Who influenced you....

[12Gauge]

to start playing guitar.

 

I hate to date myself but for me it was the Beatles. I remember seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show back in 62 or 63 for the first time. I thought they were just the coolest band I had ever heard. I damn near wore out my older sister's 45's after that. I was squawking around on a violin at the time but, no way. I had to have a guitar.

 

Later on in years I thought the Ventures were pretty cool. It wasn't easy for a 12 year old kid to muster up $5.00 for an LP in those days but I certainly got my money's worth from it when I did buy one. Over and over and over and.............

 

Of course, I started on acoustic, made my way to electric but now I'm back on acoustic to stay.

 

Funny thing, I still have my violin but not my first guitar. How did that happen??? I never, but never play it??

[panhandler]

Cat Stevens & Johnny Cash

[MePeel]

I was a bit young for the Beatles. My motivation came from Jim Croce , and later John Denver. I loved Croce's use of tempo and his deft use of finger and strumming. With Denver,it was the fingerpicking. I got their songbooks and just taught myself. I'm not saying that I'm good at it , but I do OK. I've been strictly acoustic, although I did have one electric. It wasn't for me.
Mel

[Melodeous]

All of them and none I can remember well enough to say why or how.

[bigald18]

Bob Dylan

[Sangemon]

Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller, Bob Dylan, John Mayall, Neil Young, George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Yarrow, Dave Van Ronk, Buddy Guy, Johnny Rivers, Joe Walsh, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Joan Jett, Keith Richard, Jerry Garcia, Taj Mahal, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Boz Skaggs, Joe Pass, Les Paul, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin....in no particular order.

I could go on, but no matter how many names I type in, there will always be more that I'll remember after I post it, so that's it for me, for now.

[Opa John]

Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy and The Kingston Trio...In that order.... it all started back in the 50's. I've found that people still like to hear "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Scotch and Soda"......"Rebel Rouser"?.....not so much.

I've only owned one electric guitar in my life. Sold it after a few months. I haven't really had all that many acoustics over the years.....about 14 or 15 as far as I can remember. I've got it down to three for right now.

I tried five-string banjo.......didn't work out very well. Bought and sold three violins (fiddles) during the last year or so.......wasn't all that great on those either. I'm on my second mandolin in three years. I'm doing OK with that.

I play other instruments that wouldn't "fly" on this forum, but the acoustic guitar is my main "squeeze". I've been consistently at it for over 50 years now and I still love it. My entire repertoire consists of about 150 songs. It really should be a lot more by now....but, I'm "picky"! There are a lot of other songs that I COULD do, but DON'T because I just don't care for them.

[MattSkibaIsGOD]

in my electric days, the first one was Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio, but I got the acoustic bug from Ian Anderson.

[KATMAN]

At an early age,I liked the Beatles.Later in years,I got into heavier music like,Hendrix,Black Sabbath,Deep Purple,etc. I had a soft spot for acoustic music.I was 24 when I first took up the guitar,it was a acoustic.I listened to Neil Young and James Taylor.I fiqured I couldn't wail like Jimi,Tony,or Ritchie.But I could strum like Neil Young,and I played acoustic for a couple of years.Then I heard some Phil Keaggy albums,a guy who played both acoustuc and electric with the same passion. I fuse all my influences in my playing,Clapton,Harrison,Neil Young,James Taylor,and Phil Keaggy. Atully I was influenced by anybody who picked up a guitar.

[Stackabones]

My dad.

[jamesp]

Dave was my scout Troop leader. He'd bring his D-28 (wonder if he still has that...) on campouts and Sing (us) Back Home around the campfire. He was a very cool guy, and still is I'm sure. Also, my big sister showed me my earliest finger picking songs. She's the tops.

[Northstar]

The Cult.

 

Can I write this even though it's the AG forum?!

[kwakatak]

My cousin. He's a few years older than me and as an impressionable little boy I saw him use his musical skills to pick up girls.

 

Well, partly. I've told this tale many times but here goes:

 

Sometime back in the mid-1970s my mom and I (the sum total of my immediate family) and my aunt's (mom's sister) family went on one of our traditional family vacations to the Jersey shore. My cousin was in his teens at the time and going through a rebellious phase and I of course thought he was cool.

 

Well, one day while at the beach I spent a little too much time in the sun so by the end of the day I was completely sapped of energy and sunburnt. All the adults had made dinner reservations though and weren't gonna break them as long as they had a babysitter - namely my cousin - so the two of us were left alone.

 

Of course, being 15 and stuck with an 8 year-old cousin is tantamount to torture so he didn't pay me much mind - especially since I was crashed out on the day bed. So he did what any 15 year-old boy would do, he went and did his own thing - though he didn't go far.

 

At the time our two families split the cost of renting an upstairs apartment in a house right behind the dunes off the beach in Surf City, Long Beach Island. We had a deck that overlooked the ocean and could hear the surf day and night. Downstairs was another apartment and it just so happened to be a family with two teenage girls.

 

Now, a bit of background about my cousin: he was a bass player in a garage band with some friends. They played mostly progressive rock stuff like Yes and Rush but weren't your typical guitar/bass/drums type of band. They also experimented with different types of percussion and stringed instruments, including a dulcimer which my cousin happened to bring along just to have something to play on vacation.

 

Anyway, that night he went outside and sat at the top of the steps and played his dulcimer. He wasn't playing it for me; he thought I was out of it - and I was - but I heard every note drifting through the along with the crashing ebb and flow of the surf and the crying of the seagulls and the moaning of the wind through the open window.

 

It was a surreal moment that forever changed my life. Before that I was just a kid who liked to doodle and was starting to get bored in school enough to start clowning around and getting into trouble.

 

I admit that I didn't fully become hooked at playing, though. I did do more noodling on my mother's Kay folk than idle experimentation and she knew it and MADE me take lessons. After taking lessons on and off for the first couple of years I got hooked while in high school and it helped me through some tough emotional times of youth. Nowadays it helps me bleed off stress and when I let my mind wander while noodling it sort of acts like a form of meditation.

 

As for my cousin, he gave it up for a long time but my aunt told me that she was gonna buy him a new acoustic for Xmas to help him with his stress. I told her to get him a Yamaha FG730S but haven't spoken to her in awhile so I don't know what came of it.

[rhancox]

My two oldest brothers.

My oldest brother, George, started playing in high school (late 60's) but I didn't pay much attention at that time. Our grandparents got him a nylon string guitar for his 18th birthday (which he still has and still plays from time to time). After he got drafted and was then sent to Germany, I remember my folks packing up his guitar to ship to him.

It was during his time in the Army, when he would come home, he would play his guitar, and that's when I took notice. He would always play Teach Your Children and it would always make me cry (I was only 10-11). I knew I wanted to learn to play. But it would be another 5-6 years before I started.

When I was about 15, I borrowed his guitar for a short time and started to learn. Then I borrowed my other brother's steel string Yamaha and kept at it. They both had a lot of song books, Neil Young, Beatles, etc, and I started learning songs I already knew.

The same grandparents that bought the guitar for my oldest brother bought me one for my 16th birthday. It was a Hohner. I think it cost about $80 at the time. I had that guitar until I was about 19-20 when it got stolen while I was living with a friend. My grandmother decided to help me get a replacement so she and one of my brothers pitched in to get me my Hohner 12-string (in my sig). That was about '78-'79. It was the only other guitar I've ever owned until I bought my Yamaha 12-string last October after my mom passed away.

Musically, I cut my teeth on Neil Young and Jimmy Buffet.

[Samilyn]

My mom's boyfriend played and sang all the great folk tunes of the '60s. He was quite a musician and had a wonderful voice.

 

When he came to visit, if us kids were good and went to bed without a fuss, he'd come up and sing us a bedtime song after we were tucked in.

 

My fave was Blowin' in the Wind and I always asked him to play that song.

 

One evening, he showed up with a little guitar that had only the 4 treble strings on it. He also had a sheet with lyrics and chord diagrams to Blowin' in the Wind.

 

He showed me how to read the chord diagrams for D, A7 and G, the "G" chord being a simple 1-string chord.

 

I was told that when I could play and sing that song without messing up, I'd get those two bass strings.

 

The following week I proudly performed Blowin' in the Wind and "won" my bass strings.

 

Well, he and mom split up shortly thereafter, and I only remember him as Big Bill. I wish he could have heard me play, seen me perform and somehow know what a priceless gift he gave me.

[zachoff]

I played bass first and guys like Eric Avery, Dave Ellefson, and Frank Bello were my early influences. When I started monkeying around on guitar I was into Nirvana, Green Day, Pennywise, NOFX and all that other early-mid 90s alt/punk stuff. These days, I'd figure Neil Young more than anything. I find myself trying to figure out more of his songs than anyone else, anyway. J Mascis too, but his songs are too damn hard to play... I just love Dinosaur Jr so I try and fail.

[jandrew]

Well, there are many, many influences on my playing, but who influenced me
to take up guitar?

That would have to be: Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash; both themselves and
the talent they had on their respective variety shows in the late 60's
early 70's. Also, a neighbor I had in Topeka, Kansas(again, late 60's/early
70's) who sat on his porch and played guitar and sang.

cheers,
andrew

[Jimmy Chaos]

My mom's boyfriend played and sang all the great folk tunes of the '60s. He was quite a musician and had a wonderful voice. When he came to visit, if us kids were good and went to bed without a fuss, he'd come up and sing us a bedtime song after we were tucked in. My fave was Blowin' in the Wind and I always asked him to play that song. One evening, he showed up with a little guitar that had only the 4 treble strings on it. He also had a sheet with lyrics and chord diagrams to Blowin' in the Wind. He showed me how to read the chord diagrams for D, A7 and G, the "G" chord being a simple 1-string chord. I was told that when I could play and sing that song without messing up, I'd get those two bass strings. The following week I proudly performed Blowin' in the Wind and "won" my bass strings. Well, he and mom split up shortly thereafter, and I only remember him as Big Bill. I wish he could have heard me play, seen me perform and somehow know what a priceless gift he gave me.

 

 

Thats a great story Sami.

 

For me it was My Dad. He bought me my 1st guitar and taught me a few chords. The 1st songbook I learned from was Jimmy Nail's Crocodile Shoes. I could play every song in that book.

 

My Dad didn't stick around long after that so all I got from him was the basics... from there it's was R.E.M. and in particular Peter Buck who I imitated, with those 60's influenced jangly arpeggios.

 

These days Colin Meloy of the Decemberists is whom I admire most. as a guitarist and as an amazing songwriter.

 

Music was the only good thing my dad ever did for me. We don;t speak anymore (and haven't for years) but in a strange way I'll always be greateful to him for starting me off.

[Jo Pal]

My dad used to play lullabies on guitar for me, my sisters and brother and hasn't stopped playing music for us since. I suppose it just seemed natural for me to eventually pick one up and learn.

[darkwaters]

For me it was Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and some of the guys in my grade 9 class waaaayyyy back in '70.

And...... welcome Jo Pal

[masterbuilt]

My dad.

 

 

That's Cool.

[masterbuilt]

My mother was a country music songwriter. She hung around with Tom T. Hall, Hillman Hall, Bobby Bare, Dave Dudley, Johnny Rodriguez, Mac Sherry, Bob Dorsey, Dewey Jones, and a bunch more. I must have been influenced a lot by these people always playing music in our "family room" and on the patio by our swimming pool. My father's family members were into Irish rebel tunes and drinking songs. They influenced me too. That's where I got the vocal harmonies.

I started playing guitar at age ten and by the time I was in my early twenties I'd played with some of the big names in country music. But I jumped ship and started playing rock and roll for a time. Influences there were groups that played syncopated rhythms (Doobies), and Boston, Kansas, Styx, some others.

I was influenced heavily by John Denver, the Eagles, and some other groups and artists with great lyrics, great vocals, and great showmanship.

[rickoshea]

well my ma and da were artists so there sure as hell wasn't any money to go on guitars lol ... what made me want to pick one up ( or borrow one then )? - Bowie singing and playing Ziggy Stardust

[DaveAronow]

Robin Zander. It wasnt so much his playing... I was a teenager, I really was starting to get into loving music as opposed to just listening to it.

 

I heard all those rabid girls sreaming in the Live At Boudakon recording of I Want You To Want Me, and I thought it must be the coolest thing in the world to be in that band. It was my favorite song for like a year.

 

Then I saw a video of the song, and I wanted to have long hair like Robin Zander and play in a badass band like Cheap Trick.

 

The rest is history. For 30 years I have pretty much led the life of a rockstar(without rockstar money of course) and dont plan on stopping anytime soon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DmpM8DMZ9E&feature=related

[YOUTUBE]_DmpM8DMZ9E&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

[Stackabones]

 

My mother was a country music songwriter. She hung around with Tom T. Hall, Hillman Hall, Bobby Bare, Dave Dudley, Johnny Rodriguez, Mac Sherry, Bob Dorsey, Dewey Jones, and a bunch more. I must have been influenced a lot by these people always playing music in our "family room" and on the patio by our swimming pool. My father's family members were into Irish rebel tunes and drinking songs. They influenced me too. That's where I got the vocal harmonies.

 

 

Did she write tunes for any of them?

 

Family ties!

 

I played trumpet before I played guitar. My mom played trumpet when she was in high school -- first chair!

 

Before I played trumpet, I took some piano lessons (because of Beethoven, no relation). I couldn't continue with piano, for we didn't have a piano.