Guitar Man, Guitar Woman, Guitar Teen: your guitar stories

I got pneumonia when I was 12 and was laid up in bed for 3 weeks. Our darling neighbor Charmy Morris brought over a steel string guitar and a book of Kingston Trio songs for me.
I was hooked and I've been playing for 50 years,; not so much now, mostly bass guitar.
Funny how a neighbor can change one's life.
The coolest guitar I got is a Fender Telecaster with a string bender. When I push down on the neck the strap activates a lever that bends the 2nd string up a whole note.

For unknown reasons I was given a guitar when I was 10 or 11 as a holiday gift. The year before it had been a drum set. I had not asked for these and was I no way musically talented (as shown by my abysmal 'playing' of the piano after 3 years).
{couldn't master the violin or clarinet either}

My personal favorite for guitar playing is the now departed, Dave Van Ronk. He had a way with the strings.

I was hoping you would post. Tell more if you feel like it.

I had scarlet fever when I was twelve, two weeks quarantined, not a big deal but that I got to listen to a lot of radio..

Ah, you had a good neighbor.

On our street in Venice, houses were only something like eight feet apart. Our neighbors were old stalwarts, the guy a elderly butcher and the wife, I remember as a mix of kind and worried. They are the ones who had the dog who loved Foxy, our mutual guard duck. He's the guy who put up a hefty wall as for us both, nothing hostile, and me, studying land arch, just watched. Never a worse wall, but it was both of ours. I put flower pots on top.

Then the wife's relative came to live with them. Hard to complain as they had it harder than we did. Full blast loud electric guitar for great length at late hours of the night, eight feet away. We called the police a few times for surcease. We might not have minded if he was any good at it, as we were used to good music in Venice.

Agreed, I loved his playing.

Neat article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/28/the-first-badass-female-guitarist-meet-sister-rosetta-tharpe-the-godmother-of-rock-n-roll.html

Alas, this the first time I've heard of her.

short clip:

Later performers like Little Richard, Tina Turner, and Johnny Cash cited Tharpe as a major influence; and her intricate electric guitar style set the template for what would be considered “lead guitar” in Chicago blues and early rock ‘n’ roll. In the past few years, there have been documentaries and articles that celebrate Tharpe as an important figure in 20th century music who helped set the stage for many of the sounds that would come to define rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. But it’s just as important to remember how great she was on her own merit as an artist and musical force—not just who she influenced.

Sister had the goods.

Some on my list -

the first on the list as of right now are Rodrigo y Gabriela, and I have not personally seen them play.




From long ago, Julian Bream - I heard him at Royce Hall Auditorium, 1963 or 1964 and that might have all been on the lute.

An apparent rare video from what year? some long time later.. a master guitar class re Villa Lobos, 5th prelude:




Next - Gabor Szabo, a take from his Spellbinder album (still have it). I saw him play several times, let's say 5, somewhere in Hollywood. I forget the names of some venues now.




Last for now, Laurindo Almieda. Many choices but I'll pick the one with the Modern Jazz Quartet since I have the album. Saw him several times too, at the Lighthouse, in Hermosa Beach, CA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurindo_Almeida



Back another day. So many good guitarists of many types.

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