Hah, the 8th is quite a beautiful piece, but I'm rather fond of his 9th. Freaking epic.

And to answer the first question, I'm a guitar guy. I've been playing for about 8 or 9 years now, bass for about 5, drums since god knows when (and yet I'm terrible at them), a little trombone, and a little keys. For the most part I'm self taught, however I did take tromboner lessons way back when. I just love music, I've grown up around it, it's something I can't imagine my life without (aside from snakes and da ladies (ooh yeah lol)