How 10 Guitar Gods Got Started
John Mayer: After giving the Berklee College of Music a try for two semesters, Mayer moved to Atlanta to play with a friend in the duo LoFi Masters.
Joe Bonamassa: There was no escaping the guitar for Bonamassa: his parents owned a guitar store and he started playing when he was just four.
Jack White: Jack White was set to attend a seminary as a teenager when he learned he couldn't take his amplifier with him.
Eric Clapton: Before Clapton became a God, he was a just 13-year-old with a beater guitar that was so hard to play he put it aside for awhile.
Pete Townshend: Though his father played saxophone in England's Royal Air Force band, American rock & roll, particularly Bill Haley and the Comets.
Gary Clark, Jr.: Clark was just a teenager playing small gigs when he met Phil Antone, the proprietor of Austin's venerable club Antone's.
Dan Auerbach: Although Auerbach grew up listening to his parents' vintage blues LPs, the future Black Keys singer.
Jimi Hendrix: Although Hendrix started playing professionally as a teen and spent years cutting his teeth as a hired guitarist backing.
Jimmy Page: Maybe Page was simply meant to play guitar: the Led Zeppelin guitarist claims he first picked up the instrument.
Chuck Berry: Berry was married with a kid and held a succession of joe jobs before his gigs playing the blues in local St. Louis bands.