About 2 weeks before 5th grade started (1991) I went shopping with my Mom for school clothes. We walked into a Music store in the mall and she bought me GNR's "Appetite for Destruction" (cool mom, huh? :)). This album seriously changed my life. I remember how utterly amazed I was at Slash's ability to wail. I'm not really into speedy stuff like yngwie, but I love guitar players who play with copious amounts of emotion. Anyway, Guns n Roses is still my favorite band all these years later, and Slash is the main reason I bought a guitar when I was 16. I got a strat knockoff and thought I'd be good to go. I was so wrong, I got frustrated after only 2-3 weeks of trying to play; thus the guitar sat in the closet. When I was 18 I went off to college and took the guitar with me. There was this dude who lived down the hall from me who had a pretty fender mustang. He had been playing for 8 years and was freakin' incredible. He showed me what tabs were and gave me a few pointers on playing, but again I got frustrated and didn't stick with it. The next year in school I randomly picked up the guitar again, and as the popular addage goes, "third times a charm". Two years and three new guitars later I'm still playing. For me it is much more much more than a hobby. It's a passion. I'm in love with the instrument and the way it can act as a window to someone's soul. Playing blues based rock (Clapton, Slash, etc.) is, in my opinion, one of the greatest things known to man. I know that I will be playing for the rest of my life and I can't wait.