The Shadows were 'of their time' and, at that time, they were as good as anything else and better than most. But time moves on and things change. What was good yesterday tends, with the passage of time, to become passé, that's the way it's always been and always will be. It's absolutely pointless comparing artists of one musical era skill-wise with those of subsequent eras, because styles change, skills improve and everything moves on.

I began playing guitar in 1961, and was in my first band in 1962, just before the Beatles broke. I remember, up to that point, being a rabid Shadows fan and playing shedloads of their stuff but, with the advent of Beatlemania and the 'Liverpool sound', the world changed for ever. We all abandoned the Shadows/Ventures style and moved on to the dry, R&B sound that we were hearing on record and the radio - a different style demanding different skills. And it's turned many times since, each time bringing new sounds, different skills and changing tastes.

Long may it be so.