Guitars:
1. Fender Standard Strat [my main guitar; normally using standard tuning and, very rarely, I'll use Drop-D tuning...also, until recently, I would use open tunings like open G for playing slide. Lately, I've just been using standard tuning for everything]
2. Epiphone SG [my first guitar which I haven't even used for over two or three years at least]
Amp:
1. Fender Champion 30 (30-watt amp) [this amp has been discontinued, as far as I can tell but, for a relatively cheap solid state amp, I get some pretty good tones out of it]
Effects:
1. Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal [a cheap but great distortion pedal]
2. Vox V847 Wah [I ordered it about a week and a half ago and I just haven't gotten it yet]
Other Instruments:
1. Fender Mandolin [cheap, but good for a beginner; I'm much better at guitar than at mandolin; standard tuning]
2. Casio Keyboard [not sure of the model, but it's an okay instrument; I'm a hell of a lot better at guitar than I am at keyboard]
3. Hohner Special 20 Harmonica (key of C) [I can't get the hang of the harmonica at all, but it's fun to fool around with]
First off, I've been playing guitar for about eight or nine years now. As for keyboard, started to take that up shortly after I started playing guitar. Mandolin, well--I just started learning that in 20008 after I graduated from high school. The genres I mainly stick to are country, rock and blues (and not necessarily that order). Lately, I've mainly been playing country and blues. However, I also play some jazz but I struggle the most with jazz. In all honesty, I started off only really playing rock and blues and, within the last couple of years, I really started to get into playing country and, after listening to a certain guitarist (you'll read who down below a bit), I started to get into jazz. Until I started to get into country and jazz, I really wasn't even that good at all. Now, I think of myself as an average guitarist and, even if I played as well as some of my biggest influences, I doubt I'd ever consider myself anything more than just an okay guitarist.
Instruments and Equipment I'd Like to Get One Day:
1. Fender American Deluxe Tele
2. Crook Custom Guitar (Tele-style with a G-bender system)
3. Fender American Deluxe Strat
4. Fender Bluesville Deluxe Tube Amp
5. Deering Banjo [a good-quality banjo so that I can learn and not have to get a better one after a couple years of playing...seriously though--I'd love to learn to play banjo!]
6. Fender Jazz Bass [probably just a Standard J-Bass to use to record with as well as a cheaper amp to go along with it]
7. Visual Sound Route 66 Overdrive/Compression Pedal
8. Keeley-Modified Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Pedal
9. Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde Overdrive/Distortion Pedal
10. Visual Sound H20 Chorus/Echo Pedal
11. Dr. Z Amp [they're expensive,but produce great tones]
12. Vox AC30 [I love the tones they produce as well]
13. An Apple iMac [for recording, producing, etc.]
14. Some USB Mic [for recording...something I'd like to get before I can afford a Mac]
BQ: My biggest guitar influence is easily country guitarist Brad Paisley's whose playing got me to start learning jazz and really helped me improve on my own playing. Some of my other main guitar influences (in no particular order) include Pete Ham (Badfinger), Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Frank Hannon (Tesla), Sonny Landreth, Tommy Emmanuel, Redd Volkaert, James Burton, Roy Clark, Steve Vai, Mike Stern, Cody Kilby (Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder), Brent Mason (session guitarist), Danny Gatton, Sue Foley, B.B. King, Melvin Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Castro, Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, Tom Keifer (Cinderella), Eric Sardinas, John 5, Eric Johnson and many others. Some of my non-guitar influences include Sierra Hull (mandolin), Robert Randolph (pedal steel), Randle Currie (Brad Paisley's pedal steel guitarist), Charlie Daniels (guitarist and fiddler), Sarah Jarosz (mandolin), Ricky Skaggs (mandolinist and guitarist), Jerry Lee Lewis (pianist) and quite a few others. Personally, I really love musicians like Brad Paisley, Danny Gatton, Eric Johnson and John 5 who can play multiple genres and, in three of the four cases that I just mentioned, the four main genres--country, rock, blues and jazz. John 5 is the only one who I haven't heard play all four main genres and, instead, I've only heard him play rock (metal, to be more specific) and country and he's great.
BQ2: When I was around eight, I originally started off playing violin and the teacher for the free school lessons really sucked. My brother started playing guitar around that time and, a couple years after I quit violin, I started to take up guitar as well. I wouldn't say that anyone actually pushed me to learn to play an instrument and, instead, I really just wanted to. The only thing is, I wish I had learned to read music from the beginning. If I had, I'd probably be much better than I am (personally, I consider myself to be an average guitarist).
Also, you didn't ask for it but I guess I'll include a few videos of my playing. Keep in mind that the video quality isn't all that great and that I've only done a few videos all in that Chet Atkins-style fingerpicking. Here's a few videos of mine:
"Back Home" [version 2] -- this one is an original and, of two versions, it's the better version I've recorded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmhmLXkRY_c
"Home On the Range"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM598r4mzdU
"America the Beautiful"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix72D0enlcY