Share how bad you were when you started out on guitar ...

[Nico_levi]

Year 1992 It was war. I find guitar in grandparents house.Old classic guitar. On guitar is 4 strings only. I played on those 4 strings 2 years, after 2 years of playing i only learn to mimic the sound and melodies of some songs i like, not accurate and not in tune. I was 7 years old. I lost one string and replace it with one random string i finde. I know it is a string wire from one broken antena. After 4 years there is first music stor opened near me. I went to the store with my guitar to buy strings and figured i have only 4 tuners instead of 6. I order two tuners and wait 2 months. One guy in store teach me how to tune guitar. Pic up the pone and that signal that i hear is A and from that i tune all other strings. I learn my first song. Everu day i tune my guitar to play that song. Metallica unforgiven. Only intro. Next part is to expensive for my brain at that time. And after 27 years i play in one known band in my country, play big festivals, famouse clubs and i love it. Never stop dreaming. Now i have custom telecaster, vintage stratocsster, one esp, and my own recording studio and i am here to dream about left handed prs S2 mccarty.

 

[Anand Guitaa]

I saw that!

I am still bad at playing the guitar in-spite of learning of the last 3 months .... The funniest part is I am learning the chords of 1 song for the last 3 months andd still find my self lagging behind..
Sharing the chords of the song... if you guys have other suggestion or other website where i can learn.. Suggest plzzzzzzzzzzz... I need to learn the same song as I am fan of Powfu

https://www.guitaa.com/chords/powfu-death-bed

 

[Guitpicky]

I’ve been at it for 3 years and I still suck, but I’ve enjoyed having some really nice guitars and playing around with my gear. I’ve never been that physically coordinated and at 60 I’m not expecting any miracles, especially after a series of mild strokes. I made a promise to myself to enjoy it and not make a new hobby a source of frustration.

I know I’m not the only one using all of it just to push my dreams and keep the creative flame alive, but I’m probably one of the few who will risk the shame and openly admit it

 

[Black-Viper75]

I seriously doubt there was anyone ever worse than me. The year was 1987 and I was 11 years old. We lived in West Virginia and I wanted to buy an electric guitar. I mowed a few lawns gathered, some cash and went bought the most noob guitar. A Synsonics with a built in amp that was powered by two 9 volt batteries. I didn’t have a single clue about playing or music but man, I was so happy. I didn’t even know that a guitar had to be tuned a certain way. I just made sure that the thicker string sounded lower than previous thinner string and I started to make up my own chords and started “writing songs”. When I was 12 we moved to Greece to a very small town. My mom acknowledging my love for my guitar went and contacted the only music teacher in town so that I could start lessons. He told her to buy me a classical guitar because he said “first you must learn to play on a classical guitar before electric”. So I started my lessons which I found so boring but I convinced myself to be patient and hey what do you know …I learned that the guitar has to be tuned a certain way. After a few weeks I learned my first chords. The following lessons were me playing the chords I learned to Greek folk songs while my music teacher was “wailing” on his bouzouki. Needless to say I started to hate my lessons because I wanted to play metal. One day I took a few cassettes with me to my guitar lesson. I played Motley Crue’s Dr Feelgood to my teacher and said I want you to teach me this. He said he couldn’t. I played him Shout at the Devil, also by Motley Crue and asked him how about this? He said he couldn’t. I got up, walked out and never went back. A few months later I came across a book store that would import Guitar World from the States. It was about 15 bucks an issue but I’d buy each issue every month, learned all 3 songs that were transcribed that month and went through all the other lessons in each issue (columns written by Dimebag Darrell, Zakk Wylde and others). That magazine helped me so much. Now I’m 45 years old and have never taken any other lessons. About a year ago started to seriously study music theory for the first time and I’m really enjoying it.

 

[CandidPicker]

There were times from my younger days when I wished that my Dad had supported my choice to learn electric guitar. But as fate would have it, instead there was mostly a lot of times when Dad would be yelling, "Yeah, I saw ya," instead of encouraging me to learn. Thankfully, I took a stand for what I believed in, and realized the intimidation and aggressiveness Dad used for discouraging my electric guitar practice backfired, and only made me stronger emotionally. Although my Dad didn't live long enough to see the changes that I had made for improving my life, it was likely improbable that he would have allowed any of what occurred at our home had he lived into his 80's.

Because my life would have been much different than had my Dad not passed, I'm thankful that my life has turned out the way it has today. Had I not found a way to get away from the oppressive atmosphere at home when I did, I'd likely not be alive today. I'd likely would have never owned any PRS guitars, or nice gear.

Though my Dad never physically abused me, there sure was a lot of emotional and psychological abuse. We see this type of behavior in today's world...the violence and aggressiveness, the fierce attitudes. This is likely one reason why I don't watch TV much anymore. It's not getting better, and no, beating someone down emotionally works only on military recruits, not well-educated people.

Perhaps that was the problem. Dad was military. I chose peace. Many may disagree about certain ideologies and why people struggle for what they believe. The answer is simple. Violence has no place in my life. Music, by contrast, is a still much like a mystery that one researches and practices until he understands it. If one practices aggressiveness and violence, they usually end up hospitalized or dead.

For those whose Dads are still alive and being good examples for their family, my commendations to you. I write this thinking that my Dad didn't encourage my guitar practice, nor my writing, because he knew it would require an inordinate amount of humility of him to admit what he tried teaching me in my younger days was wrong.

As one forum moderator once put it, "Life we view these days is more a cautionary tale than a string of peaceful realities. Peace."

 

[Alnus Rubra]

In contrast to Bob, I feel myself even luckier now reading his post.

My mum and Dad are musical and artistic and I was encouraged to learn. My Dad has shared his practical/home improvement skills with me, that I’m thankful for.

I probably should be far better than I am. But music makes me happy and we’ve passed this on to our kids.

 

[matonanjin]

Shoot I can post videos of me playing now...33 years after first learning to play. It's still bad.

I was planning on sharing this very thought when I came across Mike's post. "Share how bad (was) am"?! Yeah, I can just post me playing now. but I wouldn't do that to you. In my defense it's not 33 years but a few.

Actually, I started out in high school on Bass many decades ago. Our lead and rhythm guitar players were pretty good musicians. Out drummer was bad and I was horrible. I learned a couple bass "runs" and played them in every song. But then my only purpose was to get out of the house, drink beer and meet girls. In college I got married and sold the Fender Bass and Bassman amp. If only I had held on to that amp! Although mine wasn't a tweed.

 

[CandidPicker]

In contrast to Bob, I feel myself even luckier now reading his post.

My mum and Dad are musical and artistic and I was encouraged to learn. My Dad has shared his practical/home improvement skills with me, that I’m thankful for.

I probably should be far better than I am. But music makes me happy and we’ve passed this on to our kids.

Happy for you. It's the least I can do than tell my tale of my misbegotten youth and difficult times growing up.

It was my aunt and uncle who encouraged my guitar practice...when they first heard I'd picked up Dad's old Sear's Roebuck acoustic guitar from my GrandDad's attic, aunt and uncle sent a couple Mel Bay chord books, a rubber/fabric capo, and cloth/leather guitar strap, and a selection of picks.

Because they encouraged my choice, to them I am forever grateful. Regards my Dad, I'm not so sure he'd even care about listening to electric guitar.

 

[SmugglersCorridor]

My father taught me three chords Open E, A, D. Took me several weeks my hands were so small. I learned on a Gibson style guitar that my Father bought from Sear's when he was a kid. It had a bigsby tail piece and a semi hollow body electric. It smelled old and musty. I played through an old Vox amp. I was 6 years old. The guitar was bigger than I was. Something about the sound of that guitar,I sucked but I couldn't put it down.I remember learning the Open G chord. Wow what a stretch. felt like my hand was going to rip in half.
My Father used me as a rhythm section eventually, so he could practice his lead chops. My Father is very good! He's old and can't play as well now but man back in the day, I watched him play on stage in his band at all the gigs they played. I just Stopped one day.