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I first picked up a guitar at 10 yrs old, in 1969 and the story is interesting: I was in 4th grade and walked to school. MY path took me past an old log cabin. AN old black man lived there and every day, in the afternoon, on the way home, I saw him on his front porch, working on something. For the longest time, it was me walking past him working on something. Finally one day, I walked past and had to stop in my tracks. All I could do is just stand there, with my mouth open and my eyes as big as saucers. He was finished with what he was working on, and playing it. Turns out he made banjos, that one was out of a long handled cast iron skillet. He finally saw me standing there and he spoke to me.
“You like that, boy?”
“y,y,yes sir.” I replied.
“You play?” he asked.
“N,no sir”
“Wanna learn?”
“HECK YEAH!”
“Well come up here, then.”He put that banjo on my lap and showed me where to put my left hand fingers and “air played” a banjo to show me how to finger pick. Now, I don’t know how long I sat there, but I quickly got the hang of it and was playing the tune he was playing when I walked up.
Finally, “Boy, you better run along for your folks come lookin’ for ya.”
“OK, thank you SO much.”
“See ya t’morrow.”
I ran home. The whole world looked differently. I had a new purpose in life. That night, I asked my dad for a guitar. If he did, I wouldn’t want anything else, ever again.Well fast forward a few months. We moved away, to a new place and my dad got me an old flat top guitar. The strings were a mile off the neck, but I didn’t know any better. I thought it was supposed to be that way. So I spent the rest of my childhood, trying to play guitar. If I ever met anyone who could play anything, I’d beg them to show me one thing. They’d show that one thing and I’d spend however long-days weeks, months, getting it under my fingers. I’d get frustrated and mad and cry and throw that old guitar down, only to pick it up a few days later and keep trying. The strings were SO old and SO far off the neck and my fingers hurt SO badly.
Well, that one thing became two things and then three things and then 10 things and then 20 things and then 50 things. By the time I was 16, I could play Classical Gas, Who I heard it from was Tubular Bells.
I joined the USMC at 17 and as soon as i could, I got my first electric guitar and could not believe how close the strings were to the neck! I didn’t think it would play. Well, as it turned out, due to my hard hardheadedness and drive, learning to play on that old flat top, my fingers became super strong. I kept breaking strings on that electric guitar. I took it back and told them it was defective. The guitar had 9s on it, they restrung it and watched me play and within minutes, I broke the high E. They restrung it with 11s and I was on my way. I didn’t even know they had different thicknesses of strings…lol
So here I am now, years and years of self taught, books, videos and jamming with folks, etc. The internet opened up a whole new world of learning, BUT, it wasn’t until I found “Active Melody” did any theory make any sense to me and I’m eternally grateful for y’all.
BTW, that tune the old man showed me on that cast iron skillet banjo? It was Cripple Creek. The first piece I ever learned? It was the guitar part to Wipe OUT.
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I absolutely loved the story. I am 8 years older than you but didn’t start to play until I was 15 in 1966. And after all these years, I still play Wipeout on a regular basis.
Trying to make my guitars sound as good as they look.
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Thank you. Yeah, good tune from back in the day. The 2nd thing I was shown was “Secret Agent Man”, then the theme of “Mission Impossible”. Then, as a child of the 70s, the usual guitar fare: “Smoke on the Water”, “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Taking care of Business”, Stairway to heaven, Rock and Roll, La Grange..Led Zep is my favorite band. Now, I have a Fender G-DEC, that has drums and bass and amp sims and FX, so i have songs programmed in and go to open mic nites and jam. I like blues and classic Rock-EC, and SRV was a new challenge.
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Welcome to the AM site Clarence!! You’ll find everything you need on this one site, and you can’t beat the price!! I retired to Micco,Fl. 20 yrs ago, and really like this area!
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