i got given my first guitar when i was 8. i heard Brian Mays' Brighton Rock Solo on the wembly album and just pestered my parents. it was an acoustic so and i spend 3 years teaching myself to play that. then i got an electric at 11 and started getting lessons with this blues teacher. but i was also listening to stuff and working out new idea for myself. in the end i've developed my own style so different and unique from other peoples. i think that only came about because i was useing my lessons to work out the theory, but actually teaching myself to PLAY the guitar, just through experimentation