Jan Bechtum

Who is Jan Bechtum?

Jan Bechtum is a Dutch guitarist and composer.

Bechtum was the first lead guitarist of Picture. He was influenced by Deep Purple, Yes and Genesis.

In 1979 after having played in a few local bands, he got involved with Picture and was responsible for writing most of the songs for their first 3 albums. He left the band for personal reasons in 1983, right after their tour in Israel.

In 1992 and 1993, he performed in the gospel rock band Changed where he played with drummer Mark Maas. When that band stopped in 1993, Jan and Mark decided to try something and reformed Picture. With bass player Johannes Adema and vocalist Michel Zandbergen, the band recorded a demo and did a few good shows in the Netherlands. However, Jan decided to quit playing live performances in 1997 because of the growing violence in the Dutch nightlife.

Bechtum's favourite guitar is a Music Man Silhouette. While with Picture, he plugged straight into a Marshall with no effects.

Recently, Jan and the original members of Picture, with Ronald van Prooijen, teamed up for a reunion rehearsal.