Guitar: What's in it for you?

[caveman]

As a child I was surrounded by music and started earlier than most. Mom and grandma played piano and sang songs from the 30s, 40s and early 50s. Dad played guitar, sang the country music of the day and frequently had friends over to play. Granddad played tenor banjo in a Dixieland band and lap steel in a Hawaiian band.

 

The first band I ever played in was in the 3rd grade. We had those black recorder thingies they called "song flutes" and played the Debbie Reynolds smash hit "Tammy" in front a school function.

 

Later in Jr. and high school I was in the barbershop quartet and played Bb corronette in the marching band.

 

At this same time I played guitar in my first band. The school had a stage band that played standards and I was Johny on the spot. I've been singing and playing guitar in bands ever since.

 

A lot of folks never get what they want but I did and had a great trip along the way. But now I'm in my 60s and am losing the passion/energy to put in the effort to put out a quality product. This will probably be my last year doing the rock band thing but I'm far from giving it all up.

 

There's a fair market for entertainment at nursing homes and senior citizen centers. I'll be going back to the tunes I learned as a child and do what I love for as long as I possibly can.

 

What's in for you?

[Dogsinotpalc]

I just love music and guitar presented itself as tangible. My grandfather's trombone and flute were beyond me, but my neighbor had a guitar and so did my dad in the back of the closet. I stopped pursing it beyond personal enjoyment in college. I used to be pretty decent and growing all the time and have done nothing but regressed mightily over the past decade and half.

 

Now my biggest interest in playing is getting my older son interested in playing some sort of instrument and how it makes my baby son just listen and smile. It's about the music, which was a small part of the lack of professional music aspirations. I realized all the bull{censored} had a greater potential to negatively effect my love of music and that the chances of "making it" were too small to try and push through it all. I've read many quotes that sum it up nicely to the effect of: "If you want to have a career playing music, DON'T because you're looking at endless compromise and discouragement. If you HAVE to play music then give it everything you can and enjoy the ride."

 

I'm one of those folks that really loves playing, but not really anymore than just listening to great music. I lacked the "have to" factor and willingness to play the necessary games, regardless of the potential payoff. No regrets as I still love music.

[Rex Machete]

well my parents started me out on cello in 3rd grade, and around high school I got sick of it. Once I picked up a guitar and had the freedom to play whatever I wanted without a teacher or conductor telling me what to do, I never put it down.

[kayd_mon]

Well, I picked up a guitar as a means to pick up girls. Never worked, still doesn't, doubt it ever will for me.

 

...but I do have a lot of fun playing. I'm in three bands/projects, and I play out at least once a weekend. I write songs all the time - some of them for one of my bands, others just for me - and I get an artistic outlet and personal fulfillment that I created something. I hope to one day be part of a band that lets me do music full-time. I think that my main band (where we play originals, of course) has real potential. I'm involved in a project with a singer that has some label interest, so that's positive. The third band I'm in is just a cover band for fun - we're not serious with it; we just like to get together and jam on tunes we like. Most of our gigs are jams or parties for friends. Sometimes it's refreshing to be in a band that doesn't have to be professional.

[ArticStrat]

I play for me. I love music and find a certain amount of stress relief in making it my self. Playing the blues is just so soul satisfying. At my age, nearly better than sex. I said nearly...

[newbuilder]

I grew up with parents that were heavily in to listening to music. My dad got in to a band as a bass player when I was 7ish and played rock/punk/new wave/ska/reggae...that was awsome and highly inspiring.

I remember singing made up songs in preschool and kindergarten, and having some great times playing piano with no knowledge at all about anything, just exploring.

I have been in gigging bands off and on since I got out of highschool and have a great time playing music with people I love, and that is the real deal. When my father, little brother, and I get together we jam and have a great time...so it is all about having a great time and sharing music with the people I love.

[Elias Graves]

I use it to write songs.

My son plays, so it gives us something in common.

Tinkering with stuff is fun, so I enjoy that aspect as well.

 

EG

[Hubert Stumblin]

I love music. I seem to have a certain natural ability for it. Playing lets me get inside music. And it takes me to that "centered" place. Sort of the core of what I am. Peaceful. Happy. Sometimes frustrating. But that keeps in interesting, never boring.

[Mr Songwriter]

Tinkering with stuff is fun, so I enjoy that aspect as well.

 

 

+1 to that, it's always interesting to see how a pickup change or amp mod is going to turn out.

 

...Apart from that I've played in a few bands, done quite a lot of home recording and spent a lot of tiime just noodling around, and all of them have been fun. There was a bit in Ronnie Woods' book where he said that his guitar was his 'spokesman'...that made a lot of sense to me too.

[Fenezz]

There's a fair market for entertainment at nursing homes and senior citizen centers. I'll be going back to the tunes I learned as a child and do what I love for as long as I possibly can. What's in for you?

 

 

That is hilarious :-D I've often wondered what the senior centers would be like when the boomers get there! I guess it's about time to get that acoustic csny, floyd, zep, etc, act together! And you know, I'm not far behind the boomers, so I can kinda scout those places out while I'm there ;-)

[RufusFussbuster]

I love the sounds I can make with a guitar and the way you use your hands to interact with the instrument. I played trumpet for a few years - awesome instrument - but the physical interaction involved is not as fun or pleasing to me.

Keyboards do it for me, too, but guitar is where I spend most of my time.

I especially dig when I'm playing, and something new, different, and awesome (to me, haha) comes out, planned or not. Not specific to guitar - but for me, that's where it's at.

Stress relief, soul repair, tapping into the cosmos - whatever you want to call it, I think most humans can (or need to?) dig it in their own way.

[sk8centilli]

It's my peace of mind, my creative outlet.

[craigny]

I started off as a fan of music first....I've been playing music (starting with guitar, drums and now guitar again) since i was a pre-teen..in my late 30's now and I still LOVE to play, its just awesome to plug in my guitar and just jam, even if its with my headphones and some drum tracks...and playin in a band is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on, I do it for the enjoyment, Look i aint gettin signed, i aint even makin any money for the most part, but i love to play, I love it more as time goes on!

[Willyguitar]

lots of frustrating attempts to get four people together, and in particular an intransigent vocalist who only ever seems to manage one or two days (seemingly deliberately when the rest of us can't do it) in a month.

[meandi]

I didn't start playing until I was in my mid 50s, so aside from my enjoyment of music, it's become, also, the challenge of taking on a difficult task & staying with it.
I record most of my practice sessions, & listening to playbacks, at times wonder why I keep it up, but over time I can tell that I'm improving & have no intention of quitting...ever.
Finally getting good enough, where I now have people call & invite me to jams, & that's my best enjoyment, playing with other musicians.

[arrowhen]

I'm almost 40 and banging out power chords and sloppy ass pentatonics in my bedroom is just as primally satisfying now as it was when I was 15. I'm afraid if I stop I might accidentally grow up.

[Jkater]

I started at 9 years old (not counting my plastic uke at 7) but got interested and started improving steadily at 15. Played electric mostly as a teen but around 18, I became interested in playing acoustic fingerstyle and abruptly stopped playing electric. Played acoustic exclusively for 25 years, learning acoustic fingerstyle pieces by my many guitar heroes (Renbourn, De Grassi, Hedges, Kottke, etc.). I developped (or inherently had) an ability to memorize and play intricate and difficult pieces. It became my thing at the expense of other skills that I wish I had developped in those years. Being a cover player meant having decent fingers, a better-than-average ear, knowledge of the fretboard but not necessarily a lot of imagination. This is why I value imagination in players so much today. I takes huge humility for me to post in the sticky jams because that is my weakest skill. As a solo improviser I basically suck... My goals have changed. Being super skilled technically is no longer what I most want to be (don't want to lose too much chops either, though) but be imaginative and creative and it's a nice challenge.

[Frets99]

I'm almost 40 and banging out power chords and sloppy ass pentatonics in my bedroom is just as primally satisfying now as it was when I was 15. I'm afraid if I stop I might accidentally grow up.

 

[craigny]

I'm almost 40 and banging out power chords and sloppy ass pentatonics in my bedroom is just as primally satisfying now as it was when I was 15. I'm afraid if I stop I might accidentally grow up.

 

WOW we are the same u and I

[Flatspotter]

I've always loved the sound of the guitar, but here's what really did it for me: When I was in junior high (early 70s), my sister belonged to a record club, and she received the "Record of the Month" one month, and didn't like it. She offered to trade it to me for my copy of Elton John's "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player." I told her to put it on the turntable, and I'd give it a listen before making a decision.

 

The record was Zeppelin IV, and when the first guitar notes of "Black Dog" started, I was mesmerized. I remember thinking, "Oh my god, I didn't think anything could be this cool!" I kept waiting for the song to fall flat on its face (like so many songs that have cool intros but the rest of the song sucks), but it never did. From that moment, I thought electric guitar was the best thing in the world.

 

I didn't start playing until college, because I thought I didn't have any musical talent. I turned out to be right on that one, but who cares, I still have fun. I've had many hobbies that came and went, but my love of the guitar has never waned.

[Special J]

I grew up playing, and have always been a big music lover. I've had few other hobbies, and they all take a backseat to music. Even now, with adult responsibilities and a career, playing is still a passion for me and big part of who I am. It's a creative release for me that I can't go long without. Songwriting, recording, performance, and of course playing with all the cool gear, it's all part of the fun!

[Brian Krashpad]

I never had any aspiration to be a rock star or even to make any money at it. When I learned to play, all I wanted was to be able to get to the end of "House of the Rising Son" without a flub. But in the many decades since, I've been fortunate to be in tons of local bands, doing primarily original music, either written by myself or my friends (depending on the band). It's been a blast!

 

Just to have written a song myself is well beyond what I ever would've initially conceived. Much less to have played it live onstage? With ME "singing" (if you'd heard me sing you'd understand the quotes) it and fronting a band? Fuhgeddaboudit! To have recorded a few albums' worth of material with several different bands? Don't think so! To get the chance to do a radio interview and hear my band played on the "local music" show, or see my photo in the weekend/entertainment section of the local paper? Not bloody likely!

 

Yet all that stuff has happened, and even more. The important part, of course, is just having fun, which is all I ever set out to do in the first place. I'ma do it 'til I croak. Over the last year I took I hiatus from live gigs (with the exception of continuing to play in church) between November and and March so I could take care of some tonsil cancer treatment/recovery, but recently played my first live rock show since, which was also my daughter's first gig (again outside church):

 

 

I have a benefit for a local preschool this coming Monday with a different side band, and just realized I need to set up an official Fifteenth Anniversary Show for my main band, Crash Pad. Been through some {censored} of late, but life is good.

 

Have fun, people!

 

[nuke_diver]

I play for me. I love music and find a certain amount of stress relief in making it my self. Playing the blues is just so soul satisfying. At my age, nearly better than sex. I said nearly...

I'll start with a +1 on this

and I'll add this

I didn't start playing until college, because I thought I didn't have any musical talent. I turned out to be right on that one, but who cares, I still have fun. I've had many hobbies that came and went, but my love of the guitar has never waned.

I also started in college but on acoustic and only cowboy chords for years (and stopped for about 10 years before picking in back up in my mid 40's and moving to electric as well). I also don't have much talent and guitar is hard for me to grasp sometimes and I'm amazed at the ease and skill folks have on it since it's so much of a struggle for me (:poke: yes you Richard and Allan among many others). But I love the sound of the guitar and I love the way I can get lost in playing and lose track of time and problems. Even though my body may not agree with this I don't see ever not playing again

[scuzzo]

use to dabble in art, paint sketch and such... got tired of it... so i guess its just another creative out let, i dont really get off on buying gear or posting up photos and such.. but i do like the cool sounds im sometimes able to get out of my modest gathering of cheap gear... so thats another thing i kinda dig.. taking some sub par gear and making it work
also like working with textures beats cadence and all that other stuff that DAW affords you... just a creative vent...

[GreatDane]

music has been in my life since before i even knew it. my parents were big music fans, and my dad had a pretty cool record collection so we got exposed to stuff all the time throughout my young life. an early vivid memory is listening to "welcome to my nightmare" by alice cooper on cassette in my dad's car on the way back from a drive and thinking about how freaking terrifying it all was, but also being amazed at how cool it was that music could do that. i also remember listening to billy joel and thinking (as a little kid, mind you) how great the stories were in the songs, but how hopeless and sad the main characters (and ultimately Joel himself) really were- even the upbeat tunes had a sad, depressed edge to them.

 

i started playing guitar when i was around 14- i was at a school dance with two of my best friends and we literally decided at that dance that we'd each take up an instrument, start a band and change the face of music (destroy the paula abduls and new kids on the blocks and all that other Top 40 music of the time and be like Metallica). one of my friends went with drums and my other friend and i both said guitar (a little competition ensued over the years that eroded the friendship, but i stuck with it and he got lost to drugs).

 

since that glorious night, i've been fortunate enough to do some pretty amazing things with music (or has music done it with me?). i've learned things about myself. i've learned how to better interact with others. i've experienced things that i never could have thought possible back at 14 deciding to play. i can only hope that my life continues to be filled by music and creativity and guitar.

 

as an aside, i am an unapologizing, unabashed gearhead and also love the physical guitar as an instrument and artform. accordingly, i've been fortunate enough to acquire some decent gear over the years. people don't have to understand it or relate, but i think it's sad when certain folks go out of their way to put folks like me down. says more about them than it does anything else, IMO.