Who helped you get BACK into guitar?

[ctreiber]

It's a long story that boils down to a short answer; God and sobriety.

Check out "Progress Not Perfection" on itunes or cdbaby....

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by ctreiber

It's a long story that boils down to a short answer; God and sobriety.

Check out "Progress Not Perfection" on itunes or cdbaby....

Chris,

Well, those are two pretty good reasons.

- Glenn

[crikey]

In 40 yrs. of playing, I've went a day or two here and there without playing but I've never quit.

Unfortunately for the world.

[crikey]

Originally Posted by gary palmer

I'd quit playing and building guitars - back in 2003 after 32yrs playing and 25yrs building - following the totally unexpected onset of rheumatoid arthritis. I laid my guitars and other instruments to rest in our attic and packed my tools away as widespread inflammation and pain made it impossible to play, use, or work with anything manually. My immune system had basically forced me to quit as it steadily destroys my joints.

It's still the case, but one day, early last year, my then nine year old daughter totally surprised me by asking if I'd teach her how to play guitar. How could I refuse?

Fortunately my meds had been effective in limiting and slowing the progression of the ongoing joint destruction and digit distortion. I thought why not? I've nothing to lose, so bought a book on hand exercises and set to re-teaching my hands and fingers to play guitar again while also working with my daughter who's enthusiasm had triggered the now renewed spark of interest.

Any form of serious fingerstyle is out of the question as my right hand is the worst affected, but my daughter's playing has gone from strength to strength - she's even formed a band with friends - and in all honesty she's the one to blame for renewing my enjoyment and enthusiasm for all things guitar.

Well...God bless you both.

[BBWW]

Got a copy of Jack's Crow's from Dirty Linen. Got back into playing and writing again after I heard John's CD, I hadn't done much for 12 years.

[Fliss]

Indirectly, it was my friend's daughter who got me back into guitar.

I'd stopped playing after I left college in the early 1980s, basically because I no longer had anyone to play along with so it seemed a bit pointless. My guitar sat largely ignored for more than 20 years. Then a few years ago, my friend's daughter who was then around 9 was learning guitar, but always losing plectrums, so I decided to buy her a load of plectrums as part of her Christmas present. I went into a guitar shop to buy the plectrums, and saw a shiny new guitar hanging up that I really liked the look of - so I bought that too! And that kickstarted me into playing again. And I have been able to find other people to play along with

My friend's daughter is still learning, by the way, she now has a pink electric guitar, and her mother has just recently re-started her own interest in guitars too!

Fliss

[soundwatts]

After playing for 10 years some time ago I broke my left pinky. The doctor splinted it on an angle and when it healed I was so frustrated that I could not fret many of the chords correctly (still cant) that I put the guitar down for many years.

After many years my 7 year old showed an interest and I got her a guitar. I now give lessons to 3 kids in the neighborhood on a regular basis and my guitar playing is improving but I still have a difficult time because my pinky sticks out but I learn to compensate.

[mmmaak]

Two words....

Ed Gerhard

[weatherford]

Interesting discussion...

I started playing as a kid in the 60's, was playing out by the 70's, writing my own songs, etc. Toured with a bass player for a couple of years after college, then went back to (non-musical) grad school and got married. My ex like my playing but thought I was wasting time (not working) when I did, so it went by the way (despite my two wonderful guitars!) I still wrote an occasional song, but when I wrote one on the back of an envelope while he was driving he told me I was stupid (or something to that effect)... we divorced in '91 and I started playing again, some playing out, but then went to grad school for classical music (and that song on the back of an envelope also became a wonderful Christmas Carol - for solo guitar player or 3 part treble chorus)... well, then i didn't have TIME to play (even though I played as an encore in my graduate composition recital - just for fun)... then I started to play again (and got a good job) and found eBay, adding to my guitar collection.... then I moved here (2000) and didn't bring the instruments over for a couple of years...I started playing at sessions, but still not enough...

Honestly, it's been finding the forums that has really kept me inspired in the past four or five years of playing again. It's also realizing that while I am "not good enough" in my own opinion of my playing, I really am pretty good (according to others I admire), so I really just need to play for myself and show how much I love it!!!

More frustrating than not playing for me has been not having a piano - I recently spent 6 weeks in FL caring for my sick step-mom and my piano (my father's actually) is there. A 6' Steinway grand. I finally found my piano playing fingers, and I was in heaven...

I need a studio room.... with my piano and all my guitars...

Thanks to everyone for this and all the other wonderful discussions on this BB!!

[Dek431]

Hey fairly new to the forum. Ace thread!

Just a nearly gave up. I started my guitar career at 19 well with real devotion, i flirted with playing and always had a guitar from 16. At 18 i was going to sell my electric, had already sold my acoustic. The potential buyer came and...well didn't buy. So i kept it and decided it was a sign and continued to play, got my first decent guitar at 19 which spurred me on. At 21 i went acoustic, always had an electric tho. Now 29 I'm 90% acoustic 10% strat oops.

[HULK!]

I find most of the stories in this thread very sad. Going so long without playing the guitar is unimaginable to me. It seems life is a crazy ride and most guys/gals stop playing because they have kids, a career, or a partner to attend to. Too bad we can't shake off responsibility and just play the guitar.


I don't ever plan to quit. I play everyday I can.

[Taylorplayer]

Pretty much the same kind of deal for me... took classes as a kid... played on and off through my teens / twenties... got married and raised two children... back in 97' or so a friend gave me a Doyle Dykes CD.... and everything has been "full tilt" from that point on!

[unimogbert]

..........

[citori]

My little girl (6 at the time) who looked up at me a over a year ago and said "Daddy, how come you never play your guitar for me?".

I dusted off my old Yamaha beater and strummed a few kiddie tunes that I could remember and realized that she didn't care how good I was. She sang along and asked if we could have music again. Turns out she likes folk tunes, rock tunes, country tunes, you name it. Over a year later and my son is learning guitar, we have microphones and drums and the kids and I "rock out" on a regular basis. The best is when she asks for "bedtime beats" instead of a story. (but i have to be careful not to rock too much as it gets us all wound up!)

Now I play for the kids, my wife, friends and most importantly for me again - sometimes I can't imagine why I ever put it down in the first place. Youth and pride have a way of ruining something good sometimes, in my middle age I've come to do things for the enjoyment and not the competition or desire to become the best. Hey, maybe I'll try golf again!

[dawhealer]

I abruptly stopped playing for nine months starting on Ground Hog's Day in 1978 and it was my wife who provoked me back into playing.

At that time ( 2-2-78) I was involved in a serious motorcycle crash in which my left arm was broken across the elbow joint, my left ring finger was almost completely severed and hanging by a shred of skin, and my neck was compressed at C-5-6-7. My finger was reattached successfully, but I was pretty sure my playing days were over. My arm and finger were a mess and my fine motor skills were shot from the cervical compression and the injuries to my arm and hand. There was other stuff. Part of my face had to be reconstructed, I had to get some dental implants, I had other spinal injuries and quite a few other broken bones besides the broken arm (Evel Knievel had nothing on me, let me tell you). I was sewn up like Frankenstein's monster. The damage to my arm and hand was what concerned me the most, though and I went into a deep, black depression.

After nine months of my miserable funk, my wife started suggesting that I try playing again. "Yeah, right," I thought. My finger was so tender it hurt to touch it and it was still splinted. I started trying to play just using my index, middle, and pinky fingers to fret. Very interesting, but it worked. Kinda somewhat. As my ring finger healed, I started easing it back in to the mix. Oh, man, it was hard at first, but I got most of the use of it back. It's missing some meat and isn't pretty, but it works, and far better than I or the doctors ever imagined it would.

Playing steel string was still pretty hard, so I tried out some classicals and found that the nylon strings were easier to deal with, as was the wider neck. My coordination still wasn't 100% and the wide neck helped. By January of 1980 I was pretty much back in the saddle and gigging again, albeit only playing classical because I still didn't have the strength to play steel strings for very long at a time. It was the mid-80s before I was able to go back to playing my steel strings without difficulty, but, hey, better late than never.

I haven't stopped since. Although I approach a few fingerings differently I still play well and maybe even a little better than before because of the way I was forced to use my three still-working fingers while my ring finger and most of the nerve damage healed. Some things are blessings in disguise, though blessings for which I'd never voluntarily sign up.

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that I really love my wife.