Oldies, But Goodies

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Comment by William Jahnkow on June 10, 2013 at 2:53pm

 My first new guitar was a 1965 Harmony Rocket red sunburst three pu's and a harmony amp that I thought Woo HA it's got a ten inch speaker not knowing anything about amps I thought I had the greatest until I realized that it was a SE class A and only got distortion so it was not good for Beatles tunes but worked great for blues.

Comment by William Jahnkow on June 10, 2013 at 2:47pm

 Small world . I have been playing since 63 and turned 64 nov 2012 so I guess it fit the profile. My first guitar was a on loan from a music shop $5 a month steel string folk beater.

 I started playinjg old blues tunes I heard on a chicago radio station but then the Beatles came out I added them to my list of songs to learn . I learned many Dylan tunes and stones and animals songs and included many bands that came out later .

 I still play but in 2009 when a close friend died I sort of put the guitar down for three years but got back into it .

Comment by Jim Yates on May 29, 2013 at 9:26am

I can't find a posting from myself on this group, so I'll introduce myself.  I'm a 69 year old Canuck and started messing with my brother's old Hofner arch top guitar in the late '50s and finally bought a guitar of my own, a 2nd hand Goya M-26, in 1960.  I played in folk groups at Hootenannies in church basements and school gyms in the '60s. 

When I moved to the central north shore of Lake Ontario, in 1969, I started playing with musicians from Cobourg, Port Hope and Peterborough and played in bluegrass, Irish trad, blues and swing and jug band groups.  Along the way I picked up a few banjos, mandolins, dulcimers, guitars, ukuleles, Autoharps and a wife who says that the concept of "enough" has not been grasped by her husband. 

I am a retired school teacher who plays in a bluegrass band, Sweetgrass, and a jug band, The Maple Leaf Champions.  I am the oldest member of the jug band, 45 years older than the fiddler, but the banjo player in Sweetgrass is a couple of months older than I am.

I teach guitar, banjo, mandolin and ukulele at a local music store and have a dulcimer student who comes to my house for lessons.  My youngest student was seven when I started teaching her and my oldest is seventy.

Comment by Gary Moulton on May 29, 2013 at 4:14am

I left out David Gilmore, he can twist your guts from the wood & wires.

Comment by Gary Moulton on May 29, 2013 at 4:11am

52 now ,started playing around 14. Had some Sears & Robuck acoustic , the action was easily over 1/2 inch at the 12th fret. but.....when I wanted to play I crept into my brothers room and uncased a Gibson ES125T and that was the vehicle I drove. Oh man just the smell, the feel , I knew there was something there that had to come out. I've never takin a lesson always waited for it to "click" and I'd be there. (still waiting) but having fun. After this last divorce I decided to get out and play. I won't turn down a gig. I don't care if its punk in a crack house....open up for a minute and I'm gonna get in your soul. I long for the coffee house of the 60's watch some old Jon Biaz where everyones in black with sunglasses so quiet you could hear a pin drop. O'well good thing I gut Bose...Soldier on. Players who effected me: Neil Young,Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, THE THREE KINGS, OTIS RUSH.

Comment by Rifle Green on July 4, 2012 at 3:29pm

Longtime reader/subscriber to AG; thought I'd take a look here. Started playing in undergrad,1964. Yup, all we had to play with back then was dirt, mud, and flattops:-). A bit later Dylan went electric, never got into that. 

Comment by Mike Bishop on April 11, 2012 at 12:21pm

Hello to all in the Oldies Group. Well I definitely qualify. I will turn the big 60 in Aug this year (2012) and I have been playing since the late '60's. I too had one of those guitars that would make you fingers bleed up until I bought my first nylon string out of desperation. I stepped up to a steel string Ovation soon after and had both until the were stolen in the mid-80's. I didn't play much for a long time until a friend gave me her nylon classical. But I never really did much what with kids, family, job etc. But I never lost the love of it. Two years ago I decided it was my mid-life crisis time to buy something I'd always wanted so I bought a new guitar. The first one was a Zager and there was really nothing wrong with it. But I'd always wanted a Martin and knew I wouldn't be satisfied until I got it. So Zager gave me a full refund without question and I saved up a little longer and got my Martin. I am actually thinking about going back to Zager soon for an acoustic-electric because I did like the setup and ease of play and want another guitar - because I can. I look forward to sharing with the group. Thanks for having me.

Comment by Jud Hair on August 16, 2011 at 5:37am

Hey Mike ... your story sort of parallels mine.  I started at 14, played in bands as a HS and college student, then laid off for a while.  Hurt my hand doing some landscaping work (trigger finger) that further set me back for a number of years, but once I got effective treatment, I went back at playing with a vengeance!  Like you, I'm playing more than ever and getting better and better.  Loving every minute of it!

Comment by Mike Nepper on August 15, 2011 at 9:45pm

I guess I'm an oldie now, (60 last March). I started playing guitar when I was 16 on a cheap steel string that really did make my fingers bleed. Other than some aches and pains from some old injuries and a little arthritis, I still feel good and play guitar every day. My skills have improved greatly over the last 10 years and I'm more creative than ever. There's nothing like the feeling of mastering a new piece after working really hard on it. Also, we have a little fingerstyle group "Peninsula Fingerstyle" on this website that meets every month and we trade songs and stories and some good food and drink. This weekend was the Healdsburg Guitar festival in Santa Rosa, Ca. I went with some friends and we were saying that when you play guitar, or any instrument, your life clock runs backwards! So, play on fellow geezers! 

Comment by Dan Losh on July 26, 2011 at 7:40pm

I started playing as a teenager back in '67. Trying to learn Lovin' Spoonful songs on a nylon-string cheapo with a bowed neck. That guitar is long gone and I'm still playing 40+ years later. Folk, blues, old R&R, gospel, bluegrass and a little country. I've made a few bucks with the guitar but jamming with friends is what I like the best. Guitar heroes include Lightnin' Hopkins, John Hurt, Ry Cooder, Leo Kottke, Neil Young, Jimmy Page. I'm living in Oklahoma now - there's wealth of acoustic music styles here. I've been reading the A.G. magazine for years but just recently joined this internet site. It's nice. Lots of good info and stories. Thanks...

DL

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