🎸My BEGINNER Guitar Course! maryspendermasterclass.teachable.com/ 🎥Support my work and get EXCLUSIVE videos/music: patreon.com/maryspender 👕My Official Store (SIGNED MERCH): store.maryspender.com/
Nooooooooo, leave these stickers on!! you've still got and will have plentybof clean looking guitars, but this one is part of your life. Just leave it as it is
finally I got that time I did know much about guitars. it was bullshut. but still it was nice it's my first guitar. recently i. bought a new guitar good guitar stays in tune
Great story! If you want to change the pickguard, buy a replacement and keep the original. It is a connection to your roots that I bet you will appreciate 20 years from now - even if you are a little embarrassed. :) You could always frame it!
I agree absolutely! Mary, you may think now that the stickers look naff, but I really think you will regret it at some time in the future if you just got rid of them. I still have my first electric, a cheap Sumbro SG 'copy', although not really close. I repainted it twice and changed the p/ups, but I would never get rid of it!
There was a joke in Private Eye about art restoration "Using a technique known as 'sanding' we where able to see the bare boards Rubens would have seen before he started painting." Keep the stickers! For a replacement, eBay item: 190949567330
Mine was, and still is my Blue Squire Strat, I bought 17 years ago. I still have and play it, with its teenage-inspired stickers. Thank you for sharing your first guitar and it's stickers. A very fun story/video, and keep the pick guard even if you modify it. I plan on doing the same with mine.
My first 6 string was a fender telecoustic back in high school. My little brother still has it. After a bad experience in a band I stopped playing for about 10 years. Just bought my second first guitar a couple of months ago, a used, wine red, epiphone dot studio. I wake up in shock that it's there every day. I'm so glad to be back
I think I would leave that guitar intact the way it is. All those stickers and dings are who you were at the time, and especially being that it was your first guitar that you saved up for and bought. Think of all the history and emotion that makes that guitar what it is! Great video as usual!
You definitely pulled at my heartstrings with this story Mary, your honesty and transparency is truly one of your greatest gifts dear lady. This story actually made me relive some very long ago almost forgotten memories of my first guitar and the overwhelming excitement of what it felt like. Thank you Mary, you are a blessing on many levels. Danny in Texas
I agree with keeping the stickers. Replace the guard if you like but keep the old guard stickers n all. Frame it & hang it even! Got me all emotional with that one. Thank you for sharing Mary.
Great story Mary. My first was a beat up small Goya classical nylon strings. I carried it with me when I went into the navy and it went with me to Taiwan, Vietnam,east coast of US and finally fell apart from so much humidity and temp change. My next was A D16M Martin which I still have, along with 30 other guitars, including a Vigier I got from my French representative in 1991when I had my business. He got for me and sent to in the US. Still have it and am now playing again because of your inspiration. Best quality guitar I ever had.
I loved listening to you recall your earliest memories with guitar, and how it started the life of music you have now. My first guitar was also a Pacifica 112 which happens to also be at my parents house. Definitely took my own trip down memory lane here
I don't have an electric guitar yet! I do have a nylon classical guitar with a HUGE neck that is killing me little by little lol. At the moment I'm in the same situation you once was: fancying every single guitar, the only difference is that in not cropping pictures and drawing but watching videos like yours!
Well thank you for watching! Let me know when you do make the big step towards another guitar! Those necks can be tough, but it'll also make your playing even better for when you switch!
Vitoiria B. The fancying every guitar you see will never stop!! I am telling you that even now that I own several I can't walk passed a music shop or look on a guitar site without thinking how absolutely amazing all the guitars look that I see. In the end just go for the one that you want most for what ever reason that may be, and enjoy the beginnings of a guitar collection! :D
Ahh the first guitar - yes I remember it well. I was 8 years old and after much grilling my parents bought me a $40.00 American 1/4 size Spanish nylon string guitar for my birthday - a landmark day indeed
OMG!! Mary you were ADORABLE .. Please show us more of your old videos...😍😍😍😍. My first guitar was a Fender Performer. I no longer have it.. Needed money...her name was Jennifer...it was Blonde.. Broke up with girl friend at the time. Was really depressed...walked in to a pawn shop bought the guitar to get my mind off of the break up. Didn't know how to play at the time..started taking lessons.😊 and never looked back. Now its been over 20 plus year 💖❤
Was awesome to hear the reminiscing! My first guitar was a nylon string acoustic that I ordered from SEARS, because I was learning guitar in music class in high school. Over 20 years later it still has the same strings and needs the neck glued. Thanks for the memories!!!
Always wanted an electric guitar, since being a preteen. My wife bought me an acoustic many years ago. It was nice but not an electric. Now i'm in my 50's, I finally bought a Squire Telecaster a few years ago. I'm still very much a beginner but learning and loving it.
That guitar looks awesome......stickers and relic are what makes it yours and personal ....I have a 95 studio lite that barely has paint left.... rock on!
My God, Mary. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful and private story as well as a slice of your life! For most of us, I’d think, our instruments become a touchstone to our reality; who we are and how we became that way. A reminder of our journey through life. As for me, my mother was a concert pianist. I grew up falling asleep to her practicing, running scales to warm up, playing Chopin or Bach... of course I was put in piano lessons (with the same crazy Russian master she learned from) and promptly disregarded piano. Fast forward many years... I was a young, newly returned from war American soldier trying to deal with what I had been through. After climbing at least part way out of the bottle, I rediscovered music. It had always sorta been there as background but suddenly it came bursting to the forefront. I couldn’t exactly buy a piano; I lived the life of a bachelor soldier, in the barracks and pretty much ready to jump (move) at a moments notice. Pianos weigh A LOT! I needed something more transportable. The only choral instrument that fit the bill for me was a guitar. My first was an epiphone strat copy (somewhat ironic I think, considering Gibson’s stance). I was so green that I asked the guy if I could see the red epiphany! That turned out to be prophetic though I never really bonded with that guitar. The first “Oh My God! I can’t believe I own this guitar!” Moment for me was the epiphones replacement. An American ultra strat plus (I didn’t know that the lace sensors weren’t exactly vintage single coils). I was playing through a cheap crate practice amp which sounded pretty terrible clean but could almost sound ok with a little dirt. So I would play acoustically, my barracks mates seemed to appreciate that. That guitar stayed with me through many trials and tribulations for many years. Until I fell on hard times after leaving the Army and had to sell it to make rent. No guitar (after going through many, including some great ones, 1960 LP comes to mind) has held that same spot in my heart since.... Until now (possibly).... I’m building a 1959 Strat... my own blood sweat and tears going into it... MY specifications on the feel of the neck, body shape, and electronics to be paired with a ‘57 champ. It’s a pandemic project! Lol
I had a Yamaha Acoustic '78 I think, and my dad played it strung lefty. I restrung it righty and bashed out as much nirvana and Pearl Jam as I could manage. When I was 15 I got a Squire Strat (black and white like Clapton!!) and a Fender Princeton Chorus amp (solid state) and just woodshedded power chords... ahhh the memories! Great Story Mary!
Hi Mary, great videos. My first electric guitar was exactly the same, pacifica 112 in natural finish, and I still have it. Great guitar and many memories with it and it will never be sold or parted with. Great to see and hear you still have yours.
Great story, and with some footage to boot. Started out on a Cort 45 travel guitar that I had saved up for a while. I didn't have an amp, so I rigged something together using a Radio Shack/Tandy electronics kit (as a preamp) into old Phillips valve radio that used to be my grandmother's. It was quite a jazzy, vintage sound.
The pickguard looks great to me, it's part of your journey as a musician, I hope you kept it My first guitar was a Behringer strat coppy, it was stolen many years ago, and I miss it so much now. Love your videos, big fan from México 🤘🏻
First guitar was a cheap nylon strung acoustic when I was 11 (1971), followed by a Kay semi acoustic from Woolworths the following year. I soon traded for a second hand black les Paul copy which I think I slept with I was so stoked to have it!
Great first guitar story. Love it. See the pic next to my comments to you. Its my first electric guitar in 1964 I was 14 at the time. its a Harmony Stratatone. I still have it and it plays very well yet. Its 54 years old. Thanks for the memories.
Great video, the home videos of you playing were cool. Reminded me of the load of videos my school band made over 5 years, including some horrific mistakes we made live!! I had two first guitars sort of, a cheep £90 strat copy my younger brother had got from Costco which I just sort of got because he stop playing. And I had a Tangelwood electro-acoustic that I paid half for and my parents kindly payed the rest!! I still have both, and use them occasionally them always with surprise at how good they are for the amount that was paid for them!!
Mary, first of all, I love your music and songwriting! My first guitars were given to me by my Dad and Uncle (a DiGiorgio classical and an early 70s Teisco Del Rey, respectively). My first store-bought (not previously owned) was a Yamaha...a Yamaha SE150...one humbucker, candy red, rosewood board..all mine! I still own and play it. to me, it's worth it to keep your first guitar in rotation as it can stir early memories and, for me at least, I play a little differently because of the history and memories associated with it.
Amazing video and a great story I can relate too. That first guitar is the beginning of a journey that last a lifetime. The guitar has been instrumental to my inner expression. My first guitar was a Kramer Striker 1000. After 30+ years I am glad I got it although I no longer own it. Thanks for sharing your story.
My first electric was an old squier tele, blonde with a white guard, that belonged to my uncle, who sadly passed away half an hour before I was born, and he left it to my dad, and when I decided to start a band, my dad gave it to me. It always sounds awesome, whether it's into an ac30, a fender, or selmer, or whatever, it's a great guitar, and I am most comfortable when I'm playing that guitar, because it's what I've learnt and developed on.
That's a great story behind your first guitar, and it's the same as my first one (no stickers for me though, the one's on your have to stay, they're part of your story). Got it purely due to me finding the neck more comfy than any other guitar in that price range as there was no other criteria for me to judge it on as I couldn't even strum a chord when I got it. That was less than a year ago, at the age of 36, and now I'm wondering, why not earlier. It has brought me so much joy and I hope it'll keep doing that for many, many more years to come. The world of music is beautiful and fascinating.
Hallo Mary, my story with the guitar is also special. As a boy, in the 70s, the Stratocaster electric guitar was my dream, but my parents saw the rock music as the plague...so the dream stopped. a few years later I bought a guitar for little money but fate reserved another surprise for me: a problem with the left wrist with which I could not hold the fretbord... I Had to play left-handed but at that time it was an excessive difficulty for me, and there wasn’t. so it ended there. Two years ago, in the covid time and a new retired era, I decided to restart, and today there are left-handed guitars (!). Now I'm a guitarist little more than a beginner, but I started, and with a master musician and friend of me, in my age, who has WITH A LOT OF PATIENCE! :-) My first guitar is a PRS SE Ccustom 24 Lefty. It was what at this time was passible to find and not to expensive because all others possibilties were exausted in covid era. I’m been lucky! But you know, starting playing guitar guitar after 65 is not the same as a young man, and play left hanfed if you are not is also not simple for the strumming hand, but today I am very happy!🎸. I founded your channel by chance… and I returned because of you enthusiasm on your playing and your spontaneity. 🙏
I got my first guitar, a Stagg Strat copy, when I was 12 or 13 for Christmas because my sister could play Muse riffs and I was jealous. I quickly covered it in stickers (pickguard and the finish) then regretted it soon after. Trying to remove said stickers with a hair dryer ended up melting the finish that was on it which only made it look worse. My uncle is an artist and he offered to take it apart and repaint it for me, I asked him to surprise me and got back a gorgeous motorhead inspired mural on my old strat. I've been meaning to replace the stock electronics and hardware for years because I really want to do it justice, I just need to get around to it.
you can get some Squier guitars for cheap, because the Yamaha Pacifica is about the same price. the first guitar i ever bought was a Squier Affinity Stratocaster for $175 US dollars.
I loved that classic sunburst Fender body style as a kid. I too thought people who play guitar were the coolest thing ever. Finally, my parents finally decided on my 12th birthday that if I spent all the time I did playing RockBand for the Wii, I'd be a halfway decent guitar player. Didn't know the difference between a Squier vs a Stratocaster back then, so my own lil sunburst Squire was such a dream come true at the time!
thumbs up for "tipsy tuesday talks" haha jk. it's very kewl that you still have your 1st guitar. i sort of wish i still had mine but i had to give it up to get my SZ and i'm not really too upset about that. PS needs more stickers! :D
Enjoyed that......After many many years of doing nothing, OK I couldn't do much anyway except a few chords, I've decided to teach myself how to read music. So out of the loft came my old Squire strat, a quick clean and restring and yay it still works :)
That pickguard is the best part! :) I have a similar looking Ibanez that I'm thinking of sanding down and doing a Tru oil finish because after doing three necks in true oil and gun stock wax it is my new favorite thing. It makes the wood grain look really beautiful. seriously, you've got to try it!
It just looks like you have your life all over that guitar. Change the strings = restored. Done. I wouldn't change a thing. (well.. ok.. the Katy Perry sticker has to go, but... other than that...). :-) I still have my first guitar (1975 Alvarez acoustic) and I still play it almost every day and it sounds amazing.
I like your name. Mine was a 1976 Gibson SG, About $325 in the states. Wish I hadn't sold it when I quit playing in 1980. Picked it up again in 1988. bought a USA made B.C. Rich Warlock, Still have it. Needs a set up desperately. Tried to do myself to no avail. Hanging on my wall. Still can't play very well but it's a hobby. Buying pedals now and equipment. Was probably at my best in 93 when I moved to Florida. Trying to recapture my youth. Had a 1979 Marshall 100 watt half stack. Boy do I Miss that. Got a JCM2000 but it's definitely not the same.
I learned to play the guitar on borrowed guitars from friends and relatives when I was ten. I even auditioned for my high school's jazz band with a borrowed Gibson Les Paul and 2x12 Marshal and got the guitar position on the jazz band. But I needed my own guitar and amp now. Coming from a single parent family, my mom couldn't afford to buy me a new guitar and amp. But some how she came up with the money and in 1980 she bought me a used 1970 Hohner Gibson Les Paul copy and a brand new Peavey Backstage Plus 1x8 amp. These was the first guitar that was mine. I still have the Hohner. The Peavey was stolen a long time ago. Thank you for sharing this with us Mary!
My 1st was a used Lotus Les Paul clone with a Peter Green out of phase switch..bought it in 85, I still have it..I still suck at playing but I keep plugging away....love your playing...greetings from usa
Very cool story! My first guitar was also a Yamaha: an RGX guitar (i believe it was a 612) in candy-red (that was 32 years ago). I don't have it anymore as I needed to upgrade and had no money to get a second one... so I sold it, added a little of my savings and and got a black Jackson Dinky with a Floyd Rose (it was all about a whammy bar in the 80's). Now I play mostly Gibson Les Pauls and Paul Reed Smith Custom 24's - Love your music and your very natural approach to music... Very refreshing channel you've got.... and you have a beautiful smile too! Cheers from Costa Rica
Thanks for this episode. It made my almost cry..(emotional cry). I had the same first el. guitar. Bought in 1998. I still have it and despite of using other guitars i still love it.:) Greetings!
What a great first guitar, Just do a setup don't change anything it look great. It's part of you, ware your past with pride. My first guitar was a Warwick fortress One Bass with P/J pickups in red. Never going to pasr with it looks great sounds great.
I have my dad's 50's Silvertone guitar that he bought after returning from WWII and started his family. It was the first guitar I ever played, and I have kept it in shape. I played my first song in front of my 6th grade class with it, then got interested in folk, then rock, started my first band in 1965(high school). I eventually got my degrees in music, sang opera a few years in NYC, taught math/technology. Now I am 72, and nothing gives me more joy than to tinker with a guitar, and learning new songs. I did a little repair work on my Dad's guitar and now it sounds great; I also have bought some other old guitars and fixed them(Harmony H22 bass, Stella classical 1969). I am currently modding out an Epiphone Melody Maker E1 with Lindy Fralin p90's and a better wiring harness(I call it my Po'Boy 50's Les Paul). I have a pic of my dad from 1938-9 with his resonator guitar, the same time he met my mom. His Silvertone guitar has a neck(no truss rod) like a railroad tie and doesn't sound that good, but the intrinsic value is priceless. Keep the Yamaha forever, you won't regret it.
I made my first guitar when I was 14. Played it for 11years, bought an ibanez, and after 2 years I completely abandoned guitar playing. I've made a career as a sound engineer, so that's kept me close to the music world. But a couple of months ago I had to pull out my homemade "marcelocaster" to record some sound cues for a theater play I was sound designing. And OMG did the guitar player in me wake up! I'm going nuts happy playing this guitar every chance I get. Did a major update/fix after watching hundreds of youTube luthier videos, and made this guitar super nice to play. And in this re-awoken addiction, I found your youTube channel, which I've become a fan of. So it's awesome to see your first guitar now! And your new St.Vincent guitar too!
wow, my 1st was a Hohner arbour series LP copy 83, but my second was the yammy pacifica exactly the same as yours, which i have just started to upgrade and bring back into my life, great stuff..
My first guitar was a child size acoustic which I got for Christmas when I was about 10. I never really got to grips with it - the strings hurt my fingers too much! Later I was the drummer in my first band and my girlfriend taught me to play guitar. I took to it this time and bought an acoustic from the brother of the singer in our band. I still have that acoustic. Thanks for bringing back those memories and sharing yours.
Great video, Mary! My first guitar was an olympic aged-white 1991 Fender Strat. I bought it second hand off of my local classified ad website. It was only $350. It's my favorite guitar. It is the best sounding and best-playing guitar that I've ever played. It looks amazing, too. White with a maple neck.
Great video. My first guitar was a Squire Stage master super strat with humbuckers and a floydrose trem. It was metallic gold (champagne ). And never stayed in tune. Sold it and got a Chapman which I love😊
My first guitar I bought was a used Fender Telecaster Std, Made in Mexico, satin finish on the back Maple neck, Alder body, jumbo frets, all 21 of them, with Alnico 2 pickups, in Midnight Wine, a perfect wine to go with Tipsy Chewsday Tawks.
I'd been just playing my older brother's guitars until I was 17, then I found a very decrepit Danelectro in a second hand store. For years, I thought I had a model U1 but the headstock is a slight variation on the coke bottle design. Turns out it's actually a Silvertone model C. Anyway, I'm 60 years old now and that li'l lipstick tube wonder is sitting right beside me as I type this. I tend to agree with the other comments about the pickguard on your Yamaha, Mary!
im not really a big fan of history in general but your little history of you and your guitar is an inspiration for me, because i can identify myself with your story and the guitar, especially the stickers :). Didnt really thought about how i changed as a guitar player since today, but when i look back at the early beginning, it helps me to understand me a bit more. So thank you for the beautiful video!
This may very well be my fave video you've done...if not, it's definitely in the top 5...I love that other people have similar stories to myself. I absolutely LOVE this video
I was given a Stella Harmony kind of downsized dreadnaught acoustic guitar - as was my older brother by 3 years - both the same gift, that is each of us received one of these guitars on Christmas Eve one year. The most memorable part of this for me was my dad's words as he walked up the hall to the living room where we were gathered around the Christmas tree. Holding one guitar case in each hand he announced, "If they can do it in Nashville we can do it here." My brother and I pretty much freaked out as we looked at these instruments with the possibilities flooding our thoughts. It was of course a beginner student guitar but I was thrilled to have it. It was 1967. I very much wish I still had it but the memory above and an endless litany of little things like that remark dad made - help me remember him. He was a kind and gentle man, mirthful in his unique way and a tear is welling up so I'll consider my comment complete. Thank you for gifting me with the opportunity to recall this - and it is a clear as well as cherished memory.
I got my first guitar for my 8th birthday. My parents got me a Kay 7/8ths size acoustic from an ad in the paper. It took Dad a year to get round to staring to teach me, but then there was no stopping me. I then got a Crafter acoustic when I was 12, and it's still my main guitar over 9 years later, with a Shadow pickup installed and plenty of battle scars! Still beats most other guitars I've played for feel and tone, and has been all over the place with me and done numerous gigs. I've since bought a 70s Yamaha classical, and a Squier Jazz bass. Still hunting for my first electric - I like the Pacificas, but my local shop also stocks some nice cheap Tele copies... watch this space!
You always seem so proper and mature. It's refreshing to re-imagine you as an angsty teen smashing out power chords lol. I learned on my dad's old silvertone from the sixties. Then when I saved up some money I bought an old Sears effector and (oh so carefully) painted AC/DC across the back. Love your videos. You're genuine and aren't afraid to have your own style.
My first "proper" guitar was a Wilson Rapier 44, and I still have it and I still play it. I gigged with it from '73 until '76, and by then I'd saved enough to buy a white Fender Strat with Maple neck & board. Still got that one as well!
This was my first guitar too. I'm in the process of painting it mermaid green and dropping a 57 in the bridge. The neck and middle position stock sounds great for jazz. Pacificas are great guitars.
My first electric guitar was a Japanese Fender Telecaster that I imported from the USA.I spent a lot of money upgrading the wiring,tuners and pickups and it's still my favourite guitar.
Hi Mary. Thanks for sharing your story, it was very recognisable. I grew up listening to AC/DC, and all I ever wanted was a guitar similar to Angus' SG. So I spent many weekends washing dishes at a local restaurant until I could afford my very own cherry red Epiphone SG! I played that guitar for many years but unfortunately it got stolen. Since then I've owned two more guitars - another Epiphone SG, "worn brown" this time (big fan of matte as well), and a honey burst Gibson Les Paul. Love your videos, keep up the good work. Cor from the Netherlands
Hi Mary, those dings are o.k. You've just created your own relic guitar, so it's special. One of a kind. My first guitar was given to me by my parents when I was 13 yrs old. It is a black Electra, Les Paul copy. I still have it and it still sounds great. Subbed and liked. Enjoying your videos.🎸👍😉
Encore Strat (red) bought for my 16th birthday from Fret Music in Southampton. I still have it now nearly 24 years later! I had a friend paint the scratchplate in a slightly psychedelic way, and have in the last year or two replaced some hardware that needed it, and yes it's still very special to me :) thanks for sharing your story
First guitar was a Series 10, a late 80s edition. Strat design with the pointy head. Black with yellow lightning body. Same pickup set up as your Yamaha. Got it and a pretty nice Crate amp for $100.00. After watching your vid, I'll now go and pull it from the closet that has kept it for so many years.
First guitar was also a nylon string classical type. It was my mothers when she was a kid in the 60s and wanted to be in the next 'Peter, Paul, and Mary'. I took a guitar class in 7th grade and used that guitar. Then I started taking private lessons from the teacher. I finally got a Hondo II acoustic .. suddenly it was much easier to do Barre chords :) First electric was a beat up 1972-73 Les Paul Standard that I paid $225 for in 1983. I still have all 3 guitars.
a mexican Fender Strat.. it was hard to get as I am from a small town and left handed player. I worked summers, saved up and refused any birthday gifts for 2/3 years. My mum still had to help and put some money in. some 16 years later, still have it and love it to bits!
My first guitar was a Kay LP copy with built in effects. I saved up for about a year and I remember going into Liverpool city centre to Hessys music store,that shop had a smell all it’s own. They gave me a gig bag and I remember sitting on the top deck of the bus home holding on to it like my life depended on it. One of the best days of a 15 year old lads life I’m now 55. The effects the Kay had were chorus fuzz and something called “whirlwind”? Was looking through a book on vintage guitars and there in the strange section was low and behold the Kay guitar
Cool archive footage. I think my favourite TT. First guitar? That would be my 1970 EKO 12 string, usually an 8/9 string. W/ a pickup from a friend, mounted and played through my goodmans hi fi amp and echoplex tape delay, 👍🏼.alas lost both to the great liberators, Thieving swines. Now have a Turner Jumbo. First electric? Quite recent, Epiphone Les Paul standard pro w/ Giga Delay - Loop Station. Much fun to be had. Best wishes. Keep it live.
Such a fun story! My first guitar was a Sysonics Strat style guitar I got from a catalog. It was a sunburst and it was heavy and hard to play, but I played it a lot.
Great story. Reminded me of how excited I was buying my first electric, a Kingston for 40 dollars in 1972. It was a Japanese import with a single pickup but I played the hound out of it.
My First Guitar that I purchased for myself is an Ibanez SZ320M which I bought in 2005 from Mansons in Exeter. I remember spending hours in the store picking the guitar and losing track of time by just how acoustically beautiful it sounded and resonated. I am sure much to the annoyance of the staff. But I finally chose the natural finish because that is what I could afford from the money I made at the part time job whilst I was at Uni. I have other more expensive guitars now but that one still feels like home each time I play it and I have haf many people try and offer to buy it from me. I would never part with it. I watched your other video about Mansons and it brought back some wonderful memories as I haven't been back since Uni so thank you for that. Keep doing the cool stuff you are doing and the great music.
Great vid, thanks for sharing! : ) Brings back memories of when I was 15 getting a used beat up old Gibson SG. Same as you waking up and looking across the room and thinking "oh my god! that's mine!".
My first guitar story isn't very interesting, but thinking about the history of instruments and the emotional attachment that that engenders reminds me of this story. I'm a Canadian now living in rural Australia. I studied Classical guitar performance in Uni and spent the better part of the 90's playing in several independent/punk bands that no one who didn't live in that city at that time would have heard of. On Saturday Feb 7 2009 a series of bush fires started in the State of Victoria that have collectively become know as The Black Saturday bush fires. One of those fires started 30 or so kilometers from my home. At that time my wife and I didn't own a car. By the time we realised that we may be in trouble and should flee we had no way of doing so. All our neighbours had either fled themselves or were planning on staying and defending their homes. We had a three year old child, so defending wasn't even remotely sensible. I ran over to our local pub and asked if we could shelter there if it came to it. They had a basement and lots of hands to help defend. Being decent folk they told us that they'd come get us if it came to that. Plan in place, we prepared as best we could. We made up go-bags with the essentials: nappies, phone chargers,water, vital documents and so on. (Later I found the tie I wore at my wedding in one bag. Ms. Fishy had put there without mentioning it. Sometimes love sneaks up on you.) That done, I had time to think. I felt that I could carry one guitar in a gig bag and not risk myself or my family. But that presented a problem: which one? It came down to two. I have a concert grade classical guitar, made in Madrid by the apprentice of a real, recognised master. Not the very top shelf of course, but far better that I could ever hope to afford to replace. And I have my beat up, much modified Tokai strat copy that's been through the wars with me. Both have sentimental value. That time spent learning classical guitar and the theory and music history that went with it has deeply informed who I am as player. And you could say that that time in my life defined my as a person too. That nylon stringed beauty is the only tangible thing I have left from then. Hell, it even documents my shift from acoustic to electric; there's a dent on the top where the first distortion box I ever owned fell out of my locker and landed on it. The Tokai too has scars, many more in fact. The most memorable is a gash in the back of the headstock where I sheared off the top of our bass player's beer glass. He was climbing back on stage for the second set and I didn't know he was behind me. I spun around from fiddling with my amp and the headstock left him with the base of his glass and beer foam up to his shoulder. I can read all that time making music in airless rooms, with all those people whom I loved and hated and loved again, just by looking at that guitar. In the end I didn't have to decide. The sun went down and the three quarters of the sky lit up like the devil's own campfire. And suddenly it didn't matter. They could both burn, everything could burn, so long as I got my wife and child out of there safely. I was a different person the next morning. I still have both guitars, the 1:30 am wind shift saved us, but I've never looked at them quite the same way as I did before that night.
What an incredible story. I'm glad you were all safe and sound, but you definitely have a way with words as I became very nervous reading it! Thank you so much for writing this comment, I made this video for you.
Thanks Mary, though I don't for a second believe you made this video for me in particular. :) I've been meaning to say that I happened across your channel by chance and am very glad that I did. Not only is your music fantastic, (Fingerstyle for life, yo!) but it just so happens that I own a bicycle store and we bikey folk need to stick together. In fact, I'm at work right now avoiding that bike over there (Yes I see you looking at me Mr. Genesis, with your Alfine hub and stupid Hope brakes.) The one that refuses to stop squeaking no matter what I do. I told the customer that if he came to pick it up and there was smoking crater where the store was, it was his bike's fault that I blew everything up and embarked on a cross-country crime spree... Back to it then. All the best.
Very entertaining vid. My first was a used Framus bass around 1965. Odd, as about 3 years before it was my older brothers first bass & just happened to come back up for sale.
Awesome story! I think it's something we can all relate to. There's just something about that first guitar. I agree to what many people here have suggested of keeping the pick guard as it is, or changing it while keeping the original. I think those stickers, the dents, and scratches look cool. They're also part of your memory of who you are, and what you and that guitar went through.
My first guitar was a squire mini start. I knew nothing about guitar at the time (I think I was seven) and didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't until later that I got my first lesson and I pretty quickly outgrew the mini guitar. I still have it today and it still works, I like to keep it as a reminder of the growth I've made
I absolutely love this video, and your PACIFICA is just perfect the way it's :) It reminded me a lot of my first guitar too, I live in tunisia and back in the days we didn't have that much og high quality guitars around. My late mum used to rock an old Candy Red EKO Stratocaster knock of she purchased back in 1969. The neck was destroyed when she passed it to me and luckily, a relatives sell me an old destroyed EPIPHONE Casino. I basicaly learn't craftman ship and put the Epiphone neck on that old Red Body. And I still have this baby until now.
My first guitar was a black Fender Strat, which my uncle brought over from America in 1988. I was about 17 and I'll never forget the first time I opened the case and saw it. It was for my 17th birthday and I've still got it. Love that axe lol
My first guitar was a black ovation acoustic. My mom bought it for me after I had to leave Berklee due to my dad’s terminal illness. I intended to be a jazz pianist. I was so heartbroken that I had to leave that I still don’t play piano very much, even all these years later. I’m self-taught fingerstyle and my current fave guitar is my Breedlove concerto acoustic. My bucket list guitar? A ST VINCENT OF COURSE!!!!! Even a Sterling version. She is a huge inspiration to me as well as Jack White (who plays one as well). When I saw you playing one too I was like...omg!!!!!!! You should seriously cover her! You’d be amazing! All the best!!!!
This was my first guitar as well. My cousin had a Black squire Strat and he used to play Million Miles Away by Offspring. We were always really competitive as kids so I decided I wanted a guitar but I didn't want the same one that he had. I was lucky that my parents bought me my first guitar for my 15th birthday and ever since I have been in love with playing the guitar. Over the years I have had many different guitars but my Yamaha has always been in my rack. Wouldn't be the man I am now without it. Love the videos keep up the good work.
🎸My BEGINNER Guitar Course! maryspendermasterclass.teachable.com/
🎥Support my work and get EXCLUSIVE videos/music: patreon.com/maryspender
👕My Official Store (SIGNED MERCH): store.maryspender.com/
Nooooooooo, leave these stickers on!! you've still got and will have plentybof clean looking guitars, but this one is part of your life. Just leave it as it is
Don't worry I will!
I liked it nice story
I am noel hi
I was waiting for 8 month i guess I was to God it was when I am 13half it seems
finally I got that time I did know much about guitars. it was bullshut. but still it was nice it's my first guitar. recently i. bought a new guitar good guitar stays in tune
Great story! If you want to change the pickguard, buy a replacement and keep the original. It is a connection to your roots that I bet you will appreciate 20 years from now - even if you are a little embarrassed. :) You could always frame it!
KingKatt1963 I was thinking the same thing. Great idea
that's a great idea!
yes indeed
I agree absolutely! Mary, you may think now that the stickers look naff, but I really think you will regret it at some time in the future if you just got rid of them.
I still have my first electric, a cheap Sumbro SG 'copy', although not really close. I repainted it twice and changed the p/ups, but I would never get rid of it!
There was a joke in Private Eye about art restoration "Using a technique known as 'sanding' we where able to see the bare boards Rubens would have seen before he started painting." Keep the stickers!
For a replacement, eBay item: 190949567330
don't change the pickguard, one day when you are much more famous, that can be you signature guitar to be made. : )
:)
Mine was, and still is my Blue Squire Strat, I bought 17 years ago. I still have and play it, with its teenage-inspired stickers. Thank you for sharing your first guitar and it's stickers. A very fun story/video, and keep the pick guard even if you modify it. I plan on doing the same with mine.
My first 6 string was a fender telecoustic back in high school. My little brother still has it. After a bad experience in a band I stopped playing for about 10 years. Just bought my second first guitar a couple of months ago, a used, wine red, epiphone dot studio. I wake up in shock that it's there every day. I'm so glad to be back
oh come on! Leav it as it is! It's part of your journey ;-)
Okay, I love that 90's Punkrock look!
haha you're right
Agreed. I think the stickers along with the natural finish gives it an interesting, unique vibe.
I think I would leave that guitar intact the way it is. All those stickers and dings are who you were at the time, and especially being that it was your first guitar that you saved up for and bought. Think of all the history and emotion that makes that guitar what it is!
Great video as usual!
Thanks Marc!
You definitely pulled at my heartstrings with this story Mary, your honesty and transparency is truly one of your greatest gifts dear lady.
This story actually made me relive some very long ago almost forgotten memories of my first guitar and the overwhelming excitement of what it felt like. Thank you Mary, you are a blessing on many levels. Danny in Texas
I remember you hanging out every Saturday. So pleased to see you doing so well!
Such a beautiful city!!!!! You are a beautiful soul
I agree with keeping the stickers. Replace the guard if you like but keep the old guard stickers n all. Frame it & hang it even! Got me all emotional with that one. Thank you for sharing Mary.
I also had Pacifica as my first ever electric guitar. i still play it until now, i play mostly gibson SG now. But i will never forget that guitar
Great story Mary. My first was a beat up small Goya classical nylon strings. I carried it with me when I went into the navy and it went with me to Taiwan, Vietnam,east coast of US and finally fell apart from so much humidity and temp change. My next was A D16M Martin which I still have, along with 30 other guitars, including a Vigier I got from my French representative in 1991when I had my business. He got for me and sent to in the US. Still have it and am now playing again because of your inspiration. Best quality guitar I ever had.
I loved listening to you recall your earliest memories with guitar, and how it started the life of music you have now. My first guitar was also a Pacifica 112 which happens to also be at my parents house. Definitely took my own trip down memory lane here
I don't have an electric guitar yet! I do have a nylon classical guitar with a HUGE neck that is killing me little by little lol. At the moment I'm in the same situation you once was: fancying every single guitar, the only difference is that in not cropping pictures and drawing but watching videos like yours!
Well thank you for watching! Let me know when you do make the big step towards another guitar! Those necks can be tough, but it'll also make your playing even better for when you switch!
Vitoiria B. The fancying every guitar you see will never stop!! I am telling you that even now that I own several I can't walk passed a music shop or look on a guitar site without thinking how absolutely amazing all the guitars look that I see. In the end just go for the one that you want most for what ever reason that may be, and enjoy the beginnings of a guitar collection! :D
Ahh the first guitar - yes I remember it well. I was 8 years old and after much grilling my parents bought me a $40.00 American 1/4 size Spanish nylon string guitar for my birthday - a landmark day indeed
:)
aww how cute! I still have and play my only squier telecaster that I bought like 10 years ago!
Yay!
OMG!! Mary you were ADORABLE .. Please show us more of your old videos...😍😍😍😍. My first guitar was a Fender Performer. I no longer have it.. Needed money...her name was Jennifer...it was Blonde.. Broke up with girl friend at the time. Was really depressed...walked in to a pawn shop bought the guitar to get my mind off of the break up. Didn't know how to play at the time..started taking lessons.😊 and never looked back. Now its been over 20 plus year 💖❤
Was awesome to hear the reminiscing! My first guitar was a nylon string acoustic that I ordered from SEARS, because I was learning guitar in music class in high school. Over 20 years later it still has the same strings and needs the neck glued. Thanks for the memories!!!
Thanks for commenting Samuel!
Always wanted an electric guitar, since being a preteen. My wife bought me an acoustic many years ago. It was nice but not an electric. Now i'm in my 50's, I finally bought a Squire Telecaster a few years ago. I'm still very much a beginner but learning and loving it.
That guitar looks awesome......stickers and relic are what makes it yours and personal ....I have a 95 studio lite that barely has paint left.... rock on!
My God, Mary. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful and private story as well as a slice of your life!
For most of us, I’d think, our instruments become a touchstone to our reality; who we are and how we became that way. A reminder of our journey through life.
As for me, my mother was a concert pianist. I grew up falling asleep to her practicing, running scales to warm up, playing Chopin or Bach... of course I was put in piano lessons (with the same crazy Russian master she learned from) and promptly disregarded piano.
Fast forward many years... I was a young, newly returned from war American soldier trying to deal with what I had been through. After climbing at least part way out of the bottle, I rediscovered music. It had always sorta been there as background but suddenly it came bursting to the forefront.
I couldn’t exactly buy a piano; I lived the life of a bachelor soldier, in the barracks and pretty much ready to jump (move) at a moments notice. Pianos weigh A LOT! I needed something more transportable. The only choral instrument that fit the bill for me was a guitar.
My first was an epiphone strat copy (somewhat ironic I think, considering Gibson’s stance). I was so green that I asked the guy if I could see the red epiphany! That turned out to be prophetic though I never really bonded with that guitar.
The first “Oh My God! I can’t believe I own this guitar!” Moment for me was the epiphones replacement. An American ultra strat plus (I didn’t know that the lace sensors weren’t exactly vintage single coils). I was playing through a cheap crate practice amp which sounded pretty terrible clean but could almost sound ok with a little dirt. So I would play acoustically, my barracks mates seemed to appreciate that. That guitar stayed with me through many trials and tribulations for many years. Until I fell on hard times after leaving the Army and had to sell it to make rent.
No guitar (after going through many, including some great ones, 1960 LP comes to mind) has held that same spot in my heart since....
Until now (possibly)....
I’m building a 1959 Strat... my own blood sweat and tears going into it... MY specifications on the feel of the neck, body shape, and electronics to be paired with a ‘57 champ.
It’s a pandemic project! Lol
I had a Yamaha Acoustic '78 I think, and my dad played it strung lefty. I restrung it righty and bashed out as much nirvana and Pearl Jam as I could manage. When I was 15 I got a Squire Strat (black and white like Clapton!!) and a Fender Princeton Chorus amp (solid state) and just woodshedded power chords... ahhh the memories! Great Story Mary!
Memories indeed :D
Hi Mary, great videos. My first electric guitar was exactly the same, pacifica 112 in natural finish, and I still have it. Great guitar and many memories with it and it will never be sold or parted with. Great to see and hear you still have yours.
I just discovered Mary, I love her soooooo much. I'm watching all her videos.
Great story, and with some footage to boot. Started out on a Cort 45 travel guitar that I had saved up for a while. I didn't have an amp, so I rigged something together using a Radio Shack/Tandy electronics kit (as a preamp) into old Phillips valve radio that used to be my grandmother's. It was quite a jazzy, vintage sound.
The pickguard looks great to me, it's part of your journey as a musician, I hope you kept it
My first guitar was a Behringer strat coppy, it was stolen many years ago, and I miss it so much now.
Love your videos, big fan from México 🤘🏻
First guitar was a cheap nylon strung acoustic when I was 11 (1971), followed by a Kay semi acoustic from Woolworths the following year. I soon traded for a second hand black les Paul copy which I think I slept with I was so stoked to have it!
haha amazing!
Great first guitar story. Love it. See the pic next to my comments to you. Its my first electric guitar in 1964 I was 14 at the time. its a Harmony Stratatone. I still have it and it plays very well yet. Its 54 years old. Thanks for the memories.
Great video, the home videos of you playing were cool. Reminded me of the load of videos my school band made over 5 years, including some horrific mistakes we made live!!
I had two first guitars sort of, a cheep £90 strat copy my younger brother had got from Costco which I just sort of got because he stop playing. And I had a Tangelwood electro-acoustic that I paid half for and my parents kindly payed the rest!! I still have both, and use them occasionally them always with surprise at how good they are for the amount that was paid for them!!
Wow haha yes there are plenty more home videos that shall arise at some point!
Mary, first of all, I love your music and songwriting! My first guitars were given to me by my Dad and Uncle (a DiGiorgio classical and an early 70s Teisco Del Rey, respectively). My first store-bought (not previously owned) was a Yamaha...a Yamaha SE150...one humbucker, candy red, rosewood board..all mine! I still own and play it. to me, it's worth it to keep your first guitar in rotation as it can stir early memories and, for me at least, I play a little differently because of the history and memories associated with it.
Amazing video and a great story I can relate too. That first guitar is the beginning of a journey that last a lifetime. The guitar has been instrumental to my inner expression. My first guitar was a Kramer Striker 1000. After 30+ years I am glad I got it although I no longer own it.
Thanks for sharing your story.
very good vlog, keep the pick guard the way it is, it's a good reminder of where you came from.
My first electric was an old squier tele, blonde with a white guard, that belonged to my uncle, who sadly passed away half an hour before I was born, and he left it to my dad, and when I decided to start a band, my dad gave it to me. It always sounds awesome, whether it's into an ac30, a fender, or selmer, or whatever, it's a great guitar, and I am most comfortable when I'm playing that guitar, because it's what I've learnt and developed on.
Wow :)
That's a great story behind your first guitar, and it's the same as my first one (no stickers for me though, the one's on your have to stay, they're part of your story). Got it purely due to me finding the neck more comfy than any other guitar in that price range as there was no other criteria for me to judge it on as I couldn't even strum a chord when I got it. That was less than a year ago, at the age of 36, and now I'm wondering, why not earlier. It has brought me so much joy and I hope it'll keep doing that for many, many more years to come. The world of music is beautiful and fascinating.
Hallo Mary, my story with the guitar is also special. As a boy, in the 70s, the Stratocaster electric guitar was my dream, but my parents saw the rock music as the plague...so the dream stopped. a few years later I bought a guitar for little money but fate reserved another surprise for me: a problem with the left wrist with which I could not hold the fretbord... I Had to play left-handed but at that time it was an excessive difficulty for me, and there wasn’t. so it ended there. Two years ago, in the covid time and a new retired era, I decided to restart, and today there are left-handed guitars (!). Now I'm a guitarist little more than a beginner, but I started, and with a master musician and friend of me, in my age, who has WITH A LOT OF PATIENCE! :-) My first guitar is a PRS SE Ccustom 24 Lefty. It was what at this time was passible to find and not to expensive because all others possibilties were exausted in covid era. I’m been lucky!
But you know, starting playing guitar guitar after 65 is not the same as a young man, and play left hanfed if you are not is also not simple for the strumming hand, but today I am very happy!🎸.
I founded your channel by chance… and I returned because of you enthusiasm on your playing and your spontaneity. 🙏
I got my first guitar, a Stagg Strat copy, when I was 12 or 13 for Christmas because my sister could play Muse riffs and I was jealous. I quickly covered it in stickers (pickguard and the finish) then regretted it soon after. Trying to remove said stickers with a hair dryer ended up melting the finish that was on it which only made it look worse.
My uncle is an artist and he offered to take it apart and repaint it for me, I asked him to surprise me and got back a gorgeous motorhead inspired mural on my old strat. I've been meaning to replace the stock electronics and hardware for years because I really want to do it justice, I just need to get around to it.
WOW!
those Yamahas are better than Squiers in the same price range, you did well.
yay 11 year old meee
you can get some Squier guitars for cheap, because the Yamaha Pacifica is about the same price. the first guitar i ever bought was a Squier Affinity Stratocaster for $175 US dollars.
@@ravenjames3873 I got a Squier 51 " Blonde for $99.00 new from MF . It's a killer guitar . I would love the Pacifica 311 or 611 ...check those out .
I loved that classic sunburst Fender body style as a kid. I too thought people who play guitar were the coolest thing ever. Finally, my parents finally decided on my 12th birthday that if I spent all the time I did playing RockBand for the Wii, I'd be a halfway decent guitar player. Didn't know the difference between a Squier vs a Stratocaster back then, so my own lil sunburst Squire was such a dream come true at the time!
Wow! Great story :D haha yes I played computer games too when I should have been practicing. Mainly the Sims though haha
thumbs up for "tipsy tuesday talks" haha jk. it's very kewl that you still have your 1st guitar. i sort of wish i still had mine but i had to give it up to get my SZ and i'm not really too upset about that. PS needs more stickers! :D
"Tipsy Tuesday Talks" is definitely in my future!
i suppose you can't be a proper blues musician without a bit of alcoholism mixed in lol :P
Very cool to hear yours memories from the first guitar
Enjoyed that......After many many years of doing nothing, OK I couldn't do much anyway except a few chords, I've decided to teach myself how to read music. So out of the loft came my old Squire strat, a quick clean and restring and yay it still works :)
:)
That pickguard is the best part! :)
I have a similar looking Ibanez that I'm thinking of sanding down and doing a Tru oil finish because after doing three necks in true oil and gun stock wax it is my new favorite thing. It makes the wood grain look really beautiful. seriously, you've got to try it!
It just looks like you have your life all over that guitar. Change the strings = restored. Done. I wouldn't change a thing. (well.. ok.. the Katy Perry sticker has to go, but... other than that...). :-)
I still have my first guitar (1975 Alvarez acoustic) and I still play it almost every day and it sounds amazing.
haha
I like your name. Mine was a 1976 Gibson SG, About $325 in the states. Wish I hadn't sold it when I quit playing in 1980. Picked it up again in 1988. bought a USA made B.C. Rich Warlock, Still have it. Needs a set up desperately. Tried to do myself to no avail. Hanging on my wall. Still can't play very well but it's a hobby. Buying pedals now and equipment. Was probably at my best in 93 when I moved to Florida. Trying to recapture my youth. Had a 1979 Marshall 100 watt half stack. Boy do I Miss that. Got a JCM2000 but it's definitely not the same.
I learned to play the guitar on borrowed guitars from friends and relatives when I was ten. I even auditioned for my high school's jazz band with a borrowed Gibson Les Paul and 2x12 Marshal and got the guitar position on the jazz band. But I needed my own guitar and amp now. Coming from a single parent family, my mom couldn't afford to buy me a new guitar and amp. But some how she came up with the money and in 1980 she bought me a used 1970 Hohner Gibson Les Paul copy and a brand new Peavey Backstage Plus 1x8 amp. These was the first guitar that was mine. I still have the Hohner. The Peavey was stolen a long time ago. Thank you for sharing this with us Mary!
My 1st was a used Lotus Les Paul clone with a Peter Green out of phase switch..bought it in 85, I still have it..I still suck at playing but I keep plugging away....love your playing...greetings from usa
Very cool story! My first guitar was also a Yamaha: an RGX guitar (i believe it was a 612) in candy-red (that was 32 years ago). I don't have it anymore as I needed to upgrade and had no money to get a second one... so I sold it, added a little of my savings and and got a black Jackson Dinky with a Floyd Rose (it was all about a whammy bar in the 80's). Now I play mostly Gibson Les Pauls and Paul Reed Smith Custom 24's - Love your music and your very natural approach to music... Very refreshing channel you've got.... and you have a beautiful smile too! Cheers from Costa Rica
Thanks for this episode. It made my almost cry..(emotional cry). I had the same first el. guitar. Bought in 1998. I still have it and despite of using other guitars i still love it.:) Greetings!
Very nice ! Beautiful country !
TUESDAY TAAAALKS!
Already such a bad-ass intro...
haha :D
What a great first guitar, Just do a setup don't change anything it look great. It's part of you, ware your past with pride. My first guitar was a Warwick fortress One Bass with P/J pickups in red. Never going to pasr with it looks great sounds great.
I have my dad's 50's Silvertone guitar that he bought after returning from WWII and started his family. It was the first guitar I ever played, and I have kept it in shape. I played my first song in front of my 6th grade class with it, then got interested in folk, then rock, started my first band in 1965(high school). I eventually got my degrees in music, sang opera a few years in NYC, taught math/technology. Now I am 72, and nothing gives me more joy than to tinker with a guitar, and learning new songs. I did a little repair work on my Dad's guitar and now it sounds great; I also have bought some other old guitars and fixed them(Harmony H22 bass, Stella classical 1969). I am currently modding out an Epiphone Melody Maker E1 with Lindy Fralin p90's and a better wiring harness(I call it my Po'Boy 50's Les Paul). I have a pic of my dad from 1938-9 with his resonator guitar, the same time he met my mom. His Silvertone guitar has a neck(no truss rod) like a railroad tie and doesn't sound that good, but the intrinsic value is priceless. Keep the Yamaha forever, you won't regret it.
I made my first guitar when I was 14. Played it for 11years, bought an ibanez, and after 2 years I completely abandoned guitar playing. I've made a career as a sound engineer, so that's kept me close to the music world. But a couple of months ago I had to pull out my homemade "marcelocaster" to record some sound cues for a theater play I was sound designing. And OMG did the guitar player in me wake up! I'm going nuts happy playing this guitar every chance I get. Did a major update/fix after watching hundreds of youTube luthier videos, and made this guitar super nice to play. And in this re-awoken addiction, I found your youTube channel, which I've become a fan of. So it's awesome to see your first guitar now! And your new St.Vincent guitar too!
I really enjoyed this, great story. I love hearing about stuff that gives insight to where you came from and how you got to where you are xx
Thanks so much for watching Trinity! x
wow, my 1st was a Hohner arbour series LP copy 83, but my second was the yammy pacifica exactly the same as yours, which i have just started to upgrade and bring back into my life, great stuff..
My first guitar was a child size acoustic which I got for Christmas when I was about 10. I never really got to grips with it - the strings hurt my fingers too much! Later I was the drummer in my first band and my girlfriend taught me to play guitar. I took to it this time and bought an acoustic from the brother of the singer in our band. I still have that acoustic. Thanks for bringing back those memories and sharing yours.
Wow thanks for sharing your story Kevin :D
Great video, Mary!
My first guitar was an olympic aged-white 1991 Fender Strat. I bought it second hand off of my local classified ad website. It was only $350.
It's my favorite guitar. It is the best sounding and best-playing guitar that I've ever played. It looks amazing, too. White with a maple neck.
Great video.
My first guitar was a Squire Stage master super strat with humbuckers and a floydrose trem. It was metallic gold (champagne ).
And never stayed in tune. Sold it and got a Chapman which I love😊
My first guitar I bought was a used Fender Telecaster Std, Made in Mexico, satin finish on the back Maple neck, Alder body, jumbo frets, all 21 of them, with Alnico 2 pickups, in Midnight Wine, a perfect wine to go with Tipsy Chewsday Tawks.
I'd been just playing my older brother's guitars until I was 17, then I found a very decrepit Danelectro in a second hand store. For years, I thought I had a model U1 but the headstock is a slight variation on the coke bottle design. Turns out it's actually a Silvertone model C. Anyway, I'm 60 years old now and that li'l lipstick tube wonder is sitting right beside me as I type this. I tend to agree with the other comments about the pickguard on your Yamaha, Mary!
im not really a big fan of history in general but your little history of you and your guitar is an inspiration for me, because i can identify myself with your story and the guitar, especially the stickers :). Didnt really thought about how i changed as a guitar player since today, but when i look back at the early beginning, it helps me to understand me a bit more. So thank you for the beautiful video!
This may very well be my fave video you've done...if not, it's definitely in the top 5...I love that other people have similar stories to myself. I absolutely LOVE this video
I was given a Stella Harmony kind of downsized dreadnaught acoustic guitar - as was my older brother by 3 years - both the same gift, that is each of us received one of these guitars on Christmas Eve one year. The most memorable part of this for me was my dad's words as he walked up the hall to the living room where we were gathered around the Christmas tree. Holding one guitar case in each hand he announced, "If they can do it in Nashville we can do it here." My brother and I pretty much freaked out as we looked at these instruments with the possibilities flooding our thoughts. It was of course a beginner student guitar but I was thrilled to have it. It was 1967. I very much wish I still had it but the memory above and an endless litany of little things like that remark dad made - help me remember him. He was a kind and gentle man, mirthful in his unique way and a tear is welling up so I'll consider my comment complete. Thank you for gifting me with the opportunity to recall this - and it is a clear as well as cherished memory.
I got my first guitar for my 8th birthday. My parents got me a Kay 7/8ths size acoustic from an ad in the paper. It took Dad a year to get round to staring to teach me, but then there was no stopping me. I then got a Crafter acoustic when I was 12, and it's still my main guitar over 9 years later, with a Shadow pickup installed and plenty of battle scars! Still beats most other guitars I've played for feel and tone, and has been all over the place with me and done numerous gigs. I've since bought a 70s Yamaha classical, and a Squier Jazz bass. Still hunting for my first electric - I like the Pacificas, but my local shop also stocks some nice cheap Tele copies... watch this space!
You always seem so proper and mature. It's refreshing to re-imagine you as an angsty teen smashing out power chords lol.
I learned on my dad's old silvertone from the sixties. Then when I saved up some money I bought an old Sears effector and (oh so carefully) painted AC/DC across the back.
Love your videos. You're genuine and aren't afraid to have your own style.
Genuine relic-ing. love it.
My first "proper" guitar was a Wilson Rapier 44, and I still have it and I still play it. I gigged with it from '73 until '76, and by then I'd saved enough to buy a white Fender Strat with Maple neck & board. Still got that one as well!
This was my first guitar too. I'm in the process of painting it mermaid green and dropping a 57 in the bridge. The neck and middle position stock sounds great for jazz. Pacificas are great guitars.
My first was also a Pacifica...a 521. Christmas present when I was 14. Still have it 26 years later.
My first electric guitar was a Japanese Fender Telecaster that I imported from the USA.I spent a lot of money upgrading the wiring,tuners and pickups and it's still my favourite guitar.
:)
Hi Mary. Thanks for sharing your story, it was very recognisable. I grew up listening to AC/DC, and all I ever wanted was a guitar similar to Angus' SG. So I spent many weekends washing dishes at a local restaurant until I could afford my very own cherry red Epiphone SG! I played that guitar for many years but unfortunately it got stolen. Since then I've owned two more guitars - another Epiphone SG, "worn brown" this time (big fan of matte as well), and a honey burst Gibson Les Paul. Love your videos, keep up the good work. Cor from the Netherlands
Hi Mary, those dings are o.k. You've just created your own relic guitar, so it's special. One of a kind. My first guitar was given to me by my parents when I was 13 yrs old. It is a black Electra, Les Paul copy. I still have it and it still sounds great. Subbed and liked. Enjoying your videos.🎸👍😉
Those Pacificas were/are great guitars! I have a natural finish Pacifica Tele and it is absolutely one of my favorites. The neck is just right.
Wow!
Encore Strat (red) bought for my 16th birthday from Fret Music in Southampton. I still have it now nearly 24 years later! I had a friend paint the scratchplate in a slightly psychedelic way, and have in the last year or two replaced some hardware that needed it, and yes it's still very special to me :) thanks for sharing your story
First guitar was a Series 10, a late 80s edition. Strat design with the pointy head. Black with yellow lightning body. Same pickup set up as your Yamaha. Got it and a pretty nice Crate amp for $100.00. After watching your vid, I'll now go and pull it from the closet that has kept it for so many years.
oh please do!
First guitar was also a nylon string classical type. It was my mothers when she was a kid in the 60s and wanted to be in the next 'Peter, Paul, and Mary'. I took a guitar class in 7th grade and used that guitar. Then I started taking private lessons from the teacher. I finally got a Hondo II acoustic .. suddenly it was much easier to do Barre chords :) First electric was a beat up 1972-73 Les Paul Standard that I paid $225 for in 1983. I still have all 3 guitars.
Yay :D
a mexican Fender Strat.. it was hard to get as I am from a small town and left handed player. I worked summers, saved up and refused any birthday gifts for 2/3 years. My mum still had to help and put some money in. some 16 years later, still have it and love it to bits!
My first guitar was a Kay LP copy with built in effects. I saved up for about a year and I remember going into Liverpool city centre to Hessys music store,that shop had a smell all it’s own. They gave me a gig bag and I remember sitting on the top deck of the bus home holding on to it like my life depended on it. One of the best days of a 15 year old lads life I’m now 55. The effects the Kay had were chorus fuzz and something called “whirlwind”? Was looking through a book on vintage guitars and there in the strange section was low and behold the Kay guitar
also started on a Pacifica that's still in my parents' attic back home :) I still play it every time I go back and visit. GREAT starter guitar!
:)
Cool archive footage. I think my favourite TT.
First guitar? That would be my 1970 EKO 12 string, usually an 8/9 string. W/ a pickup from a friend, mounted and played through my goodmans hi fi amp and echoplex tape delay, 👍🏼.alas lost both to the great liberators, Thieving swines.
Now have a Turner Jumbo.
First electric? Quite recent, Epiphone Les Paul standard pro w/ Giga Delay - Loop Station.
Much fun to be had.
Best wishes. Keep it live.
Yay well thanks for watching :D
Such a fun story! My first guitar was a Sysonics Strat style guitar I got from a catalog. It was a sunburst and it was heavy and hard to play, but I played it a lot.
Great story. Reminded me of how excited I was buying my first electric, a Kingston for 40 dollars in 1972. It was a Japanese import with a single pickup but I played the hound out of it.
Hell yeah I bet you did!
I didn't expect that you would have been into punk and rock like that, given your playing style. I think it's very cool.
My First Guitar that I purchased for myself is an Ibanez SZ320M which I bought in 2005 from Mansons in Exeter. I remember spending hours in the store picking the guitar and losing track of time by just how acoustically beautiful it sounded and resonated. I am sure much to the annoyance of the staff. But I finally chose the natural finish because that is what I could afford from the money I made at the part time job whilst I was at Uni. I have other more expensive guitars now but that one still feels like home each time I play it and I have haf many people try and offer to buy it from me. I would never part with it. I watched your other video about Mansons and it brought back some wonderful memories as I haven't been back since Uni so thank you for that. Keep doing the cool stuff you are doing and the great music.
Great vid, thanks for sharing! : ) Brings back memories of when I was 15 getting a used beat up old Gibson SG. Same as you waking up and looking across the room and thinking "oh my god! that's mine!".
My first guitar story isn't very interesting, but thinking about the history of instruments and the emotional attachment that that engenders reminds me of this story.
I'm a Canadian now living in rural Australia. I studied Classical guitar performance in Uni and spent the better part of the 90's playing in several independent/punk bands that no one who didn't live in that city at that time would have heard of.
On Saturday Feb 7 2009 a series of bush fires started in the State of Victoria that have collectively become know as The Black Saturday bush fires. One of those fires started 30 or so kilometers from my home. At that time my wife and I didn't own a car. By the time we realised that we may be in trouble and should flee we had no way of doing so. All our neighbours had either fled themselves or were planning on staying and defending their homes. We had a three year old child, so defending wasn't even remotely sensible.
I ran over to our local pub and asked if we could shelter there if it came to it. They had a basement and lots of hands to help defend. Being decent folk they told us that they'd come get us if it came to that.
Plan in place, we prepared as best we could. We made up go-bags with the essentials: nappies, phone chargers,water, vital documents and so on. (Later I found the tie I wore at my wedding in one bag. Ms. Fishy had put there without mentioning it. Sometimes love sneaks up on you.) That done, I had time to think. I felt that I could carry one guitar in a gig bag and not risk myself or my family. But that presented a problem: which one?
It came down to two. I have a concert grade classical guitar, made in Madrid by the apprentice of a real, recognised master. Not the very top shelf of course, but far better that I could ever hope to afford to replace. And I have my beat up, much modified Tokai strat copy that's been through the wars with me.
Both have sentimental value. That time spent learning classical guitar and the theory and music history that went with it has deeply informed who I am as player. And you could say that that time in my life defined my as a person too. That nylon stringed beauty is the only tangible thing I have left from then. Hell, it even documents my shift from acoustic to electric; there's a dent on the top where the first distortion box I ever owned fell out of my locker and landed on it.
The Tokai too has scars, many more in fact. The most memorable is a gash in the back of the headstock where I sheared off the top of our bass player's beer glass. He was climbing back on stage for the second set and I didn't know he was behind me. I spun around from fiddling with my amp and the headstock left him with the base of his glass and beer foam up to his shoulder. I can read all that time making music in airless rooms, with all those people whom I loved and hated and loved again, just by looking at that guitar.
In the end I didn't have to decide.
The sun went down and the three quarters of the sky lit up like the devil's own campfire. And suddenly it didn't matter. They could both burn, everything could burn, so long as I got my wife and child out of there safely.
I was a different person the next morning. I still have both guitars, the 1:30 am wind shift saved us, but I've never looked at them quite the same way as I did before that night.
Thats a great story, Mr Fishy, and very well written too. I know exactly which of my guitars I'd save. Tnks for sharing.
What an incredible story. I'm glad you were all safe and sound, but you definitely have a way with words as I became very nervous reading it! Thank you so much for writing this comment, I made this video for you.
Thanks. Kind of you to say.
Thanks Mary, though I don't for a second believe you made this video for me in particular. :)
I've been meaning to say that I happened across your channel by chance and am very glad that I did. Not only is your music fantastic, (Fingerstyle for life, yo!) but it just so happens that I own a bicycle store and we bikey folk need to stick together. In fact, I'm at work right now avoiding that bike over there (Yes I see you looking at me Mr. Genesis, with your Alfine hub and stupid Hope brakes.) The one that refuses to stop squeaking no matter what I do. I told the customer that if he came to pick it up and there was smoking crater where the store was, it was his bike's fault that I blew everything up and embarked on a cross-country crime spree...
Back to it then. All the best.
very interesting story
Very entertaining vid. My first was a used Framus bass around 1965. Odd, as about 3 years before it was my older brothers first bass & just happened to come back up for sale.
A GENUINE relic at last !!!!!!!!
Awesome story! I think it's something we can all relate to. There's just something about that first guitar. I agree to what many people here have suggested of keeping the pick guard as it is, or changing it while keeping the original. I think those stickers, the dents, and scratches look cool. They're also part of your memory of who you are, and what you and that guitar went through.
:)
My first guitar was a squire mini start. I knew nothing about guitar at the time (I think I was seven) and didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't until later that I got my first lesson and I pretty quickly outgrew the mini guitar. I still have it today and it still works, I like to keep it as a reminder of the growth I've made
Love this
I absolutely love this video, and your PACIFICA is just perfect the way it's :)
It reminded me a lot of my first guitar too, I live in tunisia and back in the days we didn't have that much og high quality guitars around.
My late mum used to rock an old Candy Red EKO Stratocaster knock of she purchased back in 1969. The neck was destroyed when she passed it to me and luckily, a relatives sell me an old destroyed EPIPHONE Casino. I basicaly learn't craftman ship and put the Epiphone neck on that old Red Body. And I still have this baby until now.
what a pleasure to hear you talking about guitars, greatings from Mallorca, keep on rocking
:)
Mary Spender And what a beautifull voice you have, you've got a new fan, girl 😉
My first guitar was a black Fender Strat, which my uncle brought over from America in 1988. I was about 17 and I'll never forget the first time I opened the case and saw it. It was for my 17th birthday and I've still got it. Love that axe lol
nice video enjoyed watching it and as always can't wait for the next one
:D
My first guitar was a black ovation acoustic. My mom bought it for me after I had to leave Berklee due to my dad’s terminal illness. I intended to be a jazz pianist. I was so heartbroken that I had to leave that I still don’t play piano very much, even all these years later. I’m self-taught fingerstyle and my current fave guitar is my Breedlove concerto acoustic. My bucket list guitar? A ST VINCENT OF COURSE!!!!! Even a Sterling version. She is a huge inspiration to me as well as Jack White (who plays one as well). When I saw you playing one too I was like...omg!!!!!!! You should seriously cover her! You’d be amazing! All the best!!!!
Great story. I've got a similar pacifica 112 that I've modified heavily over the years. Best bang for the bucks guitars.
yup!
I LOVE this video and your story! It's truly inspiring! Your passion for guitar is infectious! I'm so glad I found you.
My first guitar I got in 1994. It was a Gretsch Double Anniversary from 1967... I inherited from a passed family member.. I still have it.
Wow!
This was my first guitar as well. My cousin had a Black squire Strat and he used to play Million Miles Away by Offspring. We were always really competitive as kids so I decided I wanted a guitar but I didn't want the same one that he had. I was lucky that my parents bought me my first guitar for my 15th birthday and ever since I have been in love with playing the guitar. Over the years I have had many different guitars but my Yamaha has always been in my rack. Wouldn't be the man I am now without it. Love the videos keep up the good work.