Are you a Reborn Guitarist?

That's a lovely, moving tale, Greg Ballantyne...

Well, you nailed the story pretty close!
I'm 54 now, and I played all through school, it's all I ever wanted to do is play music, then I was one of the few musicians in town that made it out on the road, around 83-84, joined a Metal band called Apprentess and played the crap circuit up and down the east coast, found some backing, cut a single, actually on vinyl back then, a year or so later we broke up.
Ended up in Myrtle Beach SC, started up a band called Gypsy, moved to Charlotte NC to record a album at Reflections recording studios, signed with a production contract with a management agency, played in the area promoting the band for a couple years, and watched as the band sank into drugs a alcohol, I finally left and went home to TN.
I played with another incarnation of Gypsy for awhile until I met the woman of my dreams, whom I'm still married too today! I couldn't stay in Gypsy as the lead singer was my girlfriend, so I formed a three piece group and did a 5 song demo to shop, then a couple years after we were married, my first son! well that changed me, I sold everything, didn't pickup another guitar until a few months ago. after I rededicated my life to God, my new boss, who was an old friend, loaned me his Godin A6 koa to try out and play till I found one of my own, now I play in our church group, and solo, startin to get my old chops back as well as some new stuff!

Come on guys! lets hear some of your stories!

No I am not a reborn guitarist. Always played and performed when I can. Was playing full time and taught guitar in Hawaii from about 87-89 and then moved to SoCal. In SoCal, I looked for a teaching job but the opportunities that I came across did not pay very well. So I taught on the side for a few extra bucks while I worked a 9-5 job. Played in several bands ranging from originals to covers but nothing spectacular. Didn't stop me from perservering though.

Being of sound mind (I guess) I am not willing to starve for my craft so I was purely a Weekend Warrior. I did take a hiatus when my son was born (1993) and my wife said that I could continue to knock on doors but said no, our son comes first -especially for the first 5 years of a child's life. Now if I was already making a living in music when he was born, it would have been different.

I have since changed genres of music in order to keep active in playing. Can't take playing your standard cover band material anymore.

OK, I don’t know that I qualify as “re-born”, as I never stopped playing for any significant amount of time. And like several others, I’ve told the tale in bits and pieces in other threads, but here’s my whole story…

I told my parents I wanted to learn guitar when I was 11 or 12 after getting interested from listening to the local rock radio station. I started taking weekly lessons, using some no-name acoustic that I don’t remember and is now long gone. Somewhere around 13 or 14, as I was getting ready to go into high school, my music teacher at the time told my parents that I really needed a better guitar, and they ended up purchasing a Guild Starfire V that I’d been pulling down from the wall of the music store and playing before and after lessons for a long time. I played guitar in a “big band” style group that practiced at the store, and remember a couple times playing in jazz joints at the age of 14 or 15, the band leader having convinced the owner that they’d make sure I didn’t drink anything alcoholic -- a promise they always kept.

In high school, I did the normal routine of playing in garage bands, usually as the lead guitarist and vocalist. One of them (rather regretfully named “The Soul Brothers” given that we were all white teenagers-- the four of us all liked R&B music and that’s largely what we were playing) started playing a few local gigs and I caught the performing bug. Never played in the school band or marching band, though…

The summer after my graduation (1969), though, a group of fellow students decided they wanted to put together a “Blood, Sweat, and Tears/Chicago” type horn group. They already had a guitarist, and they asked me if I could play bass. I couldn’t, but I knew that a bass was the lowest four strings of a guitar, so I lied and said “yes.” It took me awhile to realize that one didn’t play bass by using a constant barrage of lead licks down an octave or two, but eventually I learned that ‘less is more’ -- and realized that I actually enjoyed being a bassist. The guitar player and I also shared the lead vocals. That group would quickly go on to be one of the more popular local groups in the Cincinnati area of that era. It paid my way through college, and after graduating from college, we stayed together.  I became a full time musician for the next several years, through the eventual (inevitable?) break-up of that band, and through two more groups composed of the remnants.

By that time I was married (and am still married to the same person); we wanted a house and kids, and I’d become tired of the life of a traveling (and poor) musician. While I continued to play as a weekend warrior with the group, I took on the first of a sequence of ‘real jobs,’ we’d have and raise two children, and most of the creative passion I had now went into writing -- I was selling short stories, and eventually novels (science fiction and fantasy, largely). While nearly all of my playing was on bass, I still pulled out that Starfire V and played it occasionally, and part of me wanted to play that instrument more. But for decades, I identified myself as a “bassist”, not a “guitarist.”  (I still play out once or twice a month with several of the guys from that original band...)

There were people in the science fiction/fantasy fan community that I’d meet at conventions, and at those conventions there sometimes music circles there of various sorts. In the late 90s, early 00s, I became interested in the more ‘folk-rock’ circles I was hearing, and I’d sometimes ask to borrow a guitar to sing a couple songs. That was where my interest in getting an acoustic guitar started -- a semi-hollow body electric is totally lost in an acoustic circle, and amps are generally frowned upon. As I became more and more interested in Celtic music, folk music, and just generally playing rock tunes acoustically, I realized I needed an acoustic.

Around the same time, I’d been asked to join another rock group, and in this one, there was another guy who mostly played bass, so I was the rhythm and secondary lead guitarist in that group -- I picked up an Ovation acoustic-electric to augment the venerable Starfire V on certain songs. I found I was really enjoying playing guitar again.

And so the GAS began... The Ovation was a decent instrument, but I wanted a 'real' straight acoustic instrument.  In 2005, I went to the local music store and tried lots of brands... but what stood out to me was the Seagull S6. I thought it was easily the equal of guitars with far heftier price tags, and bought one. Coincidentally, around the same time the guitarist in the band was selling his 1970s Alvarez (not a Yairi, though...) because he'd bought a new Taylor.  I bought that guitar as well -- and ended up giving it to my daughter when she expressed an interest in learning guitar, because I thought the Seagull sounded and played better.

And now I'm a couple more acoustics in... That GAS never seems to leave.  

OMG ive created a monster thread ....