So what inspired you...

[holndav]

hippietim wrote:
1) to play guitar
2) to play a Tele
3) to play today or continues to inspire you

1) First, the musician most influential was Eric Clapton. Now the reason. I was majorly exposed to music early on with my sister playing concert violin (she still does), Dad's friend's bluegrass band practicing at our house occasionally, and Mom playing organ and piano all the time. Of all things, I wound up in middle school band exceling at saxophone. Nothing against sax, but it didn't work for me. So, I moved on and never looked back. Even sold my sax (heh). I like guitar in part because it can never be truly mastered (I like a challenge) and the intricate nature of the instrument is immensely appealing. Yep!

2) Easy. Should have gotten one in the first place. I even looked at them but was sure a Strat was right. My first real axe in H.S. was an AS Strat (still have it in the closet in mint condition). My father in law has a stable of neat guitars including several teles. Once I played them, I Knew. Oh yes. I did. Again, nothing against Strats. I played a neat '57 RI "V" neck last month a friend owns and it was cool. But....a TELE! Yes Sir.

3) Not only the relaxataion of playing after a long day but also that I have someone to jam with. Again, father in law plays bass in one band, guitar in another. When I can muster up the gumption, I jump up for a tune or two. (Solos only occuring on slow numbers. Hee hee.) We also jame every other week at his place across the river from me. (Better amps than me and he has a nice drum kit now too).

Incidentally, I think a big part of sticking with music is being able to have at least reasonably good if not top quality equipment. Example: Had a decent acoustic for years. Now that I have a d-28, I feel like I'm really getting somewhere. Same goes for a recent mandolin purchase. Neat, huh?

David

[DAK]

1. Scotty Moore's licks and solos on the early Elvis stuff (and Elvis himself, who did appear with guitar on those first album covers), followed in short order by Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy, The Ventures... The British Invasion is what finally drove me to bug my folks for that first (acoustic) guitar.

2. Steve Cropper and James Burton get equal billing.

3. I try to spend at least an hour with my Tele every other night... though many nights it's two hours or more. Playin' along with country, rock, R&B discs. Sometimes straight-out pop. Sometimes gospel. (Off nights, I'll play twenty to thirty minutes on my Yamaha acoustic.) Check in w/Riff Interactive's group lessons when I can. One of these days, I'll find some mates who wanna jam. For now, it's a combination of learning and feeling good.

[fasteddie455]

Lemme see....
1) When I was a little tike, Daddy would play in the back room mostly Johnny Cash stuff and I was intrigued (and slightly misinformed) by a guy in this one song who shot a man and a RHINO, just to watch them die!!!! Whaddya mean it's RENO? Heh Heh! Hey I was little!! Daddy and I later went on to take guitar lessons together! So Daddy planted the seed, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chuck Berry gave me a little taste and Scotty Moore got me addicted!!!!! (I jumped on board that Mystery Train and it ain't never comin' back)

2) Junior Brown introduced me to Teles and Twang! WOW! I hadda have one and man-o-man did they sound different than my Strat!!!! Don Rich , Luther Perkins and Bill Kirchen pestered me all along the trip to the guitar store!! Them rascals are persuasive let me tell 'ya!!

3) My good friend Brad Birkedahl of the Memphis Rockabilly group The Dempseys, keeps me wanting more.Merle Travis keeps alternating between keeping me going and hacking me off! And last but not least: My Grandpa. I never knew he could play( he played once or twice with Ernest Tubb) and he did not live long enough to see me play. I wish he were alive today so me and Daddy and him could all play San Antonio Rose together. Now THAT would be something! "All together now....Deep within my heart lies a melody..... Aaaahhh Haaaaaa............." :D
fasteddie

[Doc Leon]

To play guitar:

My dad would take me to bars in our area to listen to a lot of different locals (quite an impression on a 10 year old in 1960). Thanks to a great old picker named Shorty Gilland-my first and most lasting impression.

To play Teles:

James Burton, Don Rich, Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan,Clarence White and on and on. There's just something about that cutting honky tonk sound that lives in a Tele.


To continue playing:

It's something I've done now for 43 years and every time I play a job it's still fun and exciting. No matter if you're playing with an old veteran or a newby, if you pay attention, you'll learn something and that's what it 's about and keeps it fun.

[j5]

1. inspired me to play guitar... because i was tired of being an artist (of the painterly variety) and seeing the guitarists get all the chicks.

2. inspired me to play a tele... johnny greenwood of radiohead

3. and continue to play... because it's more fun than just about anything else!

-j5

[ye olde fretmonkey]

1) to play guitar
2) to play a Tele
3) to play today or continues to inspire you

Welll...

l) I had a couple of false starts on guitar in high school. When I was 2l, I had been fired from my job in the oilfield. I knew that I wouldn't be finding a job anytime soon and would be on unemployment for a long time so I got a guitar and cracked down on practice, 6 or 8 hrs a day sometimes.

2) I played in a berserk speedmetal band and a rootsy punk band, always played Gibsons, Guilds, Heritages, high-gain amps, etc. About 5 years back I decided it was time to re-invent myself musically; bought a Tele, then another Tele, then another Tele, started learning some technique and chicken-pickin'. country and rockabilly had always been a back-burner thing with me before (learned how to play listening to Sun Records stuff 20-plus years ago), then I decided to get serious.

3)What continues to inspire me today...well, every time I can open a new door as a player I get a new surge of inspiration, and fortunately the doors have been opening pretty regularly anymore.

[tweedman]

In about 1967 I saw my first live country performance which was a guy named Nat Stuckey.All evening his guitar player and his guitar had my attention.I did not play guitar at the time but I really liked the sound from his guitar.I discovered later that it was a Telecaster.I was about 11 years old at the time.
Here is a list of players:
1-Carl Perkins
2-Jimmy Reed
3-Freddy King
4-Don Rich
5-Roy Nichols
6-Jimi Hendrix
7-John Fogerty
8-Roy Buchanan
9-Eric Clapton
10-Waylon Jennings
11-Stevie Ray Vaughan
12-Bugs Henderson
13-Pete Anderson
14-Vince Gill
15-Tab Benoit[Ben-Wah]
16-The 3 Kings,Albert-Freddy-and B.B.

On this list I got to see in live performances Carl Perkins,Stevie Ray Vaughan,Bugs Henderson,Tab Benoit,Roy Nichols

[Fret Wilkes]

1. My sister, a real folkie...Joan Baez, Dylan and all that.
she showed me my first chords on a Stella baritone uke..."Where have all the flowers gone...". Then John Fogarty and CCR. I used to stare into the back cover of Cosmo's Factory so hard I swear I WAS there. It seemed like it was possible to play like that with a little work (I said "seemed"!).

2. Roy Buchanan...in the immortal words of Eric Idle "Say no moowah"!

3. My weekly gigs with my best friends and my three Telecasters! What's more inspiring than playing music that you love with people that you love on guitars that you love!

Fret

[Michael R]

1 - A Frank Marino show when I was around 12, I played paino and messed around with my brothers guitars but that show really got me hooked on guitar.

2 - I had a tele in the 80's but didn't play it much before selling it, was more into LP/Marshall thing then and wasn't too concerned about what I had as long as it was heavy and loud... bought a tele 2 years ago cheap off ebay cuz well why not... I didn't have one, and was starting to play more again and I just like it, can't ever really remember buying a guitar to sound like someone (just for certian 'types' of sound), I must be backwards cuz usually I buy one and then say "Gee that sounds kinda like <insert name here>".

3 - As to 'inspiration' to continue, I just find playing fun, relaxing (most the time), and challenging, also my musical tastes have changed (opened up really), so there is alot for me out there that I never considered learning before. This site has been some too!

[porklash]

1. To write songs. Was trying to play drums but our band needed more songs. Of course they hated the songs I wrote so I had to start another band.

2. I always liked the way the look but can´t really remember the reason why I decided to get one. It was twenty years ago...that I remember at least.

3. I wonder about that myself. Just can´t stop.


pEr

[hazza]

1) if there was a moment that i realised that I wanted to play guitar it has to be watching Michael J Fox playing in back to the future!

2) I bought a tele because my guitar idols play them, jonny greenwood, tom morrello

3) despite what some people say teles can rock out!

[TeleHawg]

1. Listening to Lightnin' Hopkins records.

2. Seeing the Roy Buchanan PBS special in 1971.

3. Trying to become a flawless ensemble player.

[John R.]

Listening to the radio in the late 50's and early 60's. I always liked tunes with guitars in them the best. Listening to Elvis, watching Ricky Nelson play on TV and then when the Beatles came along, that was all I needed to know I wanted to play a guitar. I had been taking saxophone lessons in elementary school, I figured guitar was easier somehow. At least, I wouldn't get as out of breath playing guitar.

I never touched a tele until I started playing the guitar again more frequently a few years ago. I was looking for a guitar to buy to replace my worn out '62 Gibson ES125 and found this place and became interested in the tele.

Today, I'm inspired by players and musicians like Danny Gatton, Scotty Anderson, Chet Atkins, Bill Doggett, Joe Zawinul, to name a few and by the TDPRI.

[holgaguy]

1) George Harrison on all the early Beatle albums and Eric Clapton's playing on Disraeli Gears. I thought Harrison was so cool with that Country Gentleman but when I heard Clapton I knew what I wanted to do - get an SG and learn how to play like that!


2) Danny Gatton's playing inspired me to get a Tele - okay, there were a few others- Roy Buchanan, James Burton, Will Ray, Jeff Beck. It's such a simple straight forward guitar. It took me forever to actually own one though. I just purchased my first 6 weeks ago! The paisley Tele that I borrowed for a while in the 70's doesn't count.

3) Danny Gatton, The Hellecasters - numerous blues players from BB to Albert to Freddie King, Ronnie Earl and Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn. I still love to listen to Clapton on the live Cream version of "Crossroads" - it still puts a shivers down my spine. Wonderful. Country players too like Brent Mason and James Burton and so many others whose names I just don't know.

http://homepage.mac.com/davidniles/guitars/

[boogaloo]

Great Questions (wish I'd have seen them last week.) But here's a late answer:

I can remember being about 6 (1961 or 62) years old and seeing a guy on the Ed Sullivan show play a white electric guitar. The sound mezmerized me. My mom, who was into the folk scene at the time, had me listening to everything from Kingston Trio to various jazz and blues guys. She and I watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan a couple years later and I was D-U-N done! She bought me first a plastic guitar (think it was an Emenee) and finally a Stella pawnshop deluxe model. Took lessons from the Ventures learn to play album, and finally formal lessons in my later teens. She was killed when I was 12, and I believe that if my dad had been into music as much as she was I might have had a career in it. (Uncle on mom's side was a jazz player in the SE Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley area until his untimely death at 43. Dad hated guitar- thought it was an instrument of the devil (no, he and mom did not agree, on that and many other things).

My love of teles began in 1997. I had some cash, went into the local guitar store intending to by a small bodied acoustic. I played a CIJ 72 RI and walked out with it. Joined a band that year, and have been playing teles and tele types (G&L) ever since.

Influenced by various blues players and players like Keith Richards, Gatton, "The Iceman" and other players like Santanna, Clapton, Dickie Betts etc.

[Joe K]

1) The Beatles. I am surprised more people haven't listed them. I was 7 when they came to America.


2:
a) it's no-nonsense good looks;
b) Cropper, Keith, Muddy, & maybe Bruce; and
c) TDPRi - I bought a Tele four years ago, after joining this board, and would probably NOT have done so without the feeling that I wanted to be a "legitimate" member.

3) The Blues. I am caught in a pretty cool cycle of listening to blues and then incorporating the ideas I hear into my blues music. That gives me (and probably all of us) MORE APPRECIATION for the music I listen to. Which makes me want to listen to more new and old music, which makes me want to play my guitar more, etc., etc., etc...

[KastOwt]

Originally Posted by hippietim

1) to play guitar
2) to play a Tele
3) to play today or continues to inspire you

(1) In the Year of our Lord 1983, I discovered MTV at the tender age of six. On that channel, I caught my first glimpse of this certain "skinny m*thaf*cka with the high voice," playing a certain song celebrating the end of the millennium. A year later on KHYS 98.5, this same skinny m*thaf*cka released a movie in which he spent most of it looking weird and making strange noises with a guitar. Halfway through the "Computer Blue" performance, I said to myself, "Self, I wanna do something like that someday" (little did I know it'd take another twenty years, but that's beside the point).

(2) Fast forward to 2003. By now I'd been listening to stuff that no black kid should have any business listening to (to hear other people tell it, of course). Stuff like U2, various hair metal bands (stop looking at me that way), the Stones, Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, and yes, Prince for years. I still had my love for hip-hop and R&B, but my old affection for rock was starting to crowd it out a bit. So when I finally decided to pick up a guitar (childhood dreams die pretty hard, I guess), after reviewing what my favorite artists had been using, only one instrument seemed to come up: an ugly old plank of wood with strings, going by the name of the Telecaster.

That kinda sounded like a plan to me.

So on August 12, 2003 I visited my friendly neighborhood guitar dealer and picked up a beautiful brown sunburst Mexi Tele with a Roland Cube 15 amp.

(3) The only thing that inspires me today--besides Ernie Isley, Prince, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Morello--is my love for music. Simply put, I love it so much I want to try making it myself. I may never get proficient enough to actually gig for fun and profit, but just standing up and making stuff that's pleasing to my ear come from my hands is good enough for me.

I shoulda done this *years* ago.

[Bluewolf]

Hearing Mike Bloomfield, Muddy waters, The allman Bros,
Albert Collins, Freddie King, T-Bone walker, Jimi Hendrix, and so on..... Something about the blues moved my soul. That sound, what was it? Ihad to check it out. Then i started playing a strat. After that i joined a blues band and played a Les Paul. But, i wasnt getting that clear, blusey, vintage sound i wanted. I sat down and listened to some of the blues greats. What were they playing? Some were playing Teles!!! i gotme a teleand never looked back. Oh yes, at first a tele was harder to play that a Les Paul, but the extra work involved was worth it. I picked up a Les paul at a shop the other day, i didnt like the way it felt, it felt harder to play!! Imagine that!!!!

[wademp]

1. SRV
2. Jonny Lang, My Dad, Brad Paisley
3. The reason I really play is because I am so intrigued with it. Also it is cool to here everyone tell you you are BAD@$$ at what you do!!!

['ol hank pank]

1. Aeromsmith and Kiss

2. I used to laugh at teles. Then I played one.

3. Art, happiness, sex, lovely little things (you know what I mean)

[jdanter]

1) to play guitar
John Fogerty & CCR

2) to play a Tele
PBS Buchanan '71

Anyone have a copy they can dub???

3) to play today or continues to inspire you

1980s-Albert Collins
1990s-Danny Gatton
2Ks-Redd V. & Bill Kirchen

[GeorgiaHonk]

1. My dad learned how to play, and taught me as he was learning. Hearing Eric Clapton for the first time showed me how cool the guitar could be.

2. James Burton, Luther Perkins, Don Rich, Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan, Keith Richards, Albert Lee, and Danny Gatton.

3. I don't wanna forget, do I!?!?!?!

[tellypicker]

...1. Hearing Roy Nichols and Don Rich as a little kid.
2. Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan, Don Rich, Albert Lee, James Burton.
3. Living where it is possible to see Redd any time I need the inspiration and/or comeuppence.

[Andy B]

Play Guitar: I always wanted to. The more my parents objected, the more I wanted it.
Play Tele's: My Gibson SG. The Tele had a real solid bridge & a maple neck. It stayed in tune!!! What a change from what I thought I couldn't live without. The SG is long gone but I have that first Tele since 1971.
Play Today: Can't give it up. It is something I do to relax. Get away from the stresses of everyday life.