Which band or artist presented you to rock?

First saw Duane Allman, Forrest Richards Betts, and Raymond Berry Oakley, and band in Macon, GA at Central City Park in the summer of 1969 (they simply showed up and jammed). I'll never forget watching Duane play slide guitar, and Berry who was simply amazing on the Bass!! Seared into memory! Not to mention Gregg's soulful voice and Butch, and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson were in perfect sync!!!!

Plus, the first time I heard Too Rolling Stoned off Robin Trower's Live album. Now 36 guitars (5 Basses), 2 Hammond organs, 2 Drum Kits later..............

Where did the time go?

I was 16 when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. The next day my mother bought me a guitar and 9 months later I was playing in my first band. Even today when we play their songs the kids know the words. More than once people have come up and said "you're an oldies band". I tell them, nope I was playing these songs when they were new.
Rock on,
Rick

Short Answer: Nirvana

Long Answer: My father was a musician, he played keyboards (hammond b3 before I even was born), he had a collection of about 10 thousand LP´s (vinyls) !.. still I wasn't all in his style, he loved the beatles, I reallly dont like them! (but of course he had many other artists.. Santana (Abraxas and others).. but I wasn't allowed to play them, and he barely had time to listen to any.. so it wasn't until I was 17-18 when he died that I started listening to some... (Deep Purple, Yes, Santana, Bob Marley, etc.. though I had already heard them with friends)

But lets rewind... So when I was 9 I started piano lessons.. then the teacher had an accident, and guess who got the job as the replacement teacher?... my father! and after a couple of months I couldn't take it anymore! .. I was always nr. 2 in class!... a little chinese girl was a piano virtuoso! and my father wanted me to be better.. I just couldn't! So I quit!.. and decided to play something my father didn't know! ;)

Though he knew just one song (first half), of "Romance Anónimo", a classical tune, so he taught me that one first!, and there I was 11 years old and hooked to the guitar!

But Rock?

I remember the day I sat on the bus from school, listening to the radio (on a sony walkman!) ;) and there was the first airing of "Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit", September 91!, I was 12 (4 months before I was 13). it was a week or two before the release!.. so guess who was on the "CD Store" the release day!?... I didn't go to school just to get it!! :P (and the same day it got released Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik.. we'll ok, the day after actually, but I lived in Spain, and Im not quite sure if there were released same day as the US, or some days after.. but I remember being the first in the store, when they just had the cardboard boxes there.. and was just opening them!..

But my guitar wasn't electric!. and there was not that much money in my house to get a new guitar (a year or so after buying me a classical), so.. lucky me!.. my uncle was a retired touring guitarist and he said that at his and my dads parents house (my grandpas), there was a guitar I could "loan".. but I had to be very careful!, cause it was very expensive!.. oh.. and an amp... to my surprise.. a Gibson Les Paul Custom (71-72 model) and a Fender Twin Reverb!!!! (69 model) wot?

so... I quit the guitar lessons at my school (there were very basic... just 5-6 chords, and play thousands of basic "almost church" or easy spanish pop like songs). and buyed a rock guitar instructional book, and learned to play alone in my room. (I believe I played like 4-5 hours every day! after school!) ;)

when I was 13 almost 14, I had my first band.. but then it happened again!.. you see the fender twin reverb, had no Distortion channel.. so I hadn't any!!.. I remember the only song I could really well (Under the bridge - RHCP) and that I could get the same kind of sound as the original!.. , was like the only one I could play with my band!.. (in fact was the first song we ever tried to play).

But we were at a Youth house of a kind, with 8 band rooms!.. so when we first arrived, I started to hear a guitar "Distorted".. and I said... wtf??... thats how I wanted to sound!! so I did knock on their door.. and after a while they opened, I asked how they got that sound, and they told me the secret!.. (a distortion pedal!) :P (oh boy... I guess they were laughing at me afterwards like spoiled little brats.. BUT.. I did learn something!.. and everyones got their start.. dont they?) ;P

So after a couple of months, I got to buy me my very first Boss DS-1... oh boy!.. was I glad!.. and guess what?.. I got playing the entire Nevermind CD, and then almost the entire Blood Sugar Sex Magik.. and also the entire Rage Against The Machine (debut album of the same name), some OffSpring (self esteem, come out and play, etc..), Basketcase from Green Day, some Stone Temple Pilots (Plush, Interstate Song), Pearl Jam, and those were the first years... then I remember liking and adding to the repertoir "The Riverboat Song" - Ocean Colour Scene, etc...

My uncle (the guitar owner) said that I could keep the guitar, if I played a new song each year he came visiting.. (he lived in Belgium, while I lived in Spain).. but I had to play it just like the record!.. or I would lose the guitar! :O so... I had to learn new things all the time! ;)

So.. Im 35 now! (36 next month), I guess I was not only a Gen X kiddo.. but a Grunge guitar player, and most likely because I was 11-12 when the grunge movement started (or took form worldwide at least), so Im not ashamed for liking Nirvana! ;)

Today is though a different story... I like from Jazz to Hard Rock (never really liked Black Metal though..), not Metallica, not Iron Maiden (oh my uncle bought a cd of them once... but It wasn't my style, though had some cool songs.. But I misliked all those kids wearing black tshirts with band names, stating they weren't sheep followers of a "Pop" culture, like Grunge was, but then you could spot one a mile away!... (I dont wanted to become one, but I accept them... as I like to say: Live and let die!.. haha, not a typo! ;), as long I got to live my life.. I let you "live yours".. until you die! ;)

And the last years I have been listening more to Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Tony McAlpine, Frank Gambale, John Petrucci, Guthrie Govan, Eric Johnson, Neil Zaza, Neil Schon, etc.. (to many to name!).. some acoustics like Don Ross, Andy McKee, etc.. but the "Virtuoso" guitar type of music.. and of course I did some basic soloing now and then, but I was miles away from being a "lead" guitarist!.. so now thats my goal!

thats why I joined guitartricks too... even being very basic stuff most of it.. I need to go trough the very basics to get a foundation of theory among other things... that as a self-learner I never did get proper music education.


;)

Back in '55, I was four years old and TV stars, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, who were singing cowboys, were my heroes. I wanted to play guitar like them, but all I got for Christmas was a toy guitar—totally useless. Elvis came along in '56, and my big sister would take me to all his movies. Sure, he could sing, but his guitar looked more a prop, as he would strum a few chords and then pass it off to a cast member just as he finished his warm up. Little did I realize that Chet Atkins at RCA was producing his records.

In '58 I saw the Everly Brothers perform on Ed Sullivan, and I was hooked. "Mom... Dad... I want a real guitar for my birthday, not some piece of plastic junk." It came, a twenty dollar (big money back then) no name guitar, but to me it was the real deal. A second gift was a book of cowboy songs with chord diagrams in the back. I was off and running with songs like Midnight Special and Goodbye Old Paint.

When the Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan Show in '64, I became mesmerized by George Harrison's instrumental solos. Check them out on YouTube if you can. George used a hybrid style of picking that I spent hours upon hours trying to pick apart. Yes, it's all so simple now, but back then, you had to listen to a 45, then slow it down to 33 so you could mop up every note. This was a turning point in my playing, as I transitioned from rhythm to lead guitar. I played in a lot of garage bands back then and made some decent money at school dances, but then again the real money came from playing the clubs, and even though I was good enough to play with older guys, I was only 13, and the drinking age back then was 18 in New York State.

A second turning point came, when in '66. I heard Stefan Grossman fingerpick his way through ragtime and cakewalk material at some now defunct Bleeker Street Café. This was after the Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary era back then, but the times they were a changing. (Jimi Hendrix was playing the Café Wha, but I didn't see him until '68.) At any rate, Stefan Grossman told me that he would be publishing a book on ragtime guitar that would feature both standard and tab notation. Tab! What the hell was that?

I must have been the first person to buy Stefan's book, and from that point on, I threw away the pick. Stefan gave great credit to his inspiration, one Reverend Gary Davis, who lived in the Bronx. I never met the good Reverend, but I bought his records, and Stefan's transcriptions made the learning curve oh-so-easy.

Next, came the ultimate challenge—Chet Atkins, Mr. Guitar himself.

Let me say this; I have my own top ten list of guitar players, and Chet Atkins is number one on it. I watched him on the Jimmy Dean Show, where he played Windy and Warm and Yankee Doodle Dixie, and I wanted to capture that style in all it's glory. Sure, I can now play those numbers behind my neck, but back then, I wasn't ready for them. A horn player told me that if I wanted to progress any further, I would have to delve into classical guitar and learn standard notation. He said—and I paraphrase—"You're pretty good, but you struggle at the typical hot spots (transitions, and breakaway rolls). Professional football players go to the gymnasium not to be professional weight lifters, but to become better athletes. Let classical music be your gymnasium, and all the songs ever placed into fake books will become your take-one repertoire."

And so, I progressed through the works of Fernando Sor, Ferdinand Carulli and Matteo Carcassi. At first, I struggled with the notation, but their teaching material had loads of repetition and reenforcement. I stuck with the program, and within two years my acquired musical insights enabled me to tackle some of Chet's easier stuff. My guitar heroes at that time included Julian Bream and John Williams (The Australian John Williams - not the Hollywood John Williams).

In the seventies and eighties, I got interested in Jazz, and would catch Larry Coryell at Slugs or Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis at Fat Tuesdays. These were the type of NYC clubs, where you could actually chit chat with the artists as well as sit ten feet away from them. Tal Farlow said to me, "Why were you looking at my left hand all the time (during the first set), you know that the sound comes from my right fingers. Concentrate on those little guys. If you develop your ear, you won't need to know what my left hand is doing. You'll just whip the notes off whatever chord position you are holding." Yeah, except Tal would hold a chord position for two beats max.

The last guitarist I saw was Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown fame at The Iridium, where Les Paul used to play on Monday nights. I've been following Kim since his days playing at the Fillmore East in the late sixties and early seventies. He came out of the mid sixties London blues scene that produced Chicken Shack, the Yardbirds and Fleetwood Mac (Yes, FM was actually a blues band back then with guitarist Peter Green serving up some might tasty licks.) If you can, check out Kim when he comes to your town. I'll put him up against any of the blues greats including Eric and Stevie Ray, but that's just my humble opinion. You will have the opportunity to see him perform up close and personal and form your own opinion.

Well, enough said... I'm checking out when Tommy Emmanuel CGP (CGP—a wink to all you Chet fans) and Ana Vidovic will be heading back to NYC so I can see them again. In the meantime, I teach myself more and more every day and am currently working on one of Bert Ligon's books on jazz improvisation.

I'm 63 now. There are no more goals. Music is a process. If something new on Guitar Tricks catches my ear, I'm there.

I could go thru the usual EVH, randy Rhodes etc... Kiss and ace frehley were probably reason I wanted Rock. But I have to go back earlier before MTV there was a weekly showed called HEE HAW. Watching Roy Clark riff on a guitar with that big grin of his face. made you think playing guitar was a Joy !! Thanks Roy Clark !! bet you don't have anyone else giving him credit.

This May date me but it was the Ventures. My cousin who played in a band taught me how to play some of the Venture songs. Then another cousin expanded other songs and how to read music.

Originally Posted by: tater2I could go thru the usual EVH, randy Rhodes etc... Kiss and ace frehley were probably reason I wanted Rock. But I have to go back earlier before MTV there was a weekly showed called HEE HAW. Watching Roy Clark riff on a guitar with that big grin of his face. made you think playing guitar was a Joy !! Thanks Roy Clark !! bet you don't have anyone else giving him credit.

I remember watching Hee Haw when I was a kid. Roy Clark was a monster. A guitar player's guitar player. I remember in high school, my girlfriend saw him somewhere, for whatever reason...she didn't like country but came away and told me how unbelievable he was.

For those that haven't tried Roy > Roy Clark Under the Double Eagle

I think I mentioned it before in this thread but I saw BB King on Austin City Limits and Led Zep-Song Remains the Same in the same week and decided that I had to play guitar. Worked out a deal with my dad and had a Les Paul by summer's end.

It was all over once I heard 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' by Zepplin...

Machine Head.

Mine was "Born to Be Wild" which could also be included in one of the greatest rock songs. Back then Cream and Steppenwolf were my mentors

Believe it or not, System of a Down was the band that got me into rock. Their Toxicity album got me into metal, but once I started enjoying heavy metal and going through a nothing but heavy phase, I began to appreciate all sorts of rock.

Literally, I went from Slipknot, Kitty, etc, to bands like SecondHand Serenade hahahaha

Australian rock band Cold Chisel. Check them out on Youtube, formed in the early 70s and still going

I remember hearing some van halen and mettalica, but what really introduced me was weezer and my name is jonas from the blue album:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq56rA13YNI

More notably as individuals, Elvis and Ricky Nelson..a band, I guess CCR..

Nothing but a good time by Poison

This one of my most vivid memories as a young kid. Some time in the summer 1997 I was 5 years old. I was with my dad on my way to a car show he was taking his truck to. He was listen to the radio or a tape i can't remember for sure. Nothing but a good time came on it. It was the first time I ever remember hearing that song but it just blew me away. Manly the guitar solo to this day it remains on of my favorite solos. A few weeks later was my birthday and I all asked for was for some blank tapes so I could record song I like off the radio. I have no idea if any of the tapes still work but I still have them. Typing this makes me wanna go dig them out and listen to them again.

I was around before the Beatles and Beach Boys. They got me started. I got into the greatest year in rock at 12 years old in 1967 when Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Beatles, Beach Boys, and so many more of the first wave bands hit the scene. My first concert was Sly and the Family Stone at age 15 in the summer of 1970. I saw Santana in '71 and by '72 saw Pink Floyd at Carnegie Hall, Captain Beefheart amd all kinds of jazz/rock fusion types in the Village in NYC like Larry Coryell, Pat Martino, George Benson, Chick Korea, Al Di Meola, Stanly Clarke.

Guns n'Roses! I distinctly remember the first time Sweet Child came on the radio. The intro stopped me in my tracks and the entire song just blew me away. I bought Appetite the next day and it was the first time I heard anyone swear on a record. For a 14-year-old it was the coolest thing ever! Up until the early 90s (when Axl disappeared up his own backside) G N'R were my band. Tbh I had been listening to the likes of Bon Jovi and Poison beforehand but Appetite was the real deal and that's when I really got into rawk!

For me it was Metallica. They are the reason I picked up the guitar in the first place. But now that I'm playing guitar for a while there are so many inspiring bands (small and big) who keep me motivated to keep playing and learning. I also love it when GT uploads a song I'm not familiar with and I discover new awesome songs and bands.

The Beatles. I was 8 and a half when they played Ed Sullivan and totally took over AM radio. It was like nothing that has happened since. I went to bed with a small transistor radio under my pillow every night. Then Hendrix took me in a new direction when I was a little older. Then Captain Beefheart ruled my clique and I went to all his shows with the Magic Band. I saw Pink Floyd in 1972 in Carnegie Hall in 1972 @ age 16 and never missed another Floyd show in the NY metro area.

1973- like the first spin of that record was the exact moment my puberty started. I was 12 and things would never be the same.