息子の大好きな場所。その名もギター・センター。全米各地にあるらしい。ここのは、案外大きくて、あっちの壁もこっちの壁もギターで埋め尽くされている。数百台はあるんじゃないかなあ。しかもギターアンプもあちこちに何台も設置してあって、壁から好きなギターをはずして、好きなアンプにつなげて、好きなように効果をつけて、弾いて見たりできるからすごい。彼には夢のようなところらしい。200ドルくらいのギターならなんとなくまだ気が軽いけど、2000ドルなんてのもあるから、見ている親のほうがキンチョーしてしまうよ。最初に行った時は、汚げな長髪に刺青のにいちゃんとか、唇にピアスしているねえちゃんとか、真っ黒のTシャツにどくろマークのおじさんとか、とにかく異様な雰囲気の人がたくさんいて、ど、どうしよう！ってかんじだったけど、もう慣れたよ。そういう怖げなひとに限って、案外話してみるとかわいかったりするし。。今日は、6ドル50のピックを買って帰ってきました。
Our son's THE favorite place. Guitar Center. It is a big national chain. This one we have here is pretty big, and all the walls inside the store are covered with hundreds of guitars. There are also quite a few islands of guitar amps of various sizes and effects waiting for you to plug your favorite guitar. You just pick a guitar you like off the wall and plug it into one of those amps and adjust the setting to your liking and play it. It is his dream-come-true place. I can be smiling watching him if his pick is a $200 one, but I cannot be at peace if it is like $2,000. I would say it is pretty generous of the store to let them play around with those guitars.
The first time we were there, it was pretty intimidating since there were bunch of people with long hair which does not look like washed often enough, those with tatoos all over the body, those with lips pierced, those totally in black and those with T-shirts with those scary simbols like bloody skelton etc, but this time it was not that bad, since now we know how to commingle in the environment. Those people are pretty friendly and lovable once you interact with them. Today we came home with a box of guitar picks, which cost him $6.50.
