Emppu Vuorinen

Emppu Vuorinen

Erno "Emppu" Matti Juhani Vuorinen (born 24 June 1978 in Kitee, Finland) is a Finnish guitarist, most famous for being a founding member and occasional songwriter of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. He is the oldest of five kids, having a twin brother and three younger sisters. He started to play guitar as a private study at the age of 12 and since then has played in various bands including Nightwish, Brother Firetribe, Barilari, Almah, and Altaria.

Emppu is primarily a rhythm player, often supporting the keyboard or orchestral parts of Nightwish songs. However, he plays lead melodies and solos as well. Vuorinen's solo techniques usually include alternate picking, tapping, sliding, legato, and minor to extreme whammy bar use; he also employs sweep picking, although very rarely. His solos are more melodic than those of most metal bands, but he sometimes shreds (notably in "Nightquest," "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion," "Romanticide," and "Gethsemane" by Nightwish, and also in "Traitor" by Tarot, for which he provided a solo). Nightwish's first three albums feature a larger amount of lead guitar work from Emppu than their later albums. Vuorinen has tuned his studio guitars in D tuning since the release of Century Child - until then, his guitars were tuned in standard. During concerts, he has two guitars - one for each tuning.

Vuorinen is also a creative force in Nightwish, having co-written songs with Tuomas Holopainen on every album except for Angels Fall First and Imaginaerum. The song Whoever Brings The Night on Dark Passion Play is written by Vuorinen alone.

Emppu recorded guitar parts for Almah, a Brazilian metal band, order to help his friend and vocalist Edu Falaschi (also singer of Angra). Emppu did not stay in the band because of his obligations to Nightwish. He is also involved with Brother Firetribe, an AOR band, which as of 2008 had released two albums worldwide: "False Metal" (re-released as "Break Out") and "Heart Full Of Fire".

Vuorinen is often referred to as "the short one" or "the hobbit" when among band members or fans, as he stands at just 5'3" (160 cm) in height. Interestingly, he is the only member of Nightwish's current lineup never to have contributed any vocals.