This is a question I am asked a lot but I find really hard to answer so I decided to put it in writing so I never have to answer this question again. Music and guitar are one to me, and both were always in my life, so the ‘When did I start guitar question?’ is hard. I didn’t start guitar lessons until I was 8 in August 2018 but from a young age, I always loved music, performing, and playing around on lots of instruments, including guitar.
I guess it was inevitable that I would end up a performer. When I was only 3 or 4, I would play my ukulele, KMart Keyboard and drum set so much that I may have broken a couple and needed new ones. I would set them up to host mock concerts and turn the living room or wherever we were into a stage. I used to wrap cords around the neck of the ukulele and attach it to a cardboard box (mimicking a guitar amp). I would even go to the extent of using an old Motorola Bluetooth earpiece as a pretend in-ear monitoring system. I was obsessed with the Wiggles. Who wasn’t? But seriously for a few years there, I refused to wear anything but a yellow shirt and black pants. I wanted to always be ready to perform as the Yellow Wiggle. It did make going to school hard because that wasn’t what they wanted as the school uniform apparently! I was always interested in what sounds all the instruments made and luckily enough I was also allowed to play around on my Grandma’s organ and my Dad’s guitars.
But … the music side of things actually hit a wall for a bit when Mum thought she’d enrol me in violin lessons at school (I was 5 so apparently too young to start guitar). They were the worst. For a few years after that, I didn’t play the instruments at home as much and went to the movement side of performing more. I did dance classes, FAME classes, acting classes, acro, gymnastics, circus (so cool you were totally able to be outside the box there) and skating. Skating became a special interest for me for a couple of years, especially artistic skating. But when I was 8, I had a fall (not skating lol) and after that got dizzy doing spins so did not enjoy skating anymore.
Around the same time, my Dad was working away so I decided I was old enough to start playing with his Epiphone Dot instead of his acoustic. This was a cool bonding experience for me and Dad for about 2 weeks as he tried to teach me how to play over FaceTime. Mum decided it wasn’t working well though, so signed me up for a lesson pack at a local music school. My music teacher there was really great because he totally listened to 8 year old me who argued that they didn’t want the acoustic (even though the nylon strings are easier on the fingers when you learn) but needed an electric and an amp. Seriously it was a no-brainer as that was the only way I could play Thunderstruck and the types of songs I wanted to play. He never forced me to read music or TAB, but worked with me on the path I wanted to take playing by ear and just basically having fun (which is what I still do). After a year or so I found Simon, a total guitar guru, who was more than happy to tell 9 year old me who thought they were amazing for playing so fast that my technique actually needed A LOT of work. Simon has since really helped develop not only my technique but also my songwriting skills. His advice is still invaluable to me when I write my songs.
My parents say they always knew I would be a performer of some kind, it was just they weren’t sure how that journey would look. But once I pulled out Dad’s Epiphone it become clear pretty quickly that I would play guitar.
What I do know is that passion can’t be forced. To be good at something, you need to practise a lot. But you also need to enjoy what you are doing, or you will never be able to practise enough to get really good at your instrument. I think exposure to lots of instruments and music when I was young helped start that passion but the decision to pick the guitar and the drive to play has to ultimately come from deep down (that violin and I totally never connected!). Luckily my Dad had guitars lying around, so I essentially found my instrument myself. Guitar gives me a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose. When I play guitar, it is like it was meant to be.
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