How long have you been playing music?

[kucoyote]

Thanks all now I am wondering who is Frank Costanza?

Character from the sitcom Seinfeld.

I have never watched it.

Hah, I have only seen one or two episodes.  Never cared for it myself.  Some will think blasphemy!

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

      Since Christmas of 1988.  I only play the guitar.  I started with the best instrument, so I never saw the point in playing another one.  My Christmas present was a no-name, poor man's version of a Cort (seen in avatar),  along with a Peavy amp. I hated that amp for the first 3 months because during that time I didn't realize that I had to pull a knob out to unleash the righteous Peavy solid state distortion.  The first thing I learned was the riff from "Devil Inside" by INXS.  The guitar solo in that song started with a slide which I thought was the coolest thing ever.  I learned the slide, but I couldn't play the rest of the solo.  My second song attempt was "Way Cool Jr." by RATT.  That did not go well. 

 

[MarcusLA1959]

I got my first guitar in the early 90's 91, 92, or 93. I can't remember exactly. I was 7-9 years old. I didn't really have the attention span until I was 14. So, a little over 20 years.

 

[NedRyerson]

I'm 47.  I started with the recorder in elementary school, like one would. Apparently, I was good enough to where I was pulled out of the classroom and given the alto recorder because the music teacher thought I could handle it.

Yeah, I had no idea there was a different one either.  Not like the playing technique was any different -- just wider spacing of the holes.

In 3rd grade, at 8, I started playing violin.  Was recommended for private lessons, so we did.  But I fell off of that by 5th grade.

I picked up the guitar at age 15.  "Self taught" is not always a success story   It would take many, Many, MANY years before I'd get reasonably decent at it.

I was handed a bass sometime in the mid-'90s, but didn't really embrace it until about 3-4 years later.  That had the parallel effect of improving in guitar as well.  That was also the last time I was in a band that had a real gig.  I'd join a jam band a few years later, but we never moved beyond the guitar player's basement.

Then in 2007, I took a complete left turn and started taking lessons in Great Highland Bagpipe. Seriously.  After the first few months and as I was one of the last of that session's class who stuck through it to the end, my instructor told me to go buy my real set of pipes because he wanted me to come meet the pipe-and-drum band.  $1,500 later, and I'm down in a warehouse in the middle of Detroit, surrounded by pipers and drummers -- who all played way faster than I could keep up! But that was a helluva experience

I stuck with that for about a year, but then the decision came up: stay with pipes or go back to school to finish my degree.  I couldn't do both, because it's either practice time for pipes or classes and study.  I opted to return to college.  Better for career prospects.

I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 2015 -- 24 years after I started college the first time.  Then jumped right into a master's degree program, which completed in 2017.  Then I sold my bagpipes to finance a Gibson Les Paul, the "last guitar I'll ever buy."

:laughing7: :laughing7: :laughing3: :laughing11: :laughing11: :laughing3:

Because in 2019, I built my first kit guitar.

Two more kits after that, and here I am now.

 

[PhilHill]

I'm 47.  I started with the recorder in elementary school, like one would. Apparently, I was good enough to where I was pulled out of the classroom and given the alto recorder because the music teacher thought I could handle it.

Yeah, I had no idea there was a different one either.  Not like the playing technique was any different -- just wider spacing of the holes.

In 3rd grade, at 8, I started playing violin.  Was recommended for private lessons, so we did.  But I fell off of that by 5th grade.

I picked up the guitar at age 15.  "Self taught" is not always a success story   It would take many, Many, MANY years before I'd get reasonably decent at it.

I was handed a bass sometime in the mid-'90s, but didn't really embrace it until about 3-4 years later.  That had the parallel effect of improving in guitar as well.  That was also the last time I was in a band that had a real gig.  I'd join a jam band a few years later, but we never moved beyond the guitar player's basement.

Then in 2007, I took a complete left turn and started taking lessons in Great Highland Bagpipe. Seriously.  After the first few months and as I was one of the last of that session's class who stuck through it to the end, my instructor told me to go buy my real set of pipes because he wanted me to come meet the pipe-and-drum band.  $1,500 later, and I'm down in a warehouse in the middle of Detroit, surrounded by pipers and drummers -- who all played way faster than I could keep up! But that was a helluva experience

I stuck with that for about a year, but then the decision came up: stay with pipes or go back to school to finish my degree.  I couldn't do both, because it's either practice time for pipes or classes and study.  I opted to return to college.  Better for career prospects.

I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 2015 -- 24 years after I started college the first time.  Then jumped right into a master's degree program, which completed in 2017.  Then I sold my bagpipes to finance a Gibson Les Paul, the "last guitar I'll ever buy."

:laughing7: :laughing7: :laughing3: :laughing11: :laughing11: :laughing3:

Because in 2019, I built my first kit guitar.

Two more kits after that, and here I am now.

See where those bagpipes have gotten you? The stress of a job in IT, and an addiction to guitar building. I've seen it happen before, a simple sqeeze, what could it hurt? Next thing you know your in the seedy part of Detroit searching for a pipe-pusher. it's such a shame really, if you had listened to the right people you could still be playing recorder and jamming in a Jethro Tull Tribute band and getting some real money and celebrity.... :icon_jokercolor: :icon_jokercolor:

 

[mysticaxe]

Most expensive Mother's Day Gift Ever...  We (my younger brothers and I) bought my mom the Bruce Hornsby and the Range cassette in about 1986.  Within about 3 months, she decided her sons were going to play piano like ol' Bruce, so she bought a mini-grand piano.  That would be 34 years.  When I was 14 or so (a couple years later), I would steal my dad's acoustic while he was at work and bang out chords.  By 16, I had given up piano for the most part and replaced it with guitar magazines that I used to learn guitar.

 

[molul]

Thanks all now I am wondering who is Frank Costanza?

Character from the sitcom Seinfeld.

Wasn't it George Constanza?

On topic: 24 years playing guitar, 12 years trying to play piano xD

 

[jay4321]

If we start from the day I owned my first guitar and actually practiced something on it, then it's Dec 25, 1987, making it 32.5 years. If you count actually making some kind of noise on various instruments add a few more years. Personally I'd subtract some time as I've probably played less in the last 20 years than I did in the first ten.

Lots of people played guitar in my family and that was all well and good, but that year I was a relatively early adopter of the Appetite for Destruction album and the rest is history. Also I believe the Cherry Lane tablature book for it is my oldest surviving possession. 

 

[Seamas]

41 years.
Yikes. I used to mess around with an old Sears acoustic that my older brother had. It was missing strings, I had no clue how to tune it, but would strum it, or put chopsticks under the strings and bash at it like a zither.
I think most of the time before this time I wanted to be a drummer, but some visiting stage band to my elementary school got be much more interested in guitar.
So when I was 12/13 entering Jr High, I got hooked on Zeppelin and other guitar based bands--went up into the attic and grabbed my father's 1953 Martin 00-17 (which is still pretty much been my #1 ever since) and a copy of one of frederick Noad's earlier books on how to play and learned how to tune, and how to play an A major chord.

 

[rauchman]

Got my first guitar in 1980 at age 10.  Cheap Spanish / Classical guitar.  Had no idea how to tune or play it, but wrote my first tune within 10 min of having it.

Started lessons at age 14 in 1984 with my 1st electric (1975 Les Paul Deluxe w/ humbuckers), and have followed the path since.

 

[loquendo89]

I’ve been playing for 26ish years, I’ve been writing music for 20 now! Once covid is over, I hope to break my 8 year gap of no performing!

 

[arealken]

About an hour or so..wait, you mean like always?- 45 years, although there have been a couple of hiatus'.

 

[musicispeace]

Second time around player. Picked it up again about ten years ago. Played a bit in my early twenties prior to that but couldn't stick with it and caught the travel bug instead. Bought a used Yamaha strat copy for $79 ten years ago and then went into partscasters. The first year and a half or so after having a guitar again I kept bumping into it in my apartment and felt like saying "oh, you're still here." Gradually got into it more and more and am getting better, writing a little as well. But it feels like I always should have been with the guitar. Its a great companion.

 

[raystankewitz]

About fifty-seven years now, making music (or racket, depending).

Started on guitar, then went to bass, mandolin and banjo. I can make terrible sounds with a violin or accordion. True story. Not too bad on keyboards, harmonica or mountain dulcimer for that matter. I've added Ukulele recently and I used to have a sitar. At the moment, kind of thinking of picking up the oud or finding another sitar, only a serviceable one, not something that belonged in a scrap pile.