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This song changed my life I'm pretty sure. The first minute-four got me hooked when I was in the fifth grade in '73. And of course Janis. The guitars were like nothing I had heard before. Really haven't heard anything like it since either. I still play this album. 

This is queued up for the second guitar riff. Love it too. And Janis.

 

You guys have a song that changed you? I guess one would have to be young and impressionable. I'm not sure if this song made me want to take up guitar because at the time I was playing the organ. But in the 8th grade when I took up guitar I tried to learn these riffs. I don't think I did. Mel Bay, you know. 

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The first song I learned that changed me was, and I'm ashamed to admit it, "Free Bird".  The first band I played in played some really good stuff.  And I was a hack of a rhythm player.  But I knew how to play triplets.  And a boy that can play triplets can play mid-Seventies Southern Rock.  We jammed that progression for hours.  It was formative.  I still listen to the live version every New Year's Eve, no matter what I'm doing. 

I haven't played that song live, in a band setting, since 1978. 

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VIVID memories from the late 70s when a kid in the neighborhood dropped this 45 on his record player. I must've been about 8 years old, and the heaviest stuff I'd heard up to that point would have been Beethoven and Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog.'

 

A huge grin broke out on my face from the first chord and even though I didn't get the subject matter at the time, I remember my exact thought was still " Oh, man.  My parents would KILL me if they knew I was listening to this!"

The other 45 from that day that stuck with me was "Hello, Goodbye" from the Beatles.

Both these tunes are still instant time warp.

 

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There was so much bubbling up, but I would have to say the "Beano" album was a game changer. It brought the guitar to a whole different place than "The Ventures". (Up until then, who was tuned in to Freddie King?) It got me to switch from bass to guitar. And made me a sucker for "distinctive" guitar parts.

I did not have the self confidence to get up in front of people to actually PERFORM such stuff and largely played the second guitar behind other folks. As "anonymous" as possible, Somewhere along the line, there was a "charity show" that needed help and, to my chagrin, I had to actually be a lead guitarist. The turning point was doing a Santana cover (Black Magic Woman) when people started yelling to turn my amp up LOUDER. Well, THAT had never happened before!

To this day, to the extent I get to select tunes, they tend to be ones with "big" guitar parts. Duane Allman/Dickey Betts, Bloomfield, Buddy Guy, Santana (Europa, Sensitive Kind, etc), various Derek and Dominos, Gary Moore (Still Got the Blues, other), While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Hotel California and on and on. Blue Collar, the BTO version, really is fun too. Most people do not even know it, and it is not "over the top", but the jazzy/Wes Montgomery feel is so much fun. And the unexpected thing is that greater confidence is contagious. Never thought I could do vocals (many would stay I still can't) but somehow doing guitar AND vocals makes it all come together at a better level.

Yea, I guess I am pretty much stuck in the "old" music......

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I get the Freebird thing. Let’s face it, it is am incredibly awesome guitar song.. pretty chimey rhythm, great slide part, then the chunky outgrow rhythm and those triplets & repeating riffs. Allen Collins did the entire solo in one pass in the studio. But like our Sharky, I dig the live version where Collins and Gaines are cookin’ together.

it is a jam and we used to work on it for hours. It is a great rhythm to improvise over.

Ballroom Blitz by Sweet was huge to me. I was a kid into 70s AM radio and that song has killin’ rhythm guitars that are actually the lead. Very crunchy and a classic rock-star riff.

It was one of so many that made me wanna play....Fool For The City Wang Dang sweet Poontang, Walk This Way, Won’r Get Fooled Again, etc, etc. The 70s was a GREAT decade for aspiring guitar players. Iron Man, Smoke on The Water, Whipping Post.....

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13 hours ago, Bass Guy Dave said:

VIVID memories from the late 70s when a kid in the neighborhood dropped this 45 on his record player. I must've been about 8 years old, and the heaviest stuff I'd heard up to that point would have been Beethoven and Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog.'

 

A huge grin broke out on my face from the first chord and even though I didn't get the subject matter at the time, I remember my exact thought was still " Oh, man.  My parents would KILL me if they knew I was listening to this!"

The other 45 from that day that stuck with me was "Hello, Goodbye" from the Beatles.

Both these tunes are still instant time warp.

 

Both those songs are on our list.  And many more by both bands.  Love the Beatles and Foreigner.

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I was playing guitar at about 10.  I really didn't pay attention to songs at that age but when I first heard "Killer Queen" it really got my attention and I would have been around 13 at that time.   I originally recall thinking Freddy Mercury was a girl, and was a little surprised there were no girls in the band.  My first impression was that this would be the band that would replace Fanny as an all girl group.   Little did I know.

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1973 was the year.  I was 12 at the time going to turn 13. March brought me this:  Thanks to an older hippy brother.

Then I found this: It was released a few years before.

and then this one was a game changer for me.

 

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