Who was the reason you picked up a guitar?

R

RatedZ

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I've always been a "Headbanger." I've been a rocker since I can remember. The first Metal album I ever got was Quiet Riot's "Mental Health" album. Then, it just escalated to Iron Maiden, Slayer, etc.

Funny that all of these bands came first, but in the end, my main inspiration for picking up a guitar was Dave Mustaine. After "So Far, So Good, So What" came out and I heard "502," that was it.
 
Mine had to be Elvis, I guess. I'm only 42--so Elvis was more my parents time, but I've had a guitar since I was 5 (1971) and the only record I remember having before I had the guitar was a couple of Elvis 45s.
 
WhiteStrat said:
Mine had to be Elvis, I guess. I'm only 42--so Elvis was more my parents time, but I've had a guitar since I was 5 (1971) and the only record I remember having before I had the guitar was a couple of Elvis 45s.
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Cool. While Dave Mustaine was the reason I picked up a guitar, Kirk Hammett is the reason I really wanted to get good. I became one of those bitter Metallica fans when "Load" came out. I felt totally betrayed (and still do...). I still feel like they sold out. I feel like Metallica is the Mike Tyson of the Metal world. I have really high hopes for them but in the end I know I'm just going to end up disappointed.

Now, I can say that I'm picking up my guitars once again because of John Petrucci.
 
RatedZ said:
Cool. While Dave Mustaine was the reason I picked up a guitar, Kirk Hammett is the reason I really wanted to get good. I became one of those bitter Metallica fans when "Load" came out. I felt totally betrayed (and still do...). I still feel like they sold out. I feel like Metallica is the Mike Tyson of the Metal world. I have really high hopes for them but in the end I know I'm just going to end up disappointed.

Now, I can say that I'm picking up my guitars once again because of John Petrucci.
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And by the time I was 12 it was Syx and Boston and REO Speedwagon. Never learned their music, but I kept playing mine, because I liked them!

Now it's along the lines of Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse---blah blah blah... :D
 
mikemorgan said:
"Who was the reason you picked up a guitar?"


How did you know???!!
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RatedZ said:
How did I know what? I knew I wanted to play the guitar because I liked Megadeth and thought Dave Mustaine was a good guitarist.
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It's a joke. The Who is the reason he picked up a guitar. (Probably isn't--sorry for speaking for you Mike--but he's making a pun out of your question.)
 
My dad was the reason I picked up guitar. He has one in his hands whenever he is sitting down. I was put to sleep at night as a baby to his soft picking.
 
Rokket said:
My dad was the reason I picked up guitar. He has one in his hands whenever he is sitting down. I was put to sleep at night as a baby to his soft picking.
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your dad's a lucky guy, Eddie...:D

for me it was the usual suspects: Page, Hendrix, Blackmore, Iommi.....
but that changes with time. My favourite right now is Mark Tremonti.

Oh...I forgot to mention Whitestrat! (seriously, no joke....)
 
joeym said:
your dad's a lucky guy, Eddie...:D

for me it was the usual suspects: Page, Hendrix, Blackmore, Iommi.....
but that changes with time. My favourite right now is Mark Tremonti.

Oh...I forgot to mention Whitestrat! (seriously, no joke....)
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Aww c'mon man...it's getting deep in here!
 
It was the hot chicks in my high school who were going nuts over some shitty high school rock band that could barely scratch out the intro to 'Smoke On The Water'.
 
RatedZ said:
I became one of those bitter Metallica fans when "Load" came out. I felt totally betrayed (and still do...). I still feel like they sold out.
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Same here bro.. It's sad, think what they woulda came out with if they coulda been ok with getting paid half as many millions..


I've always been a "Headbanger." I've been a rocker since I can remember. The first Metal album I ever got was Quiet Riot's "Mental Health" album. Then, it just escalated to Iron Maiden, Slayer, etc.
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Same here again, and it has continued to escalate to Lamb of God, In Flames, Amon Amarth, etc.. My parents were straight and narrow, religious, military, etc. I was a kid listening to radio rock/pop in the 80's, and I guess they noticed my tastes getting heavier or something, they were all into country and oldies.. So they showed me some album covers of Iron Maiden records, telling me "You dont want to listen to this filthy evil naughty stuff, do you??", "Ummm, no mom..", and the whole time I was thinking "WOW! That is fuckin AWESOME!"
 
I know I will get flack for this but the "And Justice for All" album made me want to start playing the guitar. My musical taste has drifted left field since.
A buddy of mine let me borrow the cassett tape and I would wear it out with a walkman in my bedroom. It took years to figure out that it was more than a peavy amp and a distortion pedal to achieve a metal guitar tone. Hard lessons learned. Now days, I don't listen to Metalika.
 
gcapel said:
I know I will get flack for this but the "And Justice for All" album made me want to start playing the guitar. My musical taste has drifted left field since.
A buddy of mine let me borrow the cassett tape and I would wear it out with a walkman in my bedroom. It took years to figure out that it was more than a peavy amp and a distortion pedal to achieve a metal guitar tone. Hard lessons learned. Now days, I don't listen to Metalika.
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Nothin' wrong with that. It was a good album. One of the first songs I ever learned how to play was "One." I felt so accomplished! LOL!
 
I don't recall. I was a huge Maiden fan before I started playing, but I don't think I ever learned a Maiden song, and I've only recorded harmony guitars once! I liked Hendrix, but I've never owned a git with a whammy (that will change when I get the cojones to route out my So-Cal). So I decided to go with bass, because I wanted to be in a band, and that definitely worked. I bought a USA Precision, although I didn't really admire any bassists that played a P.

The bands I was in played mostly Zep and Who type stuff. I knew a lot of their songs, but eventually realized most of Page's ideas about guitar don't suit me at all.

Lately, I am most influenced by Dale, Coltrane, JS Bach (not in the Yngwie vein though, the real heavy contrapuntal pipe organ stuff). I adore stuff like Schoenberg and Stravinsky, but those two are so far beyond me I can't really use them much as an influence. Cage and especially the percussive ideas of Xenakis are big influences on me now. Wilson is a big influence for his orchestration, I love his close harmonies as well but I can't even begin to emulate them.

I really do want a tenor sax really bad though . . . :o
 
joeym said:
well....I only have to listen to the solo you played for me. We all have our influences, but some manage to develop their own distinctive style. You have.
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That's encouraging. Thanks.

I'm sitting here at this very minute struggling with a piece and you've given me hope! :)
 
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