24 posts
I remember hearing this as a kid and it absolutely blew my mind and it's the song that really turned me on to guitar. I must have only been about 10 or 11 at the time. I have loved this ever since. It's simple, so simple anyone can have a go at it but it's just got that mixture of bad times and good times all rolled into one.
I love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kLYV0uwbxno
edit: in fact anybody did have a go at this (me) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TvSQS8LFOzI
from a few years back. A bit too fast really, but what the hell (and I changed all the words for good measure (made 'em up on the spot )) ;D
slightly embarrassing but honest answer... I was about 12 and saw the Abracadabra video (only heard it on MTV), Steve Miller Band. That weird solo fascinated me.
before that it wasn't about solo guitar... just music generally - music was big in our house so I was always doing something - making noise on a snare drum - piano lessons - ignoring those lessons and weirding out on our piano with the sustain pedal... "composing" (good times!) - beating up my mom's acoustic guitar etc.
but within that same time frame (same year) I heard Foxy Lady - that really won me over for good.
"Abracadabra" is a trippy tune! And I STILL listen to it....I have several mix lists (genre's) I sometimes take with me on long runs (10+ miles, I don't need to be distracted for shorter distances, lol, so no tunes needed). Abracadabra is on my "80's Cheese" list, and yeah, the solo is unique, I like the big whammy dips. ;D
Mine was Chuck Berry's Johnny B Good (by way of my dad playing the original record for me, not the Back to the Future reference much later)...that snappy opening riff just sounded so amazing at the time.
I never really thought much of J.B.G. until I heard the hendrix version... typical. ;D
I think for me it was Triumph's "Lay it on the Line". Rik Emmet swinging a double-neck... I just heard this come up on Pandora the other day and man, the rhythm guitar tones are still amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_yRlYVnUw
It's hard to totally pin it down... for me, Def Leppard's High and Dry, U2's October, Triumph's Just a Game, and Journey's Escape were all in that 1980-81 window, all had a big influence on me. That's when I started guitar. When U2's War came out a couple of years later, I really started to play a lot with a focus to my sound. The next big turning point for me me was 1986, when Slayer released Reign in Blood and Metallica released Master of Puppets.
The first song that really made me notice guitar was probably this one:
Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4
Or maybe:
Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love (and basically every Cream song I heard - Badge, Spoonful, etc.)
I remember really loving the guitar in Billy Joel's "Big Shot", too, when I was really little.
I was always obsessed with music, long before I ever played guitar. Not sure what really made me decide to be a guitarist other than the guitar beign around the house (I have a compulsion to play whatever musical instrument is in front of me). I actually played keyboards and clarinet before guitar, and actually wanted to be a bassist first, but the arrival of guitar in the house in Christmas of 1988 definitely made me want to play, much to my little brother's chagrin (it was his guitar). I didn't really get way into bass until about 1997, though I had played it (poorly) in bands before that (borrowing my same little brother's bass, that he bought after I "stole" his guitar).
If I had to pick songs/albums that inspired me really early on and made me want to really be a good player:
Van Halen - Hot For Teacher (and basically all of 1984)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - If 6 Was 9 (my dad had it on an old reel to reel tape - I also loved the "Are You Experienced?" album once I got that one)
Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode (bought a 20-song Chuck Berry compilation that blew my mind at the time)
Anthrax - all I had was the I'm The Man EP, but I LOVED it.
Metallica - pretty much all of ...And Justice For All
Boston - the first side of their first album
Seeing Stanley Clarke on CHiPs kind of blew me away, too. I didn't realize you could play a guitar like that. Then I promptly forgot, because I was about 8 when I saw it. After that, I never really noticed that Eddie Van Halen did it (being honest - we didn't have cable at all), and then "invented" it for myself once I had the guitar (because I thought it'd be funny to try to play guitar like a piano). Then I realized a million people already did it by early 1989, so I didn't feel as special about figuring that out for myself.
Sorry for the diarrhea of the keyboard. I love thinking/writing about this stuff. (which I tend to do on my music blog: http://www.musicalschizo.com/blog)
Tripper
charger — Jan 11, 2012I think for me it was Triumph's "Lay it on the Line"...(snip)
Definitely one of the most underappreciated bands in rock history, in my opinion. That's a great one!
Tripper
The song that got me in guitar was "Love Song" by Tesla. I was a drummer before that, but that song started me on a serious path. I played it obsessively and learned it note for note. Little bit of everything in that song. Acoustic intro, cowboy chords, nice little fills, and a singable solo.
It was THE first song I learned on guitar.
I really don't remember what was first (except that it was something acoustic when I was really young). I seem to recall better "moments" that had an impact for me. One was my first so-called "rock" album: Kiss - Rock and Roll Over.
Here's another - HAD to learn it, it seemed magical at the time.Boston was a huge influence on me - then the Scorpions Love Drive album.
The first time I heard Van Halen it was EXACTLY what I had been wanting to hear (rock never seemed "hard" enough before that).
Hearing Accept for the first time was another since it made me think of AC/DC on steroids.
There are others but those will do for now! :)
When I've listened to the solo played by Blackmore on "Highway star" I though "Yeah this will be my stile and I'll play like him!!".... This happened back in 1973 when I was 12 and I was playing on an EKO acoustic guitar..
Well, both things are gone bad but since that time I've never stopped playing the guitar. :)
Holy Crap Charger
Just a game is one of my alltime favorite album, and Allied Forces makes me weak in the knees still. BTW, two songs got me going. Since Ive been loving you from Zep left a mark on me that will never fade and Magic Power from Triumph hammered it home I still play and listen to those two constantly.
charger — Jan 11, 2012I think for me it was Triumph's "Lay it on the Line". Rik Emmet swinging a double-neck... I just heard this come up on Pandora the other day and man, the rhythm guitar tones are still amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_yRlYVnUw
It's hard to totally pin it down... for me, Def Leppard's High and Dry, U2's October, Triumph's Just a Game, and Journey's Escape were all in that 1980-81 window, all had a big influence on me. That's when I started guitar. When U2's War came out a couple of years later, I really started to play a lot with a focus to my sound. The next big turning point for me me was 1986, when Slayer released Reign in Blood and Metallica released Master of Puppets.
I think I must have been about 12 years old but I remember hearing Stairway to Heaven and thinking, cool song, chicks like it, gotta learn it! Got down the air guitar version of it and then took guitar lessons just to learn it. Realized later that everybody and his dog knew how to play it (or at least, their version of it). ;D
Cheers,
jayson
Like several others, music was BIG in our house. Dad was a music director, mom a piano player. When we had company over, they played music. Guitars, piano, etc. There was always music playing in our house. Mom and dad played almost all gospel and classical music, but on the stereo, they played lots of styles, including pop and milder rock. My parents even liked Chicago! (whom I love!).
Don't laugh, the one that rocked me to the bone... absolutely RUINED me and MADE me have to start playing guitar (I played piano at the time) was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The first time I heard that song and then album, at my neighbors, I was ruined. Within weeks I was into Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Uriah Heep, led Zeppelin, old (the really great) ZZ Top, Robin Trower, Yes, etc.... this whole world of music I didn't hear in my house. As soon as I started getting into that music, I HAD to play guitar!
Oh, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is an amazing album. I play that album at my poker game (with all classic rock and alternative music dudes) and that gets every head around the poker table bobbing. That album has as deep a groove as any "metal" album I've ever heard.
My friends called me a "Sabbath Freak" after I heard that because every time I came around I'd want them to play that album.
DreamTheaterRules — Feb 01, 2012My friends called me a "Sabbath Freak" after I heard that because every time I came around I'd want them to play that album.
You
sure the word "Sabbath" was in there? ;) :D ;D
LOL, yeah. I got that and Masters Of Reality and every time I went to a party I'd take those two albums with me. (yes, that's what you did back then. When you went to a party, you'd take your favorite albums to play!).
Literally, albums. And you wouldn't let your friends touch the vinyl with their grubby hands...
I was worse than that. I'd take my own stylus cleaner. ;D
DreamTheaterRules — Feb 03, 2012I was worse than that. I'd take my own stylus cleaner. ;D
And oxygen-free Monster cable? ::)
hands up - who had a discwasher?
Jon — Jan 10, 2012What was the song that set you on the guitar road
Crossroads by The Cream, and Sunshine Of Your Love was the very first tune I learned. I was tripping on my first acid trip in someones home some miles from my home, and a friend walked up behind me just as I was peeking on the acid and clapped a set of headphones on my head, and Crossroads was playing. I simply had never heard anything like that in that way ever. So the next day I started playing. I am still at it these 45 years later. some day I just might get good at it..............
Craig,
I was beyond Monster. Using Vampire, Van Den Hul, etc ;)
Paul, my hand is up. :)
