![]() When Lennon wanted to try making music himself, he and fellow Quarry Bank school friend, Griffiths, took guitar lessons in Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool, although Lennon gave up the lessons soon after, as they were based on theory and not actual playing.Īs Griffiths already knew how to play the banjo, Lennon’s mother showed them how to tune the top four strings of their guitars to the same notes as a banjo, and taught them the chords of D, C, and D7, as well as the Fats Domino song, “ Ain’t That a Shame“. The Quarrymen’s initial repertoire included several songs that Donegan had recorded. Early British skiffle was played by traditional jazz musicians, with the most successful British proponent of the genre in the 1950s being Lonnie Donegan. One of the primary attractions was that it did not require great musical skills or expensive instruments to be played. In addition to its popularity among British teenagers as music to listen to, it also spawned a craze of teenage boys starting their own groups to perform the music. In the mid-1950s, there was a revival in the United Kingdom of the musical form “skiffle” that had originated in the United States and had been popular in the US in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. Contents History Formation and early performances Three original members still perform as the Quarrymen. Since 1998, they have performed in many countries throughout the world, releasing four albums. In 1997 the four surviving original members of the Quarrymen reunited to perform at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the garden fete performance at which Lennon and McCartney met for the first time. In 1960, the group changed their name to the Beatles (initially booked as the “Silver Beetles” by the local clubs who saw it as a more sellable name than “Beatles”) and went on to have a historically successful musical career. This left Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, who performed under several other names, including Johnny and the Moondogs and Japage 3 before returning to the Quarrymen name in 1959. The group moved towards rock and roll, causing several of the original members to leave. The group made an amateur recording in 1958, performing Buddy Holly’s “ That’ll Be the Day” and “ In Spite of All the Danger“, a song written by McCartney and Harrison. ![]() ![]() Both McCartney and Harrison attended the Liverpool Institute. George Harrison joined in early 1958 at McCartney’s recommendation, though Lennon initially resisted because he felt Harrison (14 when he was introduced to Lennon) was too young. The Quarrymen played at parties, school dances, cinemas and amateur skiffle contests before Paul McCartney joined in October 1957. Some accounts credit Lennon with choosing the new name other accounts credit his close friend Pete Shotton with suggesting the name. Lennon started a skiffle group that was briefly called the Blackjacks, but changed the name before any public performances. Lennon’s mother, Julia Lennon, taught her son to play the banjo, showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs. ![]() Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of their school, the Quarry Bank High School. The Quarrymen (also written as “the Quarry Men”) is a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. ![]()
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