Guitar first, or what?

Subject: Guitar first, or what?
From: 53
Date: 20 Apr 02 - 10:26 PM

Was the guitar the first instrument you learned to play? If not, then what was your first instrument?

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Robin2
Date: 20 Apr 02 - 10:36 PM

yep

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: 53
Date: 20 Apr 02 - 10:40 PM

I played the piano first until I saw the Beatles, then it was all guitar frome then on. Bob

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: GUEST,MichaelAnthony
Date: 20 Apr 02 - 10:41 PM

harmonica, then guitar

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Apr 02 - 10:59 PM

As far as "folk" goes, yeah, guitar was first.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: rangeroger
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 12:38 AM

Started on violin at age 8. Bought my first guitar at 15. Still have both instruments.

rr

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 04:36 AM

Ludicrously, I bought a guitar as a very young teenager and did absolutely nothing with it for years... I expect I thought it would play itself if I waited long enough. I'm very glad I finally got round to learning to do something with it!

But I've discovered that I have absolutely no facility at all with wind instruments - just can't handle them at all. Can't get a sound out of them. Don't know why.

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Áine
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 05:03 AM

The clarinet was my first instrument . . . I picked up my cousin's and figured out 'Moon River' by ear. I tried the piano next, and stayed long enough to learn 'FACE' and "Every Good Boy Does Fine'. Didn't really want to learn another instrument until I got a guitar (a real 'Green Stamp Special', if anyone remember Green Stamps), for Christmas when I was twelve. Taught myself how to play 'Puff the Magic Dragon', and than didn't pick a guitar again until several years later. Bought a Ventura V-12 and never looked back . . .

All the best, Áine

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: GUEST,Leadfingers
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 07:05 AM

Harmonica as a kid,then Bagpipes-RAF Apprentice Band Then Clarinet.Alto , Soprano , and Tenor Sax . Ten found Folk Music.Too Many songs didnt work as unaccompanied , so the guitar came in ,then Five string Banjo ,then the Mandolin And the Ukelele ,Tenor Banjo .Autoharp etc. The tin whistle came in with the Folk music and is the only one I claim any real skill on. Some people still pay me to Play some of them.

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 11:34 AM

I think my voice was my first instrument... after that likely some recorder or such like in elementary school... Guitar didn't come till I was 16 or so...

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 12:21 PM

Voice first. I started singing a bit when I was a teen-ager. I had a couple of friends who were opera nuts when I was in high school. One went on to a reasonably successful career as an opera singer and another wound up singing small parts on Broadway and bit parts in movies. I even took a few singing lessons myself, not having a clue as to what I was ever going to do with it. When I was at the university, in 1952, my main-squeeze was a folk music enthusiast. She acquired a very nice old guitar and set about learning to play it. For kicks, I bought a real cheap guitar (Regal, $9.95 -- it sounded like an apple crate, but the action was soft, the intonation was good, and the frets were accurate -- I was lucky!) and started messing with it. I got hooked. A year later I bought a Martin 00-18, then a year after that I traded it in on a Martin 00-28-G classic. Been at it ever since.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 01:47 PM

Harmonica first then recorder (remember the Tonette?) then guitar.

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: 53
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 03:01 PM

Don what did you do with that $9.95 Regal? Bob

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Lynn
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 03:16 PM

I started on piano after 2nd grade (8 yrs old). Then started taking drum lessons in school the year the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan. The Christmas that I finally got my drum set, my sister got a tenor banjo. I banged away on that for awhile, and started playing my friends' guitars when they came over. Mom couldn't stand to have me borrow someone else's instrument (liability, I guess), so she and Dad bought me my Yamaha FG75. Still have it.

Ultimately I did the classical thing on piano at college. Chord-wise, I still think in terms of the keyboard. I'm still learning where all the notes are up the neck of the guitar! (33 years later!) Oh, the trials of being self-taught...

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 03:31 PM

Bob, I wish I still had that little clunker. When I got the Martin 00-18, I sold the Regal to a friend for $5.00. He got a good start on it too. Last I heard (sometime in 1954), he bought a Martin classic and was taking lessons from a classic guitar teacher. About that time, he got married and moved to California. I think he sold the Regal, but to whom I have no idea.

Since it was such a good little guitar (accurate fretting and intonation), I'd like to think that it's still going the rounds, hopping from one beginning guitarist to another.

Guitars were a lot less expensive in those days. The 00-18 cost $95.00. The 00-28-G was $175.00.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Guitar first, or what?
From: 53
Date: 21 Apr 02 - 09:39 PM

Thanks Don, its always nice to remember when. Bob