What song made you pick up a guitar?

[Johnny Danger]

Ok, time for all of us to have to admit how old we are. And sorry if this has been done to death, but I'm new here and thought it would be a fun way to maybe learn something about folks here.

I said this in my intro thread, but I've been away from guitars for a long time after starting back in late middle school. I had only recently turned away from top 40 pop and started listening to alternative rock. The crossover artist I am indebted to for pulling me away from top 40 nonsense was Dave Matthews, so he was pretty influential in my interest in learning the guitar. However, the one song that just absolutely took a hold on me was the acoustic version of Plush from Stone Temple Pilots Unplugged concert. Not at all a difficult song, but it was the track that said to me "You need to learn how to make this noise."

Anyway, let me know what song or artist pushed you to push yourself. It would be great for me to find some more inspiration.

[B-Nads]

"Hello in There" - Jon Prine

[DHillshafer]

I was 9 years old. The song was "Purple Haze". The guitar was my dad's nylon string Brazilian Rosewood Classical. 27 years later I still play daily.

[SecondCity]

"Puff the Magic Dragon," by Peter, Paul, and Mary. My son loves it and we sing it together, so I thought it would be fun to play.

[markrj]

"Blood on the Rooftops" intro from the 1976 Genesis album, Wind & Wuthering.

It was 1981 when I started to play. That was the very first piece I learned on the guitar.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Probably something I heard on the Ed Sullivan show Feb. 9, 1964.

[Long Road Home]

When I first heard The Animals play House of the Rising Sun, I knew I had to learn to play guitar. Yup, I'm that old.

[Everton FC]

A few, actually.

Raspberries - "Go All The Way" & "Might As Well"

The Who - "I Can See For Miles"

Paul Simon - "Me & Julio"

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"

Commodores - "High On Sunshine" (Would sound great as a solo acoustic piece!)

[TBman]

The Beatles made me curious enough to want to play one at the age of 9, 9 years later Steve Howe opened my eyes to what I really could do.

[flaggerphil]

The Beatles and Chet Atkins in the early/mid '60s when I was a teenager. Got my first guitar, a Gibson LG0, for my 14th birthday in late '64.

[ocmcook]

cripple creek by my neighbor.

[gruuv]

Oh, I'm gonna get it for this. In '96 I wanted to learn the bass guitar, so I went to my parents and they said, "Your brother wanted to learn guitar when he was your age. Two lessons and the guitar went into its case. It's under his bed. If you can figure out how to play his guitar, we'll think about buying you a bass."

After a bit o' time had passed, I'd picked up some radio tunes and displayed a moderately decent facility on his guitar. I walked into my parents room and Law & Order was on their TV. I started playing along with the opening theme song, and my dad said, "Okay, that's good enough." For the next decade and a half I focused solely on bass. But, several years back I picked up the acoustic to try my hand at a bit of writing and fell in love.

So, I only picked up the guitar so that my dad would buy me an electric bass.

[Everton FC]

Originally Posted by Johnny Danger

Ok, time for all of us to have to admit how old we are. And sorry if this has been done to death, but I'm new here and thought it would be a fun way to maybe learn something about folks here.

I said this in my intro thread, but I've been away from guitars for a long time after starting back in late middle school. I had only recently turned away from top 40 pop and started listening to alternative rock. The crossover artist I am indebted to for pulling me away from top 40 nonsense was Dave Matthews, so he was pretty influential in my interest in learning the guitar. However, the one song that just absolutely took a hold on me was the acoustic version of Plush from Stone Temple Pilots Unplugged concert. Not at all a difficult song, but it was the track that said to me "You need to learn how to make this noise."

Anyway, let me know what song or artist pushed you to push yourself. It would be great for me to find some more inspiration.

For being new to the forum, you teed up a good topic here!

[Jukie]

Peggy Sue by some guy with horned rim glasses.

[vindibona1]

The Beatles: I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

Man... I strummed my tennnis raquet and just about wore out the strings and record needle until my grandmother agreed to buy my first guitar (a used Kay) and my first four guitar lessons. She and my guitar playing literally saved my life.