Oh wow, great thread idea Brian!
I was around 11 or 12 years old when I got my first guitar. It was so cool to me at the time. It was a used Peavey T-15 brown metallic with cream pick-guard. Totally country and western guitar, but I didn't care. It had a built in 15-watt amp with like a 6x9 speaker built right into the case. I took very good care of it, never put stickers or altered anything.
I took about 6-8 guitar lessons to get me started. I remember it was $12hr for a 1-hour session. It was in the basement of the music store that my parents purchased my T-15.
The main reason I started playing was to simply to impress the girls. My first cool cassette was Metallica -Kill em' All. Then I got some Ozzie albums, like Diary of a Madman. I loved watching MTV's headbangers ball, and was totally inspired by the RATT song "Way Cool JR" --because of the chicks in the video =)
My first 'real' riff to learn was Black Sabbath "Iron Man" and the good ol' classic "Smoke on the water". The first song I learned all the way through was Metallica "Seek and Destroy".
I first started jammin with my cousin's best friend, who played his older brother's drum kit. We jammed loud and proud and had no idea what were doing really (at least I didn't).
I've played in small basement jam sessions through-out high school. I'd play for hours up hours in my bedroom. I lived behind my guitar. It went where ever I went.
I never played out in live gigs, done some parties for drunk people. Thank god they were drunk, because my timing sucks. That's my weakness in playing guitar, I was mostly a bedroom player that never realized that timing was another skill to learn.
Now in my older age, I realize that guitar playing is a passion and a life hobby of mine. I love music and enjoy playing guitar. I don't pressure myself to learn new stuff... I just like to play what feels good and entertains my ears.
...and that pretty much sums up my story.
Next.
