I received my first guitar as a birthday present from my parents on my 15th birthday! I still have it! It's a Hondo H76 Strat copy. Red with white pickguard, 3x single coil pickups and a rosewood fretboard. I plugged this into a non-descriptive amp (Linear Linet 5! If it's not on Google then it's not good!!). The amp has 2 inputs, a volume and tone control! It sounded ok but was too clean! Not something I could jam along to Megadeth and Maiden too!
I tried teaching myself from books and magazines and could do all the basic chords (including barre chords). I was ok but was too shy to play in front of anyone and because I love rock and metal never played anything all the way through, just intros and solo riffs (albeit at snails pace!!). I then got an Encore electric with a single humbucker pickup on my 16th. I naively thought that a humbucker would make the guitar sound like the rock gods I aspired to be which if course it didn't!! I then got hold of a DOD Metal Maniac pedal (currently lost in my attic!) which sounded awesome!!! The Encore was a terrible guitar! The G string constantly popped out of the nut so I had to put a plectrum through the strings in the head stock to keep it in place! But my parents couldn't afford to get me Gibsons or Fenders plus I never felt good enough to justify the cost even if they could afford it!
As I left my teens and entered my 20s I discovered alcohol and women and my guitars gathered dust! When I was 30 I tried to resurrect my playing by buying an Ibanez Gio (forget the model number) and a Roland Cube 15XL amp. I'd always wanted an Ibanez because Joe Satriani and Steve Vai play them and are phenomenal! It was a great guitar with nice low action and sounded good through the amp even though the pickups weren't Dimarzio like Joe and Steve's! But my interest fizzled out after I got married and started a family.
I regrettably sold the Ibanez and the Roland amp. I also sold the Morley Classic Wah pedal which was great fun! I couldn't part with my first guitar and amp so they got relegated to the loft. Despite all this I still dreamed of playing and would often trawl through Ebay pricing up parts to build my own guitar! I'm no carpenter so would look at bodies and necks and then putting the rest together!
In September 2013 my dad lost his battle with cancer and this took me to a very dark place. In December a leaflet came through the door about a guitar tutor who was setting up in a unit not far from home. He got my details from the customer database from the shop where I bought the Ibanez from (Fox's which sadly no longer exists). Ironically on the leaflet he's pictured sitting on the stool with a classical guitar in that shop and the Ibanez I bought is hanging on the wall behind him!! I'm not superstitious or anything but took that as a sign!
So I got in touch and arranged my first lesson and never looked back! He brought my playing on no end and I was amazed how many bad habits I'd developed by teaching myself! I bought a classical guitar from him (another bloody Hondo) which had silly high action and the intonation was off around the 9th fret! But it didn't matter it did the job! I also had a clearout of my loft and with the money raised bought myself a gorgeous black Epiphone Les Paul Custom!
Later in 2014 my marriage broke down and 2 days before my 40th I kicked my then wife out! I never looked back and the money I got for my 40th I bought a gorgeous Ibanez Classical guitar in black and it's my favourite!
Present day I've stopped taking lessons as being a single parent and working full time means I don't have the time to practise that I would like. but that doesn't stop me enjoying my guitars whether it's learning something new, practising one of the many tunes from my lessons or tinkering with my growing collection. I love my guitars and they've taken me out of the dark places I went when I lost my dad and got divorced and given me something to aim for! So my following posts will no doubt be all about by projects and endeavours. Thanks for looking!
