Carlos Santana Started With the Violin
Believe it or not, the master guitarist’s first instrument wasn’t even the guitar. Carlos Santana actually started by playing the violin at age five with his father while they were living in Mexico. He didn’t love the instrument, though, and by the time he was eight years old, he had picked up a guitar instead.
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A few years later, his family moved to San Francisco. Santana listened to, and became heavily influenced by, American rock music of the 1950s. After earning some money at a local restaurant and busking in his spare time, Santana decided to try his hand at a music career. Santana brought together a number of musicians.