[VIDEO] East Brisbane | If You’ve Ever Wanted to Play the Guitar, Here’s Where You Must Start

By Shannon Edwards // Place New Farm

You may recognise this space from the iconic Elvis figurine that stands out the front, dancing as you drive down Stanley Street.

The Guitar Centre at The Gabba is like stepping into musco heaven for any guitar lover with the shop stocking everything from electric, acoustic, bass, lap steels and bluegrass.

With everything from vintage items to the latest and greatest, The Guitar Centre has made its mark in the Australian music scene with guests visiting nation-wide just to purchase, or have a repair done by the professionals.

As a local resident (in fact, his apartment is right above the centre), Real Estate Agent Steve Yates took us into the store after hearing the sounds of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ sparked his interest.

We sat down with shop Manager, Peter Lituri, who showed us the first thing you near to know when learning guitar.

Check it out!

Have you had anyone exciting visit the store?

All of our customers are exciting to us… but we’ve had a few big names walk through the doors.

Some of our favourites have been Joe Walsh from the Eagles, Joe Bonamassa and we regularly have Troy Cassar Daley visit.

We often catch up with Troy and he tells us about his latest tour adventures, we have a bit of a jam together and he picks up something to add to his huge guitar collection.

Tell us, where did the iconic Elvis come from?

We often travel to the states to pick up vintage and used instruments.

One of our favourite stores over there had an Elvis just like ours, and I always used to think “that would be so great to have!”

One day I was running errands and went past a store that was closing down and there was an Elvis statue out the front!

I remember driving past, reversing and running into the store and picking it up then and there!

Since then, he’s been a local icon. We know many people who call us “the Elvis store”.