What song made you want to play an instrument (or sing?)

Cafe Society
1

Just listening to some tunes, doing a random-ish Youtube surf, and came across a song that, I think, started my love of guitar.

  1. I’d be listening to the radio, and this song kept coming on. Boring drums and boring lyrics. After years of disco played all over the radio, I was used to smoothly-produced, multilayered studio masterpieces, and this was just wrong to my young teenage ears. Raw, and boring. I changed the station EVERY time.

One day I was out at Zayre’s dept store and hanging around the electronics/stereo section when this song came on. “Aww crap.” Oh well, How long could it be. Bada-bada bump-bump bump-bump bada-bada bump-bump. . . Then the base, then the guitar. . . “Oh my little pretty one, my pretty one, when you gonna give me some time, SHARONA?” This drones on awhile, and it gets a little more interesting. Still raw to my ears, primitive. Some short guitar, then the damn drums again. Then. . .the solo!

Yeah, I really had no idea what was out there.

I’m sure I couldn’t take it all in, but that solo was like nothing I’d ever heard before, and I wanted MORE! It didn’t make me want to play, not then, not by itself. It wasn’t until many years later that the idea of my being able to do that would ever occur to me, but no song influenced my love of guitar more than this. Not Zep, not Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour, Buckingham, none of them. It wasn’t BETTER than the others, it was just the right song for me, at the right time, to send me down another path.

I still don’t play. My guitar’s sitting in the corner, and every so often, when I’m having a good day, I’ll drag it out and butcher “Satisfaction” and a couple other tunes, but I’m not anywhere near competent. I’d love to be, though, and on a really good day, every once in a great while, it will carry me away.

“Whammer Jammer” made me want to learn to pick up the harp, like it did to so many others. I got heavily into it for awhile, but was even less competent with the harmonica than the guitar, even though I tried harder.

“Lost Fox Train” made me want to put it down. It was that good. Never learned the harp properly either, but I have a few harps lying around, and I feel like my forays into educating myself elevated my love and appreciation for music.

2

I took up the mandolin after hearing Ry Cooder’s “Kentucky Blues.”

Since then, I’ve met lots of people who play the mandolin a lot better than I do.

3

I started playing guitar to meet girls. I was a freshman at a party and this Senior played Stevie Nicks’ Landslide and killed. Okay, he was a football star, really handsome, and drove a '68 Mustang, but I was sure it was the guitar.

So I got a Yamaha acoustic for $68 at a pawn shop in Monterey and started. I focused on the rock of the day - Aerosmith, Nugent, Foghat and such.

But then, as a sophomore my math class had a sub. He mentioned Hendrix to make a math point so I approached him after class. I have told this here before: he asked me what I was listening to, I told him, he cringed and he asked me my address. That evening at 6:30 he showed up and my mom, after they had a fun discussion about zydeco and American songbook standards, let him come up to my room and spin records. It was a different time.

He played live BB King, Freddie King, Cream’s Disraeli Gears and a few others. But when he put on Jeff Beck Group’s Truth, and the song Let Me Love You, my world changed. It was simple guitar - I could play bits of it even then - but the brilliance of his playing jumped off the vinyl.

Here’s an ancient thread where I dig into how I hear it: Helping out with some blues guitar recommendations - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board

THAT is the song that made me want to be good.

4

Johnny B Goode - guitar. I can play fairly well now… but not JBG. :frowning:

5

For me, I think it was Bach’s Toccata in D minor. I actually started out with organ lessons in 2nd grade, but after four lessons where we couldn’t get access to the church organ, my dad ended up switching me to piano. I was a little peeved at first, but it worked out fine. The plus is I got to learn on a touch sensitive instrument. The minus is I didn’t get to learn the fancy footwork organists get to learn.

6

That was the first song I could play and sing at the same time. Chuck Berry is elemental.

7

Sultans of Swing

I’m not there yet.

8

Thank you for sharing that story. I went to the post you listed at the end of this one, and read it as well, then listened to about a half-hour of “Truth”. There was a time, I think, when it would have hit me pretty hard as well, and it would be in my heavy rotation. When I was in my teens, I got into 60’s rock quite a bit, and was just starting to dabble in the blues. A couple years later, I got into, “Guitar Shop” and, “Flash”. Loved Jimmy Hall’s vocals, too.

I saw BB live once. I keep telling myself I’m gonna delve heavily into Albert King like I need to, but just never get around to it. Though I’m of course familiar with the name, I have to admit to ignorance of Freddie’s work.

It’s funny you mentioned, “Almost Famous” in the other post. Your teacher sounds like he could have been another character from that movie.

9

I’m not a professional singer but this song will be stuck in my head for life. and I can’t stop singing it to myself.

Same goes for King of the Road by Roger Miller.
10

John Denver’s music got me started with the guitar, as well as Peter, Paul and Mary, and early Simon and Garfunkel.

11

Hey, thanks for that. Yes, I can’t believe I can’t remember that substitute teacher’s name - I have tried to remember so I could thank him and gotten nowhere. He does sound like a character out of Almost Famous, now that you mention it.

Yes, you must check out Freddie King. Look up Hideaway - Clapton’s cover of it was Eruption for that 60’s generation and led to to Clapton is God graffiti. His other instrumentals like The Stumble and San Ho-zay were covered by other Brit Blues players - being able to handle a FK song was a rite of passage.

Here’s a link to his full instrumental album with those and others on it. So good! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TnULiTPi-jE

12

Radar Love

The driving bass beat and strong guitars. Even the vocals on top are done well.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a similar effect on me as a band. The drums in Let It Ride are absolutely incredible.

That style music is my inspiration. It’s not a style that I’d play very well. I’m not that extroverted and confident a musician.

13

This. Particularly, “Sunshine on my [del]Snowshoes[/del] Shoulders”

14

I played guitar (badly) in HS, but Wild Horses (Rolling Stones) led me to buy a 12-string. Ever since then, I neglect to play it.
Actually, listening to Leo Koetke made me realize there was no point in anyone playing guitar any more.

15

That is a driving song, in all senses of the phrase. Can’t help but get your blood circulating.

Even though I said something similar about Wade Schuman of Hazmat Modine, and his harmonica playing, that’s ALWAYS BS. Even mediocre players bring something to the world, as long as they stay within themselves and work with what they got. Knew a harp player in Pittsburgh many years back, named James King. Not a fantastic talent with the harp, not the world’s best singer, but damn if his version of, “Who do you love” didn’t get you charged up. I miss seeing him perform.

I decided years ago a musician’s weaknesses define them at least as much as their strengths, and the weakness can lead said player to do something other, better players wouldn’t. It helps define their style and sound. It limits them in some ways, which makes them emphasize other things. All things being equal though, I WOULD love to play like Wade Schuman* :smiley:

Play and enjoy!

*I’d gladly settle for playing like James King, even.

16

Yes. One has to work within their limitations and sometimes that is revolutionary. Chuck Berry couldn’t afford a horn section on the Chitlin’ Circuit (and was too country for horns anyway ;)) so he used his guitar to mimic the horn lines he heard in Louis Jordan’s and T-Bone Walker’s jump blues bands. That might’ve been a little influential going forward ;).

17

Rush’s Marathon made me ask what those funny four-stringed guitars with the fat strings were called.

18

I had been playing bass for a few years already, but hearing Kate Bush’s Mother Stands For Comfort made me go out a buy a fretless.

19

Eric Clapton’s instrumental version of Danny Boy.

20

I can’t even remember what song made me want to “pick up” guitar. Some embarrassing 70’s fare, no doubt. More recently though, it only takes a Pro Guitar Shop video with Andy demoing guitar effects to make me briefly believe I could play if only I had better gear! A guitar god for a new generation. There’s actually a weird man-crush going on here…that’s how much I enjoy these videos. Any guitarist will recognize some guitar classics and classic guitars in the videos.