My Indirect Road to Shadows Music

[Dranna]

I am told that, for many who now play Shadows music, guitar instrumentals paved the way to their musical interest. That was not the case with me. I was born a little too late to know the Shadows first-hand. They and the Ventures disappeared from the music scene here by 1963 or so, overwhelmed by the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, and so on. If you became a teenager in the late 60s, even if you were “musical,” the chances were you would not have heard of those two guitar bands or even all-instrumental guitar music.

I used to sing with a choir quite early on, but was in school or residence until my thirties. Some years after I began to work, a friend suggested we form an all-female band, and I thought that would be a great diversion. I became one of two singers, the other one my sister-in-law, who was very talented. Our repertoire consisted of “retro” music – vocals from the mid-60s to the 80s, quite limited in the beginning, but expanded soon after.

Unfortunately, not too long after we started, our bass guitarist suddenly passed away. After we accepted the loss, we looked for a female bassist and, when that didn't work out, decided it would be easier to ask our rhythm guitarist to learn the bass. She bought a beautiful blue bass guitar, made by the local guitar store owned by Ramon Jacinto (well known in the Ventures world), but that plan didn’t work out, too. So it was agreed that she would go back to her guitar and I would buy her bass guitar and learn to play it. I bought it on installment!

Here I am at one of our early shows, on bass duty with my beautiful blue bass guitar.

Anna

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[Iain Purdon]

It's great to have you on the site Anna. Most of us are ageing blokes but it's good to have the music in younger hands to keep it going. Keep playing

[nivram106]

Welcome, Enjoy a great friendly site

[Dranna]

Hello Iain and Jim!

Thank you so much for the kind words.

I thought I would tell the story (and post photos) of how I ended up trying to play like Jet Harris since I took a more circuitous route than usual. I hope it won't be too boring.

Regards to all,
Anna

[Didier]

Nice story and pic, but you aren't the first one not having started with the bass guitar. Neither did Paul McCartney !

Didier

[GoldenStreet]

Nor, indeed, Bob Bogle and Robin MacDonald (of the Dakotas)!

Bill

[abstamaria]

Yes, that's true. Bob Bogle was lead guitarist (and in my view the definitive lead guitarist) of the Ventures. But I think what Anna wanted to say is that she didn't know the Shadows at all when she began to play bass. In contrast, when I picked up a guitar for the first time, it was to play the Shadows. So her route started some ways farther down the road and, by sheer luck, doubled back.

There is a popular band here called "Spirit of 67," the year the members graduated from high school; they don't have a single Shadows (or Ventures) piece in their repertoire. It is a generational gap, I think, and in the music world, generations are measured in two or three years.

Your thread underscores that, Anna.

Andy

[Dranna]

Thanks, Didier, Bill, Andy. It's good to know I am following a well-trodden path.

When we performed for the first time, our band had 13 pieces, which of course finished quickly. When the audience asked for more, we had to say that was all we knew. Someone in the audience asked “if we pay you again, will you sing those songs again?” The audience agreed, and so we performed our repertoire again.

Luckily, we became quite popular and soon had gigs every week, including a regular spot at a five-star hotel. Three years after that 13-piece performance, we were given the “Aliw” (Filipino for “entertainment”) award, given annually for “best band.” That was quite a surprise to us, especially to me, as all of us were amateurs with day jobs.

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Here I am, some years ago with the band, still with my first blue RJ guitar. It would be some years before I would learn of the Shadows and try to use a plectrum.

Anna

[Dranna]

One of the top three guitar bands here in the very early 1960s was the Electromaniacs. They played Ventures and Shadows music and also some of their own. Their drummer Lito Toribio was especially well regarded and known for his rendition of “Little B.” Here is what they sounded like then, with their version of “Lover’s Guitar” -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYHjMfJ-uN8

The Electromaniacs, as most instrumental bands, faded away by the mid-1960s, swept away by the wave of new music. Their story would have ended there.

About six years ago, Andy (abstamaria, who posts here) put together a retro music show with his band Walking Shadow. His goal was to present music as closely as possible to the original recording, and so the show was titled “Music As You’ve Heard It Before.” He found the Electromaniacs drummer Lito Toribio and pulled him from retirement. You’ve seen this video from Andy’s show before, but that’s Lito playing there, and there is a good shot of him playing at the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5UnP8mG1sY

Lito introduced Andy to the Electromaniac’s lead guitarist Ernie Delgado, who with Lito eventually was encouraged to reform their old band. I met all of them at a party where my band was invited and we all played. Surprisingly, they seem to have liked my playing and invited me to play bass for the new, reformed band! That was how I was introduced to 1960s instrumental guitar music.

Here I am with Ernie at one of our early shows. I shifted to a borrowed 1964 Precision Bass for Electromaniacs’ music. The pieces were so unfamiliar to me, I had to have music sheets in front of me for assurance!

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I hope this hasn’t been too boring!

Anna

[abstamaria]

Thanks, Anna. In the early 60s, Ernie Delgado used a Gibson SG similar to what he is using in that photo with you. His though was a very early model; it had a "Les Paul" tag on the headstock and a vibrato lever that one moved sideways, rather than up and down. My cousin, just two years older than me, had an identical one; those two Les Pauls were the only ones I saw in my youth. As a teenager then, I dreamed of having that guitar, but it was way out of reach.

Andy