Play Guitar on a Roundabout

When I was a youngster back in the turbulent 60,s, like most of my peers I used to hang out in the various coffee bars that were around town, and I would feed the juke box which always stood in the corner.

Of course you had to pay for this entertainment, and as money was a bit scarce we would all take it in turns to put our coins into the juke box and let everyone know what artists we were fans of.

I remember that I used to stay in the coffee bar until about 9 or 10pm each evening (in those days entertainment options were rather limited) and then I would go to my bedroom and tune in to Radio Luxemburg.

I wonder if any of you can remember Radio Luxemburg, the much loved radio station.

Back in the 1960′s we had a lot of radio stations available to us, and many of them were stationed in offshore ships. I have been trying to remember some of their names but I can’t, so if any reader can remember any of the names I would appreciate hearing from you.

Although I loved listening to Radio Luxemburg I cannot remember whether this was a radio station which was based on land, or at sea. Can anyone help me here?

It was while I was listening to the music from these radio stations that my love of the guitar first came to fruition. The sound just seemed right to me.

Much as I loved the guitar, I never considered playing it for myself, that is, not until a rather curious event occurred.

If you are at all familiar with driving in the UK you will have noticed that we have an abundance of roundabouts, literally a large circle in the middle of the road, sometimes with grass on it. The road experts tell us that they aid the flow of traffic, but I am not so sure.

This curious event happened when I was passing one of these roundabouts, one day. I discovered an old friend of mine sitting in the middle of this roundabout, happily strumming away on his guitar.

Every car that passed had a good look at him, it was almost as though the roundabout was his stage.

It was not long before I had joined him, and so there were now two people in the middle of the roundabout, one playing, and one listening.

But that started me on the path from which I have never turned back. I saved up furiously until I had enough money to go out and buy my own guitar, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Although my guitar playing has taken me to all sort of places all around the world, I have never forgotten how it all started – on the roundabout.

And I am showing other people now how to kick start their guitar career by having a roundabout experience.