What weird things did you believe when starting?

DefaultM

The action on my Encore guitar was so high that I thought I had a rhythm guitar, and if I wanted to solo I had to buy a lead guitar.

I remember watching an iron maiden live video where there was a solo. I tried to copy but couldn't physically press the strings down to the frets they were so high. 

MtB

....that it was going to be easy!!  I'm not sure that I'd have started playing if I knew how frustrating it was going to be to "string a few chords together" 


I too had an Encore strat copy as my first guitar, with similarly high action. I eventually got the courage to take it to Coda in Luton to get it sorted out.

HarrySeven

Nothing specific from me, although I distinctly recall an acquaintance who persisted in calling a Les Paul a "Le Paul" (as in the French pronounciation), even when told otherwise...

stickyfiddle

I didn't know bending was a thing - I assumed people were doing clever things with slides...

Gagaryn

Constantly thought that the reason I sound shite is that I needed better gear! :-)

slacker

I thought guitar shop staff would be knowledgable and helpful.

DefaultM

HarrySeven said:

Nothing specific from me, although I distinctly recall an acquaintance who persisted in calling a Les Paul a "Le Paul" (as in the French pronounciation), even when told otherwise...

A guy at college bought himself a Gibson Les Paul, but insisted on calling it a Les Paul Gibson. It used to do my head in. 

SNAKEBITE

I didn't realise bass guitars were a thing.

Dopesick

I thought bass guitars were just normal guitars but down tuned.

stratman3142

I was obsessed with Paul Kossoff shortly after I started playing but didn't know how the create 'that' vibrato sound. There wasn't the information around at the time. At one point I had the mad idea I could get vibrato by violently shaking the guitar.  Then I had the slightly better idea that it could be done by pressing very hard and rolling my finger, which was really hard work with minimal effect.

Another crazy idea was how to create Hendrix's feedback sound. Sadly I never saw him live but, from films, could see it somehow involved his use of the vibrato bar. But I thought he had a little speaker in it that he moved over the strings.

cpcompany

My guitar teacher told me to only buy used guitars because they were played in. As a consequence I've only ever bought one new guitar which is my first and only acoustic in my entire life. My only other new guitar was a present

LuttiS

My friend and i started guitar at similar times, we had different starter gear, (me strat him LP), and would you believe they sounded different...
I thought i couldn't get the "cheap starter amp high gain angry wasp sound" that for some reason i liked, out of my amp because my guitar wasn't tuned correctly..

viz

HarrySeven said:

Nothing specific from me, although I distinctly recall an acquaintance who persisted in calling a Les Paul a "Le Paul" (as in the French pronounciation), even when told otherwise...

I used to know a guy who claimed Voodoo Chile to be his favourite song, but it was clear he'd never heard it as he pronounced Chile as in Chillidoggy. 

Sassafras

That it would somehow make me cool.
I'm still trying to cope with the disappointment.

prlgmnr

viz said:

HarrySeven said:

Nothing specific from me, although I distinctly recall an acquaintance who persisted in calling a Les Paul a "Le Paul" (as in the French pronounciation), even when told otherwise...

I used to know a guy who claimed Voodoo Chile to be his favourite song, but it was clear he'd never heard it as he pronounced Chile as in Chillidoggy. 

If you find your moon is turning a fire red then you probably ate some Voodoo chile.

skunkwerx

Rules. 

I believed there were rules. 

adamm82

I had no idea about string gauges. I assumed Slinky and super slinky was just the feel so decided to try those out as they sounded easiest.

God knows what my guitar sounded like as I would change string types without any adjustments. 

Corvus

That 8s and those tiny skinny Gibson picks were essential.

At college early 80s I used to know this posh double-barrelled bloke who couldn't play much but was a nice guy, pretty naive, and pretty confident - he said Eddie van Halen got his sound by having a Stylophone mounted on his guitar...

57Deluxe

playing Barre chords was cheating and that I had to know every open chord before I had any chance of being taken seriously...

57Deluxe

HarrySeven said:

Nothing specific from me, although I distinctly recall an acquaintance who persisted in calling a Les Paul a "Le Paul" (as in the French pronounciation), even when told otherwise...

indeed likewise = but my logic was that there could be no way that such an iconic and expensive guitar could be called or marketed with such a working class naff name as Les... Les was the old bloke who put the petrol in my Dad's Escort Mk1

57Deluxe

slacker said:

I thought guitar shop staff would be knowledgable and helpful.

haha - the staff in Bells Music in Surbiton wore brown dust coats like wireless repair men did in my era! You WERE ONLY allowed in the shop as a teen if you did NOT TOUCH anything!