I went to a James Brown concert and for some reason, I said, I’m going to play the guitar and that’s it. I was playing trumpet at the time.

-Kevin Eubanks, guitarist for Jay Leno

At age 15, James Marshall Hendrix received his first guitar, an electric to replace the broom stick he would strum like one.

Even though SRV initially wanted to play the drums as his primary instrument, Michael Quinn gave him a guitar when he was eight years old. Vaughan’s brother, Jimmie Vaughan, gave him his first guitar lessons. Vaughan later quoted in Guitar Player Magazine as saying, “My brother Jimmie actually was one of the biggest influences on my playing. He really was the reason why I started to play, watching him and seeing what could be done.”

Joe Satriani was inspired to play guitar at age 14 after learning of the death of Jimi Hendrix. Satriani reportedly heard the news during a football training session where he immediately confronted his coach and announced that he was quitting to become a guitarist.

–Wikipedia

Do you remember the exact moment where you knew, absolutely knew that you were to become a guitar player?

I do. I was sitting in my living room watching my dad play guitar along with his favorite Allman Brothers cd, Live at Fillmore East. I was just in awe and had an epiphany that I needed to pick up the guitar and start learning. A week later, my dad had given me his old acoustic guitar and signed me up for guitar lessons. The rest is history…..

We would love to hear about how and why you guys started to play, so drop us a comment or write your own post!

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