The music that got you going

'67 and what, '86? You've led two lives to be in 7th grade for both of those? ;)
LOL yeah I was in 6th grade in '85-'86 which was when that album came out. I heard 5150 for the first time on the way to an Islanders game so it must have been the fall of 1987. I had heard 1984 when it came out but I was in 4th grad and it was mostly "Jump" and "Panama" on MTV and the radio, but I was aware of it. My mom was one of those girls that went to Woodstock so I was raised on all of it. As far as Jimi goes, 6th grade was when I needed to know more.

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Around 10 years old, Queen (70s records) and guitar of Brian May...
Listening with Headphones and closed eyes...
Later then the first Metallica records and Mike Oldfield.
 
Can't say that there was anyone who made me want to play guitar. My parents bought me a Sears acoustic for Christmas when I was 10. Just loved playing and my dad didn't want me to mess with his guitar. First song I learned was Walk On By by Hank Williams. My dad told me I had to learn to play it note for note before playing anything else.

I grew up in a very conservative home and the songs I learned to play were what I heard on the radio in the car that I logged in my head. I'd get home and try to figure them out on the guitar. I guess I got good enough that my mom recognized Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel, told me to never play that again!

Fast forward to my first electric, had a friend that I worked with that played as well. He invited me over every Saturday to sit around and jam. I learned a lot of the songs on Journeyman (Eric Clapton) so he is probably the first influence on my playing. Next was Larry Carlton but I could never play any of his songs all the way through.

Biggest influence though would have to be Eric Johnson, I saw him in a small club with the same friend from work when EJ was promoting Ah Via Musicom. It wasn't really his music that changed me, it was his approach to music, tone and how he carried himself. His playing blew me away but for some reason, my biggest takeaway was that I would probably never be anywhere near his level in my playing but I can still enjoy making music no matter what my ability level is.
 
yup! had this poster on my wall in the mid 70s
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Ace might be proud that I only took it down to put this one up
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Kiss. Listened to Deuce, Strutter, and Detroit Rock City this morning. Also the Montrose album which inspired me to post this thread. Kiss was my 1st show in 75. 46 years later, and just last week in Sparks NV my son saw them play.

That Rush album is a real classic. I saw that tour in Columbus Ohio. Long time ago.
 
Grew up on Motown, heard Jimi, Floyd and Zeppelin and it was awesome.Then MTV came along and totally changed everything seeing the visual of music is what made me want to seriously play (still trying to LOL), Then Metal came along a friend gave me a Mixtape with Metallica, Slayer and a few other bands and that was when the Metal bug bit me. now as I get older I still love the new stuff but I find myself listening more and more to the older stuff I grew up with.
 
From what I recall Rush was touring with Big Sugar in their early days as an opening act. That’s how they hooked up. Read it somewhere. Must have started very young!

Looked it up. Says here that Lifeson returned the guitar in 98.
Ah - it's the other way around! - according to the article Alex Lifeson gave the doubleneck to Gordie Johnson - now it makes more sense.

First time I saw a Rush show was around 78-79, and who was the backup band? Max Webster led by Kim Mitchell!

Lots of my friends' older brothers/sisters saw Rush at their high schools around here where Rush gig'd frequently in the earlier days with John Rutsy drumming / before Neil. Here's a treat if you have not seen it before:
 
My father excitedly brought home the VHS of Delicate Sound of Thunder when it came out and I was on a steady Gilmour diet. That was around 1990 when I was 8, he brought me to see them in '94 and I was aleady a huge Floyd junkie at that point, but after it was like a sickness.

I was infatuated with his CAR Strat. I just thought it looked like the coolest, most futuristic thing (yeah, in the eary 90's). I've told the story a couple times here, but when he had the auction (see profile pic) I got to see it close enough to smell it and the one memory attached to my ex-wife that doesn't make me sick, is her nudging my foot when the curator looked away so I could touch it.

 
I was six years old when I started playing Piano Accordion (that was my Mothers doing not mine) and it wasn't long after that I started noticing the Beatles playing in the background practically everywhere I went. However I continued playing the p.a until about nine years old. By then, the music around me started getting more & more psychedelic (it wasn't until some time later that I realized what my parents were getting up to).

At some point I heard a really strange sound and asked a friend who it was, "oh that's a guy called Jimi Hendrix". I thought well, that sounds freakin cool! It was around that time when I was 12 years old that my brother introduced me to my first smoke of weed and the flood gates opened.

Along came the likes of Robin Trower, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton, Budgie, Alan Parsons, and a host of the 'usual suspects' talked about with fondness so much in this day and age.
By now it was bye bye Piano Accordion hello guitar (and goodbye school work).

Looking back, I think I was most influenced to pick up the guitar by an era of music rather than any one artist...at least in the beginning.
 
Music I love? Too many artists to be mentioned.
The guitarists who made me want to learn guitar?
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Eddie
Rhandy
Angus
 
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