I was very young when I was given my first record as a gift by a friend’s older sister. It was a Beatles 45 with I Feel Fine and She’s a Women which was released in 1964. Here is the story on I Feel Fine:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Feel_Fine

…and She’s a Women: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She’s_a_Woman. I distinctly remember the opening to I Feel Fine as it has this guitar sound I hadn’t heard before – kinda all weird and distorted. I liked it. This record was played many, many times until I formed my own musical opinions and headed off in my own direction.

When I was finally ready to buy my first LP record it was Grand Funk Railroad’s red album – called Grand Funk. Check this link out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHUvhJufYwA (let it run a few seconds – there is some artistic license here). I had heard some of Grand Funk Live (and would eventually own and wear out several copies) and liked what I heard. So off I went to the Stedman’s store, where downstairs they held a fairly good record collection and I bought my first LP for about $10. I loved it and played it until it was worn out. Back in those days vinyl records seemed about ¼ inch deep so it took a while to wear down, but would with enough play. Of course record players were brutes in those days and styluses really dug into the grooves.

It is totally weird that today I play a guitar very similar to the ones George Harrison and Mark Farner played. George’s was an Epiphone Sheraton and Mark’s a Messenger. My current main guitar is an Epiphone ES335 which is quite a bit like those two.

My first guitar was a Silvertone from Sears. There were no music shops in my town and the Sears catalog had several options. One of my friends had a sunburst Jazz Bass copy that was very excellent, so in 1970 I ordered a Stratocaster copy from the catalog and waited eagerly. What showed up was a sunburst kinda Stratocaster body with two pickups and a Gibson styled neck. It was absolutely not what I ordered and drooled over in the catalog for weeks. I absolutely loved it and played it for years. This was my guitar until one summer I worked on a farm and in September spend all my summer earnings on a beautiful black Les Paul copy. After that step up the old Silvertone was set aside, until I was inspired by a local guitar hero who had trimmed up his Mustang with a jig saw and did the same treatment to the Silvertone. Well, it was never the same after that.