Having been an on and off adult guitar player with limited time, I went through a series of guitar…read moreteachers before landing on MTN. I can't say enough about Scott Hargus and his bevy of instructors. He customizes his instruction to his students and knows how to tap into their misunderstandings regarding theory to practice. Other teachers I experienced had very set methods that were not adaptable nor inspiring students to play more. Scott's approach is both. I come out of sessions knowing what to work on and why. As an added bonus, he periodically schedules gigs for his students to play live. I had this opportunity to play out with him and Norm @ Twisted Vine. Pretty inspiring indeed. Great teacher and worth every penny!

I took lessons from MTN and worked my way up from a novice. They gave me the tools i needed and…read morewith steady practice , Im out playing in bands. They made learning fun and gave me the info i needed.

I was a piano student at Edgewood from elementary school all the way until my high school…read moregraduation. While I disliked practicing at home, I fully appreciate the valuable lessons learned at Edgewood. Edgewood Music Studio employs extremely talented and knowledgeable teachers who work well in identifying student's weaknesses and develop techniques in order to help improve them. The teachers are extremely flexible in scheduling. In the nine years I went there, I rarely had a canceled lesson, and in the event my teacher could not be there, a suitable substitute was available. The director, Joan (who was also my teacher), holds lessons at her house. In addition to an annual recital, we had regular master classes so we could socialize with other students and hear them play. Joan pushes her students to the best of their abilities (we had to memorize our recital pieces). Joan did a great job in customizing a lesson plan with me. I started off with the Alfred Music books, which were divided into levels (1A/1B through 6). Each level progressively got more challenging. Once the I learned basic concepts in different styles of music, a classical component was introduced, and I was given more chord and note exercises to improve technique (I did Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, which got more challenging each week). Students were also required to complete weekly theory exercises in order to retain new concepts.

This place has turned into my place for drum equipment. A heads-up to Eric, and the rest of the…read moreguys I deal with in the drum area. I'm not the most personalble guy and can come-off as a slight bit antisocial (Just sit me behind a set and I let the drums do the talking, for me!) and the guys handling the drum section know how to interact with people that are even as recluse as me, and that shows an excellence in customer service! Guitar Center, in Southington, should be ashamed, and should take some notes on work ethic from these men.

So I just heard that the 100 year-old Sam Ash chain of stores is closing - and that is what has…read moreprompted this review, I apologize in advance for its length: For over 26 years, my company did business with Sam Ash. Back in the 90's I would walk into the Woodbridge, CT store and be properly and professionally greeted, guided to the salesperson that would help with my purchase and get great advice, information and service from a knowledgeable staff member and most of the time, fellow musician. Who could ask for more? Fast forward to the 2020's and the retail giant is totally unrecognizable - so hearing the news this morning that the chain was closing didn't exactly come as a shock, as I predicted this years ago. The tell-tale signs were everywhere and honestly, I'm surprised it took this long. It doesn't however make this news any less heartbreaking. I say heartbreaking because anytime a brick and mortar establishment closes, every American should stop and tremble. This is the end of another era. Out of tradition or some sort of misplaced loyalty, I've always stopped into Sam Ash to give them yet "Another Chance" to redeem themselves and every time, I left the store empty-handed, disappointed and kicking myself for wasting my time there - again. No greeting at the door. No smiling faces. No staff to help. No knowledgeable staff on hand. So, I stood there and waited and waited. When someone finally decided to acknowledge me, they were useless. Then to add insult to injury, as time went on, they rarely stocked anything I needed. So I just stopped considering them as a supplier. Most of the time, I was there for high-end sound reinforcement for live performances - Large power amps, speakers, sonic maximizers, cabling, wireless mics, mixers, etc. My last visit there about ten years ago. I was shopping for a full-size keyboard to incorporate into my studio. I had specific questions as I'm a guitar player, not a keyboard player, and I got stuck with a salesperson who knew less about keys than I did. So how many time times do professional musicians, engineers, producers and sound people let this scenario play out before we let Jeff Bezos take care of us? And here we are. Towns across America are full of little corner music shops that sell low end everything for the grade school student and beginning musician and that's as it should be, but professionals go to stores like Sam Ash for the performance grade stuff. And when you're dumping two thousand to 12 thousand on a Les Paul or Strat or maybe 5K on a vintage Vibrolux, you want your sales staff to know their stuff. You EXPECT to be treated a certain way. You want to be able to touch, feel, see, hear and play that dream guitar you've been waiting a lifetime to buy. You want to smell that cedar top on that new Classical guitar. Kinda hard to do with an on-line purchase. Imagine buying a new car without the test drive! And THAT is what makes this a sad day in America. It's another sign of the times. Another example of how we've fallen as a Capitalist society. Some people celebrate that I guess. I don't. I'm sad to hear this news. I'm going to miss Sam Ash despite my feelings. I'm going to miss the experience of buying in person. No one wants to see a business fail. This is a part of history we're losing. Someone worked hard to build that business. It was someone's dream. And Sam Ash won't be the last. Guitar Centers is suffering from the exact same issues and collapse of the business model and I say they're next - but will they turn it around? Will their board of directors send out district and regional managers or "secret shoppers" and start fixing the issues before Jeff Bezos takes their dollars too? Will they read reviews like this one and get off their collective asses to turn the Titanic around? Probably not, when you can't find anyone today who really knows what hard work is - how do you fix it? Who's training their staff? There comes a point when the damage is done and it's not salvageable. Goodbye Sam Ash. I take no pleasure in writing this. I'm disgusted. I'm disappointed. I'm sad. I just hope that those in control at the top levels of management of these chain stores, read their reviews and pay attention - take them to heart and make the effort to improve your businesses. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, it's just that most people won't take the time to write something like this - but I feel better for having said it. Maybe by some miracle, someone will come in and scoop Sam Ash up and right the ship at the last hour. I can dream, can't I? Ron L, Southington , CT

We've had a great experience with music lessons - the teacher makes it fun and engaging for our…read morechild. The Yamaha guitar we purchased around the holidays continues to be a great purchase.

Service is great very helpful and friendly. Pricing for your…read morechild to rent and try out an instrument is very cost effective here. The store itself was very clean and well lit

This is the real deal. A neighborhood music store with good people, who know what they are talking…read moreabout. Some interesting vintage pieces that you don't find every day. Not a huge store but totally worth visiting to see what they have in stock. Really friendly and nice as well. We must support our neighborhood music stores. Big box stores with zero customer service are not the answer. These guys also give lessons. It used to be called Berlin Music.

I'm so thankful I found this excellent band rental company to rent a clarinet. It was in August &…read morewith Covid being a whole new way of life, I figured it would be difficult to rent a used instrument, and...I was wrong- it was EFFORTLESS! I was greeted by Mike Jr (the CEO/Owner) and completed everything online including creating my online profile to be able to pay/update account info/etc. Mike was superb with assisting me. He rented us a FRESHLY CLEANED/Sanitized clarinet, with a sticker of authenticity proving it had gone through the utmost sanitization in order to be rented out. The Norwalk office was nice & protected against Covid & the entire transaction was so effortless. I also purchased reeds while I was there. I'll continue to be a loyal customer for all of my instrument needs from now on. I'm so grateful to be able to support AAA Band Rentals & to spread the word for my friends & acquaintances to also venture over to AAA Band Rentals for their own band rental instruments, equipment & supplies. I highly recommend this shop.

Always great service @ AAA Band Rentals. An absolute pillar in the Fairfield County Music community…read morefor many decades. The technicians are personable, they listen, and have a strong attention to detail and great workmanship. I had several French horns I've sent in for dent repair, refurbishment , and ultrasonic cleaning and I have been very pleased with the results. So much that I play more often. Thank you AAA Band Rentals!