When Did You Start Playing?

[BJoy]

For me, 17.

[Benoit]

I started around 14-15. Everyone seemed to play guitar back then :)

[Superhuman]

When I was 16 I think - bought a Jackson Charvel with a busted Floyd Rose trem and warped neck - great for starting on!

[looneytunes]

I started around age 13. Went back and forth over the years, but never for any length of time. I am now 58.

[ren]

I started playing classical when I was 8.... then electirc when I was 14...

[playerwannabe]

I was ..... 34.

[maestro shaz]

First picked up my dads acoustic at 5 yrs, (picked it up left handed :p)
But really only started playing at about 8-9 yrs old...

[Draven Grey]

I started piano when I was 6. But didn't take guitar seriously until I was 18 - when it was the only thing to play in my dorm room. Now I wish I had been even more serious and learned more than just rhythm... all in time, I suppose.

[EPISODER]

I started acoustic on June 15 2006 then one year later, my dad bought me an Epiphone SG on June 15 2007.

(I marked the days on the calendar!) ;)

[Geeetar4Life]

About three and a half years.
It's kinda depressing now that I think about it because for some reason I thought it was longer than that. I was about twelve at the time I picked up a guitar.

[hunter60]

I was 45 when I first picked up a guitar!

I win! :D

[earthman buck]

I was twelve.

[R. Shackleferd]

I started playing...when I got a guitar. :p

Ok, but it was when I was 13 (1992). Like most, I started on acoustic for about a year, then got an electric.

[BJoy]

My dad gave me his guitar the day I was born (1970-something Yamaha FG-160).

I used to **** around on it occasionally (I taught myself how to hold it and hit the strings and such when I was a toddler... nothing else) until a while ago when I first heard Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta >_>

I picked up guitar within the week :D


I never really liked music before then, but the second Omar started the main riff... I completely changed my mind (who knows what I would be doing now if I never gave TMV a listen).

[Thraxion]

I started about 2 years ago... But never really got serious until about a year ago, when I got an Ibanez artwood acoustic for x-mas.

[kaboke]

My son and I starded on Monday this week he is 9 years old and I`m 41 year and we both like Rock
Great site

[hunter60]

My son and I starded on Monday this week he is 9 years old and I`m 41 year and we both like Rock
Great site


That's pretty cool! Nice father and son activity. Welcome aboard to GT. Great site with lots of great information, lessons and people. Look forward to seeing you around the boards! :)

[BrokenJera]

i started playing when i was about 11. my friend got a harmoney form sears and was taking lessons. he taught me how to play polly smells like teen spirt and sweet dreams. then he got a bass and said he wanted to start a band so i tried bass. another friend let me borrow his drum set when i was 12 but i never got good at it. when i was 13 my parents got divorced and my dad tried to bribe me to live with him. he asked me what i wanted for my birthday and i said "i Wanna Rock" (just kidding) he bought me a crown classical for $65 at the local pawnshop (not a very good guitar and i still have it but the tiop came all the way unglued and is only being held on by the fret board.) thats when i really got serious about playing and i carried that guitar every where till i got put on the ankle bracelet (they do sometimes care about that curfew thing) then my grandpa gave me a 60 something coral hornet and i used my stero as an amp till i got locked up (when i was 14 and just so every one knows smoking weed on probation is never a good idea). and the rest is pretty much history till now. about 4 years ago now my best friend started smoking meth and lost his mind (thats when i quit practicing everyday cause my friend was a very good guitar player/singer). and now i am here.

[Sasuke199]

I picked up electric when I was around 7.. I never played acoustic.

[thespottedelf]

hmm... 3 years and 3 months... and i'm 15 you do the math :P

[kinza2008]

I've been taking lessons for 2 years. I have an electric guitar.
Does anyone like having both a electric and acoustic???? Does
everyone play in a band? I'm actually 47 years old and just
started to learn the guitar at 45.... I'm proud of myself!

[turkeyjerky214]

I love having both electric and acoustic. I have my electrics, amp, pedal, etc. down in my basement, but I keep my acoustic out in my bedroom. it's nice if I just feel like picking it up for 10-15 minutes and don't feel like getting out the other one and cleaning it when I'm done. I'm so used to cleaning out my woodwinds that I can't help but wiping off the strings really well before I put my electrics away. I change the strings on my acoustic so often I don't both cleaning them.

[hunter60]

I've been taking lessons for 2 years. I have an electric guitar.
Does anyone like having both a electric and acoustic???? Does
everyone play in a band? I'm actually 47 years old and just
started to learn the guitar at 45.... I'm proud of myself!


Well you're in good company. I didn't pick up the guitar until I was 45 as well. Like you, just turned 47! I too am proud of myself. Welcome to GT! :)

[sbrogdon]

I started when I was 9 or 10. Old sears acoustic with 3 strings....( which were rusted) LOL.....

Been playing off and on ever since...nothing major.....

But....here lately I have been playing a lot...and I have the fever again :)


Im 35.

[Fable Fox]

I just bought about an acoustic a month ago and i'm 28 :D Talk about late dream :D

I browse a book I bought on the topic and was overwhelmed by the info :eek:

But I guess you just take one chord at a time (or one note, if finger picking is your style).

Errr.. my pen name is Fable Fox (with two technical book published) and currently writing two novel, one is about a game programmer, and the other, is , well, about a beginner guitar player

That's it. This is a thread to introduce yourself, right?

[rumbled]

I've had guitars since I was a teenager in the '60s. Peanut from the Baron Knights played my acoustic on the steps, when my mate forgot the keys to the club they were supposed to be rehearsing in. I've always messed around and never actually learned to play properly. Now I'm not working anymore and I ain't going fishing, I'm gonna Knuckle down to it, 'cos my dream is to stand up in front of a pub full of Germans at the Isle of Man T.T. and deliver a belting "Still Got The Blues"......... :cool:

[andrewjreid]

i started playing when i was 13 when i got a stratocaster for christmas now 14

[gatemouth]

My mother is very musical so she introduced me to her acoustical (1963 Yahmaha) at the ripe age of 3. I remember her teaching me basic chords, strumming etc. She tried to get me to learn the piano when I was 5 but I was hooked on the guitar and had little love for the ivory's although I still learned and still play.

I grew up playing in our family band until I moved away from home. I played in several bands until 94 when i got married. I took a 12 year break, playing now and then but not often, and then started to get serious two years ago. Can't believe how many things I had forgotten and how slow my fingers had become. lol

Today I play every for at least an hour. I jam with several bands in our area and starting to feel confident again, confident enough to start another band.

The long break is what made me realize what I wanted to do with my music, I missed it everyday. At 35 I can play most advanced stuff but still find myself referring back to basics, theory and such.

Guitars Epiphone Wildkat, 1984 Fender Strat, Arbor strat copy, 1963 Yamaha (yep still have it although I have worn a hole through the body and broke the neck and repaired it myself) and my dads old Hondo II.

So I guess in all I have been playing for about 32 years off and on

[ewick]

I started at age 17, never took lessons nor bothered with theory
... which I later regretted

I forced myself to forget all I knew 2 years ago and started all over again - this time the correct way thanks-to-guitartricks-and-many-others. I am now 26 and playing the blues.

I bet you opened this thread because you're wondering whether or not you suck for the time you've been playing so... here it is. I guess whatever age you start playing or how long you've been playing is irrelevant. It's a matter of how seriously you learn the guitar (and music). Learn the chords, learn the major scales. These are the most important concepts to understand for everything else in occidental music.

[tredfern011]

:cool: I started at the ripe OLD age of 46. Played alittle when I was 12. I'm a lefty so it's hard to find a teacher to learn from. Anyone out there want to help me???

[Bill Brown 1979]

About 3 years ago, but only started PROPERLY in May. And I've missed a couple of months since due to health reasons. I've 'dabbled' in music though with other instruments and stuff since I was 11. I'm now 28. :)

[Azrael]

I`m not 100% sure, but I think I started when i was 17 or 18 years old. Theoretically that must have been somewhen in 1996.

[joeroest]

just started 2 months ago at 24. long way to go but picking it up thanks to
this site.