Best Brother on the Planet

As some of you know, I happen to have an older brother who was the first person to place a guitar in my hands. He taught me how to play "500 Miles" by Peter Paul and Mary, and I used to drive my mother crazy playing it over and over and over....and, well, you get the idea.
Anyway, I can pick a little but my brother is amazing, even though he is loathe to admit it.
Well he just put another guitar in my hands. Last week he sent me a Martin D-18. I am absolutely enthralled. I have only put it down to attend to necessary biological function.
I mentioned to him that I had recently decided to do a serious study of flat pickers as I feel that most of the current riffs we hear on country radio sees it's roots in bluegrass, and a week later I am playing butter.
All I can say is, thank you Neil, you are the best brother on the planet.

my brother gave me a socket set once.......

My brother gave me a whack in the head with a potato hook...

Good on ya Gary. You're lucky to have the brother that you do.

WOW! Makes me wish I had a brother.

My older brother gave me more ass whoopins than I care to remember. Never a guitar.

I have no brother. I have no surprise guitar. I do not pass GO or collect $200.

I gave to both my brothers & never got jack from them........Life....................

my brother gave me a 1982 Fender JV Telecaster ... http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YeJzt63xtWM/SUBJqDGqoZI/AAAAAAAAAJw/pz1lJZYyQik/s512/DSC00003.JPG

I have a brother. We don't talk anymore.

My older brother taught me about rock and blues.

Mike Bruce

I was ten years old when my brother was in Viet Nam. I used to sneak his guitar out from under his bed and play with it. He sent me a letter saying I could have it and that is what I learned to play on. It was an old Silvertone. He can no longer play having lost a finger in an atv accident (I was beside him when it happened). But years ago I passed the guitar to his daughter. She doesn't play but maintains it as a wallhanger. This brother also sent his combat pay home from Viet Nam to buy me my 1st horse.

I know exactly what you mean about your brother. Its doubtful I would have ever touched a guitar if not for mine.

Your brother ROCKS!

Awesome story. I don't have an older brother, but I do have a younger one. He FAR outran me in no time flat when we both started playing. It was beyond embarrassing. Then it was on to I was strumming rythym playing in club bands, he was shredding and earning a scholarship to Berkley. But the important thing is, we were never friends before we both shared a huge interest in being guitarists. We were brothers, and we tolerated each other, but we weren't friends. The guitar changed all of that. He doesn't play much anymore, at least nothing like he used to. He's also a lot smarter than me, and is kind of a renessaince (sp?) man. Like he's 33 years old now, has already had more than one successful career and is now earning a physics degree because he "thought it would be fun". Sick. I wanna punch him.:lol:

But he's also the best male friend I've ever had, and while he's never given me an expensive store bought gift, he did make me, by hand, from scratch, no pre-made necks or bodies, the two most fantastic guitars in my meager collection. My t-style, and my recording acoustic. One of those other things he got into that he thought "would be fun to try". I've been offered obscene amounts of money for both of them, but I would never entertain the slightest idea of having them in anyone else's possession.

For those who don't have a brother who shares something like music in common with them, it's impossible to understand. I feel sheepish even looking at a guitar when he's in the room, and he tells all of his friends (many of whom KNOW what he's capable of) that I'm the best guitarist he's ever heard. I know it's bull****, but I also know he means it, and it can be staggering at times.

You have a good brother, and you made me wish I lived a lot closer to mine tonite. Enjoy that guitar.:grin:

I had an older brother. I inherited two of his guitars three years ago. I donated one to a music-based charitable institution. I keep the other, an Alvarez acoustic, and play it from time to time, most frequently playing Warren Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart" and Bob Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand"

My brother gave me a real sweet Yamaki and a Epiphone Dot, and a brand new chainsaw, and a clock radio. And he's treating my wife and I to the John Prine concert in Vancouver on the 16th. He's pretty swell.

Quote from gary: "I mentioned to him that I had recently decided to do a serious study of flat pickers as I feel that most of the current riffs we hear on country radio sees it's roots in bluegrass"

Your rite on the money man.... Too many guys learn a few SRV licks and turn into "look what I can do" but when you go back and learn where it came from is when your getting somewhere. Your paying your dues man.

remember , "You can't grow when you pull your roots out of the ground" -Dale Watson

And all because of that older bro. I wouldnt be anything if it werent for mine. Keep kicking but Gary.

Well he just put another guitar in my hands. Last week he sent me a Martin D-18. I am absolutely enthralled. I have only put it down to attend to necessary biological function.

Very nice. All my brother does regarding guitar be bothered when I have one with me and tell me more about his biological function than I care to hear. Even text messages on the subject!

I will admit that I have a hard time putting my favorite Martin down. While I appreciate all sorts of guitars my favored acoustic tone is usually from classic Martin models others in the Martin D, OM and 00 styles.

Enjoy it in good health.

My brother gave me a really great SFDR in 1979 or so... And then took it back about five years later! He claimed it was just "on loan"...

But I can't really complain, I DID get to use it for five years. And more recently have enjoyed the heck out of playing in a band with him. Like Jakedog and his bro, we're best friends (and he's a terrifyingly good guitarist, too!).

Tim

Your brother ROCKS!

Oh, and Gary, what he said!!!

Tim

My younger brother tried to hit me with a hammer, but at the time the hammer was too heavy for him and he hit himself in the back of the head while trying to swing it at me

That's really cool.

So Gary, what are you going to do for your brother?

I got a late 1980s Epiphone Sheraton II from my brother - I'm the older of the two of us, and when I started playing in my teens (on a cheap Strat copy), he had to get a guitar, too; however, while I was a poor (financially speaking) high school student, he was a cabinetmaker's apprentice with real wages, and all, and could afford a much better guitar, that Epiphone; he lost interest in it after a short time, and when I moved from our tiny country hamlet to the "big city" (Vienna) to attend university, he wanted me to sell that Epi there; never found a buyer who would pay a fair price, so afte a couple of years he told me to keep it; I didn't really make music seriously for a long time (just a bit of campfire guitar strumming) - but when I got bitten by the guitar bug again, it was his Epi that I used for a long time, before I became a Tele-afficionado...