My first instrument was the keyboard, when my parents bought me one of those little toy ones from the local department store or whatever. A friend of mine showed me how to play the intro from "Take on Me" by A-Ha, then I taught myself some chords, and the rest is history!
In high school I took up playing bass guitar because I was absolutely obsessed with Sid Vicious, and even dressed up as him for the Halloween school dance! (That REALLY made me popular, especially with the jocks, LOL!) I soon found it to be boring though, and switched to 6-string.
I did the acoustic singer/songwriter thing for a number of years, but never tried or even wanted to try making a living from it. The highlight of my "career" was probably when I received a standing ovation from 500-600 people at a children's benefit concert held at the local college auditorium.
I also played drums in my last band, mainly because nobody else wanted to do it! :D
Lately I've been recording a lot of trippy instrumental stuff in my "home studio", an 8-track digital recorder with hundreds of built-in effects that I'm still discovering even after years of enjoyment.