In 1962 I was working and studying at night in London when this lovely old guitar came into my life -
It is an arch-bodied blonde Hofner Senator (1958) - Acoustic/electric with steel strings.
I had gone to live in a bed-sit in Croydon in a big house where many other young bachelors, who were trying to make their way in the 'Big Smoke' , lived. One of them, John, had acquired this guitar - he also played the violin. I decided that in my spare time I would teach myself to play the guitar so I borrowed it regularly. Sometime later when John was promoted at work and was moving up North he very kindly gave me the guitar when he left saying " you play this far more than I do so have it as a present"
It has given me so much pleasure over those 45 years.
Progress was painfully slow for, literally, the first 34 years. I was 'stuck' in the key of C for quite a while and it was only by using a capo that I ventured away from C during that time. On the way I taught myself my own peculiar finger picking style and various strumming techniques, including the 'Calypso Slap' !!
I had no ambition to be an 'out front' soloist - I just wanted to quietly strum chords and pick little riffs while other people sang. However my knowledge of music theory was woeful which limited my progress severely.
When I married 'Joanski ' and before we had the children we used to spend our holidays in Ireland - and the guitar would come too !
At that time (late 60s,early 70s) there was a huge Irish Folk revival driven by the success of groups like the Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners and others - every pub had live music over the whole weekend. I knew many of the people in the groups. I would sit in with them regularly for practise and learnt a lot by observing and listening.
There was no shortage of singers - who would sometimes sing in the most obscure keys - and sometimes in the cracks in between !! . But there were some very good singers too and the rafters would ring with the popular balads of the time right up to closing time - and often beyond !!!
Afterwards we would often retire to a friends house and chat and sing until the early hours - happy days.
Later when the children came along we'd all load into the car and head for Ireland via Fishguard. There were times when I had difficulty finding room for the guitar and I would begin to wonder which of the children I could leave behind !!! (just joking..)
After that as the children grew up and I got busier at work there were long periods when I didn't play at all.
When I eventually retired I decided I would do something about improving my knowledge of music theory and for a few years attended a group lesson every week from a professional rock guitarist. He taught us so much about alternative chord positions, playing in the box and to be comfortable with bar chords I learnt for the first time about pentatonic scales. I still can't play very well but I understand how the system works - and that's half the battle. He loved the old Hofner and loved to play it at those lessons.
Although I've started to play the saxophone seriously again I love that old Hofner. It is now quite a rare old thing, and I pick it up, however briefly, most days and have a quiet strum.
It's the very least I can do - we go back a long way..............................
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