While many might think Zach Top was born with a guitar in hand, his musical journey actually began with a different instrument.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Zach Top shared insights into his early musical experiences. Known for his bluegrass roots and ’90s-inspired country sound, Top was a member of his family band, which he joined at the age of 7. While he is now renowned for his guitar skills, his first instrument wasn’t the guitar—it was the piano.
Top revealed that despite his early exposure to the piano, he wasn’t initially drawn to it. “I was playing piano before I was playing guitar. But, for whatever reason, I never had much interest in Chopin and Bach and Beethoven and stuff like that,” he said. “If somebody could have taught me to play piano like (Hargus) ‘Pig’ Robbins, maybe I would have been excited about that, but the style of music I was into lent itself more to guitar.”
He admitted that he “kicked and screamed” through years of piano lessons, which lasted around seven or eight years before his parents finally gave up. “They finally gave up on that, I guess,” Top reflected with a laugh.
Zach’s true passion lay with the guitar. He began playing at a young age and quickly fell in love with it, practicing for hours every day. “I love guitar. I’ve played probably from the time I was seven to fifteen, and I played guitar for two to three hours a day, probably. I just loved it,” he shared.
Now, Top’s idea of combining a melancholy Western tune with the piano style of the legendary session musician Pig Robbins sounds like a direction worth exploring. Perhaps Zach should revisit his piano skills to bring this vision to life.
Despite his early struggles with the piano, there’s no doubt that the guitar is where Zach Top truly shines. His early lack of interest in the piano and eventual focus on guitar set the stage for his future in music.
After discovering his love for guitar, Zach’s musical career took off as he and his siblings formed a bluegrass band. His sisters played fiddle and bass, while one of his brothers played mandolin, and Zach played acoustic guitar. Initially, they hadn’t planned on forming a band; each member was learning their instrument individually. However, their family orthodontist, who was also a friend, inspired them to come together and form a four-piece band.
From that moment, Zach Top’s musical journey began. Today, he is a prominent figure in country music, known for his efforts to bring the genre back to its traditional roots.
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