Guitarist magazine's 10 questions - your answers?

[Tellboy]

1: First
Futurama II - sometime in the '60s http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/hofnerfs/futurama/gal9.html

2: Memory
Playing at a school Christmas concert (sh*t myself with nerves)

3: Burning
Probably my SG

4: Practice
(Embarassed..) Hotel California solo as am doing a gig with a standards band...yesterday.

5: Onstage
Whilst playing on a slopping stage my 1959 Marshall Plexi fell off the top of the stack onto the floor. Still worked - I was too shy to do a Pete Townsend and pretend it was intentional. :oops:

6: Vintage
Boring and predictable but...1959 Les Paul Sunburst

7: Expensive
PRS Standard 24

8: Oldest
1964 SG Standard

9: Record
Linda Rondstadt Greatest Hits (some great Waddy Watchell and Andrew Gold guitar playing and she used to be drop dead gorgeous http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmE7tTzJkbU     .... Ooooooh I could have drunk her bathwater back then...)

10: Life
Shapes of Things - Yardbirds (the JB solo)

[Mr. Air]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
     I got an old beaten up abbandoned home project electric guitar from my dad when I was 16 (I think).

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
      I remeber being a kid (10-12) just strumming my dad's acoustic guitar without any chords and him telling me that I'd turned it the wrong way. I'm left handed, but I play right hand. Probably because I was told to turn around the guitar.

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
      My Godin LG

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
      Last Sunday I played with some friends. We did some own material and a couple of RATM numbers.

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
     Well I've experienced a power shortage and half the number was played with half the band. The most embarrassing thing must surely be when I couldn't get my pedalboard working (neither could the tech guy) at a local band contest. So I had to ditch the pedals and just go with the amp. Later after the concert I realized that I'd put the guitar into the pedals output. BIG rookie mistake!


6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
Some old Les Paul Custom I think. Don't know which...

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
My Godin LG

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
A Fender western that I'm actually trying to sell. Anyone interested?

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
Hmmmm. I actually don't think so.

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Nope

[38thBeatle]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
A Yamaha acoustic which I still have thought it is unplayable

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
hard to pin down one-trying to learn "streets of london" is one I can think of

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
hmm- either my old Strat or my old Precision bass -preferably both

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
A few minutes ago- a slide solo for a song I have written and will be recording soon

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
many -breaking a string almost on first note of first song, dropping a brand new guitar-the worst, letting a secret out of the bag at a gig where there was a family celebration thereby ruining the surprise and p*ssing off a lot of people
6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
John Lennon's Epi Casino

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
adjusted for time- Fender Precision £270 in the late 1970's

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
Strat 1976

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
no I really don't care what people think of my tastes

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Either The Beatles "Twist & Shout" or The Faces "Stay With Me"-both contributed to my passion for music

[HTH AMPS]

Guitarist magazine has 10 questions they ask a guitar player every month, and I wondered what the folks on here would answer?  The questions are:

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?

I'll start off, and if you copy and paste the way I present it we won't forget what the questions are when we read the responses  ;)

1 - First:

I won't count the bloody awful flat-top acoustic that had no truss rod and consequently an action that you could limbo-dance under.  So that brings us to my Yamaha superstrat - a humbucker at the bridge, two single coils, a strat-type bridge (with whammy), a pointy headstock and a blue-sparkle finish.  It was a pretty decent guitar actually and I kept it for a long time until I spotted guitar #2 and sold it to help finance the deal.


2 - Memory:

hmm, tough one this.  I seem to recall bashing out the chords to You Shook Me All Night Long on the acoustic mentioned above from one of those '100 songs using only 3-chords' type of books.


3 - Burning:

No question, my Les Paul standard - had it for 15 years now and always been my #1


4 - Practice:

Practised earlier tonight for a new band I've joined, learning 'Burn' by Deep Purple.


5 -Onstage:

Stepped off the drum-riser and went over on my ankle - yep, I broke my foot and yes it hurt like hell.


6 - Vintage:

Probably Clapton's 59 burst he used on Bluesbreakers.  Oh, no, scr@p that, its GOT to be Brian May's Red Special, its one of a kind.


7 - Expensive:

My expensive was actually an acoustic.  I got it in my mind that I needed a super-expensive flat-top and duly got a Taylor 710 for £1800 (used).  I think they were something daft like £2500 new.  It was gorgeous and super-refined, however the £500 Martin D-15 I replaced it with was a million times better for my style and had more character, imo.


8 - Oldest:

'67 SG Special - very resonant and a beast of a P90 pickup, but the intonation and tuning issues did my head in.  I tuned that thing more than I ever played it.


9 - Record:

probably early Cinderella albums, the image sucked and but still some good songs.  or how about The Four Seasons on gatefold vinyl? - that was my parents to be fair though.


10 - Life:

probably a combination of songs my Dad had at the time I started becoming interested in music that wasn't in the charts or on tv.  I was into Highway To Hell, Back In Black, Def Lepard's Pyromania album and The Completion Backwards Principe by The Tubes.  Oh, and of course it was de rigour to have Reckless in those days, ha ha.

[Mr.Coneman]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
I was 14 or 15 when I got my first guitar. Second hand Squier Strat beginner guitar with no whammy, and no amp!
2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
My dad taught me and my brother a chord or two when we were still little tiny kids, but I didn't learn 'till I was 15, and taught myself.
3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
Man..such a hard question, because while I love my electric, I absolutely adore my acoustic too. I think I'd die trying to save them both.
4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
Just back from my band practice, at the end we took a run through Whole Lotta Love.
5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
Breaking a string for Crazy Train, during the intro. The B string. The string the solo starts on. I kept playing abd I had to improvise a different solo, bad times.
6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
70's Les Paul.
7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
My Epiphone Hummingbird acoustic is actually worth more than my electric, but with the add-ons my electric is dearer, so whatever that means.
8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
I think my little Squier Strat was made in 1993.
9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
Not a single one. I have no guilt listening to music that I like, no matter what it is. If I like it, then I think it's good, and I don't really care what anyone else thinks.
10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Several songs changed my life. The most important and symbolic on the subject is Sweet Child O Mine. That song made me want to play guitar

[nfe]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?

I was fifteen. It was a Jackson JS20.

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?

Well before I owned a guitar myself, delicately plucking the strings of my uncles strat, for fear of damaging something.

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?

Parker Fly Classic.

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?

I really don't practice anymore though once upon a time I did religiously. I don't learn whole songs at all now other than if it's something a bandmate has written. So it'd either be one of those or a melody I heard in an advert or something, I try to learn loads of stuff like that just for my ear.

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?

I've been tripping onstage at Glastonbury seeing all sorts. I've also been hit in the face by a shoe which had missed it's intended target at a wedding I was playing. Nothing really catastrophic or embarrassing though. Aside from the odd song I've played wrong 'cause I've been a last minute stand in with only the car journey to learn something.

6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?

'56/'57/'58 sunburst LP Junior.

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?

Parker Fly Mojo Flame.

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?

It'll just be my Parker Fly, 2003, I think.

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?

If you're embarrassed by any music you like you should set yourself on fire.

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?

Not, really, I mean, I can trace wanting to play guitar to a specific lick in "Battery" but had it not been that, I'm sure it would have been something else.

[MDV]

nfe: it said own, not like!

Hence my choice of nickleback

[FELINEGUITARS]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
First acoustic was a Hohner classical my father bought me when I was 16
I wanted an electric - he had visions of John Williams - I had visions of Paul Stanley or Brian May
First electric was a Westone Thunder 1 I bought when I was just 18

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
Sitting in the garden trying to play House of the Rising Sun

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
Either Frankie - my white superstrat or my Amber Lion

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
Scorpions - Coast To Coast

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
Nothing so far - dont do the onstage bit

6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
A 59 Les Paul or a really nice Gibson J185 acoustic

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
I've always tended to make the expensive one's myself - but amplifiers - possibly my Egnater Rack system

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
My Charvel model 2 -1986

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
Not really - I'm open enough about my wide tastes -
Maybe some people wouldn't expect stuff outside of rock -I have Anastascia , Savage Garden and Darren Hayes & and Enrique's first album
Great acoustic playing on it :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qkbAg-m0QQ

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Quite a few - and maybe because they blew my head off with great melodies or guitar:
Bohemian Rhapsody/ We will rock you/We are the champions - and all of Sheer Heart attack LP -Queen
Without Warning /Tooth and Nail - Dokken
Live Wire & Piece of your action - Motley Crue
Rock Me - Great White

[AndyR]

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Quite a few - and maybe because they blew my head off with great melodies or guitar:
Bohemian Rhapsody/ We will rock you/We are the champions - and all of Sheer Heart attack LP -Queen
...

I was so close to putting something similar (I'd have chosen "We are the champions") for the same reasons as you :D

But then I chose my "songwriting" thing from years earlier.

My reasoning was:
"We are the champions" changed how I thought about melody, performance, pop-rock, everything - so it definitely changed how I perceived what I was starting to do already. It was a big deal hearing that one...  but I'd already had similar moments from Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, the Bee Gees, etc...

Improvising a song around "Billy Don't Be a Hero" some years earlier (no guitar or accompaniment, I wasn't musical as far as I was concerned), showed me how easy it is to invent songs - it seemed that any pillock could do it... I didn't realise it at the time, but later at 14/15 years old when I started learning guitar to accompany my voice, that earlier discovery would have been what empowered me to regard writing my own songs as "no big deal" and something that I could "obviously" do if I wanted to... looking back, I can hardly believe the arrogance/confidence that let me just pile into writing songs - but I think that little session when I was 10 or so is what put it there...

... I spose it could have been any song, and I did it to others afterwards, but "Billy" happened to be the first one, so that had to be my choice for question 10 :D

[jpfamps]

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?

Panpipes play Phil Collins?

[Dmoney]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
Squire Strat. got it a long time ago

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
learning folk jams out of a tatty old book

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
les paul custom.

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
my own sh*t

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
someone throwing water all over me and my gear

6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
some nice les paul flame top. whatever

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
les paul custom

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
les paul custom

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
probably a bunch

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
big mouth by gorilla biscuits.

[Afghan Dave]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
Remember those piss-poor "Axe" guitars & basses advertised in Melody Maker? A dude stood on stage with a cr@ppy start copy enveloped in dramatic dry ice, curly lead going into a 5inch high 9v battery amp? Well I got the Bass and that didn't even come with the cr@ppy amp!
 
(That was first apart from the usual nylon strung and acoustics nobody is interested in) 

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
Playing on a infant school Christmas carol "tour" of local libraries.. I ROCKED "Little Donkey" for Jesus' birthday.   

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
Oooh.. ehh..  my Candy Apple Red Fender Japan Precision Bass.

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
George Lynch teaching Mr Scary from his Wicked Riffs DVD.

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
Not being able to hear myself... (probably the best thing for all others in attendance  :?)

6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
A mint 1988/9 Peavey Adrian Vandenberg White Puzzle Custom.



7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
At the time adjusted for inflation 1990's IBZ RG570

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
The 1980's Candy Apple Red Fender Japan Precision Bass.

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
Err... Belinda Carlisle: A Place On Earth - I had such a massive infatuation I f**king bought her album.

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Never singles, but I MUST name three albums that I was introduced to that changed EVERYTHING for me and put me on a road that has brought me friends, lovers, great parties, and lots of guitars and a little talent:

Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Kiss - Destroyer
Whitesnake - 1987

[Elliot]

I wanted Belinda Carlisle too - and Carol Decker for that matter.....

[Stevepage]

1 ) What was your first guitar, and when did you get it?
Squier Affinity Strat on my 12th birthday

2 ) What's your first guitar playing memory?
Learning to play Smoke on the Water

3 ) The building's burning, which guitar do you save?
My Carvin

4 ) When and what was the last thing you practiced?
Joe Satriani's Satch Boogie last week

5 ) What's the worst thing that's happened to you onstage?
cut my picking hand on my guitar, blood splattered all over the face of the guitar.

6 ) If you could have any vintage guitar to own, and not sell on, what would it be?
50's Strat

7 ) What's the most expensive guitar you've ever bought?
Feline/Ibanez Universe from Feline Guitars £1000.

8 ) What's the oldest guitar in your collection?
My Fender 68 Reissue Strat (98)

9 ) Is there a particular record in your collection that you wouldn't want people to know about?
nope

10 ) Is there a song that changed your life, and in what way?
Pink Floyd - Brick in the wall prt 2, because it got me interested in playing guitar.

[Ratrod]

OK, the next one who answers question 6 with 'Les Paul' has to buy a round of beer.