After I had heard Noddy Holder sing I knew that I was not only to become a guitar player but also a singer. So I added some vocals to my one finger playing and it sounded ... strange!
My brother Chris loved to do all kind of rhythm playing such as drumming on our sofa-cushions. But still we were not satisfied.
We needed another guitar.
Our parents had to be convinced and some weeks later another Framus acoustic guitar was bought. This one was very cool with a flamed top a black pickguard and two buttons to fix a strap. The fretboard was quite narrow and it already had metal strings mounted. It looked almost like an electric guitar I thought.
In the summer of '77 we were practising like mad. We had got the sheet music of some Slade, Beatles and Eagles songs with lyrics and chords and thankfully the chords were explained with the common chord patterns.Difficult parts with fast changes were shared so that while I was sorting my fingers between chords 1 and 3, Chris was playing the missing chord 2. We were learning quickly and our repertoire became bigger and bigger. We tried everything we liked from old rock'n roll stuff to rock and ballads which were played in the charts. With a table showing which chords would fit to which note we didn't need the sheet music anymore but wrote down the chords after listening to the records.
Soon after we were able to play the first few chords we started to write our first songs. Playing in our flat caused some trouble from now and then. We were eager to play as soon as we came from school which was the time other people were having their siesta. I remember us playing in the staircase of our house once. It was a 15 floor block of flats, echo and volume were fabulous, the irritation in the neighbourhood as well. Sometimes we would take our guitars out and play somewhere far from anybody living.