I started in 1990. I don't really remember, but I suspect the motivation was to look cool and attract lots of women. It hasn't worked yet so I can't quit.
I started playing because I wanted to bang this chick and she said if I could play an entire song she liked she'd do it. I knew she was a huge misfits fan so I learned some power chords and figured out "Last Caress" and "ASTRO Zombies". It worked. We banged. I left her eventually, but I kept the guitar and kept learning songs. I kinda got into it by accident. 15 years on and I still try to learn a new song every week. Never know, it's worked a few times, the more songs you learn the better the chances of playing one on demand lol.
I love music. I had a friend who played that I admired. Camping one weekend, a boy that I was crushing on taught me how to play a song. Never saw the boy again, but I still remember that song! I bought a cheap ass acoustic guitar for $15 when I was 16, my friends and I swapped songs copied out by hand with words & chords. It’s so great to play with others. It’s more than fun, it’s a spiritual connection. I’ve been playing for 50 years now, on and off, not so accomplished cuz life is busy and there has been years when I’ve taken off but I always come back. It’s good for my soul.
My motivation was that, at 13 years old, I wanted to be good at the guitar so I'd attract pretty girls. That's literally it. The reason that I never gave up was that I can only describe it as "falling in love" with the instrument. It was frustrating, but as I kept pushing, I got excited because I managed to master The Hell Song, All the Small Things, Hey There Delilah, Wherever You Will Go, Basket Case, Never Too Late, Still Into You, all the late 90s/early 2000s bops I never really outgrew. Fast forward over a decade later, I still get so excited when I get the first few notes of anything from Polyphia, Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or something from a video game, and suddenly my frustrations and depression are gone for the moment.
I started playing in high school because we'd go to parties, and this guy I knew would bring his guitar and play and all the girls would gather round and listen enraptured to him play. So I was like - got it. Chicks dig dudes who can play guitar.
Turns out, no, chicks dug HIM because he was dreamy and the guitar had nothing to do with it. Not being dreamy, this did not work for me.
But I've been musical since long before then, I've been playing one instrument or another since about the 3rd grade, and I've kept playing because I love music, I love the instrument, and I want to be good at it and be able to play it.
Tragically I work a busy job where I get at most maybe 1 hour per week to practice. I bought a Sterling Music Man bass last year, I've got maybe 3 hours into it so far.... sigh...
Hearing Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante's absolutely fluency and freedom of emotional expression with the guitar I knew if I could have even 10% of that I'd die a happy woman and would always have guitar to comfort me. Before guitar I played other instruments, including a simple string instrument and piano, but electric guitar is simply next level to me in terms of opportunities in tone, bending, effects, harmonics, looping, and soundscapes one can create.
My motivation was seeing someone jam in a circle with other musicians and wanting to do that too, one day.
What kept me going is just the awareness that when something is difficult, just keep practicing and eventually, rise up to the next plateau.
Dude, I’m a pretty unassuming guy with a grand-dad bod. Every once in a while some of the ladies from pickle ball will come over for prune juice and seltzer with a lemon twist. They’ll ask me what song I’m working on. I plug in my Flying V into my marshall full stack, turn on the colored track lights above me...and bend the G-string...if you catch my drift.
I wanted to play my favorite songs on guitar.
I don’t quit because I genuinely enjoy playing the guitar. It’s not like I’m striving to achieve anything other than personal satisfaction of playing music I like. It’s fun to push myself to learn new, more difficult styles and techniques. I’m into bluegrass right now and flatpicking is pushing me to grow as player.
I taught myself how to play the guitar so I could accompany myself singing.
I kept going because it feels good to express my inner reality to the rest of the world. (X10 once you can forget about all the"thinky" aspect of playing your instrument)
You’re overthinking it.
It was just fun to play songs you’ve heard and too poor for lessons.
But finding a good teacher that melds with your way of learning and perspective on guitar and can add to it is really worth it if you can afford lessons.
And by can afford I mean - I wish I did it 8 years ago after I got a job after college
I’ve started and quit many times over the last 20yrs…but now I’ll probably stick with it close to daily for my life. I have lots of hobbies…I’m a guitarist, fish keeper, hunter, fisher, electronics nerd, outdoorsman, tinkerer, prospector, metal detector, gamer…the list goes on. Do what makes you happy; some days it isn’t guitar, some days it is.
Tool.
As a self taught player, I’m not sure I’d consider myself a guitarist or musician, my inspiration and journey started in drop D and eventually wanting to learn more of my favorite songs I had to learn how to play in standard.
I guess my reason not to quit is noticing the progress in my playing when recording my sessions and listening back to them. While definitely not perfect, my playing was progressing as well as my ear for tone. I hardly have the volume and tone at 10 on my guitar knobs. The music of Tool is very atmospheric and not too technically complicated guitar wise (read: no shredding) Hearing my progress sound more and more like the real thing gives a major confidence boost.
All of these small wins and realizations helped me continue on my journey.
I’ve been playing inconsistently (life) since 2008 and haven’t looked back. Still can’t shred but definitely getting closer.
My reason to start? I had a thing for goth girls…honestly that didn’t really work out like I thought it would though. Why didn’t I quit? Because in the long run it’s cheaper than therapy… not by much though.
It was 1977,, and the country was swept up in the wild shirt-less lyrics of Mark Farner, the bong rattling bass of Mel Schacher and the competent drum work of Don Brewer.
I knew that I wanted to impress girls and see boobs. That's also what kept me going. Next question.
I was at a party and they had a Yamaha guitar leaning in a corner and I picked it up and vegan to arpeggiatw some chords and turned to a couple girls and said “I bet we can write a song.”
start: god damn canon rock is cool
journey: look at all the song I can play if I know how to play guitar
reason not to quit: I still can't play those song I wanted to play lol
When I was a kid my Dad buit a Heathkit hi-fi system. This was before stereo. He had lots of records, folk music and some jazz. Pete Seeger, Kingston Trio and the like. We had some friends that played acoustic guitars and I started to show an interest. In 5th grade my Dad brought home an acoustic for me. I thought stringed instruments were way cool. I enrolled myself in lessons but the music they were trying to teach me DID NOT interest me and they wanted me to perform at a recital and sing too. BLAFTGHJ. Even though I wanted to play I did not want to perform. Dad recorded me and played it back and I ran screaming from the scene. I was scared to death to play in front of an audience. I couldn't carry a tune to save my life. So I lost interest.
Then in Jr high school the music started to change. Eric Burden and the Animals really captured my attention. “I smoked my 1st cigarette and ten, and for girls I had a bad yen, ...when I was young”. Then Hendrix, then Black Sabbath all rekindled my interest. There was finally some music that exited me. Music that had attitude!
It took a lot of years and some major setbacks but I finally got serious. I'm 69 now and I I can't put it down. I just wanted to play music that I liked. I still do not want to perform but it makes me happy, keeps me out of the tavern, I have goals and everyday I learn something new and improve my skills. Maybe some day ill perform.
My motivation was that the neighbour moved out and left his acoustic guitar as a giveaway in the street.
I always wanted to learn guitar as a child (instead of piano) and about 40 years later I started.
The reason not to quit is that I switched to electric and I like it.
To me there is nothing more important than creation and creativity in life. To practice any creative endeavor gives meaning to me and it is incredibly therapeutic as a plus. I've had periods where I didn't play and it was always a bad time in my life
Found a girl I liked who liked guitars. Had a Guitar for maybe 2 or 3 years prior but given up almost immediately after starting cause it was hard and I figured I just wasn't made for the guitar. Started playing again with the motivation to impress her. We got together in the end. Then one toxic relationship and one hell of a heartbreak later I'm still sitting here, guitar in hand. I love playing guitar more then I love anything else rn.
I’ve been lurking on this sub for the past couple of months, and although I don’t play guitar yet, I want to thank everyone who commented because it’s amazing reading all these stories. Recently, I’ve seemed to lose all my interest in everything I used to love— drawing, playing the violin, playing tennis. Every day now seems like a struggle to survive. However, guitar’s been the only thing I can possibly think of— if you say the words “happy place”, I will undoubtedly think of a guitar. There’s something about it that seems so magnetic. I’ve bought my first guitar, albeit cheap, but I can’t stand a moment longer going without a guitar, and money is a restriction. I hope to be a regular talker here someday! Thank you all, again, for being a source of inspiration and motivation for my dreams!
Watching Eddie Van Halen sit down, dangling his legs off the edge of the stage, and soloing for about 20 minutes. I was 14. 'nuff said.
(Caveat: I did take lessons for about 4 months)
Motivation to play was my sisters boyfriend playing I thought it was really cool and started listening to guitar-centric music. Reason for not quitting is guitar is just still what makes me happy to this day and can make a good day better or a bad day tolerable
My motivation to start was my dad. I grew up watching him jam out all the time and wanted bond with him. It never happened and after 20 plus years of playing him and I have only jammed together 3 times, but I fell in love with it for my own reasons. At first I stuck with it because it gave me something to look forward to and think about all day at school and later work. Later on it became a release for me. In the last 2 years it has taken a special turn for me and I'm so glad I stuck with it. Now I'm releasing music as of this year out into the world and these songs are everything to me. I hear them now, finished and out there forever on the web, and I get goosebumps. I tear up, my heart races and my adrenaline gets going. And that is my current motivation to continue on.
I wanted to play the songs i like, and do it well.
i haven't quit because i still can't play all of them and those that i do play aren't perfect yet (i'll probably never achieve perfection, but i will keep trying, it's fun.)
Wanted to shred. Gave up on that, learned chords. Found out about scales. Learned to shred.
It was something to do with friends. Make music. Today with everthing being so digitally focused, i probably wouldn't be able to focus and learn it if I was a kid again. But also youtube makes it WAY easier. Used to have a vhs tape, rewind it 200x just to learn one lick from a guy who is simultaneously scary and effeminate. It sucked.
(1) I wanted to write and play music and was an obsessed listener. (2) this is a bit more unusual - the thought of "what one man can do another can do" (except I was listening to Allan Holdsworth at a time and I was naive enough to not realize just how special that guy was.
I've been roughly learning for two years, and I started because I needed a new hobby so I could deal with depression better. Plus, around that time, I discovered The Allman Brothers and that really pushed me into wanting to learn how to play guitar.
A few months ago, however, I started to lose interest due to feeling stunted. I regained my motivation by taking new guitar lessons. (Justin Guitar's website is very helpful and well structured)
Like so many things, one’s place in musicianship is reflective of our own journey through life.
If you have the courage and discipline to pull yourself out of depression by devoting yourself to growth…that’s a good sign brother.
Motivation to start: it was fun.
Motivation to keep playing: it is still fun.
I never put pressure on myself to play when I did not want to and used it as an escape from the things I HAD to do. I eventually got to a point where I was able to join a small cover band and that opened a whole new side of music that was also very fun.
I love guitar. I love this instrument, I started because I want to learn something at least, and bands like Metallica and Megadeth, iron maiden motivates me a lot back then
I wanted to learn to play guitar because I saw a dvd of Queen performing at Wembley, and I still haven’t quit playing because I haven’t performed at Wembley yet
When I first started I with no relation to guitar when to volunteer in a place that distributes food for those in need, the leader (much older then me) was such a nice person and got so happy to hear I play and was proud of me for playing even tho I knew I wasn’t dedicating as much time as I should, he was still proud of me, even my dad doesn’t like me guitar playing, so hearing him say it I promised to myself to not quit ever, and now it’s the instrument I know the best ( I’ve been through about 5 other instruments) and every time I touch my guitar I get excited to play, sure there are times I don’t have the power and take some time off but I always remember what I do it for, I do it to make noise for those who are too quite to make noise themselves. Just as he wanted me to.
5th grade, 1996, wanted to start a band like blink 182 or Green Day. Took some lessons early on to establish fundamentals and then self taught. Reason not to quit? Because guitar is fucking sick. I still write and record to this day. 25ish years later.
I discovered music late, like at 14/15, and it VERY quickly went from “I like listening to this” to “I could probably do this.” It just so happened that my dad had a couple guitars laying around that he noodled with but never really played, and at the same time all my friends were beginning to get into drugs and all sorts of stuff I wasn’t interested in so for a summer, as sad as it sounds, my dads guitars were my only friends but they kept me company and my parents also supported me wholeheartedly, and now years later I’ve made more and better friends through bands and the music scene and all that and most of those old friends are deadbeats or in jail so… yeah seemed like a net positive for me. I never quit because it became so much a part of my identity that when I smashed my finger at work not too long ago, I couldn’t play for about a month and was probably in a legit depressive state until I could play again. I just have to make music it seems, whether anyone hears it or likes it or not lol
Listening to E.V.H. play eruption with my 10-year-old ears was the trigger (I'm 30). The tapping, dive bombs and squeals were what sealed it for me. Nowadays, I'm a headbanging chug kid who writes his own heavy stuff with a band.
But the satisfaction you get from just playing (alone or with others) is also the reason I've stayed grounded to it. No better release for me.
I remember when I was 10 and got a guitar. My brother broke it but I was playing trombone in school at the time and I needed to switch to something a little more socially acceptable. Over the years (almost 70) a guitar has been a good friend and has provided me with constructive idle time. I seemed to get a lot better once youtube was invented. Ha. I have so many guitars now that one is always staring at me and daring me to pick it up.
I'm a professional metal drummer and I was sick of hearing a new song and thinking "damn that sounds like one hell of a riff." so I bought a guitar and learned how to play the riffs 😂
I have been playing for 30 years. I loved the guitar deep in my core. I was drawn to guitars. When I was holding a friend's bass (I just liked to hold them) and he offered to teach me Enter Sandman and Tom Sawyer's main riffs, I learned them quickly (they are easy, of course).
I was just... amazed. I borrowed another friend's pawn shop guitar and checked a book out the library and learned how to play the melody for Hawaii 50 and House of the Rising Sun. Someone was watching me and pointed out there's an easier way to play Rising Sun with these things called "chords."
That all happened within a span of a week or so. I was given old issues of "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" and learned even more chords and songs.
I was just driven. I still am. I love playing the guitar. I played my first (real, non-party) gig a few months later. I've since played I don't know how many--probably into the thousands. A lot, anyway.
I didn't have a reason not to quit.
I just simply enjoyed to the process of learning and playing songs.
But what really got me into guitar was watching YouTubers do fingerstyle instrumental covers of other songs.
I wanted to play my favourite songs. my reason for not quitting is complicated (because I did effectively "quit" about 10 times in the past 30 years) but generally boils down to the fact that my music taste evolved and the songs I wanted to play became much more complicated, and the music I heard in my head that I wanted to write became much more complicated as well.
I started playing simply because I love it and the music I play. It's also because I have OCD, and during practicing is one of the few times all my tics and compulsions completely disappear, so it's kind of a relaxation thing as well. There were lots of times I took breaks from playing, sometimes for a month or two, not really because I wanted to but because of school, family situations or just because it felt like I wasn't progressing as much. But I came back to it and with a new frame of mind felt like I was progressing heaps. That's probably why I don't quit, because from experience I know that even if I don't feel like I'm making progress, it comes in waves.
I was obsessed with music and I was absolutely enamoured any time I saw a guitarist I admired playing live. It was like magic watching them do it and I wanted to do it. And I didn’t quit because I just loved it, I never even thought about quitting. I’d get mad at it and throw it down, or be literally forced to stop because my fingers had no calluses yet, but yeah you just do it cause it calls you I guess. Honestly what I’m typing here is making me think about other areas of my life. My love for guitar was and is so pure, I didn’t have ulterior motives, I didn’t care if I was bad at it, I didn’t hold myself to any standards that would make it not fun. Something deep within attracted me to it and I went to it and that’s that
In 1989, a kid my class had a mashall half stack and Gibson Les Paul. I heard him play Metallica, motley crue and skid row. my jaw hit the floor. how the hell did he do that? I have been playing off and on since then.
With little to do during COVID and the endless lessons on YouTube, I have leveled up significantly. I'm no longer just limited to tabs.
Genuinely, I spent all the money I had saved up to that point on my 2nd electric guitar. So now I had this $1000 guitar and was basically broke, so I spent all my free time learning how to play it better since I couldn’t really afford to do anything else for a few months. Definitely a 19 year old brain decision and not something I would do now… probably.
I heard santa monica by everclear. I thought that sounds easy to play I want to try. So I bought a guitar and learned it. I didnt quit because I loved it and wanted to learn more
My motivation was John Sykes' tone on the Whitesnake album. I thought it sounded like a chainsaw and it was the coolest thing ever and I had to do that. What kept me from quitting is the fact that it's an instrument with unlimited potential and I wanted to do everything.
I started because i wanted to be cool and i really enjoyed music. Here i am 20 years later. I play because it calms me. I can get lost in the music and before i know it a couple of hours have flown by. That’s motivation enough for me.
I grew up watching my uncles and grandpa play and always had a guitar around and I never imagined not playing it. Quitting has never been an option as much as starting to play was never an option. Guitar has been a lifelong pursuit. I've been playing over 30 years now and feel like I've made more improvement in the last calendar year than I have in the previous 5.
I was always humming or making the noises I heard in my head and listened to guitar music. I learned power chords and was playing in punk bands shortly thereafter.
Still playing close to 30 years later, just different, probably better noises coming out now.
I started 45 years ago and I’m self taught. My best advice….take lessons from a good teacher. I’m 58 and still learning but could have progressed so much faster if I could have taken lessons.
"I just love making music" is the answer to both questions. I fully know I will never be anywhere near as good as the properly trained guitarists out there, but I don't care. I just love playing the damn thing.
honestly my main motivation is just that i love it. i love music, all of my biggest passions are music related. i taught myself basic piano and ukulele first, then started guitar when i finally got one and i’ve been learning for a little over a year now.
i already had background knowledge of music theory when i started because ive been singing so long, and i studied theory in choir all throughout high school so when i picked up guitar as my third instrument i had a base understanding of how it all works and could go from there.
when it comes to motivation not to quit, again it’s mostly because of how much i enjoy it. no matter how frustrating it’s been at times and how irritated i’ve gotten at the speed of my progress the fact stands that i just love playing. my initial intention was to learn enough about chords, chord progressions, strumming, and fingerpicking to accompany myself singing and to potentially use those skills to make original music in the future. once i realized i had managed to teach myself that much, i was able to consistently play any song using chords and i finally got more comfortable with barre chords, i just wanted to keep learning more.
i have my on and offs, sometimes i barely touch my guitar for two weeks and then it’s all i do for hours a day for weeks at a time, and i try not to beat myself up over not practicing because i have adhd and my focus is just sporadic sometimes. what keeps me playing most of the time is the tangible feel of progress, i can look back to when i first got my guitar (or even before, when i tried and failed to teach myself on acoustic cause my hands couldn’t handle it) and there’s no denying i’ve gotten so much better. i can not only hear in videos that i’m better but i can feel it in the ease of playing things that used to be challenging for me.
im no virtuoso but i don’t have to be, especially not in the first few years of even having a guitar. some people dedicate their whole lives to mastering an instrument, and while id love to reach that level of mastery i know it’s not really in sight yet so i don’t even dwell on what i can’t do.
the biggest recommendation i can make is to intentionally have fun with it, and learn the thing that excite you. if you’re constantly practicing but you aren’t really playing anything, it’s likely not going to be as much fun as a healthy balance of the two. when i started i knew rock and metal weren’t really my style so i didn’t practice that style, i didn’t even use a pick because i enjoyed fingerstyle playing much more, it excites me because it sounds great with vocals. here recently i’ve been studying the jazz and neo-soul vibe (because i grew up on that kind of music) and i’ve gotten into polyphia so what excites me is breaking down and learning riffs, trying to learn sweep picking, relentlessly practicing my speed and rhythm, extended chords and utilizing all of the fretboard. i feel that i make the most progress when i’m intentionally studying the things that interest me.
What got me started was my grandfather and brother. My brother introduced me to percussion when I was a kid. I found it so fun to play the drums and hit instruments. Eventually I found out my grandfather played guitar. He passed away in 2015 and I wanted to carry on his legacy by playing instruments. I'm going to be a concept artist but music will always be in my heart
I grew up with parents that loved the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin and blue grass, and i don't think it was really a choice. I remember asking for a guitar when i was ten or eleven and them being like, sure, well see what we can afford. I had a cheap Hamer Slammer and a 10w Dean Markley Amp until i got my first job and bought a Crate vintage Club series and an Epiphone Les Paul. Dad ended up helping me buy the Les Paul because it looked the same as Duane Allman's and he was impressed that i saved that much money. I just always found music to be what i liked most about life and never looked back. I'm probably one of the very few people that started playing simply to just play music. It's also weird being so much younger than most of the people who like 60s and 70s rock, but i got a lot of amazing advice from much older players and more respect because they were impressed that i could play most of the guitar parts from "Live at Fillmore East". I'm extremely lucky to have had the support, otherwise, i may have gotten bored or fallen into the "only playing 3 chord rock with friends and never getting meaningful music experiences.
I always wanted to learn and the times I tried I got overwhelmed and quit after a day.. finally one day I lost my job then found out my girl cheated on me with someone who was like a brother to me… fell into a deep depression and had all the time in the world. I rode unemployment for a year and kept occupied by hanging out with Marty Schwartz and an old acoustic guitar that had about a 4” action on it 😂
One of the best things to ever happen to me. 15 years later with a beautiful family and the urge to play more and more daily.
There’s no other feeling like passing a threshold on guitar.
I really got into AC/DC in high school so I saved up and bought a cheap esp viper and small Marshall amp. I never quit because I became addicted and played for hours every day.
Im at my 37s this August, never attended any strings instruments class.
What keeps me going is "Joy" and also learning to play 2nd instrument (bass) accidentally out of curiosity.
I started because I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of the strings underneath my fingers. I haven’t quit because there’s just so much to learn, that quitting is out of the equation.
Always wanted to play growing up, finally got one for my 20th bday but really only started working at it after my 1st major relationship ended. In the 2ish years since I've made more progress than in any of the time before
My secret is I keep finding new songs that I have a desire to learn
It's a combination of many things. I have always loved music...I don't exactly know WHY I put years into it. Mostly, it's really satisfying doing something 90%+ of people who try end up quitting. Being able to honestly say you can play guitar is great. These days it's like meditation to me to turn on a backing track and jam...such a great stress reliever. I also do make music and have had the pleasure of a decent amount of people give it a listen. There's always the big ignorant unrealistic fantasy of being a rock star and all that.
My motivation to start was seeing the music video for DragonForce's Heroes of our Time on Channel V when I was 12.
My motivation not to quit is knowing that if at any time you feel like there's something wrong with music, there isn't. There's something with you. Music can't be wrong, it's your experience of music that is wrong.
For that reason, my guitar playing is a good barometer for how I am doing in life generally.
Started: Because that time, High school years,It was "cool", Just wanted to play to impress others.
Now: To deal with grief, to distract me from my thoughts. lol
I wanted my son to be around music and have the exposure and ear for it at a young age if he wanted to turn it into something.
I kept going because it was cathartic—it was something I could pour myself into, if even for just a few minutes at a time. When life got really tough for a few minutes, it became a coping mechanism.
And I think the entire learning process—starting from nothing and overcoming challenges and obstacles, making incremental improvements over time, proportionate to the effort and thoughtfulness I applied, is a good way to develop a growth mindset and is a life lesson you only learn to appreciate when you’ve done it. I’m not saying I’m “there,” I still have a lot of learning to go. But man, how far I’ve come. In music, and in life.
I wanted to play some cool songs on the guitar after messing around with the basic chords (e, a,d) for a while.kinda motivated me to learn.
the motivation to not quit is that I can't play the cool songs yet so I've got to learn them before I can consider quitting
I started 20 years ago to be cool and to impress girls, and found out about a fantastic way to express myself, and build towards this literally infinite amount of knowledge and skills that music can benefit from.
Also it's a thing you can do without looking at a screen.
It is a long story for me. I'm Vietnamese and when I was a kid, guitar or instruments are very expensive. They are still expensive now but there are options to find very budget things to start with. There was also no actual guitar class and it was also too expensive, at least for my family.
I dreamed about my first guitar after buying some random CDs, I did not know about the artist at that time, but they are Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton... After that there were more options which is less expensive, but I had to focus on studying :(
Then I moved to Germany for university and had chance to have my first guitar, it was a classic nilon string guitar. I used it to learn some classics, some songs to sing along...
2 years ago when I have my actual job as an IT, I bought an electric guitar for myself and learn it everyday.
The Motivation is just my dream when I was a kid is to release an solo album someday. Maybe I will be 70 at that time, but whatever I gonna do it.
Motivation - had always thought it might be cool to know a few songs
Reason not to quit - this shit is fun as hell my dude I’ve never once even considered not playing guitar
A friend made fun of my guitar playing. Back then I didn't even know how to strum properly and just knew how to properly hold some chord shapes. I wanted to prove him wrong and within a year I was playing miles better than him. We ended up in the same band and I was the lead guitarist in that group. That was just the initial motivation though. Once I started learning, just the joy of learning something new everyday kept me going.
Right now I'm at a point where I find my skills to be severely limited and not up to the level I want to be able to play at. I've started listening to more rock and metal as opposed to blues, and being unable to play that kind of music really gets me down. So I'm going back to learning and it's a great chance for me to correct my basics and break some bad habits as well.
Reason to start: I was obsessed with Radiohead's Street Spirit song and absolutely wanted to learn it.
Reason not to quit. I'm still excited about learning to play the songs I enjoy.
Just love listening to music so much that I wanted to participate. No musicians in the family, no friends who played really. Have always been motivated to self learn things so guitar was no different. Went into it knowing it would be slower without a teacher but it was cheaper and I could do it on my own terms.
It's the little moments of progress along the way that kept me motivated, and now it's the potential of what I could do with this skill I've spent 1000s of hours developing that keeps me more motivated then I was say 5 years ago
I was really into Guitar Hero/Rockband as a kid, we used to get together and play for hours. We eventually bought instruments and made a little jam band (everyone played their respective rock band role) and i've just never looked back. Getting involved even tertiarily set me on the path I am now; I took post secondary education in recording and audio engineering, I worked in small recording studios for a few years before moving into events and eventually working as part of management and show-running for a few event companies. I've met some pretty cool individuals, been a part of some VERY extreme setups, and flown all over because of it.
So everytime I got a little frustrated with how I'm doing as a musician, I just think about how important music is/became to me, and instead of being upset at myself, i try to frame it as "this is how I am now, I used to be worse. Bet I'll say the same thing in 10 years".
I mean, COVID killed all that, but I'd be damned if I look at all the sick pointy guitars I have, and the musicians I've been able to work with; and feel regret.
I’ve been playing since I was 11 was pretty consistent but my brother died when I was 15 then practiced for 4 to 8 hours a day I love guitar it’s fun and it got me through the rough times if I got in a rut try to make music in different genres it will light a fire
I started because I liked the sound of bass guitar and thought I’d learn guitar first due to the thinner strings and then bass. Still haven’t tried playing bass guitar but I’m quite good on an electric or acoustic guitar now
I moved into a frat house in college and a guy on my floor had a full setup in his room (multiple electrics, full Fender stack, effects processor, etc). I would go into his room often after class and ask to screw around with his guitar (supervised of course). At the end of the semester he told me to buy my own guitar. And I said ‘why would I do that, I’m not a guitar player?’ And he said ‘could have fooled me, you are in here every day for at least a half hour.’So I went and bought a cheap guitar and started practicing from a folder of tabs I collected. By the time I returned to school I was good enough to start learning more advanced techniques. That was 30yrs ago. I’ve been playing ever since.
Felt music in my soul since childhood and finally during adolescence Nirvana inspired me to pick up the guitar.
The reason not to quit is that I have a pathological obsession to learn to improvise. I quit guitar a few years after learning because I felt bored
I didn't realize that improvisation is what I was missing. When I understood that, I went full back in. And as all the greats say about improvisation, it's a lifelong journey
To be honest… I don’t really know. something called me to it.
Saw my step fathers guitar (acoustic steel string) when I was little and he would barley let me touch it and when I did get to hold it, it was SO big I could barely sit it on my lap
But I wanted to have one SO BAD.
Never saw my step father play (oddly enough) just having his guitar up on the wall in his office was enough to catch my eye.
My parents never got me lessons or anything even tho I had a clear urge to play so I taught myself how to play and starting playing with my buddies from school.
I started when i was 13. I had some health problems that caused me to miss most of school till I graduated so I started it as a hobby and I stuck with it once I discovered I had a nack for playing and it came easily.that was 7 years ago
Beatles. Loved every minute of it. I developed slowly but enjoyed figuring things out on my own, like riffs or my own treatment of songs. Still find it exciting (66yo).
I thought Eddie Van Halen's playing sounded so rich and out of control I had to figure out how to do tapping and pinch harmonics and whammy tricks n stuff. Then discovered the sludgy rhythms of death metal and learned to play that sort of thing. I'm still motivated to play what I think sounds interesting or heavy
Fell in love with guitar hero 3, got to a point where I could play songs on expert. Finally 100 percent cleared “My Curse” by killswitch engage on expert and decided I’d ask my mom if I could try to learn the real thing. 14 years later I’m here lol!
I played trumpet for 30 years. Then I met a very young lad who changed my life. He convinced me that I needed to sing and play at the same time. And he was absolutely correct. I had all the music fundamentals and theory so the rest of the practice is falling into place. Now all my old poetry is being converted to lyrics and melody over top of the simple stuff.
This is a great thread. Thanks for posting
Had a pretty solid motorcycle crash, it was a dark time. Everything I was good at was put on hold, which leaves you wondering “who the Fk am I now!?”. Some people find Jesus, I found guitar.
Gave me a focus/outlet. Something I was good at, something to keep me company, wash away the situation I was in at the time.
I made a full recovery, but my focus changed during that time from athletic endeavours, to music.
The main riff of blackened by Metallica. And to be honest that could answer the second question too because I still can’t play it. But guitar is both very rewarding and frustrating. Being able to play my favorite songs is a unique and special feeling. Unfortunately I still can’t play most of them but I’m making progress. I think that’s probably why I haven’t stopped.
I was a drummer and had all these songs in my head that I tried and tried to describe to the guitar players, until one of them said, “if you want to write songs you need to learn guitar.” So I did. The reason not to quit is that it’s tons of fun and I got good enough to join a band as a guitarist and write songs.
The feeling of learning or writing a song and getting it to sound right and finally getting it down is the best feeling in the world. That has carried me through any slump ive ever had with guitar playing
I started learning guitar because I failed the rhythm test for drum tryouts in 6th grade music class.
I also failed the guitar rhythm test and ended up tooting out hot cross buns and alpha squadron on a busted up baritone to try and impress the cute saxophone girls.
So girls, my answer is girls.
My HS friend could play a bunch of instruments and had a full band setup at his house. Sometimes when we were in his basement I would pick up an acoustic guitar and mess around. He told me "you seem interested in that guitar, you should take it home and learn" it was cheap and had really high action but he said he didn't need it anymore and so he gave it to me. That was 24 years ago. I kept that guitar until I saved some money to buy a better one in college and passed along the old one to somebody else.
I grew up with my dad playing and always wanted to play. I got my first guitar when I was 10. That was almost 30 years ago. I go through periods where I play a lot and periods where I barely pick it up. I haven't actually gotten better in ages but I still love playing. It just grounds me really well.
My motivation to start was probably to get girls at college parties. I learned a few chords, some beatles songs like Norwegian Wood. I didn't quit because, well, girls.
I’ve been a self taught guitar learner for nearly 40 years. Sometimes I LOVE playing and learning something new. Sometimes I don’t pick up a guitar for months. Motivation comes and goes just like everything else in life. I never planned to be the next Hendrix, though I’ve played in bands and enjoy performing. Life doesn’t have to be 100% all the time.
2 friends got guitars and talked about starting a band. I felt left out. Liked being the best at things so I kept playing until I was good. Now I don’t care if I’m the best at something, but enjoy just playing
Just started as a music class project that I hated and the hole was opened. I fell into the rabbit hole of music and became a part of my life. I am always thrilled to discover songs and learning to play it. Gives you a lot of self accomplishment.
My friends at school played and when we hung out they'd jam together and it looked so fun, so I learnt to join in and jam with them, and Ive always loved music and wanted to play an instrument and now that I can I wanna keep pushing how far I can get with my technique and with recording/bands
Once your fingers stop bleeding and you develop calluses... well, you don't want to go through that again! It was a joy at 12 years old, and it still is at 67.
For me I had two really close friends start at the same time. We all got guitars within a couple of weeks of each other and it became kind of competitive to see who could play what new riff or song the next time we got together. Eventually I formed a band with one of them (in high school) and somehow we lucked into an incredibly good drummer, so then my motivation became “get good enough that Josh doesn’t want to quit the band.”
That was responsible for the first couple of years and once you get to the point where you can play through full songs and know how to practice it is pretty easy not to quit.
EDIT: I guess I didn’t really cover motivation to start. I liked singing. Wanted to be able to accompany myself singing. Have always been into music, etc. The story mentioned above was the final bit of motivation to get off my ass and do it instead of just wishing.
I had always felt music deeply since childhood so learning to make some kind of music was just in the cards. Dad got me a guitar, bass guitar, and drums at different stages of my childhood but no one got me lessons and I had no clue how or where to start. I really started getting it joining band at school and doing drumline for like four years as well as concert percussion. Starting noodling on my bass while in late middle school drumline, then got an acoustic guitar and electric guitar in like 10th grade and just would play it all the time. Sometimes for four hours, sometimes for ten minutes. Over the years I just kept at it and now I'm a thirty something with lots of guitars and no one to play with except my cat.
I never quit because it wasn't "this is a random hobby or skill I want to get good at for external reasons", I just had and have music in me and my soul needs music. I've continued to practice to become closer to being able to express what is in my head and guts and by God one day I'll record a song. It's meditative, cathartic, healing, grounding, energizing, and fun to play and I like playing for the sake of playing more than anything else.
my uncle gave me my first guitar for heping him work on some stuff at his workshop, I was 13 and really getting into music. The motivation was a self perpetuating high everytime I hit a cool chord, note, tone, riff, etc., it made me want to learn more. I think you have to allow yourself to enjoy all of it, explore, and not care what it sounds like to others because its about therapy and expression. And this is coming from a punk, thrash, and death metal guitarist, lol.
Neil Young easy-chord song book got me over the hump. I was motivated to make that next change even when each change took 15 seconds.
Keep me searching for a ……………heart of gold…………..
For me, it was listening to The Black Dahlia Murder and realizing how much I wanted to play guitar like that.
For me to not quit, was realizing that despite my total lack of musical education, and general difficulty with fine motor control, I was *getting there.*
i always wondered how guitarists in my favorite bands played what they were playing so i begged for a guitar! what keeps me going is the feeling i get when i learn a riff and play it right! also my girlfriend’s song requests 😅
Learning polyphia almost always makes you give up but when you actually learn a riff it is really rewarding an just feels good. It's like that with most songs I presume, so just as long as you play something new and learn something out of your comfort zone you will have motivation
I've been playing for just over a year, I've been playing instruments for 12 years now. I simply just enjoy playing music, there isn't any more to it. I just love it.
I never paid much attention to stringed instruments in general but when I started watching some talented Musicians like 2CELLOS, that surprisingly developed my interest in stringed instruments.
At that time, there was an abandoned classical guitar which used to belong to my elder sister but wasn't in a playable condition being abandoned for over 15 years. I started watching fingerstyle covers of the songs I used to listen to and that motivated me even more. So I finally decided to restore it. Although, the restoration kinda made things worse since I had no idea there were two acoustics, the steel string and nylon string. Because of my lack of knowledge about the instrument, I ended up breaking it.
Still, I didn't quit. I actually made a DIY upright bass out of the broken classical and after sometime bought a Yamaha steel string acoustic.
Why didn't I quit? Well, I wanted that power. The power to express yourself, the power to play any song wherever you are, just by ear and even create originals. Over the course of 3 years, I learned a lot about music and instruments in general. Currently, I play the acoustic guitar, bass and keyboard. I would probably learn the Cello and Upright Bass some day.
I started because I wanted to play guitar. I keep playing because I enjoy it.
I know this doesn't seem like a good answer, but let me explain. I did something because I wanted to try it out, and I kept going because it is fun. You don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Steve Vai to enjoy playing music. just keep going at your own pace and let it be fun! :)
Reason to start: I likes creating music..and I was on deployed on a ship for 10months and the ladies love dudes who play guitar.
Reason to stick with it: Ritchie Blackmore's guitar improvising on Made in Japan...he did this one lick on Strange kind of woman that had like a peaceful medieval day at the festival type melody...the crowd even applauded after he played that line.
I started because my dad had a guitar they didn't use, I asked if I could borrow it for school cause we were using instruments, the teacher never made me play it but I played it at home, started liking it, and that's the reason why I started and why I never quit, I liked it, and I still like it
My motivation comes from (a) being in a band and having to learn new songs / improve playing to minimise looking and sounding like a dick on stage, and (b) playing guitar makes me happy and improves my wellbeing. Commit yourself to a project to provide a goal to achieve.
I have 2 elder brothers in my family. The eldest one was playing guitar every evening when i was 7. And she showed me a lot of cool russian rock groups (such as Korol i Shut or King and the Jester). I was also very proud of my brother and i wanted to play guitar like him, but i tried to play something and forgot leaning it until i was 18. It was may 2020. My father brought me old soviet guitar (he just traded it with homeless for a bottle of vodka) and i started to learn it myself. After 2 weeks i could play my favourite song and learned some techniques. But I still can't learn fingerstyle. I mean i achieved i wanted. And now i try to learn something new, because I've got another objective. So that was really interesting (and i still play on that old guitar. I just need to "renew" it)
P.S. i'm still a novice, but i really enjoy playing guitar. I can share my energy or feelings through the chords. The time passes so fast and it becomes easier inside)
Live music as entertainment is still part of the culture where my family is from, so most everyone plays an instrument or sings. My grandfather is still playing local dances with his band into his 80’s now. Not playing an instrument is considered rather strange. We had guitars in the house, so I started playing and learned by watching my dad play.
I’ve taken breaks at times because life demanded it, but I could never quit because I don’t think I really know what a life without playing music would look like. It is the default setting for all family gatherings and is the hook that keeps my old friendships together. It’s a part of my life, like eating or bathing.
I've been fascinated with guitars my entire life. I remember being in kindergarten and thinking that the guy who played guitar at an assembly was the coolest person ever. I saw him holding something green in his hand (in hindsight, probably a Dunlop Tortex pick) and so I grabbed the thing I had in a similar shade of green and got my dad's guitar (he doesn't know how to play) and started strumming the strings. The thing I had was a colored pencil and I ended up drawing all over the guitar and got told off.
That ended my early playing career until a few years later, when I begged mom to get me my own guitar for my birthday. Almost 20 years later and I'm still obsessed. I go through patches where I don't pick up the instrument, but whenever I do, I always love it. I love the feeling of mastering new techniques, or learning a song, or writing a cool riff or melody, and especially performing on stage. Everything about it turns me on, so why would I ever want to give up?
Learning and discovering things yourself gives you a great sense of self satisfaction and I think brings you closer to the guitar. One of the most satisfying achievements of my life was teaching myself how to read music and play classical guitar. I was already quite a good self taught fingerstyle player but learning the “proper” classical technique and how to sight read has been such a positive thing for me, I’d feel terrible about myself if I gave it up.
I started in 1990. I don't really remember, but I suspect the motivation was to look cool and attract lots of women. It hasn't worked yet so I can't quit.
You'r'e almost there, friend.
"wow that sounds cool I want to be able to make that sound" Applies to both questions.
I spent ten grand on guitars and amps. It would be really fucking stupid to give up now.
It's become an expensive fidget spinner
I started playing because I wanted to bang this chick and she said if I could play an entire song she liked she'd do it. I knew she was a huge misfits fan so I learned some power chords and figured out "Last Caress" and "ASTRO Zombies". It worked. We banged. I left her eventually, but I kept the guitar and kept learning songs. I kinda got into it by accident. 15 years on and I still try to learn a new song every week. Never know, it's worked a few times, the more songs you learn the better the chances of playing one on demand lol.
It’s fun. It’s fun.
It really is fun.
I love music. I had a friend who played that I admired. Camping one weekend, a boy that I was crushing on taught me how to play a song. Never saw the boy again, but I still remember that song! I bought a cheap ass acoustic guitar for $15 when I was 16, my friends and I swapped songs copied out by hand with words & chords. It’s so great to play with others. It’s more than fun, it’s a spiritual connection. I’ve been playing for 50 years now, on and off, not so accomplished cuz life is busy and there has been years when I’ve taken off but I always come back. It’s good for my soul.
Motivation: Nirvana's Nevermind album. Reason not to quit: So many other albums out there to learn.
My motivation was that, at 13 years old, I wanted to be good at the guitar so I'd attract pretty girls. That's literally it. The reason that I never gave up was that I can only describe it as "falling in love" with the instrument. It was frustrating, but as I kept pushing, I got excited because I managed to master The Hell Song, All the Small Things, Hey There Delilah, Wherever You Will Go, Basket Case, Never Too Late, Still Into You, all the late 90s/early 2000s bops I never really outgrew. Fast forward over a decade later, I still get so excited when I get the first few notes of anything from Polyphia, Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or something from a video game, and suddenly my frustrations and depression are gone for the moment.
My roommate played in college and I thought it was cool
I started playing in high school because we'd go to parties, and this guy I knew would bring his guitar and play and all the girls would gather round and listen enraptured to him play. So I was like - got it. Chicks dig dudes who can play guitar. Turns out, no, chicks dug HIM because he was dreamy and the guitar had nothing to do with it. Not being dreamy, this did not work for me. But I've been musical since long before then, I've been playing one instrument or another since about the 3rd grade, and I've kept playing because I love music, I love the instrument, and I want to be good at it and be able to play it. Tragically I work a busy job where I get at most maybe 1 hour per week to practice. I bought a Sterling Music Man bass last year, I've got maybe 3 hours into it so far.... sigh...
Its fun
Hearing Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante's absolutely fluency and freedom of emotional expression with the guitar I knew if I could have even 10% of that I'd die a happy woman and would always have guitar to comfort me. Before guitar I played other instruments, including a simple string instrument and piano, but electric guitar is simply next level to me in terms of opportunities in tone, bending, effects, harmonics, looping, and soundscapes one can create.
My motivation was seeing someone jam in a circle with other musicians and wanting to do that too, one day. What kept me going is just the awareness that when something is difficult, just keep practicing and eventually, rise up to the next plateau.
Getting girls. Still trying both
My motivation for starting was to impress women. My reason for not quitting is that I haven’t impressed a woman yet.
Get chicks. Chicks love a guy that can play guitar.
Dude, I’m a pretty unassuming guy with a grand-dad bod. Every once in a while some of the ladies from pickle ball will come over for prune juice and seltzer with a lemon twist. They’ll ask me what song I’m working on. I plug in my Flying V into my marshall full stack, turn on the colored track lights above me...and bend the G-string...if you catch my drift.
Life is sad. But workplace is dictatorship of fake smiles. When I play I can be sad however I want. And still sound good.
My motivation to start was that I wanted to learn how to play a guitar, and I didn't quit because I wanted to learn how to play a guitar.
I wanted to play my favorite songs on guitar. I don’t quit because I genuinely enjoy playing the guitar. It’s not like I’m striving to achieve anything other than personal satisfaction of playing music I like. It’s fun to push myself to learn new, more difficult styles and techniques. I’m into bluegrass right now and flatpicking is pushing me to grow as player.
I taught myself how to play the guitar so I could accompany myself singing. I kept going because it feels good to express my inner reality to the rest of the world. (X10 once you can forget about all the"thinky" aspect of playing your instrument)
I started because I loved the sound of a guitar more than anything in the world. 60 years later, I still do. Still gigging into my 70s.
You’re overthinking it. It was just fun to play songs you’ve heard and too poor for lessons. But finding a good teacher that melds with your way of learning and perspective on guitar and can add to it is really worth it if you can afford lessons. And by can afford I mean - I wish I did it 8 years ago after I got a job after college
I’ve started and quit many times over the last 20yrs…but now I’ll probably stick with it close to daily for my life. I have lots of hobbies…I’m a guitarist, fish keeper, hunter, fisher, electronics nerd, outdoorsman, tinkerer, prospector, metal detector, gamer…the list goes on. Do what makes you happy; some days it isn’t guitar, some days it is.
Why *would* you quit?
Tool. As a self taught player, I’m not sure I’d consider myself a guitarist or musician, my inspiration and journey started in drop D and eventually wanting to learn more of my favorite songs I had to learn how to play in standard. I guess my reason not to quit is noticing the progress in my playing when recording my sessions and listening back to them. While definitely not perfect, my playing was progressing as well as my ear for tone. I hardly have the volume and tone at 10 on my guitar knobs. The music of Tool is very atmospheric and not too technically complicated guitar wise (read: no shredding) Hearing my progress sound more and more like the real thing gives a major confidence boost. All of these small wins and realizations helped me continue on my journey. I’ve been playing inconsistently (life) since 2008 and haven’t looked back. Still can’t shred but definitely getting closer.
> I’ve been playing inconsistently (life) since 2008 and haven’t looked back. You're a guitarist and a musician.
My reason to start? I had a thing for goth girls…honestly that didn’t really work out like I thought it would though. Why didn’t I quit? Because in the long run it’s cheaper than therapy… not by much though.
I accidentally strummed an Am chord I live to rock
I accidentally strummed an E chord. We were so close yet so far.
I continue because of the creativity that sometimes just pours out. One of the most satisfying things in the world.
It was 1977,, and the country was swept up in the wild shirt-less lyrics of Mark Farner, the bong rattling bass of Mel Schacher and the competent drum work of Don Brewer. I knew that I wanted to impress girls and see boobs. That's also what kept me going. Next question. I was at a party and they had a Yamaha guitar leaning in a corner and I picked it up and vegan to arpeggiatw some chords and turned to a couple girls and said “I bet we can write a song.”
start: god damn canon rock is cool journey: look at all the song I can play if I know how to play guitar reason not to quit: I still can't play those song I wanted to play lol
When I was a kid my Dad buit a Heathkit hi-fi system. This was before stereo. He had lots of records, folk music and some jazz. Pete Seeger, Kingston Trio and the like. We had some friends that played acoustic guitars and I started to show an interest. In 5th grade my Dad brought home an acoustic for me. I thought stringed instruments were way cool. I enrolled myself in lessons but the music they were trying to teach me DID NOT interest me and they wanted me to perform at a recital and sing too. BLAFTGHJ. Even though I wanted to play I did not want to perform. Dad recorded me and played it back and I ran screaming from the scene. I was scared to death to play in front of an audience. I couldn't carry a tune to save my life. So I lost interest. Then in Jr high school the music started to change. Eric Burden and the Animals really captured my attention. “I smoked my 1st cigarette and ten, and for girls I had a bad yen, ...when I was young”. Then Hendrix, then Black Sabbath all rekindled my interest. There was finally some music that exited me. Music that had attitude! It took a lot of years and some major setbacks but I finally got serious. I'm 69 now and I I can't put it down. I just wanted to play music that I liked. I still do not want to perform but it makes me happy, keeps me out of the tavern, I have goals and everyday I learn something new and improve my skills. Maybe some day ill perform.
For me it was realising “HOLY SHIT I can play all these chugs and noises that my favourite metal bands make”
Fr I was practicing off and on for years but when I learned how to palm mute I haven’t set down my guitar
My motivation was that the neighbour moved out and left his acoustic guitar as a giveaway in the street. I always wanted to learn guitar as a child (instead of piano) and about 40 years later I started. The reason not to quit is that I switched to electric and I like it.
To me there is nothing more important than creation and creativity in life. To practice any creative endeavor gives meaning to me and it is incredibly therapeutic as a plus. I've had periods where I didn't play and it was always a bad time in my life
To star: I want to play that song Not to quit: I want to play that song.
Started in lockdown, literally played for hours everyday I’m still addicted
Found a girl I liked who liked guitars. Had a Guitar for maybe 2 or 3 years prior but given up almost immediately after starting cause it was hard and I figured I just wasn't made for the guitar. Started playing again with the motivation to impress her. We got together in the end. Then one toxic relationship and one hell of a heartbreak later I'm still sitting here, guitar in hand. I love playing guitar more then I love anything else rn.
Women are temporary, guitar is forever!
Motivation was to impress girls, reason not to quit is I’m still hoping one day I’ll impress girls
I’ve been lurking on this sub for the past couple of months, and although I don’t play guitar yet, I want to thank everyone who commented because it’s amazing reading all these stories. Recently, I’ve seemed to lose all my interest in everything I used to love— drawing, playing the violin, playing tennis. Every day now seems like a struggle to survive. However, guitar’s been the only thing I can possibly think of— if you say the words “happy place”, I will undoubtedly think of a guitar. There’s something about it that seems so magnetic. I’ve bought my first guitar, albeit cheap, but I can’t stand a moment longer going without a guitar, and money is a restriction. I hope to be a regular talker here someday! Thank you all, again, for being a source of inspiration and motivation for my dreams!
Watching Eddie Van Halen sit down, dangling his legs off the edge of the stage, and soloing for about 20 minutes. I was 14. 'nuff said. (Caveat: I did take lessons for about 4 months)
Motivation to play was my sisters boyfriend playing I thought it was really cool and started listening to guitar-centric music. Reason for not quitting is guitar is just still what makes me happy to this day and can make a good day better or a bad day tolerable
My motivation to start was my dad. I grew up watching him jam out all the time and wanted bond with him. It never happened and after 20 plus years of playing him and I have only jammed together 3 times, but I fell in love with it for my own reasons. At first I stuck with it because it gave me something to look forward to and think about all day at school and later work. Later on it became a release for me. In the last 2 years it has taken a special turn for me and I'm so glad I stuck with it. Now I'm releasing music as of this year out into the world and these songs are everything to me. I hear them now, finished and out there forever on the web, and I get goosebumps. I tear up, my heart races and my adrenaline gets going. And that is my current motivation to continue on.
I wanted to play the songs i like, and do it well. i haven't quit because i still can't play all of them and those that i do play aren't perfect yet (i'll probably never achieve perfection, but i will keep trying, it's fun.)
I just wanted to be one of The Strokes
I've quit hundreds of times. Motivation was being able to play a few of my favorite songs.
Wanted to shred. Gave up on that, learned chords. Found out about scales. Learned to shred. It was something to do with friends. Make music. Today with everthing being so digitally focused, i probably wouldn't be able to focus and learn it if I was a kid again. But also youtube makes it WAY easier. Used to have a vhs tape, rewind it 200x just to learn one lick from a guy who is simultaneously scary and effeminate. It sucked.
Why I started: seemed fun Why I keep playing: it is fun
(1) I wanted to write and play music and was an obsessed listener. (2) this is a bit more unusual - the thought of "what one man can do another can do" (except I was listening to Allan Holdsworth at a time and I was naive enough to not realize just how special that guy was.
I've been roughly learning for two years, and I started because I needed a new hobby so I could deal with depression better. Plus, around that time, I discovered The Allman Brothers and that really pushed me into wanting to learn how to play guitar. A few months ago, however, I started to lose interest due to feeling stunted. I regained my motivation by taking new guitar lessons. (Justin Guitar's website is very helpful and well structured)
Like so many things, one’s place in musicianship is reflective of our own journey through life. If you have the courage and discipline to pull yourself out of depression by devoting yourself to growth…that’s a good sign brother.
Motivation to start: it was fun. Motivation to keep playing: it is still fun. I never put pressure on myself to play when I did not want to and used it as an escape from the things I HAD to do. I eventually got to a point where I was able to join a small cover band and that opened a whole new side of music that was also very fun.
I love guitar. I love this instrument, I started because I want to learn something at least, and bands like Metallica and Megadeth, iron maiden motivates me a lot back then
Building a guitar can be very inspiring
I wanted to learn to play guitar because I saw a dvd of Queen performing at Wembley, and I still haven’t quit playing because I haven’t performed at Wembley yet
To make music in a band. Making music in a band.
When I first started I with no relation to guitar when to volunteer in a place that distributes food for those in need, the leader (much older then me) was such a nice person and got so happy to hear I play and was proud of me for playing even tho I knew I wasn’t dedicating as much time as I should, he was still proud of me, even my dad doesn’t like me guitar playing, so hearing him say it I promised to myself to not quit ever, and now it’s the instrument I know the best ( I’ve been through about 5 other instruments) and every time I touch my guitar I get excited to play, sure there are times I don’t have the power and take some time off but I always remember what I do it for, I do it to make noise for those who are too quite to make noise themselves. Just as he wanted me to.
5th grade, 1996, wanted to start a band like blink 182 or Green Day. Took some lessons early on to establish fundamentals and then self taught. Reason not to quit? Because guitar is fucking sick. I still write and record to this day. 25ish years later.
its stress relief every time i pick it up
Cause my dad learned and played that way as well as my bro. I thought it was and still is cool.
I started to get laid. Not quitting to continue getting laid
I discovered music late, like at 14/15, and it VERY quickly went from “I like listening to this” to “I could probably do this.” It just so happened that my dad had a couple guitars laying around that he noodled with but never really played, and at the same time all my friends were beginning to get into drugs and all sorts of stuff I wasn’t interested in so for a summer, as sad as it sounds, my dads guitars were my only friends but they kept me company and my parents also supported me wholeheartedly, and now years later I’ve made more and better friends through bands and the music scene and all that and most of those old friends are deadbeats or in jail so… yeah seemed like a net positive for me. I never quit because it became so much a part of my identity that when I smashed my finger at work not too long ago, I couldn’t play for about a month and was probably in a legit depressive state until I could play again. I just have to make music it seems, whether anyone hears it or likes it or not lol
Obsession.
Listening to E.V.H. play eruption with my 10-year-old ears was the trigger (I'm 30). The tapping, dive bombs and squeals were what sealed it for me. Nowadays, I'm a headbanging chug kid who writes his own heavy stuff with a band. But the satisfaction you get from just playing (alone or with others) is also the reason I've stayed grounded to it. No better release for me.
It’s fun
Motivation to start : Jack White Motivation not to quite : Jimmy Page
in my opinion lessons can really ruin it depending on the teacher, always had more fun, and wanted to play when I was learning my own way
I started in high school, cuz a cool new friend could play all the metallica stuff. He died to cancer a few years later. I keep playing to honor him.
My dad was uninterested in me until I said I wanted to play the guitar. Helped keep our relationship a thing until he got better.
Edward Van Fucking Halen
I remember when I was 10 and got a guitar. My brother broke it but I was playing trombone in school at the time and I needed to switch to something a little more socially acceptable. Over the years (almost 70) a guitar has been a good friend and has provided me with constructive idle time. I seemed to get a lot better once youtube was invented. Ha. I have so many guitars now that one is always staring at me and daring me to pick it up.
You feel fucking cool when you get better
I'm a professional metal drummer and I was sick of hearing a new song and thinking "damn that sounds like one hell of a riff." so I bought a guitar and learned how to play the riffs 😂
I was inspired to start by seeing the greats play live and I kept at it because I wanted to be one of them
I have been playing for 30 years. I loved the guitar deep in my core. I was drawn to guitars. When I was holding a friend's bass (I just liked to hold them) and he offered to teach me Enter Sandman and Tom Sawyer's main riffs, I learned them quickly (they are easy, of course). I was just... amazed. I borrowed another friend's pawn shop guitar and checked a book out the library and learned how to play the melody for Hawaii 50 and House of the Rising Sun. Someone was watching me and pointed out there's an easier way to play Rising Sun with these things called "chords." That all happened within a span of a week or so. I was given old issues of "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" and learned even more chords and songs. I was just driven. I still am. I love playing the guitar. I played my first (real, non-party) gig a few months later. I've since played I don't know how many--probably into the thousands. A lot, anyway.
I didn't have a reason not to quit. I just simply enjoyed to the process of learning and playing songs. But what really got me into guitar was watching YouTubers do fingerstyle instrumental covers of other songs.
It's fun
I wanted to play my favourite songs. my reason for not quitting is complicated (because I did effectively "quit" about 10 times in the past 30 years) but generally boils down to the fact that my music taste evolved and the songs I wanted to play became much more complicated, and the music I heard in my head that I wanted to write became much more complicated as well.
I heard my friend play r u mine by arctic monkeys and I was mesmerised. After I learnt that, I just started learning my favourite songs
To get chicks
And we didn't quit once we found out that girls don't care about guitar
I started playing simply because I love it and the music I play. It's also because I have OCD, and during practicing is one of the few times all my tics and compulsions completely disappear, so it's kind of a relaxation thing as well. There were lots of times I took breaks from playing, sometimes for a month or two, not really because I wanted to but because of school, family situations or just because it felt like I wasn't progressing as much. But I came back to it and with a new frame of mind felt like I was progressing heaps. That's probably why I don't quit, because from experience I know that even if I don't feel like I'm making progress, it comes in waves.
James Hetfield was my motivation to start. Idk why I keep going on, cause I suck pretty bad. 🤟🏽
Exact same DUNUHDUNUHDUNUHDUNUHDUNUH I like V8 engine sounds for the same reason I like Metallica
Never could put the damn thing down.
There are lots of songs I wanted to play. I never stopped ever since.
I fell in love with guitar. Hard to quit when your so infatuated with it
I was obsessed with music and I was absolutely enamoured any time I saw a guitarist I admired playing live. It was like magic watching them do it and I wanted to do it. And I didn’t quit because I just loved it, I never even thought about quitting. I’d get mad at it and throw it down, or be literally forced to stop because my fingers had no calluses yet, but yeah you just do it cause it calls you I guess. Honestly what I’m typing here is making me think about other areas of my life. My love for guitar was and is so pure, I didn’t have ulterior motives, I didn’t care if I was bad at it, I didn’t hold myself to any standards that would make it not fun. Something deep within attracted me to it and I went to it and that’s that
In 1989, a kid my class had a mashall half stack and Gibson Les Paul. I heard him play Metallica, motley crue and skid row. my jaw hit the floor. how the hell did he do that? I have been playing off and on since then. With little to do during COVID and the endless lessons on YouTube, I have leveled up significantly. I'm no longer just limited to tabs.
Genuinely, I spent all the money I had saved up to that point on my 2nd electric guitar. So now I had this $1000 guitar and was basically broke, so I spent all my free time learning how to play it better since I couldn’t really afford to do anything else for a few months. Definitely a 19 year old brain decision and not something I would do now… probably.
Why would you want to quit?
For what I see around these subs, there's a lot of people that I don't understand why they pick it up in the first place.
I heard santa monica by everclear. I thought that sounds easy to play I want to try. So I bought a guitar and learned it. I didnt quit because I loved it and wanted to learn more
My motivation was John Sykes' tone on the Whitesnake album. I thought it sounded like a chainsaw and it was the coolest thing ever and I had to do that. What kept me from quitting is the fact that it's an instrument with unlimited potential and I wanted to do everything.
I started because i wanted to be cool and i really enjoyed music. Here i am 20 years later. I play because it calms me. I can get lost in the music and before i know it a couple of hours have flown by. That’s motivation enough for me.
I grew up watching my uncles and grandpa play and always had a guitar around and I never imagined not playing it. Quitting has never been an option as much as starting to play was never an option. Guitar has been a lifelong pursuit. I've been playing over 30 years now and feel like I've made more improvement in the last calendar year than I have in the previous 5.
I was always humming or making the noises I heard in my head and listened to guitar music. I learned power chords and was playing in punk bands shortly thereafter. Still playing close to 30 years later, just different, probably better noises coming out now.
I started 45 years ago and I’m self taught. My best advice….take lessons from a good teacher. I’m 58 and still learning but could have progressed so much faster if I could have taken lessons.
"I just love making music" is the answer to both questions. I fully know I will never be anywhere near as good as the properly trained guitarists out there, but I don't care. I just love playing the damn thing.
honestly my main motivation is just that i love it. i love music, all of my biggest passions are music related. i taught myself basic piano and ukulele first, then started guitar when i finally got one and i’ve been learning for a little over a year now. i already had background knowledge of music theory when i started because ive been singing so long, and i studied theory in choir all throughout high school so when i picked up guitar as my third instrument i had a base understanding of how it all works and could go from there. when it comes to motivation not to quit, again it’s mostly because of how much i enjoy it. no matter how frustrating it’s been at times and how irritated i’ve gotten at the speed of my progress the fact stands that i just love playing. my initial intention was to learn enough about chords, chord progressions, strumming, and fingerpicking to accompany myself singing and to potentially use those skills to make original music in the future. once i realized i had managed to teach myself that much, i was able to consistently play any song using chords and i finally got more comfortable with barre chords, i just wanted to keep learning more. i have my on and offs, sometimes i barely touch my guitar for two weeks and then it’s all i do for hours a day for weeks at a time, and i try not to beat myself up over not practicing because i have adhd and my focus is just sporadic sometimes. what keeps me playing most of the time is the tangible feel of progress, i can look back to when i first got my guitar (or even before, when i tried and failed to teach myself on acoustic cause my hands couldn’t handle it) and there’s no denying i’ve gotten so much better. i can not only hear in videos that i’m better but i can feel it in the ease of playing things that used to be challenging for me. im no virtuoso but i don’t have to be, especially not in the first few years of even having a guitar. some people dedicate their whole lives to mastering an instrument, and while id love to reach that level of mastery i know it’s not really in sight yet so i don’t even dwell on what i can’t do. the biggest recommendation i can make is to intentionally have fun with it, and learn the thing that excite you. if you’re constantly practicing but you aren’t really playing anything, it’s likely not going to be as much fun as a healthy balance of the two. when i started i knew rock and metal weren’t really my style so i didn’t practice that style, i didn’t even use a pick because i enjoyed fingerstyle playing much more, it excites me because it sounds great with vocals. here recently i’ve been studying the jazz and neo-soul vibe (because i grew up on that kind of music) and i’ve gotten into polyphia so what excites me is breaking down and learning riffs, trying to learn sweep picking, relentlessly practicing my speed and rhythm, extended chords and utilizing all of the fretboard. i feel that i make the most progress when i’m intentionally studying the things that interest me.
What got me started was my grandfather and brother. My brother introduced me to percussion when I was a kid. I found it so fun to play the drums and hit instruments. Eventually I found out my grandfather played guitar. He passed away in 2015 and I wanted to carry on his legacy by playing instruments. I'm going to be a concept artist but music will always be in my heart
I grew up with parents that loved the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin and blue grass, and i don't think it was really a choice. I remember asking for a guitar when i was ten or eleven and them being like, sure, well see what we can afford. I had a cheap Hamer Slammer and a 10w Dean Markley Amp until i got my first job and bought a Crate vintage Club series and an Epiphone Les Paul. Dad ended up helping me buy the Les Paul because it looked the same as Duane Allman's and he was impressed that i saved that much money. I just always found music to be what i liked most about life and never looked back. I'm probably one of the very few people that started playing simply to just play music. It's also weird being so much younger than most of the people who like 60s and 70s rock, but i got a lot of amazing advice from much older players and more respect because they were impressed that i could play most of the guitar parts from "Live at Fillmore East". I'm extremely lucky to have had the support, otherwise, i may have gotten bored or fallen into the "only playing 3 chord rock with friends and never getting meaningful music experiences.
I picked it up because I had the desire to one day be a rockstar, I didn't quit because I still have that desire to one day be a rockstar.
I always wanted to learn and the times I tried I got overwhelmed and quit after a day.. finally one day I lost my job then found out my girl cheated on me with someone who was like a brother to me… fell into a deep depression and had all the time in the world. I rode unemployment for a year and kept occupied by hanging out with Marty Schwartz and an old acoustic guitar that had about a 4” action on it 😂 One of the best things to ever happen to me. 15 years later with a beautiful family and the urge to play more and more daily. There’s no other feeling like passing a threshold on guitar.
I really got into AC/DC in high school so I saved up and bought a cheap esp viper and small Marshall amp. I never quit because I became addicted and played for hours every day.
I was a teen with nothing to do and I obsessed over it.
Im at my 37s this August, never attended any strings instruments class. What keeps me going is "Joy" and also learning to play 2nd instrument (bass) accidentally out of curiosity.
I started because I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of the strings underneath my fingers. I haven’t quit because there’s just so much to learn, that quitting is out of the equation.
Always wanted to play growing up, finally got one for my 20th bday but really only started working at it after my 1st major relationship ended. In the 2ish years since I've made more progress than in any of the time before My secret is I keep finding new songs that I have a desire to learn
Why I started: I saw it at Target and wanted to be cool Why I continue: neosoul/fusion v i b e s
I was 15, and there was this song on the radio called “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, you see…
Boredom, and being able to express feelings I didn't even realize I was feeling.
Serious answer: Comfortably Numb Actual Answer: Goofy Goober Rock
It's a combination of many things. I have always loved music...I don't exactly know WHY I put years into it. Mostly, it's really satisfying doing something 90%+ of people who try end up quitting. Being able to honestly say you can play guitar is great. These days it's like meditation to me to turn on a backing track and jam...such a great stress reliever. I also do make music and have had the pleasure of a decent amount of people give it a listen. There's always the big ignorant unrealistic fantasy of being a rock star and all that.
I do it because i want to express myself when im feeling things.
My motivation to start was seeing the music video for DragonForce's Heroes of our Time on Channel V when I was 12. My motivation not to quit is knowing that if at any time you feel like there's something wrong with music, there isn't. There's something with you. Music can't be wrong, it's your experience of music that is wrong. For that reason, my guitar playing is a good barometer for how I am doing in life generally.
Started: Because that time, High school years,It was "cool", Just wanted to play to impress others. Now: To deal with grief, to distract me from my thoughts. lol
I wanted my son to be around music and have the exposure and ear for it at a young age if he wanted to turn it into something. I kept going because it was cathartic—it was something I could pour myself into, if even for just a few minutes at a time. When life got really tough for a few minutes, it became a coping mechanism. And I think the entire learning process—starting from nothing and overcoming challenges and obstacles, making incremental improvements over time, proportionate to the effort and thoughtfulness I applied, is a good way to develop a growth mindset and is a life lesson you only learn to appreciate when you’ve done it. I’m not saying I’m “there,” I still have a lot of learning to go. But man, how far I’ve come. In music, and in life.
thought it was fun. it is fun.
I wanted to play some cool songs on the guitar after messing around with the basic chords (e, a,d) for a while.kinda motivated me to learn. the motivation to not quit is that I can't play the cool songs yet so I've got to learn them before I can consider quitting
I started 20 years ago to be cool and to impress girls, and found out about a fantastic way to express myself, and build towards this literally infinite amount of knowledge and skills that music can benefit from. Also it's a thing you can do without looking at a screen.
It is a long story for me. I'm Vietnamese and when I was a kid, guitar or instruments are very expensive. They are still expensive now but there are options to find very budget things to start with. There was also no actual guitar class and it was also too expensive, at least for my family. I dreamed about my first guitar after buying some random CDs, I did not know about the artist at that time, but they are Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton... After that there were more options which is less expensive, but I had to focus on studying :( Then I moved to Germany for university and had chance to have my first guitar, it was a classic nilon string guitar. I used it to learn some classics, some songs to sing along... 2 years ago when I have my actual job as an IT, I bought an electric guitar for myself and learn it everyday. The Motivation is just my dream when I was a kid is to release an solo album someday. Maybe I will be 70 at that time, but whatever I gonna do it.
The biggest motivation to me is when you feel and see your progression. Also the feeling when you can play your favorite riffs is amazing.
I love music and playing is fun. It’s that simple.
“I don’t get girls, maybe learning guitar can help me get chicks.” Turns out they don’t, but doesn’t matter cause I fell in love w the geetar :)
Motivation - had always thought it might be cool to know a few songs Reason not to quit - this shit is fun as hell my dude I’ve never once even considered not playing guitar
A friend made fun of my guitar playing. Back then I didn't even know how to strum properly and just knew how to properly hold some chord shapes. I wanted to prove him wrong and within a year I was playing miles better than him. We ended up in the same band and I was the lead guitarist in that group. That was just the initial motivation though. Once I started learning, just the joy of learning something new everyday kept me going. Right now I'm at a point where I find my skills to be severely limited and not up to the level I want to be able to play at. I've started listening to more rock and metal as opposed to blues, and being unable to play that kind of music really gets me down. So I'm going back to learning and it's a great chance for me to correct my basics and break some bad habits as well.
Buying a cool ass guitar.
Reason to start: I was obsessed with Radiohead's Street Spirit song and absolutely wanted to learn it. Reason not to quit. I'm still excited about learning to play the songs I enjoy.
It just seemed like a magical skill to me. Good guitar players really impress me.
Just love listening to music so much that I wanted to participate. No musicians in the family, no friends who played really. Have always been motivated to self learn things so guitar was no different. Went into it knowing it would be slower without a teacher but it was cheaper and I could do it on my own terms. It's the little moments of progress along the way that kept me motivated, and now it's the potential of what I could do with this skill I've spent 1000s of hours developing that keeps me more motivated then I was say 5 years ago
I was really into Guitar Hero/Rockband as a kid, we used to get together and play for hours. We eventually bought instruments and made a little jam band (everyone played their respective rock band role) and i've just never looked back. Getting involved even tertiarily set me on the path I am now; I took post secondary education in recording and audio engineering, I worked in small recording studios for a few years before moving into events and eventually working as part of management and show-running for a few event companies. I've met some pretty cool individuals, been a part of some VERY extreme setups, and flown all over because of it. So everytime I got a little frustrated with how I'm doing as a musician, I just think about how important music is/became to me, and instead of being upset at myself, i try to frame it as "this is how I am now, I used to be worse. Bet I'll say the same thing in 10 years". I mean, COVID killed all that, but I'd be damned if I look at all the sick pointy guitars I have, and the musicians I've been able to work with; and feel regret.
The feeling you get while listening to jimi or pink floyd
I’ve been playing since I was 11 was pretty consistent but my brother died when I was 15 then practiced for 4 to 8 hours a day I love guitar it’s fun and it got me through the rough times if I got in a rut try to make music in different genres it will light a fire
Younger brother passed. He had a guitar, so I picked it up and found I liked it. Quiting has never been something I have ever thought about.
I started because I liked the sound of bass guitar and thought I’d learn guitar first due to the thinner strings and then bass. Still haven’t tried playing bass guitar but I’m quite good on an electric or acoustic guitar now
I moved into a frat house in college and a guy on my floor had a full setup in his room (multiple electrics, full Fender stack, effects processor, etc). I would go into his room often after class and ask to screw around with his guitar (supervised of course). At the end of the semester he told me to buy my own guitar. And I said ‘why would I do that, I’m not a guitar player?’ And he said ‘could have fooled me, you are in here every day for at least a half hour.’So I went and bought a cheap guitar and started practicing from a folder of tabs I collected. By the time I returned to school I was good enough to start learning more advanced techniques. That was 30yrs ago. I’ve been playing ever since.
Felt music in my soul since childhood and finally during adolescence Nirvana inspired me to pick up the guitar. The reason not to quit is that I have a pathological obsession to learn to improvise. I quit guitar a few years after learning because I felt bored I didn't realize that improvisation is what I was missing. When I understood that, I went full back in. And as all the greats say about improvisation, it's a lifelong journey
To be honest… I don’t really know. something called me to it. Saw my step fathers guitar (acoustic steel string) when I was little and he would barley let me touch it and when I did get to hold it, it was SO big I could barely sit it on my lap But I wanted to have one SO BAD. Never saw my step father play (oddly enough) just having his guitar up on the wall in his office was enough to catch my eye. My parents never got me lessons or anything even tho I had a clear urge to play so I taught myself how to play and starting playing with my buddies from school.
I started when i was 13. I had some health problems that caused me to miss most of school till I graduated so I started it as a hobby and I stuck with it once I discovered I had a nack for playing and it came easily.that was 7 years ago
Beatles. Loved every minute of it. I developed slowly but enjoyed figuring things out on my own, like riffs or my own treatment of songs. Still find it exciting (66yo).
I am loving this thread
I thought Eddie Van Halen's playing sounded so rich and out of control I had to figure out how to do tapping and pinch harmonics and whammy tricks n stuff. Then discovered the sludgy rhythms of death metal and learned to play that sort of thing. I'm still motivated to play what I think sounds interesting or heavy
Fell in love with guitar hero 3, got to a point where I could play songs on expert. Finally 100 percent cleared “My Curse” by killswitch engage on expert and decided I’d ask my mom if I could try to learn the real thing. 14 years later I’m here lol!
I played trumpet for 30 years. Then I met a very young lad who changed my life. He convinced me that I needed to sing and play at the same time. And he was absolutely correct. I had all the music fundamentals and theory so the rest of the practice is falling into place. Now all my old poetry is being converted to lyrics and melody over top of the simple stuff. This is a great thread. Thanks for posting
Enjoyment of the instrument
I wanted to start. You’ll have to provide a reason to quit because I don’t have one.
Had a pretty solid motorcycle crash, it was a dark time. Everything I was good at was put on hold, which leaves you wondering “who the Fk am I now!?”. Some people find Jesus, I found guitar. Gave me a focus/outlet. Something I was good at, something to keep me company, wash away the situation I was in at the time. I made a full recovery, but my focus changed during that time from athletic endeavours, to music.
The main riff of blackened by Metallica. And to be honest that could answer the second question too because I still can’t play it. But guitar is both very rewarding and frustrating. Being able to play my favorite songs is a unique and special feeling. Unfortunately I still can’t play most of them but I’m making progress. I think that’s probably why I haven’t stopped.
I was a drummer and had all these songs in my head that I tried and tried to describe to the guitar players, until one of them said, “if you want to write songs you need to learn guitar.” So I did. The reason not to quit is that it’s tons of fun and I got good enough to join a band as a guitarist and write songs.
My man, you just pulled a Dave grohl.
The feeling of learning or writing a song and getting it to sound right and finally getting it down is the best feeling in the world. That has carried me through any slump ive ever had with guitar playing
Watching Ritchie Blackmore mesmerize and the absolute fire that he played(s) with
I started learning guitar because I failed the rhythm test for drum tryouts in 6th grade music class. I also failed the guitar rhythm test and ended up tooting out hot cross buns and alpha squadron on a busted up baritone to try and impress the cute saxophone girls. So girls, my answer is girls.
My HS friend could play a bunch of instruments and had a full band setup at his house. Sometimes when we were in his basement I would pick up an acoustic guitar and mess around. He told me "you seem interested in that guitar, you should take it home and learn" it was cheap and had really high action but he said he didn't need it anymore and so he gave it to me. That was 24 years ago. I kept that guitar until I saved some money to buy a better one in college and passed along the old one to somebody else.
Distortion
It was the 80's, and guitar was AWESOME. Haven't quit yet. I still suck, but I haven't quit.
I grew up with my dad playing and always wanted to play. I got my first guitar when I was 10. That was almost 30 years ago. I go through periods where I play a lot and periods where I barely pick it up. I haven't actually gotten better in ages but I still love playing. It just grounds me really well.
My motivation to start was probably to get girls at college parties. I learned a few chords, some beatles songs like Norwegian Wood. I didn't quit because, well, girls.
I’ve been a self taught guitar learner for nearly 40 years. Sometimes I LOVE playing and learning something new. Sometimes I don’t pick up a guitar for months. Motivation comes and goes just like everything else in life. I never planned to be the next Hendrix, though I’ve played in bands and enjoy performing. Life doesn’t have to be 100% all the time.
2 friends got guitars and talked about starting a band. I felt left out. Liked being the best at things so I kept playing until I was good. Now I don’t care if I’m the best at something, but enjoy just playing
Just started as a music class project that I hated and the hole was opened. I fell into the rabbit hole of music and became a part of my life. I am always thrilled to discover songs and learning to play it. Gives you a lot of self accomplishment.
My friends at school played and when we hung out they'd jam together and it looked so fun, so I learnt to join in and jam with them, and Ive always loved music and wanted to play an instrument and now that I can I wanna keep pushing how far I can get with my technique and with recording/bands
Once your fingers stop bleeding and you develop calluses... well, you don't want to go through that again! It was a joy at 12 years old, and it still is at 67.
For me I had two really close friends start at the same time. We all got guitars within a couple of weeks of each other and it became kind of competitive to see who could play what new riff or song the next time we got together. Eventually I formed a band with one of them (in high school) and somehow we lucked into an incredibly good drummer, so then my motivation became “get good enough that Josh doesn’t want to quit the band.” That was responsible for the first couple of years and once you get to the point where you can play through full songs and know how to practice it is pretty easy not to quit. EDIT: I guess I didn’t really cover motivation to start. I liked singing. Wanted to be able to accompany myself singing. Have always been into music, etc. The story mentioned above was the final bit of motivation to get off my ass and do it instead of just wishing.
Start...The dang old Beatles made me start (@1968). Not quitting...The girls fell at my feet (and I got pretty good early)
Why I Started: needed a distraction from things Why I Continue: makes me happy when I learn a song
I had always felt music deeply since childhood so learning to make some kind of music was just in the cards. Dad got me a guitar, bass guitar, and drums at different stages of my childhood but no one got me lessons and I had no clue how or where to start. I really started getting it joining band at school and doing drumline for like four years as well as concert percussion. Starting noodling on my bass while in late middle school drumline, then got an acoustic guitar and electric guitar in like 10th grade and just would play it all the time. Sometimes for four hours, sometimes for ten minutes. Over the years I just kept at it and now I'm a thirty something with lots of guitars and no one to play with except my cat. I never quit because it wasn't "this is a random hobby or skill I want to get good at for external reasons", I just had and have music in me and my soul needs music. I've continued to practice to become closer to being able to express what is in my head and guts and by God one day I'll record a song. It's meditative, cathartic, healing, grounding, energizing, and fun to play and I like playing for the sake of playing more than anything else.
my uncle gave me my first guitar for heping him work on some stuff at his workshop, I was 13 and really getting into music. The motivation was a self perpetuating high everytime I hit a cool chord, note, tone, riff, etc., it made me want to learn more. I think you have to allow yourself to enjoy all of it, explore, and not care what it sounds like to others because its about therapy and expression. And this is coming from a punk, thrash, and death metal guitarist, lol.
Neil Young easy-chord song book got me over the hump. I was motivated to make that next change even when each change took 15 seconds. Keep me searching for a ……………heart of gold…………..
For me, it was listening to The Black Dahlia Murder and realizing how much I wanted to play guitar like that. For me to not quit, was realizing that despite my total lack of musical education, and general difficulty with fine motor control, I was *getting there.*
i always wondered how guitarists in my favorite bands played what they were playing so i begged for a guitar! what keeps me going is the feeling i get when i learn a riff and play it right! also my girlfriend’s song requests 😅
Learning polyphia almost always makes you give up but when you actually learn a riff it is really rewarding an just feels good. It's like that with most songs I presume, so just as long as you play something new and learn something out of your comfort zone you will have motivation
I've been playing for just over a year, I've been playing instruments for 12 years now. I simply just enjoy playing music, there isn't any more to it. I just love it.
I never paid much attention to stringed instruments in general but when I started watching some talented Musicians like 2CELLOS, that surprisingly developed my interest in stringed instruments. At that time, there was an abandoned classical guitar which used to belong to my elder sister but wasn't in a playable condition being abandoned for over 15 years. I started watching fingerstyle covers of the songs I used to listen to and that motivated me even more. So I finally decided to restore it. Although, the restoration kinda made things worse since I had no idea there were two acoustics, the steel string and nylon string. Because of my lack of knowledge about the instrument, I ended up breaking it. Still, I didn't quit. I actually made a DIY upright bass out of the broken classical and after sometime bought a Yamaha steel string acoustic. Why didn't I quit? Well, I wanted that power. The power to express yourself, the power to play any song wherever you are, just by ear and even create originals. Over the course of 3 years, I learned a lot about music and instruments in general. Currently, I play the acoustic guitar, bass and keyboard. I would probably learn the Cello and Upright Bass some day.
Buckethead
I started because I wanted to play guitar. I keep playing because I enjoy it. I know this doesn't seem like a good answer, but let me explain. I did something because I wanted to try it out, and I kept going because it is fun. You don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Steve Vai to enjoy playing music. just keep going at your own pace and let it be fun! :)
Reason to start: The Stooges. Reason to stay: Sonic Youth
Reason to start: I likes creating music..and I was on deployed on a ship for 10months and the ladies love dudes who play guitar. Reason to stick with it: Ritchie Blackmore's guitar improvising on Made in Japan...he did this one lick on Strange kind of woman that had like a peaceful medieval day at the festival type melody...the crowd even applauded after he played that line.
I just seen my friend playing and got jealous. I didn't stop because I'm autistic and it turned out to be a great release. 18 years later here I am
I started because my dad had a guitar they didn't use, I asked if I could borrow it for school cause we were using instruments, the teacher never made me play it but I played it at home, started liking it, and that's the reason why I started and why I never quit, I liked it, and I still like it
Making the string go boing is enough. Everything else was extra
My motivation comes from (a) being in a band and having to learn new songs / improve playing to minimise looking and sounding like a dick on stage, and (b) playing guitar makes me happy and improves my wellbeing. Commit yourself to a project to provide a goal to achieve.
I have 2 elder brothers in my family. The eldest one was playing guitar every evening when i was 7. And she showed me a lot of cool russian rock groups (such as Korol i Shut or King and the Jester). I was also very proud of my brother and i wanted to play guitar like him, but i tried to play something and forgot leaning it until i was 18. It was may 2020. My father brought me old soviet guitar (he just traded it with homeless for a bottle of vodka) and i started to learn it myself. After 2 weeks i could play my favourite song and learned some techniques. But I still can't learn fingerstyle. I mean i achieved i wanted. And now i try to learn something new, because I've got another objective. So that was really interesting (and i still play on that old guitar. I just need to "renew" it) P.S. i'm still a novice, but i really enjoy playing guitar. I can share my energy or feelings through the chords. The time passes so fast and it becomes easier inside)
Live music as entertainment is still part of the culture where my family is from, so most everyone plays an instrument or sings. My grandfather is still playing local dances with his band into his 80’s now. Not playing an instrument is considered rather strange. We had guitars in the house, so I started playing and learned by watching my dad play. I’ve taken breaks at times because life demanded it, but I could never quit because I don’t think I really know what a life without playing music would look like. It is the default setting for all family gatherings and is the hook that keeps my old friendships together. It’s a part of my life, like eating or bathing.
I've been fascinated with guitars my entire life. I remember being in kindergarten and thinking that the guy who played guitar at an assembly was the coolest person ever. I saw him holding something green in his hand (in hindsight, probably a Dunlop Tortex pick) and so I grabbed the thing I had in a similar shade of green and got my dad's guitar (he doesn't know how to play) and started strumming the strings. The thing I had was a colored pencil and I ended up drawing all over the guitar and got told off. That ended my early playing career until a few years later, when I begged mom to get me my own guitar for my birthday. Almost 20 years later and I'm still obsessed. I go through patches where I don't pick up the instrument, but whenever I do, I always love it. I love the feeling of mastering new techniques, or learning a song, or writing a cool riff or melody, and especially performing on stage. Everything about it turns me on, so why would I ever want to give up?
Learning and discovering things yourself gives you a great sense of self satisfaction and I think brings you closer to the guitar. One of the most satisfying achievements of my life was teaching myself how to read music and play classical guitar. I was already quite a good self taught fingerstyle player but learning the “proper” classical technique and how to sight read has been such a positive thing for me, I’d feel terrible about myself if I gave it up.