The Sixties

I started to get interested in the guitar way back in the sixties when I was in my teens. Things were way different then. The tape recorder wasn't even invented I think. The only gadget available to record anything was the big monstrous tape with two big reels. You can imagine trying to pick up the chords or the lyrics of a song ......we had to replay the track on the vinyl record on the turntable over and over again. Many a time the record will get stuck on the track where the needle has literally made an indentation so deep that the delicate vinyl record is damaged. We did the same thing when we needed to copy the lyrics of the songs as there wasn't the internet like now where we could just google any song lyrics that we want or just listen to the tune on Youtube.

The Grundig turntable at my parents' home was a console type . I had to sit very close to it on the floor and with my ears literally pinned to the speakers to pick up the chords to the songs. I started to learn the guitar by gathering at friends' house and we will just sort of teach each other. It was considered cool to be guitarist then and it was a good way to attract girls too and our teenage ego need the boost. We formed a small four piece band and started playing for functions like weddings and at tea dances too. Tea dances were popular in the sixties and as the name suggest was at tea time on weekends usually. The Venue was the night clubs that were not being used in the afternoons. That was the pop scene then. Most of my friends led very carefree lives and we loved congregating at each other's homes, jamming and planning parties. We used to perform at shows too sometimes in halls and other times in Cinemas.

In Malaysia in that era, we were more exposed to the British pop scene so names like Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Beatles, Hermans Hermits and many others influenced us. Later I joined a local band called The Fabulous Falcons playing the lead guitar. We played songs by the Shadows. When we toured Thailand, we found that they were influenced by the American Music scene. This helped in our future performances back home.

The group split up after a few years and I took up employment in the civil service. I quit the music scene for many years and got married. After the birth of my second son, I had the urge to get back into music. I went solo playing the guitar and keyboards as well as singing. I've been doing this all this while and I still perform at Dinner functions. I guess music still rules in my blood.