guitar 1

Guitars seem to be cropping up a wee bit at the moment e.g. here and here, so I thought I would start an occasional series blipping my own.

I've played guitar since I was 10. For some reason I had no idea what I wanted for my 10th birthday and so out of desperation my mother suggested a guitar. Of course, I was expecting a rather lovely candy apple red Stratocaster (as seen on ToTP). The reality was in fact a 3/4 size nylon strung Encore.

Despite the crushingly uncool nature of the guitar I was really taken with the instrument and continued to play and learn; (very) slowly at first, then picking up speed.

I spent my teenage years playing in bands of varying degrees of quality until about my early 20s; at this point I was ejected from the band I was in (artistic differences? distance from rest of the band? who knows) and I stopped playing for about 5 or 6 years. At some point I decided that it would be much better if my equipment went to someone who would actually use it so I sold the lot for £100. Amp, guitar, effects.

Fast forward another few years and I received an unexpected bonus at work. Not yet having children, I actually decided I could afford to treat myself: as pictured, a Gibson Les Paul Special DC. Not an expensive guitar and the first Gibson-style guitar I'd owned. But what a great guitar! Easy playing, great sound. And yes, that's a bad case of buckle rash on the back...