Julia Lage
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I was one of
Richie Kotzen with his signature Fender Telecaster
Julia Lage
What initially inspired you to pick up a guitar?
I was one of those kids that loved to sing and dance and try and entertain my family. I have a picture of me from when I was four or five, dressed in some kind of crazy costume with a plastic guitar and mic stand and singing—lip-synching—for my family. And then someone suggested that I should take piano lessons. So I had a few lessons and then I just didn’t really take to it very well.
And then a few years later, I was at a garage sale and there was a guitar there, and I realized that’s what I wanted to play. Around the same time, I became a fan of the band Kiss. So I kinda put it all together that those guys dressed up really cool, played really loud music and they were holding guitars. So I figured that must be the instrument I should be playing.
What was the first guitar that you owned?
My first real guitar was a Gibson Marauder. I was a seven-year-old kid and I wasn’t working, so my parents bought it for me. Maybe five years later, once they realized I was really serious about the guitar, they bought me, for Christmas, a Yamaha SBG2000. That became my main guitar for a long time.
What was the first song you learned?
“Jingle Bell Rock,” because I had to perform it at a school function. I think I was in sixth grade. Then shortly around the same time, I learned “Purple Haze.”
What do you recall about your first time playing live?
It was at that school recital. I remember being very upset because I couldn’t tune the guitar. And