First Musical Instrument

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

I'm kind of starting to feel like the "odd man out", but I started on pedal steel guitar and it's the only instrument I play.

[Roual Ranes]

Uke

[Tony Davis]

Started playing on the Linoleum at about 18 Months
Mouth organ about 6 years old
Piano at 10...about a year
Piano again for short while at 14..enough to learn to read
Acoustic at 14
4 String banjo in a Jazz band at 15
Snare Drum in Navy band at 17
Clarinet in Navy band from 17 to 19
Always acoustic guitar
5 string Banjo at 23
Autharp at about 27
Dobro maybe at 28
Pedal steel at 30

Apart from that...havent had much to do with music !

[Barry Hyman]

Keyboard as a child, then bongo drums while singing folk songs with my sisters, then clarinet lessons when about 10.

But the excitement didn't begin until I started guitar at age 12, inspired by both Doc Watson and the Beatles. Then harmonica, dulcimer, sitar, autoharp, bass... (My father kept buying me instruments, dear man.) For many years acoustic 12-string was my main thing.

Then started pedal steel at age 21. Now, 38 years later, I can play several instruments adequately but the only ones I practice and take seriously are pedal steel and electric guitar.

[Ken Byng]

Ukulele when I was about 9 0r 10..guitar at 12....

Me too. Ukelele at 6, guitar at 8.

[Bill Howard]

Although my first instrument was an old Stella 6 string at age 4, my mother told me I was playing the melody of all the TV commercials on piano at 6. I still remember, "You'll wonder where the yellow went...."

My Dad gave me his Old Stella 6 string when I was 9, I varnished it and used Red thumb tacks to hold the pick guard on,I was really proud of that thing, then about 1 1/2 yrs later my mother went in debt and got me a Gibson B-25 I STILL have it that was in 1962

[George Rozak]

Fender 400 pedal steel - circa 1970

[Don Sulesky]

I'd have to say that my 1st instrument was the harmonica whicc I could play tune on.
We had a beat up guitr around the house which could not be played and as a kid in early grammar school
I got one of ththose 12 note pum organs and i could play the 1st Noel on it and a couple other songs.
The the harmonica was the one i could seriously play so I voted for that.
Don

[Michael Strauss]

In second grade we were marched down to the music room and told, "Pick an instrument". I don't know why, but I picked Slide Trombone. I played for 4 or 5 years. After that I found the bass and it has been my primary ever since. Even though now I spend more time with my PSGs.

[Clete Ritta]

Variety is the spice of life huh!?

I am so glad to see all the stories of early musical influence from varied sources.
Luckily, we are still musically inclined.

It saddens me to think of all the folks who abandoned music for various reasons at a very early age, either by circumstance or other negative influence.

Music is a learning experience, and its proven to be a factor in early development.
Its also shown to be a life long endeavor, if at least a hobby, that continues to provide inspiration and joy for many.

Clete

[Tommy Shown]

I had an old Kay box guitar, my parents got me when I was six years old. I learned how to play it watching those Saturday afternoon Hillbilly music shows. When I was 11, I attempted to play trumpet, (notice I said attempted) the band instructor said I would never make it. Around 18 I started playing bass guitar, and was in a band. I saw my old band teacher one day and he remembered me. He told me that when he said I would never make it, he said I did not have what it took to be a trumpet player. However he told me though I did not make it as a trumpet player, it did not deter me from trying to learn other instruments. Like the bass guitar. When I was 20 I started learning to play the beautiful instrument called the pedal steel. At first I thought I did not have what it took to play. But 30 years later I have learned a lot about it and still have a lot more to learn. Thanks to my steel guitar friends here on the forum.
Tommy Shown
SMFTBL

[Wesley Medlen]

My mother bought my dad an Montgomery Ward f=hole acoustic in 1948. It had a home study course with it. I took some lessons from high school music teacher. I played in a 4 member band in high school. I bought an Argyle 6 string lap and amp from Spiegels in Chicago for $25 tuned it to major E. Went to pedal BMI 5 yrs. ago in May. Played lead with a Gibson ES335 along with lap before that.

[Jan Viljoen]

My mother played piano and my father a little banjo, so the musical influence was there.

In 1966, age 12, I worked on the farm during the winter holiday and he paid me the princely sum of +-$10. (The South African rand was strong then.)

I bought a no name guitar for $7 and played it till 1972 when its neck broke.

In 1968 I bought my first electric, a German Framus for +-$10 and a car battery operated 15w amp for +-$15 and got my entry into the school band.

Through the years I bought various lap steels, mandolins, saxes, etc.

The pedal steel is now closest to my heart.
Groetnis!

[Bill L. Wilson]

In about 1954, my Mother took me to the Cherokee Music School, in Louisville Kentucky, for some sort of music test. The man giving me the test, told my mom, "mother, it would be a shame not to give this boy music lessons." So mom,(who worked in hotels and laundrys, at minimum wage her whole life), spent her hard earned money on a Supro Lap Steel, a little matching amp, and lessons for me. I really wanted to play guitar, not lap steel, but the teacher told me,"son if you learn to play this, guitar will be a lot easier to learn," so when we moved to Dallas in 1959,a friend had an old Stella acoustic guitar. He showed me E, A, and B7, and Johnny Cash's, Don't Take Your Guns to Town. Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since. Started pedal steel in Jan, 1974, because of Jerry Garcia, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. The band I'm in now, we play every thing from Ernest Tubb, to Jimi Hendrix, The Amazing Rhythm Aces, George Jones, The Hag, and I'm still having fun. Oh, and I still have that Supro, and it still plays.

[Rich Gardner]

I got started on a pearloid Oahu lap steel with matching amp. I was in the fourth grade. Five years later during the British invasion I started playing regular guitar. And, for a period of time I took lessons on both. Circa 1963 I bought a double 8 Rickenbacker steel. I still have that guitar. Over the past 50 years or so I have continued playing both kinds of guitars. I got my first pedal steel in 2007. I enjoy the challenge of learning to play the PSG.

[Rockne Riddlebarger]

My Grandpa gave me a beautiful tenor banjo and a Hawaaian Tremoloa, both made in the mid 30's, when I was 9 years old. I taught myself to play both and still have them, although not much of the banjo has survived.....Here is a photo of the Tremoloa:

[Bill McCloskey]

I started on Cornet in 1st grade and I still play it.

I played mandolin and acoustic guitar starting in my teens.

Played dobro in my early 40's and eventually started playing lap steel and pedal steel (for a short time).

I also played uilleann pipes. Recently I took up keyboard.

[Bud Angelotti]

None of the above.
I had a Groucho Marx conducts the orhestra record. It came with a baton so I could conduct the orchestra along with Groucho.
Then moved on to piano, clarinet, guitar....

[John Phinney]

Violin at 9
Piano at 11
Clarinet at 12
Tenor Sax at 13
Synthesizers/Sequencers at 15
Bass guitar at 16
Guitar at 19
Pro Tools at 31
Pedal Steel Guitar at 37
Banjo at 39
Ukulele at 40
Harmonica at 40
Irish Bouzouki at 41

What's next? Charango.

[John Billings]

Trumpet at 12. French Horn at 14. 5-string at 15. Dumped the horns,,, although I liked French Horn. Went to Prep School, where there was no band.

[Brint Hannay]

I don't seem to be able to "vote" in the poll; did it time out or something?

I had piano lessons for probably six months to a year when I was quite young, maybe 5 or 6. I did OK but didn't really take to it and quit the lessons. Probably in first grade they had everyone play the Tonette, a plastic thing that was basically a cross between an Ocarina and a recorder. A year or two later in elementary school I jumped at the chance to take up trombone. My arm could barely reach the seventh position (the farthest reach of the slide), so they tried to talk me into doing trumpet instead, but I was having none of it! I loved the trombone, but then in '63 (age 12) I got a plastic "TV Pal" ukulele, because my parents wouldn't spring for a guitar, and played it obsessively till they broke down and got me a nylon-string guitar, which I used for the folk music that was big at the time (Peter, Paul, and Mary, etc.). Little did they know it would be the "gateway drug" leading me to the electric guitar when the Beatles hit, and my misspent life since. (Pedal steel came along in '83, when I was 32.)

I guess if I could vote I'd have to say "brass", because trombone was the first instrument I really wanted to play.

[Stephen Cowell]

It took me many years to realize it... but my first instrument was whistling... Dad used to whistle a lot, and I picked it up from him. Led into guitar, trombone, etc... slide, then steel guitar. Just another linear instrument where you get to slide around and get the 'blue' notes.

[Clete Ritta]

Brint this is an old thread, you might have already voted? haha.
Put it this way, if you see the poll results, you've made a selection.
Unlike elections, where you make a selection, but you harley ever see results.

I have been tootin my horn lately on a cheap pocket trumpet, but I have never really studied before. I think listening to the harmonic series of horns is a good thing to be aware of since the sweetened tuning many steel players use verges on the very same intonation.

I just recently got a Jiggs pBone after trying it out at a friends place. Its a lightweight plastic trombone made by Conn-Selmer for around $150.

Clete

[Brint Hannay]

Brint this is an old thread, you might have already voted? haha.
Put it this way, if you see the poll results, you've made a selection. [/size=9]

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Ok folks,

As a long time guitar slinger, Im interested in how many steelers started on steel. Clete

I'd voted before that I started on Pedal Steel Guitar and that it's all I play (I've never even tried a Dobro). I always knew even as a kid that I'd end up playing music (it runs in my family), but it wasn't until I found steel that I was enticed to start learning to play ... but, there's a flipside to the coin, too; pedal steel has always been and always will be my first love in music, but while I love having been only on pedal steel all these years, I have to admit that I sometimes look back and often wish I'd also learned some other instrument along with it.