Best guitars and best owners and so welcoming and so open to help and I got a free shirtread more

Highlights: - Friendly and helpful staff…read more- Lots of guitars to check out and try - Melodicas!!! I stumbled into Mr. Music while visiting Boston. I was really excited to check out Allston, and this place caught my eye as I was walking around the neighborhood. I've been playing bass for about 4 months now. I was really excited to finally be able to walk into a music store and be able to actually try out the guitars and see which ones I liked. The staff were very helpful - right away they asked if I needed help finding anything. They pointed me in the direction of the bass guitars, specifically acoustic basses (which I was interested in hearing/playing). Their bass guitar section is awesome! They have a handful of acoustics that you can try out, which is really cool. If you're looking to purchase a bass guitar and want to make sure you're comfortable with it first - this is the place. They have a variety of pics that you can try, too. I've only played with two different pic styles before, so being able to try a handful made me realize what I really liked. They also have a great little corner for trying out electric guitars, complete with a little amp. I tried a lot of different electric basses, and found the ones I really liked. It was so much fun to try out the guitars and find out what I want to save up for. Besides guitars, they have a cute little percussion section and a bunch of melodicas!! The melodica is such a cool instrument, so I was happy to see it getting some love in this store. All-in-all, I walked away from the store with a handful of new pics and a smile on my face. This is such an authentic little shop, you can tell they really care a lot about music. I would love to go back!

This is a top notch music shop in the old school tradition. I recommend checking it out, taking…read moresome time to talk to the owner or the friendly staff. You will learn something. They may not have a million instruments on display, but they have a lot, andif you want something specific they can help you with that. They also do great repair work.

I didn't find the book I was looking for here (a popular first year piano lesson book, which I was…read moreshopping for late in the start-of-lessons season) but I did find a very pleasant store, very helpful staff, and a place I'll return to next time I need anything music related. Guitar strings, picks, tuners, etc., they have a store chock full of whatever you need. Except of course they were fresh out of the book I was looking for (an empty slot on the rack) but I can't hold that against them.

School of Rock is a must for any young person who loves Rock music and wants to perform. With…read moreprograms and lessons for young rockers at every level, and an incredibly supportive and knowledgeable faculty and staff, School of Rock Boston is an absolute gem.

My son has been a drum student at SOR for quite a few years now. He has loved it since he started…read morethere and still does! Great management, great teachers, great gigs. Always willing to accommodate. If I could give them 10 stars I would!!!!

We have been with Gene Kelly for two years. Our daughter Sophia loves to go to piano class and is…read morealways excited to go. He is really patient and understanding to her strengths and adapts his teaching to the way she enjoys learning. He has also given her some recent pop music simplified that she really enjoys learning and relating too. We would highly recommend !!!

My seven-year-old daughter has been learning piano with Gene for a year now. I did a great deal of…read moreresearch on group lessons vs. one-on-one lessons and then searched far and wide (for over a year, as I was preparing for the right time to introduce a new activity to my daughter) only to find him a few blocks from my house! I only have positive things to say about him. My daughter was first exposed to the piano through the music class at Chinese school. My daughter would linger by the piano after class, and her teacher, who played the piano during the lesson, mentioned that my daughter might enjoy piano lessons. Because my daughter already exhibited signs of interest, I felt that one-on-one was the way to go. I wanted a teacher who was 1) a little outside of the box, 2) willing to make the experience fun for my child - not too strict and 3) experienced enough to have seen a wide range of students to know what to do for my child if/when she experiences difficulty. Neither I nor my husband play the piano, so if our daughter had problems we wouldn't know if it was the material or the teacher/teaching method/style. With Gene, who has tremendous experience teaching in public schools, I knew that I wouldn't have to worry so much about pedagogy. More recently, when Gene updated his website, I learned that Gene is a graduate of Berklee College of Music which I didn't know when I hired him. I feel very privileged to have him as my daughter's piano teacher. During the first few months, my daughter would come out of the lessons completely exhilarated and bursting with glee. When things started to get harder, Gene was able to help us get through it successfully. Now, my daughter goes to our electronic keyboard on her own. I have to pull her away from the keyboard to get her to school on time and to get her to bed at a decent hour! I'm extremely happy with how my daughter has taken to piano, and I'm very fortunate to have Gene teaching her. Gene is very patient and works with students from where they are. My daughter may arrive to her lesson extremely excited about a new song she learned on her own. Gene will listen and give pointers, and then will redirect her back to the day's lesson. He's good at managing the pace of the lesson. My daughter always enjoys going and the time zips by.

A friend told me about Guitar Stop so I brought in my acoustic which had a bad case of fret buzz. I…read morethought it needed an entire setup (I'm still very much a beginner player). However, Jeanne made a minor adjustment to the truss rod and fixed my lousy stringing error and the buzz was gone. This cost me $5. I returned to the store the next day and Annette was extremely helpful and very patient with all my questions about a new electric guitar. I ended up purchasing my first electric with a great amp. They even include a free gig bag and six picks! Very cool. Overall, I'm very pleased with this family-owned store and will visit them again for my guitar needs. Thanks for reading and rock on!

I had a strange experience there with a guitar repair…read more Ten years ago I bought an acoustic guitar with a pickup at GuitarStop. A few months ago the pickup stoped working. I brought it in to Guitar Stop. Their technician examined the guitar, cleaned the dust out, and came to the conclusion that the pickup/preamp would need to be replaced. They gave me the customer service phone number of the guitar manufacturer, and said that because they were no longer distributing that brand, there was no way they could get the parts, or do anything else to help me. Even though I bought the guitar there, they told me I'm on my own. One odd experience was that the technician didn't talk to me. All this info was mediated to me by the people behind the counter. When I had a question, they would ask the tech, the tech would tell them, they'd tell me. It was odd to have a middleman coordinating. I then did what I didn't want to do: I brought the guitar to Guitar Center on Mass Ave, across from Berklee. The guitar technician came out, introduced himself to me, and walked me through all the options. A couple days later they called me and said the guitar was completely fixed. It was the wiring, the very thing that Guitar Stop claimed it wasn't. There was NOTHING WRONG with the pickup or preamp. It works/sounds beautiful now. When I brought this to the attention of Guitar Stop, they told me how "filthy" my guitar was, how their tech tried every everything, etc. They offered to refund me the $20 bench fee, but it feels picayune to accept that. I always want to support local business and not the "big retailers," but in this case, if I need any work on any guitar, I won't feel confident bringing it to Guitar Stop.

1. Illegal bait and switch 2. Complete incompetence…read more3. Unhinged rude attitude 1. Illegal bait and switch - I called and asked if I could bring a guitar for assessment. Guy on phone said I could bring in and they'd assess for free. After five minutes of my free assessment, the lady tried to charge me for it. The guy then changed his story and said he actually meant that they would assess it for free only if I dropped it off but not dropped by with it (which doesn't make much sense if you think about it) 2. Complete incompetence - A) I told her that the guitar frets were out of tune. She denied it and said nothing was wrong with the guitar. B) I told her I wanted to action lowered. She said it was impossible to lower it anymore without causing buzzing. C) I told her something was rattling when I played the open G string. She said it could be anything causing it, even a loose truss rod So I took it to Stubblebine lutherie. Without even playing it, he inspected everything about the guitar - he listed exactly what was causing it to be out of tune (mainly the nut grooves), exactly how the action could easily be lowered without causing buzzing (he said the action was actually pretty high), and exactly what was causing the rattling (loose tuner component), and offered to fix everything for 100 dollars 3. Unhinged attitude - She started making fun of me for the questions I was asking. When I handed her the tuner, a rubber piece fell off, and she blamed me for breaking it to her coworker. When I pointed out that some of the frets we're out of tune, she blamed it on how I tuned it. When I clarified that I was told on the phone that the assessment would be free, she started to try to guilt me into paying and trying to get me to tell her how much money I made in my job. When I eventually did offer money because I felt bad, she made fun of me again

During a recent visit to get my daughter's clarinet repaired, I encountered mean spiritedness and…read morehovering, (by two different people but still...)! The middle-aged woman who initially greeted me and looked at my instrument was helpful and kind but not as knowledgeable as the second, older woman who was clearly running the show and ended up helping me. A third and younger woman stood so close to me until she was sure I was acknowledged by the middle-aged woman, if we weren't wearing masks, I'm sure I would've felt her breath on the back of my neck. The initial impression was enough to make me want to leave and not return, but my daughter really needed a clarinet and time was not on my side. So I swallowed hard and tried to make the best of things by staying engaged in conversation with the kinder middle-aged woman.I made it through the ordeal and decided to vocalize my disappointment here because while I don't know the first thing about instruments, I do know good service, and I did not experience that here. So, despite the fact that I ended up getting a loaner from Wood & Strings, as my kid's clarinet was busted, I can't in good conscience recommend this place because the service was subpar. It's unfortunate too, because the shop is so close and my kids are really getting into instruments that I see myself investing lots of money. But the woman was just so snotty and condescending, (of course in a "no disrespect intended" sort of way), if I don't have a better experience upon returning the loaner, they're going to lose a good customer because I won't be going back. Even if the prices are good, it's just not worth the hassle!

My two children have been taking piano lessons with Yas Ishibashi at Powers. My youngest started as…read morea first grader, my oldest as a second grader. I am amazed at how far they've come so quickly. Powers emphasizes performances early and often, which is just the incentive my children sometimes need to put in that extra bit of practice. This emphasis also teaches them that it's OK to make mistakes--that they can learn from them in the (futile but worthy) pursuit of perfection. Our experience with Yas has been wonderful--she is flexible, fun, and forgiving!

I have taken all 4 of my children to the Music Pups class over the years. They really enjoy it. The…read moreolder ones still like to sing along now that the youngest is learning the songs!

I just wanted to thank you SO SO much for fixing my Gibson Les Paul. You did SUCH a good job that…read moreit sounds like it did when it was brand new nearly 20 years ago, NO ONE has done such a great job as you have. A thousand thank yous, I got completely lost in the moment playing it and it's been years since I experience that unless I was onstage in the zone. I'm thrilled my step father found you, your going to be my forever go to for anything regarding fixing my guitars. Price was VERY reasonable- in a world where everything is to much, you certainly are priced fair. Thank you.

I walked into Mike's, because I was in the market for an electric and live in the neighborhood…read more This was my first electric, but I knew I wanted something decent with good tone. I told the store owner what I was looking for, and he showed me what was in my price range. He also very kindly told me that I was welcome to try any of the guitars--even though I very clearly could not afford them! I thought that was cool! He left me alone to play the guitars. I was able to take my time--as I didn't really know what I was looking for. I was so happy with one of them, that I went ahead and bought it! I've had it for about 2 or 3 years now, and I still love it!

Great people. Was looking for some trumpet accessories. Amazing collection of antique instruments…read more Very accommodating.

My business dealings were an online purchase. There are no dealers in my immediate area for a…read moreproduct I needed and a Google search led me to Virtuosity which had the item I needed in stock. There was a problem with my shipment with the Postal Service causing a long delay in delivery, so they sent me a replacement via UPS which arrived in short order. It's this going the extra mile service that will keep customers coming back again and again. I recommend them highly!