What type of guitar did you learn on?

[trev333]

through highschool I knew 2 kids who had guitars. One was my friend and classmate and the other was a kid who lived next block over..

We didn't have any adult intervention or book coaching, we just learned the chord blocks above the sheet music we could find of current songs that we knew.. beatles book, CCR single song sheets, etc..

I used to go to my classmates place after school to play records and try and play guitar, watch and learn style..

my other friend had a cheap semi acoustic 335 type copy he paid off for a year on lay by before he could pick it up..
He didn't have an amp... there were no small practice amps that we saw.. only more pro style tube amps, etc...
you couldn't just walk into a music shop in the city and put a deposit down for finance and walk out with it... you had to buy things outright...

man, that semi was a cheese cutter ... we never knew we could lower nut slots and bridges... banging out CCR songs and trying to play along was hard work...

though we did learn full bar F chords early on.... 'cause that was how they looked on the page...

you guys who were surrounded by guitar stuff and older people who played to coach you.. got a good head start....

 

[OldPup]

My mom bought me a new Kay acoustic with extremely high action. She didn't know any better but she had help picking it out. That thing was so very difficult to play but I really wanted to learn.

 

[bobio]

An old Cort AF510 Acoustic that was given to me years ago.
Unfortunately, my son stumbled over it, knocking it and the stand over and breaking the neck.
It just wasn't feasible to fix. Loved that cheap old guitar though
Been looking to get another one, found a couple on sale.
I think I am going to pick one up.

 

[teleplayr]

A POS Japanese electric that cost $25 brand new!

It should have been sold as a Ronco cheese slicer!!! Past the first two frets it was horrible. I hope that it was used as firewood after I parted ways with it.

I managed to get a Silvertone electric after that and it was heaven!

 

[drmmrr55]

Myself, acoustic Epiphone by Gibson 12-string, Regal resonator round neck, Tele partscaster, ibenez hh parts LP style. I still use them all. Except for the 12 that was stolen. As a lefty I have found that when you get a
Guitar you end up keeping it. Make it work, fix it, etc... Have a good connection with them.

a 60's Silvertone archtop, I don't remember what model it was, but it had a spruce top, and was natural in color.

 

[mike stanger]

I began playing the banjo, and for years a banjo was my only instrument.
I learned how to play the guitar using other folk's guitars for 6 years before I bought my first one.

Using someone else's guitars taught me 2 things: how to play with a flatpack and not scratch the top, and which guitar I really wanted to own the most.

So after saving up half my pay over a 10-month cruise in the Navy, I went to a music store in Norfolk and purchased a Martin D-28. My first guitar in 1968. Blew out all my savings, all $400 of it, to get it. (the case added $100 to the price.)

43 years later, in the roughest patch I was ever in, I was forced to sell it to keep my house. Coming and going, that guitar never let me down. I still have the house and I still miss the guitar. And I miss the case too.
regards,
stanger

 

[jimmywrangles]

All I remember about my first guitar was the 1/2" action which didn't help my learning but certainly built some strength in my fingers which served me well later on.
I started relatively late at 21 and bought it after my girlfriend dumped me with money I'd saved to take her out.
Best thing she ever did for me.

 

[jimmywrangles]

When I was 6 or 7, I wanted to play the piano. But a piano is quite big and expensive, and we were about to move one year later,so, no piano for me.
Wasn't too bad, as I was living to sing, since I could talk. I loved words and melodies and even though I did not speak English back then, I sang along every Beatles song I heard
When I was about 12 my mom asked me, if I wanted to play an instrument now, as the piano didn't work out. And I said yes, I would like to play the drums. Well,my mom very honestly told me, that unfortunately no place for drums was left at music school. She seemed honestly bothered
So, 3rd choice was guitar and my father bought me and my brother a second hand Yamaha nylon string and that is, where I learned my first things on, along with classical education, which didn't suit me well. I wanted to sing the songs I loved and accompany myself. And pretty soon I started to write music.

It's kind of funny, I am pretty much a guitar nerd, I love the instrument and always have, but I never wanted to be a guitar player in a band, I wanted to be able to make music and have something to sing to. So, I wouldn't say I am a real guitarist, I am much.more a singer but I love guitars and even started to build them, because to me, it is still the most attracting object I can think of.
That, and amps.....

I also wanted to be a drummer but drums cost heaps and cheap guitars are...cheap, so guitar it was.

 

[cometazzi]

A 1960s rebranded Teisco. This one, actually:

Paid $20 in 1988, as a 13-year-old. My life was all downhill from there.

 

[cometazzi]

A Japanese made Aria AK-20 Nylon string which I still own.

AND.
View attachment 980677
This is my 1989 Squier Stratocaster "The veteran" which I bought new on my 15'th birthday in June 1991. She's the love of my life.

Dude... DUDE

We are Squier II brothers:

Pickguard and pickups have been changed, but I bought this brand new on my 16th birthday in August 1991. It was my first "real guitar" and I can't let it go.

 

[green_henry]

I started with a Gibson Sonex -- POS, bolt-on neck with a really sloppy neck pocket (I was young and naive); it never stayed in tune because the neck would rotate in the pocket. I didn't learn much. Bought a Fender American Standard Stratocaster to replace it, and my playing went to another level, so I credit the Strat.

 

[Blazer]

A 1960s rebranded Teisco. This one, actually:

View attachment 985884

Paid $20 in 1988, as a 13-year-old. My life was all downhill from there.

You're an Anthrax fan, I take it?

 

[cometazzi]

You're an Anthrax fan, I take it?

Yes, I very much was. Scott Ian was my idol at the time, and that's why I painted that onto the fretboard. Silly 13-year old logic!

 

[Brad Pittiful]

mentioned to a friend ii wanted to play...i said im going to buy one...he said...dont buy one he said...ill lend you mine and if you dont connect to playing you arent out any cash...so i cant remember what his guitar was...except it wasnt any i knew of at the time (fender gibson gretsch etc)...it was electric though

 

[telemnemonics]

First it was a "Zim Gar acoustic with steel reinforced neck".
Then a brand new Hondo P Bass copy.
Then a $50 Hohner acoustic.
Then a $50 '65 Mustang I made a new body for and losded with new Dimarzio Super Distortions I got when trading the bass back to the guitar shop.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Started out with a dreadnought acoustic, a 1986 Fender F-250. I still have it and play it regularly.

A few months later, I bought my first electric, a 1980 G&L F-100. I still have it but (unfortunately) don’t play it as often as my other electric guitars. That’s a shame, because it’s a great guitar.

Very old pic from~1993

 

[teleforumnoob]

Mom bought me a $50 classical which I promptly ruined putting steel strings on it.
Then I got a POS Univox semi with a rubber band for a neck and little borrowed Silvertone amp.
I traded the Univox and some cash for a nice little Yamaha acoustic but the action was too high and I didn't know how to lower it so I sold it for a Gibson Marauder with a crappy broken neck joint repair and a cheap little Yamaha practice amp.
Then over a college break I earned enough money for a decent $200 Alvarez acoustic which I kept for probably 20 years.

 

[JJLC]

Gibson SG and an Ibanez Flying V (copy of a '67 Gibson V)

when I turned 20 got my first Strat so, I had to learn how to play guitar all over again, which took about 6 months.

 

[1stpitch]

A Kay acoustic.

 

[burntfrijoles]

I started off on a Kay but quickly moved to a very nice Silvertone acoustic from Sears. Then I got the guitar in the pic below: A Silvertone, amp in case set. It served me well and I had two friends who taught me a great deal of my basic guitar knowledge.