet known version is the one by the Animals.
Riaan wrote
Chicks dig guitarists.....easiest way to get laid in the 90's was to play a guitar!
...I wonder what I did wrong then.. ☹..?
Riaan, you can't fool me - I've seen pics of your wife and know she's a muso too, so you did something right!
Renesongs
It's a traditional song of unknown origin, but the bet known version is the one by the Animals.
Ironically Bob Dylan was famous for his version before the Animals did it. House of the rising sun was the first two songs I ever learned along with 4 000 000 other guitarist (just a rough guess). I still teach this to my noobs what's cool is you can con them that it's contemporary. The band Muse has released a version recently.
AlanRatcliffe
I didn't realise that the Dylan version predated the Animals one - I don't really like his version anyway. Heh - when I learned to play it my friends thought it was a song by Hot RS (remember that version? Was banned pretty quickly because of the "orgasm" noises, but the clubs loved it).
Renesongs
I didn't realise that the Dylan version predated the Animals one
I picked that up from a Martin Scorsese Doccie on Dylan. Dylan would do numbers and other bands would turn them into hits.
I don't really like his version anyway.
I hated Dylan's version of All Along the watchtower LOL ?
Squonk
House of the rising sun, this song is what made me play guitar. The next big moment for me was seeing "the song remains the same" at the old Colliseum in JHB in 1976. They setup about 100 speakers and did this blow me away. I wanted to be Jimmy Page for a long time after that.
The first 3 songs I learned were "Venus" , "I'd love you to want me" (Lobo) and the first "House of the Rising Sun". I still remember battling to play the F chord, I practised to death and it became part of me.
Neil Young was another great influence in the early days
whusmaname
Ah, I remember the artist I learnt it from. They were called HOT RS (The title of the song acronym'med.)
On a more impressive note, did you know that you can sing the words to Amazing Grace to this tune? It sounds so wicked!
deanBailey
Me and a few friends are big music fans where we'd (at the time we were 14) watch MTV everyday and buy albums and collect 'em etc but not only did we have ZERO musical (instrument) knowledge, we hadn't even touched any guitars or basses etc.
So one day I was sitting in a science class in grade 9 back in high school and I turned to a friend and said:
"Lets start a band"
Then (still in Science) like kids with big dreams we randomly shouted out,
Vocalist of The Horror Cast: "I want to do vocals",
another friend: "I'll play drums"
And last friend: "I'll play bass"
That of course left me with Guitar as the last choice lol
It's was quite funny if you think about it, had someone else chosen guitar I'd probably have chosen another instrument and not be here.
Lil-Bass-Goddess
Oi Oi!
I've always been a bass person, but the man who got me hooked is John Entwistle!
He revolutionized the way bass was played {using all 4 fingers, instead of the usual 2 finger style} as well as changing the idea that bass could also be classed as a solo instrument ? If i can just get even a little bit close to mastering his style of playing I'll be more than chuffed!
i am embarassed to admit that i used to love the Hole bass lines alot :-[ ... even though i never really liked the songs...
Metal wise, Metallica were my ultimate metal bass line love! ♥
But now im into heavier stuff
AlanRatcliffe
I've always been a bass person, but the man who got me hooked is John Entwistle!
I can understand that! I love watching his hands while he plays - they're just so wild in movement, but fluid and graceful too. Quadrophenia has some of the best bass tones ever.
