So, how/why did you get started etc....??

DeadSkin

Just thought it'd be interesting to see what influenced you or, how/why did you get started to play a musical instrument. What was your first instrument etc....???

For me, it was always gonna be the guitar, I am a metaller at heart.
Started playin' about two and half years ago and since then I've always regretted not picking up the guitar earlier in life.
Suppose it is easier these days to teach yourself with the wonderful world of the interweb.
The first piece I played on the guitar was the intro to Slayer's 'Seasons in the Abyss'.
My first guitar was an Aria strat played thru a Marshall MG amp.
Have upgraded a lot since then and a lot of thanks goes to the good folk here on these boards .

Rigsby

I played bass guitar for a while when in my 'teens ( I'm now 53 :eek: ). It was mainly jamming in a garage with friends, but we did a couple of gigs too. I remember how hard it was to get any sort of lessons, and instruction books were rare and expensive. I think my bass back then was a "Baby Burns" if memory serves. To my eternal regret, I abandoned playing about a year later.

Fast foreward to 2004. I find myself with a good amount of spare time, and decide to fill it by taking up the bass again. Not being sure if I'd stick with it, I buy an "SX" bass - cheap but good for starting out. I take lots of lessons and practice every day. After about two years I decide to answer an add for a bassist in a blues band. I upgraded my bass and now have two G&L's. I always loved blues and played it in the old band years ago when it was n't as popular as it is now.

I'm still in that band. I know I still have a lot to learn but I'm enjoying the learning process. I also feel great about making up ( or trying to ) for lost time. Better late than never.

Voodu Child

I played piano/keyboard for a couple of years as a kid, had one of those crappy Casio's, semi-learned to read music and all that, and then just got bored and threw the damn thing in the cupboard and didn't touch it ever again...no interest at all.

Much much later (16ish), I just got some random notion that i wanted to play guitar... I guess I was listening to lots of Hendrix etc at the time. I got a pacifica and some crappy no-name amp. I didn't even have a pick when i started, didn't know what they were or that I needed one :pac: I remember flicking away with the back of my nail for a few weeks before someone told me about these amazing plectrum things

Even then, I played it for a bit but didn't really get 'into it' for a year or two.

-=al=-

The Drummer from the chili peppers helped me decide to get a guitar,

tru story

Doctor J

10th of May, 1988. Dave Mustaine leaves the stage and Dave Ellefson plays the bass intro to their cover of These Boots... for a few minutes.

That's when I knew I was going to play bass and got my first bass, an Aria Pro II XRB, just over a year later.

Unlike most people I regressed to guitar after a year of bass playing, purely because all the guitarists I knew could widdle widdle but none of them could play rhythm or riff, which became a problem when it came to writing tunes to gig... and some things never change :pac:

I took up drums in the mid 90's, a friend and I had a doom band going and we couldn't find a drummer who could play slow tempos.

Krsnik87

I was always huge into music, mostly influanced by my brother and his mates. My bro started playing guitar and brought one of his mates up, he played the solo from School off Nirvana's Bleach album flawlessly (my favourite song/album at the time) and blew my tits clean off...

Later that day I stole my bro's guitar and within a few weeks had the whole album learned. I was playing on some cheap classical guitar for about 6 months then got my first electric, best day ever!

Malice

For reasons best known to them my parents forced me to take piano lessons for a while as a kid. I absolutely hated them. That probably would have been the end of my musical noodlings except I then went on to choose Music as the choice subject for my Junior Cert. I remember only choosing Music because I couldn't draw so Art was out, I hated the Technical Drawing teacher and Home Economics seemed like a lot of work . To cut a long story short I took up the violin and enjoyed it a lot even if the initial practice sessions were painful to the ears of everyone around me.

From the violin I progressed logically to the bass guitar after being blown away by Cliff Burton's work on Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning. At this point I was 16 and looking to get into bands and most people just seemed to play the guitar so the bass seemed like a good idea. Plus, being left handed, I'm used to being different .

Rigsby

malice_ wrote: »

I then went on to choose Music as the choice subject for my Junior Cert.

I have always regretted that music was not taught at my school. :mad:

fasty

I learned a few chords in group lessons back in first year but lost interest as it just turned into a class to doss in

Later, much later in 2007 I decided to give it a shot again and have been playing since November. I'm not great, but I'm not bad. I can play plenty of simple tunes and make attempts at tougher ones. At 28, I'm starting late, but I totally haven't ruled out playing in a band in a couple of years.

Sephiroth_dude

saw dave grohl smashing away at the drum,and then started listening to early metallica,lamb of god and thinking ya i want to be a drummer and have'nt looked back since.

Malice

Rigsby wrote: »

I have always regretted that music was not taught at my school. :mad:

Funnily enough, it's only now that I am long gone from secondary school that I realise I was quite lucky to go a school that not only taught Music but had some pretty good teachers as well.

Krsnik87

I used to love music in school, it was the only reason I went in!