The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") were a British skiffle and rock and roll band. It was formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956. The band evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally, it consisted of Lennon and several of his friends from school. The Quarrymen took their name from a line in the anthem of their high school, Quarry Bank High School. Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, taught her son to play the banjo and then showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs.