“I begged to have an electric guitar. I walked in Christmas morning and I could see the silhouette of it, and my heart dropped”: Eddie Vedder recalls the time he received his first guitar – and mistook it for a vacuum cleaner

Eddie Vedder has recalled the day he got his first electric guitar, which he received one Christmas morning after being lead to believe he'd been given a vacuum cleaner instead.

CBS Sunday Morning recently enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road with Pearl Jam after its cameras were invited to capture the band's Missoula, Montana, show – and it was during the subsequent interview with the band's frontman that the amusing anecdote came to light.

As Vedder recalls, he was 12 years old when he got his first six-string, which was gifted to him as a joint birthday/Christmas present.

“My birthday's December 23rd so I begged to have the two gifts put together to afford something as extravagant as an electric guitar, which I think was $115,” he explains. “I walked in Christmas morning and I could see the silhouette of it and my heart dropped. Then the lights came on and it was a vacuum.”

Luckily his disappointment was fleeting. “Everybody finished opening their presents,” he continues. “I'm getting little chills [remembering this]. They said, 'Oh, one more,' and they pulled out a guitar case, so that was nice.”

Vedder doesn't think the vacuum silhouette trick was an intentional misdirect, but this writer is certainly making a note on how to hoodwink any potential future children.

While the aspiring musician ended up getting the present of his dreams, his mother was left to take ownership of the vacuum he had less-than-enthusiastically opened: “How about my mom getting lucky getting a vacuum for Christmas?” he laughs.

On the road with Pearl Jam - YouTube

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Pearl Jam are deep into their US tour supporting their 12th album, Dark Matter, and it’s been an eventful one so far. It got off to a rather rough after guitarist Mike McCready fell off stage while soling – but somehow didn't miss a note.

Two months later the band invited a superfan onto the stage to jam Yellow Leadbetter after he'd traveled 7,000 to see them perform.

First guitar nostalgia has certainly been a growing phenomenon in 2024. Recently, Bon Jovi spoke about buying back his first-ever guitar, 45 years after regretfully parting with it. He’s used the now-returned six-string to pen a song on the band’s latest album, Forever.

As Vedder and Bon Jovi’s emotional tales attest, first guitars are a precious thing, even if they aren’t typically glamorous instruments. Guitar World has recently trawled the archives for stories from some of the biggest guitar players in the world and the guitars that set them on the path to six-string immortality, from beat-up flamenco guitars resurrected from Granma's closet and far beyond.