Stupid things you did when you first started playing

[jcw]

Hello,

First of all, an introduction. I've been lurking here on TDPRI for a couple years now - I can't even remember what brought me here. It was probably a google search on something related to a Peavey amp, if my vague recollection serves me right. Recently, I came across this forum again while searching for info on custom decals, and this time I got sucked in full force. I've been enjoying the different build threads (Buckocaster and Ron Kirn come to mind) here, as well as the wealth of knowledge you guys all have. Awesome. :)

I was setting up my latest strat a couple nights ago (more on that here) when I recalled my first strat. I have no idea what it was, just that it was blue, and might've been Squier, might've been Fender, can't remember. And it have a tremolo. Of course, at the time I had no idea what the saddles were for, and one night, I noticed that they were all staggered, and I thought it looked odd, so I decided to get a screw driver and line them up, so that they were all even and made a nice straight line.

Oh, I've learned so much since then... but it was a fun memory. I can remember wondering why it was so difficult to get my guitar to play in tune with chords, when the open strings were in tune to each other. Now I know....

Another stupid thing I remember is wanting (and getting) one of them pointy-headed Charvel guitars, but that's a memory lane I'd rather not go down...

What other stupid things do you remember doing when you first started playing?

[scottb]

My first Fender strat was an eighties USA strat with a beautiful sunburst, three single coils and KAYLER FLOYD ROSE STYLE TREMOLO!
!
I was just enamored with the Fender name and didn't know about tremolos.

I now play hardtails or block down my trems.

The bright side of the story is that I soon heard that guitar's scream for a humbucker and installing that pickup was my first mod which has led me to years of great enjoyment refinishing, modding and assembling guitars from parts. Even did a couple fret jobs this year.

[Bhodie]

Hmmm.. the first stupid thing I did when I started playing.. was to start playing :) It has been all downhill from there...

[Flat357]

I often wish my first instrument had been piano Really !

I guess putting my ear next to a speaker every day whilst learning tracks wasn't the brightest thing I ever did , but lets face it , that's how we all learned in those days .

[boris bubbanov]

It really isn't what I did when I first started playing. I got off to a great start.

It is the stupid things I've done in the many years since!

[braderrick]

I remember my first electric was a stratocaster and my father and I took it back to the music store several times swearing the intonation or something was bad, turned out we were both just used to that old '70s 12 string Martin and were pressing the strings down too hard....

[stephwills]

I started on piano when I was six. I hated it and wanted nothing to do with it, but my parents were bigger than me, so ... I had to take lessons. For the next six years. I might have been forced into lessons, but I refused to learn to read music. It was the only rebellion available to me.

Boy, do I regret that.

And to add insult to injury, I now have "the piano" in my house. It's "sold" for $100 to the first sucker who shows up with the cash.

Yeah ...

Anyway, I'm making great progress learning to read music. But when I think of the years and years (and years) lost ... it's depressing.

[Fortsbest]

My first git was a Tiesco Strat copy from Sears and a Sears Silvertone amp. I still wish I had that old amp. I have never learned to play really well but I have tons of fun. My mistake was I probably should have asked for lessons!

[outbreak]

when buying my first electric i asked if the guitar came with distortion

never did anything stupid that damaged any instruments although my early punk rock strumming with ultra hard picks cracked my first el cheapo strat's middle pup cover up pretty nicely

[braderrick]

Not too crazy, I believe some guitars DO come with distortion, and Stew Mac sell that black ice thing for guitars.

[Guitar_Ninja]

About a year after I got my first electric guitar I was tightening screws and whatnot on the instrument one night and decided to screw the pickup screws down into the body as far as they could possibly go. A few years later I learned that the height actually affected the sound of the pickups, but by then the foam underneath them had compressed so much that they wouldn't raise up anymore even after loosening the screws.

It worked out though, as the guitar actually sounded pretty good that way.

Oh, and my first amp, which my mommy bought me for my 17th birthday was a 15W solid-state Crate which she paid... $250 for . In 1997 .

Not a bad practice amp by any means, but they really ripped us off that day.

[outbreak]

i was and am still really happy with my first dodgy solid state, a little 25watt kustom amp with reverb, still sounds preety nice

[Michaell]

never learned to take time to tune

[woodman]

my first electric (1969) was a '65 Strat ... after tinkering with it a little, i realized the strings were a lot easier to bend if i ran the saddles all the way to the back of the bridge. then i noticed ... hmmm ... sounds a little funny on the high notes!

of course, everybody else was so out of tune, it didn't seem to matter much (this was before electronic tuners hit the scene). yikes!

[mitchelguitar]

When I first started playing guitar, I would get stoned first. It wasn't until I recorded myself, that I realized just how bad I sounded. :)

[drummerdarko]

growing up, my dad had many guitars over the years (although he never really played them), but the first guitar i ever bought for myself was a fender American Deluxe. Boy, how my life would have been different. Now I can't seem to stop buying expensive USA Fenders. I wish I would have started with a used 60's classic or a baja or something - those MIM's sure sound like they're nice...

my mama always said i had expensive taste. maybe someday I'll get over it...

[RodeoTex]

Sold my Ampeg Reverbrocket to $20. I let my DeArmond 30 watt tube amp rot to hell.

Did not not buy either one of two Gibson LP Gold Tops in a pawn shop for $160 each in 1975 (neither had a full set of strings). God only knows what year they were or where they are now.

[Robin Nahum]

Failing to apply myself.

Didn't practice, didn't learn licks, didn't take lessons. Just fantasised.

Still angry about wasting all those years but happy to have started getting it together over the last ten years.

Young ones... are you listening?

[Harvey]

I can remember getting the smart idea in high school of changing all my strings on my Mustang at once instead of one at a time. Got them all off only to find I couldn't get the tremolo bar/bridge up into position anymore. Learned a painful, but valuable lesson that day.

[Loco]

As a kid, I had some cheap nylon strung guitar to start with and wanted to convert it to electric. Never got to the point of actually buying a pickup, but screwed on a trapeze bridge and strung it with steel strings. How the neck stayed on or didn't actually snap, I'll never know...

[cassoulet]

I started music playing trumpet. Here is my stupid thing: when you play this kind of brass instrument, il becomes "hot" and the brass becomes a little bit bendable. At the end of a music session at music school, I've catched my trumpet by the mouthpiece and played around with my buds as the trumpet would be a blade. And the brass pipe twisted, next to the mouthpiece !
thirty years later, I still remember my father's blind rage (it was his trumpet...)

[Telakaster]

In my first band me and the bass player decided we would buy some speakers and build cabinets for the P.A. There was an electronics store that sold speakers. 8-inch speakers were $8, 12-inch were $12, and 15-inch were $15. Anyway, we could only afford 4 12-inch speakers so we spent 3 days building cabinets out of plywood, covered them in mac-tac, attached grill cloth with tape and took them over to our rehearsal space and set them up. After we got everything plugged in we switched on the amp and heard a POP! Blew all four speakers before we even got a chance to say "testing". That's how we learned about the difference between musical instrument speakers and stereo speakers and ohms and all that technical stuff!

[Loco]

Originally Posted by Robin Nahum

Failing to apply myself.

Didn't practice, didn't learn licks, didn't take lessons. Just fantasised.

Still angry about wasting all those years but happy to have started getting it together over the last ten years.

Guilty as charged. Wish I'd shown Mr George my first guitar teacher far more respect all those years ago... And I'm still fantasising!

[pseudocat]

The stupidest thing I did was not pick up the bass instead of the guitar.

[Mike Bruce]

Stupid act #1: Mercilessly pressured my parents to let me quit piano lessons at about 12, regretted it right away but was too proud to admit it to my parents. (I later did retain enough, and learned enough, to gig on keys for a time in the '70s.)

Stupid act #2: Sold my first guitar, a cheap Suzuki flattop which my sister had given me. Now I don't have the guitar or my sister (cancer). Two things which mean so much to me gone.

Stupid act #3: Selling '70s Tele Deluxe, matching Tele Bass, and matching Fender lapsteel, essentially to feed my lazy ass. I should have gone hungry and worked harder.

Stupid act #4: I should have struggled more to get pro lessons as a beginner. I would hitchhike to the ends of the earth for strings but not for lessons. What was I thinking? This is from the perspective of a pro teacher now. Lost time and opportunity.

However, I found true love, raised two great kids, have a great extended family, been reasonably healthy, and found true lust in Telecasters. What more is there?

Mike Bruce