O/T Who helped you become a musician?

[James Hill]

My dad, after alot of begging he took me and my best friend to the Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham, AL. to see Kiss. We were in the third grade at the time and it still rates as one of the greatest moments and memories of my life. Shane, the friend who was with me at the show is also still the guitarist in the band I'm in now. The Christmas after that show I got my first bass, he got a guitar, and we been playing in bands together ever since. I don't think my dad always loved the music we played or listened to but he always said that he felt it kept us from getting into a lot of trouble as we were growing up.

 

[roballanson]

My mum, god rest her soul. Forced me to got to piano lessons when I was very little and it paid off. She always had classical and folk music on round the house and got me really interested in music and how it worked.
Her and my dad then encouraged me when i found my home on the bass about 23 years ago now....

Love em both for it.

 

[Oldtoe]

I started playing bassoon in 7th grade. My dad bought me a beginner's bass (Jammer (?) brand) at Christmas of my 8th grade year. I taught myself to play Def Leppard (yes, Def Leppard) and Dire Straits songs on it. My high school band director, Kenny Vise, got me to play bass in the school jazz band that he revived after a decades-long hiatus. It was especially helpful that I could already read bass clef. After Mr. Vise left during my 10th grade year, Gary Meggs took over the band director position and let me do small jazz/blues gigs with him on sax and the assistant director, Les Pack (phenomenal jazz player) on guitar at a local Cajun food dive. A school friend of mine, James Gilliland, played drums (really well, too.) We played for gumbo and crab cakes. I had to read out of fake books, which made my green, high-school ass sweat, let me tell you. They forced me to get better and I stuck with it. Now I can hardly read at all, dad-gummit!

When I got out of college, I played with several rock and roll cover bands and a good blues band, to all of whom I owe thanks for helping me progress as a player. Now I play with this "Tyler" punk.

 

[Slapfest]

When I was at school, I tried to play the guitar....... and tried.
But I just absolutely sucked at it.
I can remember trying to play my dad a song I had "learned",
and he gave me this funny look. and said,
" thats great, but dont you think it would be better with some sort of rhythm?"
I was kicked out of every band I tried to play in.... seriously bad.
Then guitar lessons went up in price, and lets face it, they werent doing a thing for me,
so my parents said it was a bit expensive now.
I went to say goodbye to my guitar teacher Dave Lemmon.
As I went to leave, he said " look, just try figuring things out from records... thats how I learned"
I didnt realise it at the time, but that was when I first started to actually listen.
Dont get me wrong, I still sucked.... but I started to develope an ear.
I always loved music, and I probably should have given up by the time Dave Lemmon dropped that pearl of wisdom in my lap...... but It was the best advice.
It seems very simple..I know
But I had a serious learning "speed hump"...and that advice got me over that hump, and I never looked back.
Cheers, Dave

 

[NorM]

Slappy that was beautiful! ^^^^^^^^^
Never say Die.

 

[Slapfest]

Thanks NorM.
It IS a great thread, I agree totally

 

[jaylegroove]

I was led to music pretty early, since my father was a semi-professional music hall singer and my grand father was a (non-professional) violin player. I had my first "instrument" at the age of 3, that was a piano toy, but I could actually play a whole range of 13 notes on it. Later, at the age of 7, I got some kind of organ and started to play a bit more seriously. But keys definitely wouldn't be my thing.

My grand father then lent me his violin. Having mercy on my whole family's ears and melomania, I stopped fast. Then I picked up a guitar. That was in 1973, I was 14, and that soon became interesting. But still something was wrong. As far as I remember, when I was watching a pop or rock or blues live performance, or when listening to a record (from Chuck Berry to Genesis via Alice Cooper and Stevie Wonder), I was more in the "bass vibe" than on the guitar one. In early 1976, I finally picked up my first bass.

Having been playing guitar for 3 years, and then working hard on bass, it didn't take long until I was able to play some Stanley Clarke - Chris Squire or Jaco licks. Some (short) time later, I decided to focus on groove and tightness instead of beautiful complicated basslines.

30+ years later, I'm still stuck to bass. Good sign, IMO
I still play guitar too, and sometimes play a few keyboards chords when needed (especially when recording).
I never put my hands on any violin again, though

 

[word]

i just figured everyone's dad played trumpet and sold cars and so i thought that's what i'd do when i grew up my dad is a fine musician and plays quite a bit so i was always around music. i used to go with him to his gigs and help carry his mute bag when i got out of the service and came home, i decided to teach myself to play bass because i wanted to gig a lot and work a little. that's what i've been doing ever since. i was very fortunate to have great teachers and roll models, a bit of a knack for music, and a lot of being in the right place at the right time.

 

[MrMusashi]

the blues taught me how to play

and then i found the funk.. i still cant play, but i enjoy a good groove more than anything! (highjack ps.. does anybody else in here absolutely hate the drummer in metallica?? im sure he couldnt keep a steady groove even if he was electrocuted at his private parts by a metronome driven with atomic clock accuracy )

honestly, i wish i would have taken some music theory back then, but all the guys in the band were "anti-music-education-system" guys after some bad experiences with recorder flutes in the childhood

i still remember it like it was yesterday.. 25 pupils.. 1 teacher with beard and leather patches on the elbows of his tweed jacket. Smelled like he drank too much wine every night
add a cpl of hyperactive kids who only made overtones at insane volume levels.. then trying to learn notes and the darn teacher used too long to explain the note lenghts.. hey we got it 2 classes ago.. move on!! but nah.. an experience i think could equal chinese water torture

MrM

 

[A.J.]

My parents. They don't play, but they rock! I grew up on a strict diet of Aerosmith, Rush, Neil Young, Stevie Ray , Tom Petty, Steely Dan and some country. They paid for my early guitars, lessons, drove me all around town so I could jam and play gigs (before I could drive). I owe a lot to them and my best friend's dad, Al Lopez (had a top 100 billboard country hit in the mid 90's). He showed me my first chords, riffs, etc.

 

[shamus63]

Picked up the bass around March-April '79; had a buddy who would let me fart around with his bass whenever we hung out.

Purchased my first bass (a P-copy) with my first real paycheck in June that year, was taught how to tune it by another friend, and took the matter into my own hands...so-to-speak.

Much like Bassmonkey, I mentored straight from the cassettes of the music I loved and listened to. The format has changed over the years, but the method stays the same.

I still don't know how to read music.

 

[martin shane]

I would have to say My brother. he's a great piano player and had me on Piano, guitar, and drums at a young age...he also gave me my first bass and showed me the first bass line i had ever learned... and theres a great local banjo player, that I grew up around...he's a great all around musician on anything he puts his hands on....he taught me a lot about playing in the pocket .... and then the guys I had my first original band with (magic cottage) .... all great musicians but i was lucky enough to have it all around me....and the older guys would show me anything I asked of them ...

 

[Psycho Ward]

Dr. Frazier gave me my real start but there was another guy that really groomed me for a professional career in music his name is Brian Adams. Brian was a steel player fresh off the road with Little Jimmy Dickens; he was a staff steel player on the Grand Ole Orpy for many years and had done all sorts of sessions. He was going to retire from the business and take care of his ailing mother.

But of course he didn’t quit playing, just traveling and I got to play in a band with him. I learned more in that year than I had in all my studies before. I learned how to do fills, intros, turn arounds and how to stay out of the way and complement what was going on. He taught me what was really expected from a pro.

I haven’t heard from him in years, but I know the guy that builds his amplifiers, I’m going to look him up. We had a lot of fun in those days.


Next

 

[thunder]

living in new york made me into a musican. all the great bands that were up and coming in our (almost dead now) club scene. the lower east side alternative/punk scene, the brooklyn hard core scene, queens death metal scene, midtown goth/surf rock scene. the latin rock scene. were all peeking from the mid 80's to about 02' it was hard not to be involved in music.

 

[NorM]

living in new york made me into a musican. all the great bands that were up and coming in our (almost dead now) club scene. the lower east side alternative/punk scene, the brooklyn hard core scene, queens death metal scene, midtown goth/surf rock scene. the latin rock scene. were all peeking from the mid 80's to about 02' it was hard not to be involved in music.

I love this response. Perhaps this is one of the few times that blaming seocity is the right thing to do.

 

[Abiatha]

11th grade prep-school white-necked blooze doods

First instrument: French horn. Terrible instrument, but I could play it OK.
I was a small kid and it was too heavy to carry.
I really only liked doing elephant calls with it!
Never practiced, and of course the teacher knew.
He told my Mom that I had perfect pitch, and that I was "cheating" my way through the lessons by playing from memory.
Learned basics of guitar from my dad's guitar books. Folk songs and stuff.
7th grade I went to lots of house parties with older kids, who would sit upstairs in a bedroom, getting high and jamming.
These guys taught me blues changes so they could solo over them. I figured out how to play music well with others, and developed my own roster of guitar solos.
It was all downhill from there. Started playing with other kids my age, and after high school started forming real bands and doing bar gigs. Still doing it.
Guitar for 15 years, then bass. I got more gigs on bass, and stayed there.