 Bell took up guitar when twelve or thirteen , but only on hearing the first Beatles records was he motivated to play the instrument regularly . He acted as lead and rhythm guitarist and vocalist for a sequence of bands , performing songs by the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , the Kinks , the Zombies and the Animals . Chilton 's first awareness of music came at the age of six when his brother repeatedly played a record by the Coasters . His father 's liking for jazz then exposed him over the next few years to the music of Glenn Miller , Ray Charles and Dave Brubeck . Chilton 's enthusiasm for music took hold when at age thirteen he first heard Beatles records ; he recalled having known of 1950s rock and roll but " by 1959 Elvis was syrup and Jerry Lee was pretty much gone , and the rockabilly thing was sort of over so I didn 't get really caught up in the rock scene until the Beatles came along " . 
