I went to Starving Musician (Santa Clara) in search of an electric drum amplifier and an Epiphone…read moreSheraton. I was in luck this day as I found both a brand new e-drum amplifier and a used Sheraton at fair prices. Looking the guitar over I noticed the nut for the instrument jack was loose and asked that it be tightened prior to purchasing. On a semi-hollow & hollow body guitars this can be a tedious task, hence why I asked for assistance. The guitar tech, Dimitri, stopped what he was doing and went above and beyond my expectations to remedy the problem. It was not a quick fix and he kept me updated throughout the process. Starving Musician is my first stop when looking for music gear. They have been around as long as I can remember and offer the best trade-in value for your used gear. Always a great experience.

Basically a great place for nice condition used equipment at decent prices with sales people to…read morehelp you with your selection. You can also sell some of your stuff here. However, sometimes.... ? A few days ago, I got this... I came in to sell or consign an 8 track reel to reel Tascam 38 in hardly used, pristine condition, value $800-1,000+. I was told that they do not sell this kind of thing and to go to Rasputin or Street Light. ????

Very good service today from GC Stevens Creek. The 2 gentlemen that helped me portrayed excellent…read morecustomer service and they were very honest about what I was trying to accomplish. They were also very friendly and fun.

I've shopped at this Guitar Center for 20+ years, and today was the worst experience I've ever had…read more A Roland rep named Joel spoke to me and my 3‑year‑old son in a rude, condescending tone while my son was trying a display electronic drum kit. He snapped, "That's a 2k drum set," and then told us to use the "kids set" instead. Completely unprofessional. He even refused to get a manager and falsely claimed he was one. A real manager later told me he wasn't even Guitar Center staff. Joel ruined my son's first visit here. After two decades of loyalty, I'm taking my business elsewhere -- likely Starving Musician down the street.

My daughter had a great experience with her lessons with Joe Valdes at the Guitarist. Joe both met…read moreher where she was at and challenged her to learn new skills. The lessons were easy-going and enjoying, but also very productive, with my daughter learning new songs every week and greatly improving her general technique, her ear for picking up songs, and her finger picking. Best of all, she just really enjoyed the experience, and always looked forward to her lessons, which is a gift for a busy teenager. Management was flexible and easy to communicate with.

My kid has been learning music privately with Tim S. for almost 6 years. I just started in Nov…read more2025. We have fun learning a mix of theory and guitar. My kid started with ukulele and he seamlessly transitioned her to guitar about 2 years ago. He is the best at meeting students where they are while nurturing their talent and interest in music. We're fans of his teaching style. It's also nice to have a variety of options. There is always someone in the office ready to help. I'm not sure about value but I think it's standard pricing about $56.50 for 30-min lessons. Their recitals are chill and they sell instruments, books and anything else you need to learn!

The best Guzheng teacher I can ever wish for. Melody is always being patient and encouraging to…read morestudents. She's knowledgable, passionate and open minded for different types of music. She also provides many opportunities for students to preform in public. I've been learning Guzheng for two year with Melody and I can definitely tell my improvement over these two years. I'm preparing to take 4th level examination now.

We recently invited Melody to play the guzheng at a large scale event at the Mitchell Park…read morecommunity center. She did such a fantastic job! Her music is so beautiful and absolutely captivating. It really was a joy to listen to and everyone left the event raving about it. We would definitely highly recommend her to play for any type of occasion!

Reviewing as a total music novice family. We needed to rent a violin for my 5th grader for…read moreorchestra. We could not have been more helpful, patient and kind helping us set up a rental. Similarly, when we made the return at the end of the school year, the process was seamless! Highly recommend!

I have tried coming to the store twice now looking for help with clarinets. First time was about…read morerenting one and the second was inspecting one we had donated. Both times we had very bad experiences. The first experience made me feel dumb like as if I should know more the process of renting an instrument. The second experience, the gentleman helping me and explaining to me about fixing the instrument, answered the phone mid explaining, seemed to put the person on hold and then literally mid sentence stopped talking and answered the phine again and walked away. Even my child said he was rude. The second person who took over again made me feel dumb as if I should know everything about this instrument. I will not be going back to this store again

Both of my kids have  had a wonderful experience at California Conservatory of Music. They started…read morelearning since 2007 and it has been great. Chris Mallett is such a great teacher, very patient, encouraging, and great with kids. He made learning guitar fun while still helping my children build strong skills and confidence. My kids always looked forward to every lesson and have continued playing guitar even though they are in college.  I really appreciate the positive environment and the way the instructors inspire a love for music. I highly recommend this school to any parent looking for a great place for their child to learn guitar. Thank you for instilling the passion for music in my children's lives!!

I love coming here all the time! I have the best teacher here. She's very smart and tells me all…read moreabout music sheet and about how to improve my singing as well. Great place for anyone interested in learning music.

We started at NCMAC with piano and voice classes for my children and myself, with Ms. Georgianna…read more It is rare to find a teacher like her-- not only is she passionate about teaching piano and encouraging her pupils to make the most of their potential, she makes it so much fun that we look forward all week to our classes! What I appreciate most of all is that she genuinely has our best interests at heart and we learn in the right way, and in a manner best suited to our individual personality and ability. I also believe that Ms. Mary and Ms. Trisha, who run NCMAC have a similar philosophy where the children and their interests are at the center of all their decisions. Recitals at NCMAC are about doing your very best, but finding true pleasure in it, and that's how they run NCMAC too. Genuinely thrilled to have found this place and these teachers!

My son goes to NorCal Music for clarinet lessons, and he really enjoys the experience. The owners…read moreand team are so helpful and very flexible offering makeup lessons when there are openings. Highly recommend.

We bought our digital piano from Music Exchange. My wife visited on a weekday morning (easy to get…read morean appointment), and Armand was very helpful and patient (brought a rambunctious toddler). Very knowledgeable and played pieces on multiple pianos for comparisons. He didn't push any specific model; he was most interested in finding what suited our needs. Later when we ordered the piano from them, it was delivered 2 days later without any issue (the delivery team were professional piano movers, and assembled the piano in their truck before carefully bringing it into our home).

I popped in on a whim (I'd just dropped off my computer at Mobile Kangaroo across the street)…read morebecause, hey, music store! Ann was incredibly helpful. I had (at the time) a piano I was trying to sell, or even give away, because we're trying to get ready to move, and we couldn't justify hanging on to it any more. Despite the fact that I absolutely was not going to buy anything, she went out of her way to help me figure out how much our piano was worth, and gave me some suggestions on piano movers too.

It's been about 6 months since we found Nina as the piano teacher for our 5 year old daughter JW,…read moreand we have been very happy to have Nina with us. Needless to say, not only is she very professional at piano, but also as most important is that she is very patient and nice and knows well how to encourage and teach our kid. Our daughter likes Nina a lot and she is really making progress and she will have a recital for the holiday celebration soon with Nina co-playing. Looking at the music journey where we started at 0 and now my kid can play lovely and quite complicated songs, it's just amazing, we hope with Nina the journey will bring us to further exciting milestones! Looking forward to the recital! Thanks Nina!

My 5 year old daughter has been taking lessons with Nina for the past year and loves it. Now, she…read morelooks forward to it every week. I can still remember that she was nervous in her first lesson with Nina. So I quietly told Nina before the class that she was a big Disney fan, and she blew her away by surprising her with Disney music. My littler girl was super excited and telling me how much she wanted to learn piano with Nina in the car on our way home. That's the time my little girl start liking piano. Nina is not only a teacher who always makes her lessons interesting, but also a good mentor who taught my little girl right learning attitude toward music, or any other things she learns in school. My little girl and Nina became friends both in lessons and after lessons. Additionally, Nina is very professional, having both her Bachelor's and Master's degree from top music schools in Piano major. We can make sure that my daughter's talent won't be ruined by those piano teachers who didn't have much professional training before and just teach for money ending up destroying children's potential piano careers. We are so blessed that we met Nina and have her to be my little girl's piano teacher. Our family are obviously huge fans of Nina's piano studio, and my 5 yr-old and I would both recommend her lessons to anybody who wants to take fun yet professional piano lessons.

My kiddo has been going to Mrs. Julie's weekly group piano class for about a year and a half, and…read moreit has been such a positive experience. The class starts at a slower, steady pace, with a strong focus on fundamentals instead of rushing through songs. This approach has really helped my child feel confident and comfortable as they learn. Even though it's a group class, Mrs. Julie truly pays attention to each student. She makes sure everyone understands, helps correct technique, and never moves on until the kids are ready. I also love that every class begins with listening to different chords, which helps build musical awareness early on. The class always ends with a sweet goodbye song that includes the line "we say goodbye to our friends," and it's such a thoughtful way to wrap things up. One thing I especially appreciate is that Mrs. Julie encourages students to look beyond just the class material. She shows them how what they learn in class can help them explore and understand other pieces they like, which makes learning feel more meaningful and empowering. Mrs. Julie truly wants music to be fun for the kids, and her teaching philosophy is centered around the idea that music is a journey--not just one song, one test, or one recital. She acknowledges that there are ups and downs along the way and encourages students to be confident and learn how to figure things out on their own. Throughout the year, the school hosts winter and summer recitals, giving the kids something fun to work toward. Students get to choose songs they're excited about, and Mrs. Julie reviews them to make sure they're appropriate for each child's skill level. It keeps kids motivated without pressure. The overall vibe is warm, supportive, and encouraging, and learning piano feels fun rather than stressful. This class has been a wonderful introduction to piano and music in general. Highly recommend for families looking for a caring, well-structured group class for beginners.

Very concerning experience at Canon Music with our 4-year-old in a group piano class. About 10…read moreminutes before class, several young children arrived early and were waiting in the classroom with their parents. There was no reminder about noise, no guidance on where families should wait, and no staff present to supervise the pre-class environment. A male teacher from a neighboring classroom suddenly rushed in, visibly upset, and loudly scolded the waiting children and parents, saying they were disturbing his class. The children and parents had no prior awareness that they were causing any issue, and the situation could have been easily handled through calm communication. Instead, the teacher's reaction immediately frightened the children--one child began crying on the spot, and my daughter froze in fear. The situation then escalated further when the teacher became involved in a heated confrontation with a parent that nearly turned physical, all in front of several 4-5-year-old children. After returning home, my child showed clear stress reactions and repeatedly expressed that she no longer felt safe returning to this location. For a children's learning environment--especially for preschool-aged kids--this lack of emotional safety was deeply troubling. Parents of younger or more sensitive children may want to consider this carefully. Update: Following this incident, Canon Music reached out, apologized, and refunded the unused portion of our tuition, which I appreciate. I also want to share that Ms. Julie, our group piano teacher, was very caring and dedicated, and our child really liked her. It's unfortunate that we won't be able to continue learning with her. My original review reflects the experience that led to our decision to withdraw.