How old were you when you first started playing guitar?

kyguitarguy · #1 01-07-2005, 09:53 AM

And how do you rate your self now?

Thanks

blackeyedboy11 · #2 01-07-2005, 10:46 AM

16, I rate a bit better than then. That was 30 some years ago.....................

rhudson · #3 01-07-2005, 10:47 AM

I was 7. As far as now, you be the judge. http://www.richardkhudson.com/mp3/.

Happy New Year.

sc morris · #4 01-07-2005, 10:49 AM

18.

I'd say I'm as average player, not nearly as good as some on this forum (stream a couple of Jim Tozier's songs and try not to cry). I'm pretty comforatble with what I can do, but I'm nowhere near as versitle as I hoped I'd be this many years later. I feel that I play with soul though, which is more important than technique IMO.

A1rh0pper · #5 01-07-2005, 10:52 AM

I guess I was 24 when I started...back in 2000. Really wish I would've started a lot earlier in life when my dad was hounding me to pick up the guitar at like 9-10 years old. But oh well, live and learn eh. I'm gonna live vicariously through my kids I guess...my daughter is 6 and has picked up the piano making tremendous progress in only a few months...and my song...is just itching to get a set of drums...he's 8.

Guyute · #6 01-07-2005, 10:58 AM

I was 22. Started with my sister's student nylon string that had been lying around our house since I was in 6th grade. The fact that I ever kept playing is actually pretty surprising (considering the shattered remnants of the many other hobbies I've taken up and left by the wayside).

Now, 13 years later, I'd say I'm good enough that the general public thinks I can play, but most musicians can see that I can't. I've only taken a lesson once and ran screaming from the guy who wanted to teach me how to play Hendrix licks when I just wanted to learn to play my acoustic a little better.

Of course, no matter how much I improve, I'll never think I'm good enough. That's just my nature. Of course, after all these years, I've finally given up on my electric pipe dream. No matter how much I improve, I'll never be an electric guitar player and I find that as I get older, I'm more and more at peace with that.

classicalman · #7 01-07-2005, 11:00 AM

I was 6 so that was 40 years ago. Always trying to get better but I can probably hang with most folks as long as I have a score. Studied classical for too many years so I got the chops this ol' brain is still trying to figure out how to improvise.

Les Regala · #8 01-07-2005, 11:04 AM

17, Freshman in College back in 1996. I'm better than I was back then, but I'm still meh.

Roncat · #9 01-07-2005, 11:16 AM

I was 35. Thats been over 20 years ago. It's never to late. The satisfaction of making music is , well , only those of us that play know what everyone else is missing. As for my progress, I think I should be better than I am. I envy all you pickers that started at a tender age. I have studied bluegrass, jazz, fingerpicking blues, and I write songs and perform. Now I am on the melody chord wagon. Just can't get enough! When I get too old to play, I guess I'm dead.

LarryH in Texas · #10 01-07-2005, 11:18 AM

Sixteen -- my first guitar was a Christmas present, 1963.

There are some songs that I play well enough to fool a lot of people about my abilities.

Have spent the last couple of years taking lessons and trying to break decades of bad habits.

SteveS · #11 01-07-2005, 11:28 AM

I started playing guitar when I was 15. I'm about as good now as I was when I was 16.

wthurman · #12 01-07-2005, 11:32 AM

I started for real at 18. I played a few chords from the time I was 6, coming from a family of average guitar players. I'm in a decent place - lots of stuff to learn but good enough to have a great time.

surfoxy · #13 01-07-2005, 11:34 AM

I was 32. That's 5 years ago now, and I still suck. But I play every day, and am improving all the time!

Arm&Hammer · #14 01-07-2005, 11:36 AM

I started when I was 20. Now, 12 years later, I am worlds better, but that still leaves a LOT of room for improvement.

bagelsgirl · #15 01-07-2005, 11:36 AM

I was 13. I'm 40 so that was 27 years ago.

I'm a good guitarist. Better in some areas than in others, probably not the best in the world, but far from the worst, I guess.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

I wish I could play better lead, improvise better. But I always played solo, and did not practice that a whole lot. I'll just have to keep working at it. But since age 13 I never quit playing, and it was all I really ever cared about. I might venture to say, music was the only thing I have ever been really interested in, and has been my only hobby. For the past 16 years it has also been my living. I have about 500 songs memorized, and they are about 1/2 strumming, and 1/2 fingerstyle. I am currently a senior in college, about to start my final semester majoring in classical guitar. Does that make me any good at it? Hmmm... Ask me in a week after my first lesson of the new term (yikes!).

Oh, and I write music too. Writing is a secondary thing to me after playing, but it is still fun. And I have some very good stuff. I have a good CD, too.

For the curious, info about the CD and performance schedule (northeast Florida) is available here:

www.elizabethroth.com