Stick/Controller What did you start with and what do you use now?

[Stringy]

I always hear people asking the dumb question: 'Which is better, controller or fight stick?' which I believe is an impossible question to answer. SonicFox and GO1 had a lot of REALLY great and close matches (fox won the most recent tourney against GO1 the other day) GO1 uses a fight stick (arcade stick) and SonicFox used a PS3 controller.
What this means in a nutshell is: whatever you learned to play on/ are more comfortable with is the better one. Should be obvious.
That being said, I want to know what you started with. Did you grow up on arcade boxes and so you played on an arcade stick? Or are you like me and you have only had success with controllers? Let me know if you ever switched, what kind of results you got,and if you prefer one or the other after becoming proficient with both.
I have always loved fighting games, but I just never went to arcades so I always played with controllers, all the way back to the SNES and mortal kombat / killer instinct.
I began playing fighting games more regularly on the Xbox with Guilty Gear and then BlazBlue, so the Xbox controller is the most comfortable for me.
However, I have played guitar for 17 years (right handed - my left hand is on the frets, right hand is strumming) and I've often thought that I am wasting a fair bit of left-handed finger coordination by only using the thumb on my left hand.
Sometimes I wonder if I'd be more adept if I bought a left-handed fight box. The wrist-intensive motions on the stick would be better for my strumming hand (as much of my strumming comes from the wrist) and I could use the dexterity in my fretting fingers to MASH DEM COMBOZ

Thoughts? Experiences?

[UIY]

HORI RAP 5 that I gutted due to the garbage that comes stock inside of it, I used to use an XB1 controller now I only use the stick, took me a few hours to get used to it but then I grew up during the arcade boom so I was acustomed to using sticks for a long time as it was, I tried going back to controller after using my modded stick and I just can't do it, my skill goes right down the toilet.

I am fairly decent with the stick, but my training partner uses a controller and can whoop my ass most times, but that's why I train with em, taking my lumps on the way to the top. ^^ Anyways hope you enjoyed the read at least, Peace out.

[RokoSkyTiger]

It's best to use to which whatever fits you the most.

[mitspieler]

I'm a pc gamer. Playing shooters since wolf3d. Got late to consoles but I'm fine with gamepads. I use what fits the game. But fighters I always dodged. When I finally wanted to get in I quickly realized I won't ever be able to reliably input any circle motion on gamepad. I like hardware stuff so getting a stick was a nobrainer. First a hori mini to try, then a rap3 and q1. Ended up swapping the parts, silenced the buttons and eventually getting all new internals for the rap.
Now after some years I'm still unable to enjoy fighters with a pad. But it could work with some time and practice.
Next thing however is going to be a hitbox. Has its own set of problems and quirks but seems so simple and right...
/story