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What instrument do you play, and why did you choose to play it?
Asked by Brett, Massachusetts, USA
By Mark Simos
My first instrument was the piano. My mom played classical pieces and also liked to play for sing-alongs at parties. I loved those classical pieces, but also liked making up my own music right from the start. But to be honest, after about five years of lessons, I realized I was not very good at practicing and sticking to my exercises.
Then, when I was eleven, I found my big sister's old guitar, forgotten in a closet. It was missing the top string, so I learned to play all the basic chords on five strings instead of six. Then a helpful neighbor came over and put on the missing string, and suddenly none of my chords worked any more! (Maybe my interest in more unusual kinds of music started right there!)
After I’d been playing a while, my mom took me down to McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica and bought me a new Yamaha FG-110 acoustic guitar; it cost a whole $80.00! When I went to camp that summer I took my sister’s old guitar and left the Yamaha at home; it was too precious to take off to the woods. I still have the Yamaha today, even though it has been stolen and returned to me two times. One friend of mine says it’s the most soulful plywood-top guitar he’s ever heard.
