This cool shop in the Grove Arcade is making some cool tunes and some cool instruments. This guy…read morehas invented his own musical instrument. It's like a guitar, or a dulcimer, that's made compact and out of wood with steel strings. It sounds like it's tuned so that it's fairly easy to play. When we went by checking out his store, the dude cranks up his Woodrow and puts on a little concert. It's hard to miss while walking through the central corridor of the Grove Arcade. The shop is well lit, and the products are displayed thoughtfully. I could tell that each of these instruments are handmade, as he had a sort of workshop going to work on these instruments.

These are great instruments easy to play for all ages!! Everybody is intrigued when they see my…read moreWOODROW.

Phenomenal customer service!! I spoke with Billy and he helped me identify the exact mallets I…read moreneeded to create smooth sound baths without the scratchy sounds created by other mallets. He shipped them out the next morning. I am sooo grateful and excited that Skinny Beats wasn't damaged by the Hurricane a number years ago. gorgeous music shop!!

When I tried to speak with the shop guy (proprietor?) about a kora (West African stringed…read moreinstrument), he was immediately rude, impatient, arrogant, insulting. In addition, he responded the same way to my wife when she tried to ask him legitimate questions about the instrument. Both my wife and I have played kora for decades and I was genuinely interested in purchasing this instrument for her. The shop guy was only concerned that we may break strings on the instrument or tune it up to the pitch at which it was designed to be played. We were deeply insulted by the treatment we received and just left the shop, disgusted. To whomever has the kora there on consignment, my condolences--this guy drives away potential buyers.

I am worry free when Steve is servicing my guitars. His work is the best and guaranteedread more

Steve is great. His setups are second to none. He's super knowledgeable and easy to talk to about…read morewhat's going on with your instrument. Can't recommend him enough. He does fantastic work.

I've been taking guitar lessons here for ~4 months now, which is oftentimes the highlight of my…read moreweek. I genuinely look forward to my weekly lesson with Austin because of his ability to balance structured, meaningful learnings with fun. The space itself is really neat and gets you in the right headspace to make/create music. The Sound Room's curriculum is great, because unlike many other lessons/schools, there is a well-defined progression for advancing from one level to the next--which gives students something concrete to strive for. Austin truly puts students in the driver's seat by having them define their goals, and revisiting them almost each class to ensure that the time together is being spent wisely. As an intermediate player myself, his ability to amp up and dive into complex topics--but also throttle it back when my brain hurts from the new concepts, is greatly appreciated. The building itself is easily accessible and parking is plentiful. If you're on the fence at all about lessons, do yourself a favor and take the plunge with The Sound Room!

I went in to Music and Arts to purchase some music. I was dubious at first considering the…read morereputation this company has for rotten customer service. I have not had the experience of purchasing instruments with this M&A company but my in-store experience could not have been better. A gentleman named Rick helped me find vocal music that I was searching for and never made me feel rushed or pressured. He was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Class act. When I went to check out, another young man, (I think his name was John) checked me out quickly and was very friendly. The team there was professional and the store was beautifully laid out and clean. I found myself wanting to buy more stuff just because the store looked so nice and the staff was so easy to work with. I will go back to purchase more vocal selections as well as "stuff" for my music students.

LONG, True Story: I…read morehave been paying monthly for my son's trumpet from Music Center, now apparently bought out by the Music & Arts. So earlier in the month I received in invoice from the new company stating I was 3 months behind (pause... breathe... incorrect) so I called and spoke with a nice woman initially who said that account info was being transferred so it may take a few more weeks for my payments to appear on their records. I said ok I will call next week to make a payment. It was a pleasant conversation, hung up, felt ok. I call yesterday to see if everything transferred over and to make my payment, another rep stated that I had made a payment on 05/02/18 $35 charge and $96 on 05/16/18. (PAUSE) I didn't make either payment. So I explained that I haven't made ANY payments to the new company so how did they receive a payment? Who authorized said payment(s)? Riddle me this Batman. Now we have a problem. I am not on a direct draft, I pay with my debit card monthly that is not kept on file... or so I thought. The rep was extremely unhelpful so I asked for a manager, who surprisingly was unavailable at the moment and would return my phone call in 24-48 hours. Immediately hung up the phone and called the local store. Spoke with the sweetest gentleman who mentioned he had worked with Music Center for 38 years prior to the acquisition. I explained what happened and he was apologetic but said he was unable to assist because he TOO had to call the same UNHELPFUL and UNPROFESSIONAL customer service department. I informed him this is why people do not deal with big companies and prefer small, local businesses. He also mentioned that Quite a few people have been calling and he would pass teh information on. Fast forward this morning, hubs texts me and asks if I used the cc for a payment.... Nope... But now I wonder, was it for Music & Arts? Yes. Impossible lol How did they get that credit card number? Never used it to make payments. So, he calls.... Again, no direct response except the one possibility, "Someone must have purchased an instrument?". And yes, the Manager was again unavailable. She tells him to dispute it with the bank lol (Superior customer service). At no point did she ask his name, phone number, account associated. So, he hangs up and calls the bank and puts in a claim. Big corporations buy smaller ones in these silent acquisitions and decide take advantage of their local clients.

Will worked on a Sony PVM CRT of mine (cap kit and calibration) and did a fantastic job! He's also…read morefairly priced and just a pleasure to work with. Highly recommended!

Bought some electric guitar strings and some picks. Nice selection of guitars and amps.read more

Left my Jackson guitar with Woody to set up, clean and restring today. Will get it back tomorrow…read moreall juiced up and ready to jam. Yes - I can restring a guitar, but having Woody to do it with the setup and cleaning I save a lot of my time and the cost is low. I need my strings changed often (4 guitars) and this is the way I want to go. Picked up a tool set (screw gun 24volt) battery and charger the other day for a great price. Used it to run about 40 metal to wood screws on my old tin roof. I credit doing this to my roof and it not being damaged during hurricane (tropical storm) Zeta run through Marion today. Saved a ton of money on this tool set and got the job done. Thanks Woody ! See you tomorrow with another guitar needing works

Our son learns guitar from Jeremy Sheehan, and we could not be happier. Jeremy is an incredible…read moreteacher. He is gentle and keeps our son calm and focused, and he uses fun games that our son looks forward to at each lesson. We came to The Summit Academy through word of mouth recommendations, and we feel so lucky to have found them. The only thing I wish is that I had more free time so I could take lessons too. We are amazed with how much our son has learned from Jeremy and can't wait for this fall's recital.

We moved to Asheville nearly 2 years ago, and I've been really excited about getting our kids…read morestarted with music lessons. My husband and I are both musical, so we've just been waiting for our kids to get older so we can start our family band! ;) I had been researching possible music schools for awhile, and The Summit Academy of Music definitely stood out at the top. I wanted to find a school where both myself and our children could take lessons, and they came through all the way...it's now a family affair! Our son Gavin turned 7 last year and I finally felt like he could sit still and focus long enough for lessons last fall. Everyone at Summit Academy of Music has been amazing and so wonderful! They are adept at handling fidgety and hard-to-focus kids, and employ strategies and tactics that are wonderful for kids. Then switching over to my lessons, I learn the basics and also get to play around with additional pieces on both my classical and electric guitars! I started taking guitar lessons and Gavin started taking BOTH guitar and piano lessons at the same time in October. Choosing the Summit Academy of Music has been one of the BEST decisions ever! I did a ton of research on schools all over Asheville...and hands down, this school is the best of the best. The amount of progress that Gavin has made on BOTH instruments has been unbelievable. After only 4 months, it's truly incredible how much we both have learned...and how quickly we've progressed. We've both been learning the Suzuki method (which blows my mind) and really makes it so fun and easy to progress through the books and develop a lot of skill. At home we only practice in quick 10 minute sessions (longer if we feel like jamming out), and that makes it so fun and easy to learn. It never feels like practicing an instrument when I was growing up, but instead just a lot of fun to hang and play. The way the lessons are run, the teachers integrate fun games, prizes, and goals so that pretty much feels like you're going somewhere to have a great time...but also come away from it learning so much. All of the teachers are absolutely incredible and I can't sing their praises highly enough! Our daughter is only 4 right now, but I'm really excited to get her started as well!