The Thousands

When I was 18 I found myself in a devastating creative slump. I’d been trying to learn guitar songs (mainly ‘Classical Gas‘ and the Kirk Hammond bits of Metallica’s ‘One‘) that I was in no way technically gifted enough to attempt. My stairway to heaven was only half-climbed and I was fed up. Then something glorious happened. I had a sonic wallop to the eardrums that made me realise guitars don’t need to be shredded, they just need the right tone, a few good chords and enough spooky-sounding reverb to freak out the squares.

Finding the right tone is about listening to your heroes then tinkering with awesome and unique equipment. That’s where Guitar Emporium comes in. It’s been run by an affable rocker named Darren for the past nineteen years and the man doesn’t muck around. There’s not much space so he only stocks a few beginner acoustics and the best, most idiosyncratic second-hand amps, pedals, guitars and parts. The best part is he’s strung up all the ‘miscellaneous electrics and pawn shop prizes’ he’s collected over the years as a self-described museum. Serious shapes. He’s apparently really good at fixing bung ebay purchases too.

IMAGES: Some stills above come from this awesome new video about Guitar Emporium by Chris Hilton of Contact Productions.