My First

A few years ago I came to a realization that my love and obsession for music started years before I actually picked up a guitar. In 2017 the death of David Cassidy triggered some very vivid early childhood memories. I had not thought of him for years and then suddenly all these memories came flooding back to me.
As a little kid I was a huge fan of the Partridge family, the TV show, but more importantly the music. Their first record was the first record I every owned. I remember the day that my Dad brought home their album for me. This memory is so clear that I can still see the brown paper bag it was in and placing the needle from my small record player on to the vinyl groove. Their music was the first music that really touched me.
I think a key element of this memory is that this was my “first time” for music. I guess we tend to remember our “first time” for things. My love of their music was years before I started my own musical journey and years before I discovered the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix, etc. I am not really a “saver” of stuff, but I still have that first Partridge Family record.

Speaking of firsts, when I became interested in learning the guitar, around the age of 10 or 11, I asked my parents for an electric guitar. But my Dad said no, “We have a “good” acoustic guitar you can learn on; if you learn on that then maybe you can get an electric guitar.” Well this guitar had been banging around the house my whole life. My parent had picked up this nylon string classical guitar on a weekend trip to Tijuana Mexico years before I was born. I agreed to use the guitar and started taking lessons with a great classical teacher named Pete Zisa. Although the guitar was not easy to play my teacher felt that it actually had a good sound, which is all my parents needed to hear to delay getting me another guitar. Now, this guitar did not have a case, and I was young and careless, so it hit the floor a few of times, which split open the sides of the guitar. My Dad, being Mr. Fix-it, glued it back together each time it fell with healthy amounts of Elmers glue. I have bought and sold many guitars over the years but I actually still have this beat up old TJ guitar. I keep it as a reminder of where I started. Check out these photos.