First artist that got you hooked on acoustic guitar?

[Queequeg]

I've had some kind of guitar since I was about 13 years old. The Beatles were on top then.
And I never really put the guitar away, but I wasn't really serious about it.
By the time I hit middle age I knew all 3 cowboy chords   and I could fake a fingerpicking pattern as long as it repeated throughout from beginning to end.
Truth told, that's about all.

But about that same time it occurred to me that for a fellow my age it was rather unseemly for me to be singing songs about 'Sweet 16' and stuff like that.
I had to be honest with myself, as I knew I wasn't a great singer, and I really hadn't progressed with guitar very much, either. Still, my love of music drove me to continue somehow.
So I quit singing altogether and concentrated on guitar. I put away all the flat picks because I knew I would never be able to play like Tony Rice or Django.

I had been listening to Leo Kottke and John Fahey and Mississippi John Hurt for a long time; many years. I liked that music a lot and soon I discovered a whole world of beautiful fingerstyle guitar music and musicians.
At last I had found my place with the acoustic guitar. And I made so many new friends.

I'm always working on new music now. It's a great brain exercise.
Like so many of you here, I play every day, year 'round, and I can't even imagine what I might be doing without it. (Hopefully not sitting in front of the TV with a 6-pack every night.)

[teh]

My story is similar but I think it was a combination of junior high, high school, college, part time jobs and just being a kid that slowed me down. When I bought my first good guitar in 1977 at 21, I made some progress for a couple of years, but then Marriage, three kids in five years slowed me down again. I got my first Larrivee in 2004.

I got my first guitar, which I still have, when I was 12 and am mostly self taught. After wading through Home on the Range, Oh Susannah, 500 Miles and Red River Valley for a few months, I discovered Gordon Lightfoot in 1970. His songwriting style, lyrics and chord progressions made an impression on me. After 50+ years of playing his music, my son bought me an 8 song GL Tutorial for Christmas from Homespun by the late Pete Huttlinger and I have picked some cool tips already. Along the way, I picked up on Bob Dylan, Jim Croce, James Taylor, John Denver, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Goodman and John Prine and an host of others. When I lived in Philadelphia, I used to go to The Main Point, Tower Theatre and Philadelphia Folk Festival on a regular basis. There I listened to Michael Cooney, Arlo Guthrie, David Bromberg, Jackson Browne as well as a lot of unknowns.

58 years later, I'm often asked if I play the guitar and I usually tell them that most people ask me to stop playing after I start but I still have a lot of fun.

[BlueBowman]

I don't have a guru that led me to the acoustic guitar. I come from a family of musicians: everyone either sings, or plays piano, or plays guitar. The acoustic guitar was just there from the beginning, and I've always loved the sound.

But, being a young teen in the 90s, Clapton's Unplugged definitely influenced me. I also love classical guitar and flamenco music. I remember falling heavy for The Guitar Trio, too, but it was Paco de Lucia's playing that really stuck out. I guess there wasn't really a "first" for me.

[StringPicker6]

Paco is amazing.

[BlueBowman]

Paco is amazing.

That live version of Mediterranean Sundance is absolutely killer.

[Fil]

        
 The big 3 , discovered all at the same time in my Dad's lp collection ; Doc Watson , Leon Redbone, Mississippi John Hurt.
  My Dad had an amazing record collection and until my teens I thought he was some kind of aficionado... turns out my Dad had terrible taste in music and the collection belonged to an Uncle who stored them at our house before a lengthy prison sentence 🫤 There was about 20 LP's in that collection that sold very little when released ( late 60's/ early 70's ) that later became "lost" classics.

[B0WIE]

       
 The big 3 , discovered all at the same time in my Dad's lp collection ; Doc Watson , Leon Redbone, Mississippi John Hurt.
  My Dad had an amazing record collection and until my teens I thought he was some kind of aficionado... turns out my Dad had terrible taste in music and the collection belonged to an Uncle who stored them at our house before a lengthy prison sentence 🫤 There was about 20 LP's in that collection that sold very little when released ( late 60's/ early 70's ) that later became "lost" classics.

Welcome to the forum. Great story! Some of the greatest forms of art and media I discovered as a kid were from my uncles.

[John Lee Pettimore]

So many great acoustic artists in the past.  Hard to say which one got me hooked. A couple of standouts for me were worlds apart; Jerry Reed, Kurt Cobain.

[StringPicker6]

Definitely worlds apart, but great artists! I once saw Kurt Kobain's acoustic Martin at the Martin guitar factory's museum.