How have you learned to play your instrument ?

Jimi Hendrix hit the airwaves in the summer of 67. I was 12. I harassed my mom and threatened to run away from home and become a criminal if she didn't immediately buy me a guitar. She knew I was serious so the guitar was promptly delivered.

The guitar came with Mel Bay's book that showed all the chords and how to play Little Brown Jug and Greensleeves. I banged away 20 hours a day until I could do all the chords. Then I had kids who were better show me how to play Purple Haze and Sunshine of Your Love.

I did have some formal music theory lessons and did know how to read music score sheets for piano. It didn't necessary translate to guitar directly but I did have a sense of how a song and a melody were constructed and rests and stops and 4/4 time and such.

So I do look at the guitar as a fretboard but I instinctively visualize the quarter notes on a sheet. When I started singing and playing together I definitely started to think about song structure more than fretboard logic.

Played drums in grade school band but never learned to read the music: just learned/memorized the parts by rote.

Learned guitar strictly by ear. Probably would have learned far faster and progressed much further had I had the discipline and taken the time to learn to read.

Oh well...

Self taught. My brother's friend/guitarist showed me a couple things but the rest was chord books and by ear. Got my first guitar in the 6th grade, on my 11th birthday I think. I was recruited pretty much right away by an older kid who's brother played in my brother's band. Several years later we were all in the same band. I was gigging by the 10th grade but in retrospect wish I had taken serious lessons and joined the high school jazz band. My head was filled with pretty foolish notions at a very young age. I really don't think I matured as a musician until my 30's when I hooked up with a band that was mostly more seasoned players with way more real gig experience than me. That band and a subsequent one were the best musical experiences of my life, all driven by what I considered equals or players with better skills than mine. I was fortunate to be a part of that.

with the advent of the Beatles in mid 60's a good friend of mine got a Silverone guitar from sears.He learned to tune it and taught himself two note chords. He turned out to be very talented and taught himself a number of song using this method. I also bought a guitar and amp from sears. We played a few songs together. We had another friend who was already drumming for bands. He told us that if we learned 10 songs, he would bring his drums over and jam. From that point on it was really my buddy and I learning cords together from books and more advanced guitar players. Eventually we even played a few parties. Spent many nights till 2 am in my basement "practicing" and smoking cigarettes. Stopped playing a lot during end of high school and beginning of college. When I got my first decent job I purchased a Fender acoustic from Sam Ash in NYC and continued to self teach. What stopped me in high school was that I cannot sing and found it hard to continue playing by myself without a singer. Eventually I determined that I liked playing enough by myself even if my singing was atrocious that I slowly learned a few songs to play. Fast forward to the late seventies and I was living in Manhattan when an old buddy moved a few blocks from me. He tells me he loves to play "air Bass". I suggested that I would give him an old bass guitar and teach him some basics. Eventually we hooked up with some other friends who played various instruments like guitar, flute, mandolin and more importantly were able sing and teach me more guitar. As a group we played a few very interesting parties. When I left the city I slowed down my playing and became more of an acoustic guitar player, which is where I am today. interestingly enough around 2001, after decades of no contact, I had an opportunity to get together with my first guitar buddy from my teen years. He had continued to play and sing at various venues. I brought my acoustic and we started to play together, like when we were kids. We wound up starting when his wife left for work and lost track of time until she returned home. I am thankful I had that opportunity. He is now in Fla, but we talk periodically., That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

In the beginning I took lessons from my dad who was a professional jazz musician. Then I pretty much learned by ear until I attended Musician's Institute (GIT) in Hollywood.

After that I studied music in college and was in college jazz band and stage band backing up 22 singers.


My guitar allowed me to tour coast to coast and into Mexico in rock bands, played CBGB in New York, House of Blues in Chicago, and countless other historic venues, and even had my pic in Rolling Stone.



Now, I'm a has-been hack!  But it was a hell of a ride!

Piano lessons first and second grade.
Started playing clarinet in 3rd grade.
- added saxophone in 7th grade
- added flute in 10th grade
I took lessons on all of the above instruments.
In 10th grade I joined the Union and started playing for ballroom dancing on Saturday nights.

Piano and guitar lessons as a kid.  Then continued with tabs.  But honestly, I still suck.

My grandmother could sight read anything on the piano, but only had a few lessons back in 1911. She'd been an accompanist to silent movies as an older teen, but I think only on an amateur basis.I had some piano lessons, but not from her, when I was 6, but didn't like the material.

I got a guitar when I was 12, price £3 from a junk shop. Progress was slow as I'm left-handed and was holding it the wrong way for months. Then somebody explained, but didn't mention reversing the strings. So I still play right-handed.

I'm self-taught on guitar, but shared a flat for a year with two students on a professional "light music" course, as the terminology was then. They introduced me to the joys of chord structure and jazz harmony in particular. We used to stay up late reading and busking jazz standards: one of them was a drummer (also a pianist and arranger) and the other played double bass/fretless. The neighbours loved us. I made a lot of progress from that and still value knowledge of music theory.