DEFINING MOMENT

[des mcneill]

Buddy Holly,in particular the "Chirpin' Crickets" lp.
Des.

[markrgv]

Definitely on first hearing Apache on the 20 Golden Greats album. The best guitar sound i had/have ever heard; and it gave me a love of guitars right then and there - though i never owned one until many years later as an adult.

[51 Relic]

Hi one more (hate to say it on a Shadows website) but meeting and having a long chat with Ray Davis from the Kinks on Christmas day few years back

[BrianD]

My defining moment was at around 4pm on the third Sunday in September, 1963!

I will explain. I was packed off to boarding school (Woodbridge, Suffolk) that month. I was already a Shads fan but the thought of playing guitar had never crossed my mind. Guitarists were gods who lived in the tele, on the radio or on record, not mere mortals like me. On Sunday aftrenoons I had found that we had to take ourselves out for a walk after Sunday lunch. I had been down to the town and was walking back passed the school hall when I heard the sound of a Shads tune coming from within. Clearly this sound was not from a record but being played live. I openned the door and my jaw fell open as I saw the boy who sat next to me in house playing a real bass guitar along with three other boys I knew who were playing guitars and drums. It suddenly dawned on me that if they could do it, so could I.
The second defining moment came when the very next morning I saw the advert for the free Bells Catalogue in the Daily Mail and sent off for it. Result - an acoustic guitar for Christmas. And so began the long and very expensive journey through a succession of instruments arriving at the eight I own today.

The boys in that schol group were, by the way, Nick Lowe on bass, who went on to play with Dave Edmunds Rockpile and had a number 1 hit with "I Like The Sound of Breaking Glass", Barry Landemann on drums, who went on to play keyboard and the recorder solo on Vanity Fair's No 1 hit "Hitchin' A Ride, and Brinsley Schwartz on lead guitar (playing a Fenton Weil) who became well known in the '70s and early '80s and played with Graham Parker and the Rumour. With talent like that in touching distance how could i fail to be inspired.

Brian

[Geoff_W]

For me it was the cellar club scene in 'Summer Holiday'. I think it was early '63 when I went to see the film at the Granada in Chichester where I grew up and can remember as an 11 year old being totally mezmerised by the whole thing. I'd only ever seen The Shadows in black and white on a 16 inch TV up until then. And there was my favourite group - loud and in colour and nobody was shouting 'Turn that noise down'! Happy days

Geoff

[dave robinson]

My interest in the guitar was originally down to Lonnie Donegan's lead guitarist, Les Bennetts. I used to enjoy the banter between him and Lonnie and was always impressed when Lonnie would say "Take it Les" and a guitar solo would follow. It was shortly after that when I actually saw The Shadows on TV's 'Crackerjack' playing FBI that I targeted a guitar as a 'must have'. I was impressed by Apache and Man Of Mystery after hearing them on radio without really knowing how the sound was made, but seeing the band and the instruments on TV was the catalyst for me. At the same time I remember seeing Bert Weedon on 'Five O Clock Club without ever being inspired to want to learn the guitar, for a youngster like me there was something 'uncool' about the instrument in his hands and the sound he made was 'ordinary' compared to the sound Hank made.

[Pedro]

Well I would say that Bert Weedon would not disagree.
I can recall Bert weedon on 'This is your Life' many many years ago and many guitarists paid tribute to him. Some in the flesh and some via satellite link (Clapton and Marvin). The tribute from Hank was best received and one could readily see a mutual admiration/respect. It was genuine and not show.

[ecca]

Bert Weedon was all we had prior to Hank.

[cockroach]

Come on chaps, if you can't say anything positive about dear old Bert, don't say anything...

He is a living legend of the guitar in Britain, and was, and is, a good player and musician generally..a lot of folks owe their initial basic learning to his book.

OK, so he was older and 'square' to a lot of us when we were young...but a lot of his recorded stuff was great, and not too easy to play either..

He had a long successful career way before the Shadows, so I think he has earned some respect.

I still remember first hearing 'Stranger than Fiction' quite a few years before 'Apache' - but like many others, a defining moment for me was the superb sound on Buddy Hooly's records- especially THE classic simple but effective chordal guitar solo on 'Peggy Sue'

p.s. If you can find it on YouTube, listen to Bert's 'Ghost Train' from 1961 or so, for example.

[Pedro]

With all due respect John I cannot see where anyone has posted any negative comments about Bert Weedon. I would say there was an implicit respect in all posts!