flatfourfan
I was started on rock from an early age, growing up in the UK in the 70's meant that I was exposed to a lot of stuff that wouldn't of been playing in SA.
However I do remember the first time that I ever saw an Iron Maiden (Powerslave) LP and thought whooooooa. Been into metal and rock since I was about 14ish.
BassBarry
Uriah Heep, John Denver on thick old 8-Track cassettes. ☹
Squonk
BassBarry wrote
Uriah Heep, John Denver on thick old 8-Track cassettes. ☹
I remember those ?
In 1974 my dad got himself a Ford Granada Ghia and it was kitted out with a 8-Track.
He had that first John Denver Greatest Hits and some Springbok Hits, it was all very scary!
Malkav
Backstreet Boys
Sean
Chad Adam Browne wrote
Backstreet Boys
It's obvious
Averatu
My parents have a substantial classical vinyl collection, and that B&O turntable worked overtime. I dont know the names of compositions or the person responsible, but I find myself knowing the melodies and structures of the most obscure classical stuff.
Lethe
I think the first thing that ever cought my attention was Mozarts Fur Elise. Also a lot of Tchaikovsky. My mother loves classical music and so I picked up the classical guitar. She also got me a lot into the Beatles and Queen. My brother then got me into Megadeth and Amorphis which inspired me to pick up the electric guitar.
Jayhell
As a young kid, I didn't much care for music until my parents bought an album called Kings of Rock 'n Roll with artists like Fats Domino, Little Richard, Bill Hayley, Chubby Chekkers and more. It was the only album I liked for most of my childhood. Then when I was about 13 I discovered NIRVANA and Violent Femmes, my first 2 tapes were, UNplugged in NEw York and Add it up. But the band that got me to pick up a guitar was Rage Against The Machine. I wanted to be Tom Morello!
Squonk
At Primary school 1969-1975, there weren't many people to share my love of music. Most people thought I was a bit strange. Apart from the odd girl who was fixated with David Cassidy (The Bieber of the 70's) there was a scattering of people who knew something about music.
Most kids were familiar with 'Springbok Hits' which were cover versions of the latest songs. All we had in those days were a couple of programs on Springbok Radio, almost all presented by David Gresham who would showcase the latest pop hits albeit about 6 months behind the rest of the world. LM Radio was there but they were possibly only a little more up to date than Gresham.
I can remember listening to Deep Purple "Made in Japan" and Uriah Heep "The Wizard" with some girls who were a bit older than me, this seemed to be the case at my primary school, the girls seemed a bit more switched on than the boys!
High School was a different story. I found at least a handful of like minded people and we used to read the NME and swop records like crazy, I can still remember swopping my Queen collection (Queen, QueenII, Sheer Heart Attack, A day at the Races, A night at the opera) for a whole bunch of Uriah Heep albums, I did regret it ☹
But it was all good stuff, discovering music, and with no internet, you had to go on hearsay or whatever you read in magazines and books, many records were bought that were swopped back out again ?
The Road Goes Ever On
Jack-Flash-Jr
I think I told this story on here somewhere before but I listened to a lot of Elvis era rock age 10 on - had to seek it out (parents not musically inclined), then heard Satisfaction on TV at 12, stole my first Stones tape shortly after that... ?
strataxe
Born in 75 - music was in the family, listning to it, I was exposed to a large variety, from my grandparent;s music, 50s-60s, to my parents stuff, late 60s 70s, from Elvis , to Bee gees , Beatles, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Comodores, Lional ritchy, Abba, QUEEN, Carpenters, classical, piano hits, disco...
deefstes
strataxe wrote
Born in 75 - music was in the family, listning to it, I was exposed to a large variety, from my grandparent;s music, 50s-60s, to my parents stuff, late 60s 70s, from Elvis , to Bee gees , Beatles, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Comodores, Lional ritchy, Abba, QUEEN, Carpenters, classical, piano hits, disco...
Nice one strataxe, I can relate to many of those, maybe because I'm also a '75 model.
Jack-Flash-Jr
The '74s have higher collectors value though ?
Squonk
Jack Flash Jr wrote
The '74s have higher collectors value though ?
The 63's are just one year away from 50 ?
Feel about 21 but reality is in the mirror
Bob-Dubery
Jack Flash Jr wrote
The '74s have higher collectors value though ?
Bah! You need to be pre-CBS.
vic
Jack Flash Jr wrote
The '74s have higher collectors value though ?
Only if you like Norlin models ! ?
Warren
I was pondering this the other day.
Unlike many of you dudes, I didn't have any real closeness with guitar-based music as a youngster.
Growing up, my folks mostly played whatever was on the radio, and my formative years were in the '80s. I remember driving around in the Kruger Park with Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, George Michael, Roxette et al playing in the car.
Even when I started high school, I was more into "dance" and "techno" music. Stuff like Snap! ("The Power" and "Rhythm is a Dancer" were faves), Dr. Alban etc.
Back then, groups in school were very cliquey: the guys who were into alternative music and metal (from Sisters of Mercy to Metallica) were generally not parts of the groups I hung out in, and although I did listen to some of that stuff I wasn't particularly phased either way. There was no "OMG" moment for me. ?
When I was about 16, my girlfriend had an acoustic guitar that she had been given when she was younger, but she never played it. I started fooling around on it and found it quite easy to pick up stuff that I heard on the radio or on an album. I think the first song I learned was a Shawn Phillips song called "The Ballad of Casey Deiss".
After that I started to listen to stuff like Live (Throwing Copper), REM (particularly Out of Time and Automatic for the People), Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls etc. Somehow during the '90s I managed to miss the entire Nirvana and Pearl Jam grunge era, only coming back to and appreciating that much later. Basically, I got quite into anything that I could try and reproduce with a few chords and my voice.
After leaving school my absolute favourite bands were Third Eye Blind, and The Cure. Mostly because that music is associated with a certain time in my life when I was on a road trip with my best mate, but their stuff was some of the only stuff I still kept on repeat.
Then it all stopped, somewhere. After a very long time of not playing any guitar at all, about 4 years ago I bought John Mayer's Where the Light Is, on a whim from Look 'n' Listen. I thought the cover looked pretty cool, but I couldn't really remember any of his songs. ?
Playing that DVD...that was probably my "OMG" moment. I was completely and utterly blown away. I didn't know you could do that stuff on an acoustic or an electric guitar. A week later I went out and bought myself a Tanglewood semi-hollow (now owned by the distinguished Squonk) and got heavily back into playing the guitar. I started digging out info on every well-known player out there, getting into all kinds of music that somehow, my entire life, I'd glossed over.
So, I've arrived very late in terms of discovering all these great players we talk about, but in some ways that has been fun. The internet has made it so easy to check out different stuff: an impossibility even in the late '90s when I was a teenager.
On the other hand, I don't have these very deep and longstanding roots connecting me to certain artists and their music, like many of you do, and that's something of a shame. I sometimes find myself very "in-between" when it comes to musical choices: I don't have this burning desire to be a blues guitarist, or a rock guitarist, or a metal guitarist etc. I tend to hear something I like and then want to try that...which often disappates my efforts because I'm not focusing on one thing. That said, I'm also very open to pretty much anything, except (for the most part) metal: I can and do listen to certain metal groups from an "appreciation" point of view, but not really just to enjoy it.
When it comes down to it, I love to just play the instrument. I love the tones I'm currently getting out of my rig, and my favourite thing at the moment is just to improvise stuff over these jazzy backtracks I downloaded. I just like the way it sounds, and I can sit there and do that for hours. 8) I do still devote time to trying to learn actual songs, theory and technique as well, but for pure enjoyment I just like to play and not worry too much.
For the past year or so I've been very into the "faster" players, or the guys with more technical takes on older themes. I love Paul Gilbert, Joe Bonamassa (his tone on Sloe Gin is my favourite tone, ever), Shawn Lane, Eric Johnson, Guthrie Govan et al. Obviously as a guitarist they're always going to be impressive, but I also genuinely just love the way they sound. I gravitate towards jazzier, unusual note choices so Robben Ford is also a favourite.
