Henkus' music (1)

When I was 12 I started to play the guitar and never stopped.
The musical style though has changed a few times over time.
From the start I made songs, melodies. The style in which I did that was strongly influenced by the musical stream I was interested in at that time.

This part of my site is about my musical evolution through time and my expressions of it. In the first years mostly with a person or persons, later more and more single.

By the way, the background music is mine and is called "As strong as the weakest link".
The first piece is played by me on guitar and Marijke Mahieu on the piano. The second piece is me with a 12-string dubbed in.

My musical development goes roughly through three stages:

1. the instrumental stage (e.g.: The Shadows)
2. the psychedelic stage (e.g.: Pink FLoyd)
3. the Americana stage (e.g: Neil Young, Chip Taylor)

I learned to play the guitar when I was in a institution for children with poor health somewhere in the middle of Holland. Usuallly you stay there for sic weeks, but after the first six I hadn't gained enough weight (by now I have...), so I had to stay another period of six weeks. This was terrible to me and I cried many tears, but as it turned out, it was a very pleasant occasion and very important for my development.

The groups were given a name, chosen by the boys who were in it and our name was "The 14 robbers" and in my group there were 3 boys playing the guitar and having it with them. I immediately felt attracted to the sound and the seeming ease to play. I wanted that too! A very nice guide lent me her guitar and, mostly by myself, I started to learn the first chords en the first simple songs. With painful fingers and all. In those couple of weeks it already sounded like something and I knew for sure: this is what I want!
In those 6 weeks we all practised to come to a cabaret evening. I wasn't ready to do something on the guitar yet, but sang in travesty (!) a populair song of that time: Brandend zand; wobbly on the semi-high heels!

Here's the song.

And mine version. Something like it must have been: voice, 3 guitars and a bass.

Home again of course I told enthousiastic stories about this guitar playing and, perhaps out of a slight guild, my parents bought me a guitar. My father and I bought the guitar at bij Henk Suiker's music shop at the Vaillantlaan in The Hague, just across the street where we lived. A little sidestep; I just read at the internet that the guys of Golden Earring also got their first instruments frome there! I'm in good company for shure...

I was a little over-critical while buying that (accoustic) guitar. I was looking for the same beautiful sound as of the guides guitar and I couldn't find it. The guitars in my hands got more and more expensive... Eventually my father cut the knot and said: "This one has to be the one!" Over time I learned that guitars, like good wine, need to ripe and only over the years get a warmer sound. Therefore the pro's like vintage guitars so much.

The guitar of course should involve guitar lessons. At first of course they wanted me to attend a regular music school, including the study of classical notation, but I refused that resolute. I just wanted to make music and no dry musical theory! Yes, there are days I'm sorry...

So I took lessons from René Nodelijk, a Dutch guitar hero at that time, famous with René & his Alligators, who made basicly instrumental guitar music. He devised his own notation system, which was quite suited for playing the guitar and from him I got each week one of the hits of The Shadows and the likes. Far out!

Here a composition and rendition of me in the unique notition system of René Nodelijk

At school there was also another boy who played the guitar, Fred Gelderman, who lived nearby and soon we played together the Shadows songs I got from René. At that time he played the chords and I the solo. This was very stimulating and for years we played like that.
In those days I composed my first little melodies. We called ourselves The Exorers (which actually should be The Explorers, but I didn't look very well at the dictionary...) for some of these melodies were named Stanley and Livingstone.

Here an overview of the songs we played after some time. Even with some 7 songs of our own! All quite simple melodies in 2- or 3 chords, but all the same...

To be continued