I have dabbled with many instruments but here are the 3 I play the most.

The guitar started as the result of one of my brothers being given a toy ukele for a birthday present. A frien of my mothers tuned it up, played it and lent her a book. I had a go and quite enjoyed it so when it came round to my birthday, I was given a guitar.

I took up the tenor banjo mainly as a result of listening to the playing of Barney McKenna. I also liked other banjo tunes and in fact made the mistake of buying a 5 string banjo long before I discovered that I needed the tenor. It was getting Sully's banjo book that finally set me straight on the instrument and the tuning used - by the time I had got all this info and the right instrument, I was 27.

I was asked to play the melodeon by a couple of people who belonged to a morris dance side. They were short of musicians and I was known for being able to get a tune out of a number of instruments very quickly so I made me an offer that I found too tempting to turn down. They bought the melodeon and I agreed to pay them back at a rate of something like £5 a week.

Jon