Originally Posted by
John Kelly
Daniel, you have just named the group who were the biggest inspiration of my young teens. As soon as a new Shadows single came out, we would buy the 45 record, head for the nearest record player and start to learn the tune on our acoustic guitars (no electrics then, and in fact I believe it was Cliff Richard who bought the red Strat Hank played and brought it in from the states for him). I had all the Shadows numbers off and still perform them on rare occasions as a change from my usual Scottish repertoire, though I play them all on my Strat now.
Never really thought about playing them on mandolin before, so you have given me food for thought. Back in the early 60s sheet music was not available in the way it is today (no internet to browse or apps to slow down tunes, etc) and any music we managed to get was always written for piano, so learning the tunes was a labour of love. My other great guitar hero at the time was Bert Weedon, who wrote the tutor book "Play in a Day - Guide to Modern Guitar playing"
Thanks for re-awakening this phase of my life!