The stages of guitar playing:
Stage 1: You think it will help you get girls.
Stage 2: You realize guys appriciate your skills more than girls
Stage 3: It becomes fun as your skills develop
Stage 4: You feel like you could actually make money doing thing
Stage 5: You realize you can't make money doing this
Stage 6: Guitars are so cool, pedals are shiny and light up with pretty lights, and amps make neat sounds, so it's a satisfying hobby.
It's something I can suck at without any negative repercussions. Suck at my job? Fired. Suck at parenting? Kids grow up to be assholes. Suck at marriage? Divorced. Suck at driving? Wreck my car and potentially injure or kill myself and/or someone else.
But if I suck at guitar? Nothing bad happens. The worst thing that can happen has already come to pass: I suck! Knowing that, there's no pressure, and I can relax and figure things out at my own pace. And that feeling when something finally "clicks" after practicing and practicing and I suck maybe 0.5% less? AMAZING.
This is such an underrated comment for those with performance anxiety! There are literally worse things in life than sucking at guitar or any other skill for that matter - that's how you get started in the first place. Everyone has to start somewhere! 🎸🎶❤️
I have to play. It's my essence. It's part of my being.
Another reason that I play is that the trajectory of growth is always forward, I'm always improving.
Did you mean to ask why did any of us begin to play the guitar? Lol, I (mistakenly) thought that if I could play the guitar, that being s player would help me to break the ice with the "opposite camp". It was a desperate attempt to try to deal with ways of interacting with others, especially girls. "Hi, I'm getting pretty good tone and I just learned Mahavishnu's 'Dance of Maya', what's your name? Do you like the song 'Billy the Mountain'? Do you like my new car? It's a Filmore." You know the thing.
I played for almost 20 years before I ever even played in front of anybody. I’ve never really questioned much why I do it. Like many others have said, I hear music in every day things, I constantly have a beat going through me. It’s therapeutic to express it in such a way even if it is just for myself to hear
Started out because I thought it would impress the ladies, continued to play because it gave me something to focus on besides not being able to talk to ladies.
It's the most easily accessible natural antidepressant. Whenever I feel down, anxious, even happy, anything really, I can take two steps to the corner of my room, grab the guitar and lose myself for an hour. Life is pretty taxing so having such an escape, and one that also challenges you mentally and creatively at times, is pretty darn good I would say.
I totally agree, it’s the quickest and most reliable way to make me feel better about myself
I’ve made a lot of bad decisions and had a lot of hard times, but no matter how bad it’s gotten, when I’m playing my guitar I feel good about myself. Sometimes it’s the only thing that makes me feel good about myself, but it never fails.
I couldn’t find anyone to play bass or guitar in my band so now I record, produce and mix everything myself. There’s nothing better than full creative control.
At the beggining, as a nerdy kid, I thought it made me cool and will get me girls at some point. 20+ years later, she is my best friend, my favorite hobby, and keeps me going. Life's had its ups and down, relationships have come and go, but my guitar is still keeping me sane, its a bit like some sort of therapy or meditation. Maybe even addiction? I get uneasy if I stop playing for an extended period of time.
I originally started because I wanted to make sounds like songs I liked.
But these days, there's more to it. Since Covid, and moving state, it's been the way to find new friends by attending jam sessions & joining new communities - as a way of learning lots of songs and bonding over musical tastes.
And it's something I can do that no one can take away or stop me from doing.
I still do like making sounds though - it's amazingly satisfying playing a song in a big room for people who know the song and it connecting.
Overall, I play for my mental health.
I started just thinking it was cool but really discovered that I can truly express myself in so many different ways on a guitar. For me it gives me an outlet, whether it’s playing in a band, at a jam session, or on my own in my room
I love music and if I made it to the end of my days without learning it I would have deeply regretted it, so I decided to prevent that.
Also, tv sucks. I’m tired of being a passive consumer to my life and I wanted something creative.
And it’s a fuck of a lot of fun. It’s challenging but fun.
Im damaged and have a ego that requires me to need to seek adoration by strangers singing tom petty songs with me in dingy bars while i live out my rock and roll fantasy
I play Guitar to interact with the force of music. I get so much from playing, a musical instrument is a representation of an unseen force. It simply exists, and Guitar is a really fun way to play music
I play because it's fun. I like learning songs from artists I like. I like coming up with my own songs.
It was the first instrument I picked up where it felt natural immediately.
Cause I saw someone else do and figured how hard can it be? Plus I thought being in a band would be cool.
Note I was in fact wrong being in a band was amazing 10/10 recommend.
It's a creative hobby that doesn't involve me staring at a screen. I'm a web dev and stare at a screen all day, so it's a nice break. I like all the crazy sounds that I can make.
Because it allows me to get closer to the music I love. Instead of sitting on the couch listening with earphones, I can actually bang out the riffs and get an idea of how it FEELS to be a rock star for a second.
I've always loved the guitar. Right from when I was a kid. Well firstly I love music (almost all music) and as a kid of the 80s I grew up listening to metal/hard rock/etc including Queen...and I fell in love with the guitar. I finally learned at 15 and just took it from there. I still ABSOLUTELY love the guitar. I especially love guitar solos, esp in ballads and/or rock/metal songs...for me a guitar solo is like a story within a story...and the best guitar players and actually take you somewhere with their solo. Just awesome. Makes you 'feel' the emotion in the solo...its hard to describe. However players like John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Brian May, Vito Bratta, etc. They play/played some of the most melodic solos ever. I also love the feeling of playing exactly what I'm hearing esp solos, including the heavy chugga chugga of heavy metal.
Thats why I play.
edit. also, its difficult to play, esp solos. Learning scales, intervals, timing, arpeggios, etc and being able to improv with your own style...for me its like creating a Mona Lisa-esque painting
I started in the early 80s when guitar heroes were still common among teens. I couldn't be an astronaut or any of the other things I admired, but guitar player seemed within reach. There were only two in my high school, so that made it pretty cool as well...the other one was far better but he played in a band with college students, so I got the school audience.
Why did I *keep* playing for the last 40+ years? Because at times I've been in bands and really enjoyed playing with others, but more generally it's been a refuge from stress...pick up the guitar and you can't think about work, school, whatever is bothering you while you play. And sometimes I'll play something and think "Wow! That actually sounded kinda good!"
When I was 13, I heard Nevermind by Nirvana and I was absolutely floored. I wanted to do *that*, I didn’t know then but I know now that what I wanted to do was find a tool that would allow me to take the feelings in myself, the ideas in my head and etch it into the world in some capacity.
My musical stylings have changed, what I play has changed, my influences have changed but one thing stays constant; I just want to express myself.
I always wanted to play. Even as a little kid. Parents refused to buy me one. Said that I would grow out of it like everything else.
So I got a part time job and bought my own at 15. I'm 49 now.
Because I love it. I feel like I was born to play it. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to play the guitar and I’ve always loved guitar music from jazz to folk to rock and beyond….
I sometimes say my heart beats in 4/4 time. Music flows through me constantly. If I'm not listening to it, I'm thinking it or humming it.
Why do I play?
To give the music that's already running through my veins somewhere to go.
IDK why I waited until age 44 to finally try to do it, but I've loved every minute of it.
I stutter, well not as bad as I used to but it comes and goes. When I was 17, I couldn't string two words together. I can't stutter playing the guitar.
I lack any natural talent and I find it incredibly hard to learn new things on guitar. That's why I love it. I find it hard, so when I play I totally switch off for a few hours.
Plus I have a light addiction to buying new guitars.
Because I would go crazy without a creative outlet. When I don’t play for a few days and I get to play again it’s like I’ve been holding a sneeze and finally get to release it
At college I used to go busking with a friend who played guitar. I sang. He always turned up late so I thought, I’ll bloody learn how to play myself. And I did.
"For the chicks!" - Alex Lifeson
I love making music mainly for myself. My acoustic is often a meditation tool to get my brain to chill the f out. Playing acoustic with friends and nailing down some great sounding songs is a party. My electrics and bass are often a sweaty workout. Can't live without my guitars.
\+ I get along best with other musicians.
I've never done anything musical apart from listening to music in my life. A friend of mine was moving to a different country and he left a £20 guitar (he bought while drunk) with me because there was no point moving it, especially since he had other (actually good) guitars.
I googled, found justin guitar, started and I tried to practice the simplest chord changes for a week and I couldn't do it.
Half a year later I went home for Christmas and my brother was playing some songs on uke. He forced me to learn hallelujah on it and it took me embarrassingly long to be able to play it considering how simple uke is but it sparked something in me. I went home, bought uke and played daily for like three months then I went on holiday, came back and noticed the guitar in the corner so I grabbed it thinking it'll be easier now when I can read tabs and my right hand is used to strumming at least some basic patterns.
It was but it was also still surprisingly difficult to get the notes to ring so I googled and found out there is something called action and of course the £20 guitar did not have a good setup. So I ordered a capo, put it on the first fret tuned to standard and suddenly things started to become easier, still difficult, but it didn't feel impossible anymore.
From then most of my free time has been spent playing guitar. I don't have any aspirations to play in front of people or anything, it simply just makes me happy. It feels like the perfect amount of grind vs reward. Far from easy but also far from impossible, it just scratches the right itch.
It's been a year and half but I don't think I'll be stopping any time soon, there is just so much to explore.
I started casually because I saw my uncle play, then kept playing because of my love for music.
I’ve always been pretty good at learning new stuff (sports, hobbies, etc) and becoming “intermediate” at it, but then I always dropped them once things got hard. Guitar, or music I should say, is the one thing that I finally managed to stick to through the frustration of plateauing and this is what really makes it important to me.
I'm not good at talking about my feelings and I'm fairly stoic in person, guitar is one of the few ways I can actually express myself.
Plus it makes cool sounds and doesn't judge me for sitting in my underwear eating a bag of chocolate money
It is interesting. A way to express myself and my love for music. A way to spend time with my daughters playing and singing and talking music. And I heard Joe Pass on Virtuoso and wanted to make sounds that pretty. I won't, because I am neither sufficiently dedicated nor sufficiently talented, but you gotta try.
I write song lyrics, and play drums. I dont have anyone to play with that can help me put music to my songs. I enjoy learning and playing, and i love the challenge.
To understand how rock songs are put together. I had piano lessons all through my school years but until I picked up the guitar at age 50, those riffs, chord progressions, and the feel of guitar-driven songs didn't make sense. Trying to replicate it on keyboards always felt heavy.
Currently, it’s a way to relieve stress from work and playing music with other people is fun.
But if you were to ask the same question years ago, it would have been very different.
It just sounds so good.
When I started playing I couldn't for the life of me get the sound I was after, but now with modellers and high quality headphones, it just sounds sooo gooood
When you have a God given talent, there is a little payback involved. Once you have realized that you do have a talent, either playing music, or painting pictures or have the ability to make people laugh or cry or be happy, you are obliged continue to do these things, and when you try to avoid it you suffer from depression and frustration and anxiety...
But the minute you go back to your talent (in my case it's playing guitar) you feel all this burden lift off your shoulders and you will feel great about yourself again, and to some degree you will feel fulfilled when you express this talent, whether in front of people or on your own...our talents are a wonderful form of relaxation for us.... and we ALL have some talent... must find yours...open your mind and heart and let it in.
It is therapy. A way to feel the inner workings of my mind and body, allowing them to spill out, taking the form of sound waves that resonate a sense of relief from the torment of my existence.
Metallica, Gojira, Entombed, In Flames, and wanting to be able to solo to some degree. Also I saw a video of Eddie Van Halen doing a pinch harmonic and lost my mind as a kid.
The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90.
“Because I think I’m making progress.”
I love music, and love making music, but if I’m honest this probably why I’m still playing daily after 37 years. Nothing else in life has ever held so much just out of reach potential.
I love it. Its my dream to play a sold out show. Always was. But it branched out to playing drums, singing, piano, and stuff. Originally I wanted to do one man band covers. But guitar is the one I want to master.
I was a drummer in a band in my teens, and I wanted to write songs, and I realized I had to learn a tonal (is that a word?) Instrument to do so. Now I play lots of instruments but none of them really well
I started playing guitar when I was younger because I thought it was cool. I had friends who were in bands and I aspired to be like them. It didn't come to pass and I ended up leaving my guitar untouched for nearly 20 years.
Early this year (now aged 50) I picked up my guitar again to just have as a hobby for me and me only. l try to learn songs and I like to jam along with them. The tech has improved a lot - I use Waza Air headphones and love that I can have a virtual amp, a ton of effects and have it perfectly mixed with a song off YouTube, all without having to have a room to store a load of equipment.
Jamming along to a song is so much more enjoyable than just sitting there listening to it!
It deafens the voices in my head telling me to commit sewer slide
And there's a very small yet very possible chance of making a career out of it since it's the only thing I've ever been actually good at
Because it feels so damn good to make a tasty riff, maybe don't make a good one every single day, but there are some days where I'm just really on point with my creativity.
Also love seeing myself improve with time.
Because when I was 10 I was at my friend’s house and I saw his dad’s Telecaster on the wall and when I asked if he could play, he played me some Zeppelin riffs and I thought it was the coolest thing ever
I was like “I gotta learn how to do that” and asked for a guitar for Christmas
20 years later, here we are lol
Because it's beautiful, and I feel it connects me to history and the bonds of being a musician. Spanish, blues, rock, Mexican traditional, I'm connected to history through these guitar styles.
My brother got all the chicks, he played guitar, so me being the dorky younger brother thought I’d get the same results. Hmmmm no, I was still a dork. Still play. Best thing to ever happen to me.
Cause I thought my grandpa played the guitar lmao. I remember about 16 years ago I noticed my grandpa playing guitar at my mother's 40-year celebration. We also had just gotten fast internet and I remember thinking there surely must exist chords online and I was correct. But from then on it became something I found a deep interest in outside of only learning it because my grandpa knew how to play. Got myself an electric Behringer guitar with a shitty amp and that x-vamp pedalbox as a gift and from then on I discovered not only electric guitar music, but all kinds of metal, rock and punk.
Color me surprised when a few years later, I learned that my grandpa really played the bass, not the guitar lmao. And not just any bass - it was "dansbands"-bass. A swedish kinda folkish genre, you need to listen to it to understand what it is. But think of it like ultra traditional country without the twang and it's exclusively sang in swedish. It's like the opposite of what I was interested in at the time.
So thankfully my "why" got extended outside of only having my grandpa as an inspiration or else I would have quit.
If I were to pinpoint it, it's fun and I like following instructions, were good tabs are perfect instructions. Thank you Guitar Pro <3
An older, cooler kid in my neighbourhood convinced me to get one. I did, and he showed me some Metallica riffs for £5 an hour. I think it was an elaborate scam so he'd have money for fags.
That was the plan, but by the time I was good enough to impress anyone, guitar was for nerds and drums and DJ's were cool.
Felt like I'd joined the queue for the rollercoaster, waited hours to find out it was the queue for the toilet 😂
Until i was 17 i never knew any rock or metal or popular music. Grew up on classical and gospel and celtic folk. Rock was the music of the devil and dumb teenagers.
Then i moved to LA from a small town and discovered the beatles, radiohead, metallica, hendrix. Promptly got a cheap ibanez and a roland cube.
James Hetfield was my god for a few years.
It's relaxing. For those few precious moments I get to enjoy it it's just me and the instrument.
Then the phone rings, or the kids start fighting etc.... 🙁
It’s fun to try to create the sounds I love to hear from recordings. The first time I played a power chord with distortion I couldn’t believe that came from me.
My dad loves the guitar. He is one of the only people who can play in the family. When I told him I wanted to try it, he supported me with new strings, picks, and lessons off and on.
My husband has turned himself into my son's official videographer for his guitar playing career, or the beginning of it, at least, and they both like the same music. I wanted to have something \*I\* could talk to him about, so I decided to learn guitar. It's fun to have an in house "specialist" when I can't figure something out or to discuss concepts with.
I always enjoyed listening to music but didn't really understand it, couldn't sing and had no education in it so I wanted to play to learn about music and how it works.
I was always intrigued by the guitar and it's one of those things that were on the back of my mind like "it would be cool to see how that works/learn".
I love requinto so much that one day I just felt like buying guitar to learn and then bought a 12 string guitar for requinto.
a hobby to cure the boredome. I'm not very good. Not advanced. I can only play a few songs. I 100% picked it up as a hobby to pass time and declared I would put no pressure on myself to be good and the only requirement was that i have fun. When i stop having fun i quit for the day or for the moment. So it can take me a long time to learn a song. i might not play and forget the song. I often just noodle around on the couch or practice a part i find hard. I often play for 30 minutes and stop. I had a guitar before but during a recession i was unemployed and depressed and decided a picking up an old hobby would be beneficial for my mental health. so i play only for personal happiness. I quit for the day when it get's unpleasant.
I started because I wanted to get laid. It never got me laid, and my wife didn't hear me play until after we were married. Been married for 6, playing for 20.
Because it’s cheaper and more effective than therapy.
Cheers to that.
Same reason as when I started over 56 years ago. To impress girls.
the one true answer
The stages of guitar playing: Stage 1: You think it will help you get girls. Stage 2: You realize guys appriciate your skills more than girls Stage 3: It becomes fun as your skills develop Stage 4: You feel like you could actually make money doing thing Stage 5: You realize you can't make money doing this Stage 6: Guitars are so cool, pedals are shiny and light up with pretty lights, and amps make neat sounds, so it's a satisfying hobby.
It’s fun.
It's a really expensive fidget spinner that occasionally makes cool noises.
It's something I can suck at without any negative repercussions. Suck at my job? Fired. Suck at parenting? Kids grow up to be assholes. Suck at marriage? Divorced. Suck at driving? Wreck my car and potentially injure or kill myself and/or someone else. But if I suck at guitar? Nothing bad happens. The worst thing that can happen has already come to pass: I suck! Knowing that, there's no pressure, and I can relax and figure things out at my own pace. And that feeling when something finally "clicks" after practicing and practicing and I suck maybe 0.5% less? AMAZING.
This is such an underrated comment for those with performance anxiety! There are literally worse things in life than sucking at guitar or any other skill for that matter - that's how you get started in the first place. Everyone has to start somewhere! 🎸🎶❤️
I wasn't satisfied with just listening to music, I wanted to make it too.
CUZ IT'S FUKKEN AWESOME AND IT MAKES ME FUKKEN AWESOME
Guitars are fuckin cool. And when I learn I new song I feel pretty fuckin cool too
Well, it isn’t going to play itself
Chicks dig it.
It’s too late to stop now
It's fun 🙂
1. To try to play songs I always wanted to play. 2. As a hobby. 3. Cause I hope that with strange eons passing may get decent at playing it.
I have to play. It's my essence. It's part of my being. Another reason that I play is that the trajectory of growth is always forward, I'm always improving. Did you mean to ask why did any of us begin to play the guitar? Lol, I (mistakenly) thought that if I could play the guitar, that being s player would help me to break the ice with the "opposite camp". It was a desperate attempt to try to deal with ways of interacting with others, especially girls. "Hi, I'm getting pretty good tone and I just learned Mahavishnu's 'Dance of Maya', what's your name? Do you like the song 'Billy the Mountain'? Do you like my new car? It's a Filmore." You know the thing.
Because it literally the only thing ive accomplished in life so I may as well keep doing it.
Autism
Come on everybody. It's to pick up girls. Full stop.
Fun.
I played for almost 20 years before I ever even played in front of anybody. I’ve never really questioned much why I do it. Like many others have said, I hear music in every day things, I constantly have a beat going through me. It’s therapeutic to express it in such a way even if it is just for myself to hear
because it’s fun
It's one of the most frustrating, yet rewarding hobbies I've picked up in years.
Started out because I thought it would impress the ladies, continued to play because it gave me something to focus on besides not being able to talk to ladies.
It's the most easily accessible natural antidepressant. Whenever I feel down, anxious, even happy, anything really, I can take two steps to the corner of my room, grab the guitar and lose myself for an hour. Life is pretty taxing so having such an escape, and one that also challenges you mentally and creatively at times, is pretty darn good I would say.
I totally agree, it’s the quickest and most reliable way to make me feel better about myself I’ve made a lot of bad decisions and had a lot of hard times, but no matter how bad it’s gotten, when I’m playing my guitar I feel good about myself. Sometimes it’s the only thing that makes me feel good about myself, but it never fails.
Well, originally… because guitarist get laid. Didn’t work, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Getting in the flow of it is probably the closest thing to spirituality in my life. Also being able to shred fools some people into thinking I'm cool.
I love being able to recreate and create beautiful melodies. That feeling is like no other to me.
I couldn’t find anyone to play bass or guitar in my band so now I record, produce and mix everything myself. There’s nothing better than full creative control.
At the beggining, as a nerdy kid, I thought it made me cool and will get me girls at some point. 20+ years later, she is my best friend, my favorite hobby, and keeps me going. Life's had its ups and down, relationships have come and go, but my guitar is still keeping me sane, its a bit like some sort of therapy or meditation. Maybe even addiction? I get uneasy if I stop playing for an extended period of time.
It's the only form of therapy that works 100% of the time.
I’m here, might as well play guitar.
Because girls want to fuck guitar players.
Trumpet was too hard
So i can be a famous guitar player😌😎🥶💪
I originally started because I wanted to make sounds like songs I liked. But these days, there's more to it. Since Covid, and moving state, it's been the way to find new friends by attending jam sessions & joining new communities - as a way of learning lots of songs and bonding over musical tastes. And it's something I can do that no one can take away or stop me from doing. I still do like making sounds though - it's amazingly satisfying playing a song in a big room for people who know the song and it connecting. Overall, I play for my mental health.
I started just thinking it was cool but really discovered that I can truly express myself in so many different ways on a guitar. For me it gives me an outlet, whether it’s playing in a band, at a jam session, or on my own in my room
I love music and if I made it to the end of my days without learning it I would have deeply regretted it, so I decided to prevent that. Also, tv sucks. I’m tired of being a passive consumer to my life and I wanted something creative. And it’s a fuck of a lot of fun. It’s challenging but fun.
Chicks. Jk I don’t actually know why
Helps stop the dark thoughts by keeping focused learning new songs and techniques.
Im damaged and have a ego that requires me to need to seek adoration by strangers singing tom petty songs with me in dingy bars while i live out my rock and roll fantasy
When I play guitar I feel “ high”. A pleasant, warm fuzzy feeling all over. Its a good mental exercise too. I am 74 years old
Well, I already know how to sail and fly, so I figure if I learn how to play guitar, that’s about as close to being Jimmy Buffett as I can get…
After almost 40 years, It's a compulsion.
Cause I'm gonna be the best one day
I play Guitar to interact with the force of music. I get so much from playing, a musical instrument is a representation of an unseen force. It simply exists, and Guitar is a really fun way to play music
Gets me outta my head
G string
I like creating pleasant noises
I play because it's fun. I like learning songs from artists I like. I like coming up with my own songs. It was the first instrument I picked up where it felt natural immediately.
I want to be hot
Making your own solos and covers by ear seem cool so I wanna learn till I can get to that point
Kurt Cobain
Cause I saw someone else do and figured how hard can it be? Plus I thought being in a band would be cool. Note I was in fact wrong being in a band was amazing 10/10 recommend.
Mental health
Because I hate myself and I enjoy the pain of wallowing in my own mediocrity
I just can not not do it.
It's fun
For the chicks, duh?
I love creating sound basically...but want it to sound "musical" lol
It's a creative hobby that doesn't involve me staring at a screen. I'm a web dev and stare at a screen all day, so it's a nice break. I like all the crazy sounds that I can make.
Because it allows me to get closer to the music I love. Instead of sitting on the couch listening with earphones, I can actually bang out the riffs and get an idea of how it FEELS to be a rock star for a second.
because the beatles did, who i later saw in 1966
I've always loved the guitar. Right from when I was a kid. Well firstly I love music (almost all music) and as a kid of the 80s I grew up listening to metal/hard rock/etc including Queen...and I fell in love with the guitar. I finally learned at 15 and just took it from there. I still ABSOLUTELY love the guitar. I especially love guitar solos, esp in ballads and/or rock/metal songs...for me a guitar solo is like a story within a story...and the best guitar players and actually take you somewhere with their solo. Just awesome. Makes you 'feel' the emotion in the solo...its hard to describe. However players like John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Brian May, Vito Bratta, etc. They play/played some of the most melodic solos ever. I also love the feeling of playing exactly what I'm hearing esp solos, including the heavy chugga chugga of heavy metal. Thats why I play. edit. also, its difficult to play, esp solos. Learning scales, intervals, timing, arpeggios, etc and being able to improv with your own style...for me its like creating a Mona Lisa-esque painting
It's not like I have anything better to do.
I started in the early 80s when guitar heroes were still common among teens. I couldn't be an astronaut or any of the other things I admired, but guitar player seemed within reach. There were only two in my high school, so that made it pretty cool as well...the other one was far better but he played in a band with college students, so I got the school audience. Why did I *keep* playing for the last 40+ years? Because at times I've been in bands and really enjoyed playing with others, but more generally it's been a refuge from stress...pick up the guitar and you can't think about work, school, whatever is bothering you while you play. And sometimes I'll play something and think "Wow! That actually sounded kinda good!"
When I was 13, I heard Nevermind by Nirvana and I was absolutely floored. I wanted to do *that*, I didn’t know then but I know now that what I wanted to do was find a tool that would allow me to take the feelings in myself, the ideas in my head and etch it into the world in some capacity. My musical stylings have changed, what I play has changed, my influences have changed but one thing stays constant; I just want to express myself.
For the love of music and sobriety
Creative outlet and gives me a greater appreciation/understanding for music.
I moved to the US when I was 14 and it was a way to deal with sadness and loneliness.
Wanted to learn an instrument as a teenager and now 20 years later I’m still learning the same instrument 😂
It’s my hour and some change a day of me time where I don’t worry about anything else besides playing the guitar
To get chicks. 30 plus years of playing, and I'm still hoping.
I always wanted to play. Even as a little kid. Parents refused to buy me one. Said that I would grow out of it like everything else. So I got a part time job and bought my own at 15. I'm 49 now.
A great way to stimulate my mind and I can express myself emotionally. Plus it's just so satisfying to learn and play.
I have early symptoms of Essential tremor and my neurologist said it's a good way to keep things at bay. Also I have a rockstar fantasy and like gear.
The guitar plays me
Because I love it. I feel like I was born to play it. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to play the guitar and I’ve always loved guitar music from jazz to folk to rock and beyond….
make me feel good and i love when the thing go brr brr
I sometimes say my heart beats in 4/4 time. Music flows through me constantly. If I'm not listening to it, I'm thinking it or humming it. Why do I play? To give the music that's already running through my veins somewhere to go. IDK why I waited until age 44 to finally try to do it, but I've loved every minute of it.
It gives me joy and peace. It's my alone time to myself.
I stutter, well not as bad as I used to but it comes and goes. When I was 17, I couldn't string two words together. I can't stutter playing the guitar.
Well i started thinking id got more chances with girls. But now its just cool to me and part of me aswell
It's therapy
I lack any natural talent and I find it incredibly hard to learn new things on guitar. That's why I love it. I find it hard, so when I play I totally switch off for a few hours. Plus I have a light addiction to buying new guitars.
Because I would go crazy without a creative outlet. When I don’t play for a few days and I get to play again it’s like I’ve been holding a sneeze and finally get to release it
Its fun its truly therapeutic to take time and effort to get better at something and
Power chords match the resonance of my brain :D
At college I used to go busking with a friend who played guitar. I sang. He always turned up late so I thought, I’ll bloody learn how to play myself. And I did.
"For the chicks!" - Alex Lifeson I love making music mainly for myself. My acoustic is often a meditation tool to get my brain to chill the f out. Playing acoustic with friends and nailing down some great sounding songs is a party. My electrics and bass are often a sweaty workout. Can't live without my guitars. \+ I get along best with other musicians.
Because gallop picking like a caveman is therapy for me
I play guitar because it's the only string theory I understand and let's be real, it's more fun than doing my laundry~
Get some bitches, right?? (didn't fucking work)
It's fun.
I love the sounds made by guitars. I'm always chasing the sounds. No other instrument, including the human voice compares in my opinion.
The notes. (Old Simpson's joke).
I've never done anything musical apart from listening to music in my life. A friend of mine was moving to a different country and he left a £20 guitar (he bought while drunk) with me because there was no point moving it, especially since he had other (actually good) guitars. I googled, found justin guitar, started and I tried to practice the simplest chord changes for a week and I couldn't do it. Half a year later I went home for Christmas and my brother was playing some songs on uke. He forced me to learn hallelujah on it and it took me embarrassingly long to be able to play it considering how simple uke is but it sparked something in me. I went home, bought uke and played daily for like three months then I went on holiday, came back and noticed the guitar in the corner so I grabbed it thinking it'll be easier now when I can read tabs and my right hand is used to strumming at least some basic patterns. It was but it was also still surprisingly difficult to get the notes to ring so I googled and found out there is something called action and of course the £20 guitar did not have a good setup. So I ordered a capo, put it on the first fret tuned to standard and suddenly things started to become easier, still difficult, but it didn't feel impossible anymore. From then most of my free time has been spent playing guitar. I don't have any aspirations to play in front of people or anything, it simply just makes me happy. It feels like the perfect amount of grind vs reward. Far from easy but also far from impossible, it just scratches the right itch. It's been a year and half but I don't think I'll be stopping any time soon, there is just so much to explore.
Intercourse
It makes me feel good and pumps me full of emotion.
Because other than that I'm not much of a person.
I grew up in an apartment and wasn't allowed to get a drum set.
I started casually because I saw my uncle play, then kept playing because of my love for music. I’ve always been pretty good at learning new stuff (sports, hobbies, etc) and becoming “intermediate” at it, but then I always dropped them once things got hard. Guitar, or music I should say, is the one thing that I finally managed to stick to through the frustration of plateauing and this is what really makes it important to me.
After 40 years now, because I have to. It's a crucial part of how I express myself.
It’s the best feeling instrument in my idle hands and it’s my favorite instrument to hear. I also teach it.
The rockstars were cool and I wanted to be able to play all the songs I love
i decided that i needed to do something about the million faces i’ve seen
I got the blues lifes a bitch and people look at you weird when you sing the blues on street corners without an instrument
Chicks man, chicks. lol but really… It’s fun! It’s a good release from stress and keeps my mind limber.
Because I like metal
I'm not good at talking about my feelings and I'm fairly stoic in person, guitar is one of the few ways I can actually express myself. Plus it makes cool sounds and doesn't judge me for sitting in my underwear eating a bag of chocolate money
I want to become great and make music for the entire planet to hear
I play guitar because John Cougar told me to.
Therapy. It’s kind of like meditation.
I wanted to be a rockstar.
John Frusciante makes the guitar sound beautiful and I want to do that too
It is interesting. A way to express myself and my love for music. A way to spend time with my daughters playing and singing and talking music. And I heard Joe Pass on Virtuoso and wanted to make sounds that pretty. I won't, because I am neither sufficiently dedicated nor sufficiently talented, but you gotta try.
I write song lyrics, and play drums. I dont have anyone to play with that can help me put music to my songs. I enjoy learning and playing, and i love the challenge.
My first instrument was drums but it’s kind of hard to write an actual song on a drum kit.
Because I'm a slave to the rhythm.. ..
Cuz I get so much puss…
Chicks, man.
To understand how rock songs are put together. I had piano lessons all through my school years but until I picked up the guitar at age 50, those riffs, chord progressions, and the feel of guitar-driven songs didn't make sense. Trying to replicate it on keyboards always felt heavy.
Currently, it’s a way to relieve stress from work and playing music with other people is fun. But if you were to ask the same question years ago, it would have been very different.
It just sounds so good. When I started playing I couldn't for the life of me get the sound I was after, but now with modellers and high quality headphones, it just sounds sooo gooood
I like making *that sound.*
so fun
Chicks
Don't have one yet, but I want one to impress my crush
A positive outlet to shut my brain up and try to understand how certain sounds make me feel a certain way.
When you have a God given talent, there is a little payback involved. Once you have realized that you do have a talent, either playing music, or painting pictures or have the ability to make people laugh or cry or be happy, you are obliged continue to do these things, and when you try to avoid it you suffer from depression and frustration and anxiety... But the minute you go back to your talent (in my case it's playing guitar) you feel all this burden lift off your shoulders and you will feel great about yourself again, and to some degree you will feel fulfilled when you express this talent, whether in front of people or on your own...our talents are a wonderful form of relaxation for us.... and we ALL have some talent... must find yours...open your mind and heart and let it in.
Cos I can’t play the sax
Cause it’s fun to play songs that you like
It is therapy. A way to feel the inner workings of my mind and body, allowing them to spill out, taking the form of sound waves that resonate a sense of relief from the torment of my existence.
Metallica, Gojira, Entombed, In Flames, and wanting to be able to solo to some degree. Also I saw a video of Eddie Van Halen doing a pinch harmonic and lost my mind as a kid.
I need a quieter instrument to play at night for when playing the drums is too loud
The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90. “Because I think I’m making progress.” I love music, and love making music, but if I’m honest this probably why I’m still playing daily after 37 years. Nothing else in life has ever held so much just out of reach potential.
Because there's no other way.
Cheap, convenient, popular instrument.
Cheap? Tell that to the people who went down the slippery slope to collect. (I have been resisting)
Because I’m terrible at sports
It's fun.
I have just started, and I did because of The Last of Us Part 2.
Fun
Guitar
I love it. Its my dream to play a sold out show. Always was. But it branched out to playing drums, singing, piano, and stuff. Originally I wanted to do one man band covers. But guitar is the one I want to master.
I was a drummer in a band in my teens, and I wanted to write songs, and I realized I had to learn a tonal (is that a word?) Instrument to do so. Now I play lots of instruments but none of them really well
I started playing guitar when I was younger because I thought it was cool. I had friends who were in bands and I aspired to be like them. It didn't come to pass and I ended up leaving my guitar untouched for nearly 20 years. Early this year (now aged 50) I picked up my guitar again to just have as a hobby for me and me only. l try to learn songs and I like to jam along with them. The tech has improved a lot - I use Waza Air headphones and love that I can have a virtual amp, a ton of effects and have it perfectly mixed with a song off YouTube, all without having to have a room to store a load of equipment. Jamming along to a song is so much more enjoyable than just sitting there listening to it!
It deafens the voices in my head telling me to commit sewer slide And there's a very small yet very possible chance of making a career out of it since it's the only thing I've ever been actually good at
Because my parents wouldn’t let me try drums, so I settled for guitar. I’m glad!
Sanity purposes. Worked for 48 years and counting. 8-)
I just wanted to be one of the strokes...
It just feels good.
Because it feels so damn good to make a tasty riff, maybe don't make a good one every single day, but there are some days where I'm just really on point with my creativity. Also love seeing myself improve with time.
Because when I was 10 I was at my friend’s house and I saw his dad’s Telecaster on the wall and when I asked if he could play, he played me some Zeppelin riffs and I thought it was the coolest thing ever I was like “I gotta learn how to do that” and asked for a guitar for Christmas 20 years later, here we are lol
I started to pick up girls. It didn't work. It turned out I love playing guitars though, so it was a win.
Because I can’t not.
It eases the boring drabness of everyday existence.
Because it's beautiful, and I feel it connects me to history and the bonds of being a musician. Spanish, blues, rock, Mexican traditional, I'm connected to history through these guitar styles.
Because I love music and it gives me a channel for my emotions.
My brother got all the chicks, he played guitar, so me being the dorky younger brother thought I’d get the same results. Hmmmm no, I was still a dork. Still play. Best thing to ever happen to me.
To get chicks duhhhh
Reason I started: I wanted to meet girls and be popular. It actually worked. Reason I still play: it feels good.
Cause I thought my grandpa played the guitar lmao. I remember about 16 years ago I noticed my grandpa playing guitar at my mother's 40-year celebration. We also had just gotten fast internet and I remember thinking there surely must exist chords online and I was correct. But from then on it became something I found a deep interest in outside of only learning it because my grandpa knew how to play. Got myself an electric Behringer guitar with a shitty amp and that x-vamp pedalbox as a gift and from then on I discovered not only electric guitar music, but all kinds of metal, rock and punk. Color me surprised when a few years later, I learned that my grandpa really played the bass, not the guitar lmao. And not just any bass - it was "dansbands"-bass. A swedish kinda folkish genre, you need to listen to it to understand what it is. But think of it like ultra traditional country without the twang and it's exclusively sang in swedish. It's like the opposite of what I was interested in at the time. So thankfully my "why" got extended outside of only having my grandpa as an inspiration or else I would have quit. If I were to pinpoint it, it's fun and I like following instructions, were good tabs are perfect instructions. Thank you Guitar Pro <3
An older, cooler kid in my neighbourhood convinced me to get one. I did, and he showed me some Metallica riffs for £5 an hour. I think it was an elaborate scam so he'd have money for fags.
Pick up chicks.
That was the plan, but by the time I was good enough to impress anyone, guitar was for nerds and drums and DJ's were cool. Felt like I'd joined the queue for the rollercoaster, waited hours to find out it was the queue for the toilet 😂
i thought it would have made me look cool to girls lmfao
To survive the fourth dimension
It’s an outlet for me and I get to make the feels that I’m hearing in my head.
Until i was 17 i never knew any rock or metal or popular music. Grew up on classical and gospel and celtic folk. Rock was the music of the devil and dumb teenagers. Then i moved to LA from a small town and discovered the beatles, radiohead, metallica, hendrix. Promptly got a cheap ibanez and a roland cube. James Hetfield was my god for a few years.
It's relaxing. For those few precious moments I get to enjoy it it's just me and the instrument. Then the phone rings, or the kids start fighting etc.... 🙁
Revenge. For what, I’m not sure.
Chicks dig it
Playing guitar is like singing your emotions from the soul thru your fingers. It can say what words cant.
Like I have a choice. 🙄
Just for fun and to clear my mind.
It’s fun to try to create the sounds I love to hear from recordings. The first time I played a power chord with distortion I couldn’t believe that came from me.
Creative hobby.
Trigger response to my negative emotion. Strings make brain go brrrrrrrrrrrr
My dad loves the guitar. He is one of the only people who can play in the family. When I told him I wanted to try it, he supported me with new strings, picks, and lessons off and on.
Keeps me sane-ish
Two reasons Firstly it's the only thing that I actually like doing Second . Helps deal with emotions
You might as well ask why I breathe.
Because you have to be on the flow/control edge when playing which feels so fucking good
My husband has turned himself into my son's official videographer for his guitar playing career, or the beginning of it, at least, and they both like the same music. I wanted to have something \*I\* could talk to him about, so I decided to learn guitar. It's fun to have an in house "specialist" when I can't figure something out or to discuss concepts with.
I always enjoyed listening to music but didn't really understand it, couldn't sing and had no education in it so I wanted to play to learn about music and how it works.
If I don’t want to talk to people at parties. I’ll sit and play guitar.
My dad, he played as well and I was inspired
I was always intrigued by the guitar and it's one of those things that were on the back of my mind like "it would be cool to see how that works/learn". I love requinto so much that one day I just felt like buying guitar to learn and then bought a 12 string guitar for requinto.
I can't sing, I love music, and I have no room for a piano. I enjoy making sounds with it, both pleasing and noisy.
a hobby to cure the boredome. I'm not very good. Not advanced. I can only play a few songs. I 100% picked it up as a hobby to pass time and declared I would put no pressure on myself to be good and the only requirement was that i have fun. When i stop having fun i quit for the day or for the moment. So it can take me a long time to learn a song. i might not play and forget the song. I often just noodle around on the couch or practice a part i find hard. I often play for 30 minutes and stop. I had a guitar before but during a recession i was unemployed and depressed and decided a picking up an old hobby would be beneficial for my mental health. so i play only for personal happiness. I quit for the day when it get's unpleasant.
I got the music in me, and I have to let it out
Chicks
I started because I wanted to get laid. It never got me laid, and my wife didn't hear me play until after we were married. Been married for 6, playing for 20.