My son has been taking electric guitar lessons with the Bone Jones Music family since January 2019,…read moreand I'm totally impressed by their music culture and instruction methods. Bones Jones is more than a single weekly lesson. It's truly an education in music, a musical experience in which students not only learn to play, but learn to play with other students, to collaborate with other students and the excellent, excellent teachers, all accomplished band musicians themselves. I took guitar for several years growing up. Among many things missing was the opportunity to play with other musicians and students, the opportunity to begin to live that dream of playing in a band, of playing before live audiences. At Bones Jones, all that's taken care of -- it's part of their music culture there, and, in my estimation, that's invaluable. Thus, my son is completely turned on to electric guitar. Less than a year in, he's already seeing where it can take him, what the possibilities are, and his learning and growth has been really much, much faster than I'd have imagined -- besides practicing what he's being taught there at the Bones Jones schoolhouse, they've equipped him to explore on his own, to take advantage of the myriad resources out there, and he's doing it, and loving it. I can't say enough good things about Bones Jones Music. It's been a great investment for me and, more important, continues to be a great learning and music experience for my son. Rock on!

My son started playing Jack Johnson on acoustic at age 9 at Bones Jones Music and now 7 years of…read morelessons later, he is playing Metallica and Muse on electric guitar. Billy continues to meet my son's music interests as they have evolved, keeping him interested, challenged and motivated. The whole community is welcoming and encouraging of any student at any level. If you love rock music from all eras, this is the place to learn guitar! I have to admit that I was skeptical at first about the group lesson model because everyone else teaches private guitar lessons. But the group class model really works! Billy is a super skilled teacher and you will love playing with other folks in classes. I highly recommend Bones Jones Music!

what ever happened to neighborhood guitar shops?…read more nothing really, they're still there. you just started going to mars and chuck levin's superstores as soon as you were old enough to drive. wandering the aisles of shiny guitars with glossy five-figure price tags and salesmen working for commission slowly degraded your music store experience to only a fragment of a step above buying new socks at walmart. but that neighborhood guitar shop is still there, even though you stopped going. and that crusty old dude who convinced you to drop your lawn-mowing money on a beat up fender, told you the secret about how it will always sound better than that shiny factory-fresh one at the superstore, and gave you your first few lessons, pretenting to believe you when you said you practiced your arpeggios; well, he's still there too. chances are you're not going to find exactly what you came in looking for, but shops like this are the only place you'll get what you really need, even some kid looking at what you asked for and says "ugh, you don't want one of those, here, try this, it's cheaper and i like it better..."

I just purchased a guitar from Jerry's Music and I'm in California. Jerry really knows his stuff…read more He has a music degree in guitar. He really knows all types of guitars. His prices are much more competitive than the Big Box music stores and the service is much better. Honestly, I'm going to refer my West Coast friends to Jerry's.

Some people might think that if someone's walk around the store looking for something, maybe an…read moreemployee would help them. I literally want from the right side of the building to the left side of the building looking for a guitar tuner, and it was my first time being at the store. There's about 10 employees walking around talk to each other at the register and the security guy doesn't even look up for his computer at the front door. Not to say Amazon is green and everything, but I was looking for something simple so I might as well go to Amazon. They were talking so much at the register didn't even look up to see who was around. They were letting a customer eat at the cash register if I can't expect good customer service I just put down the item and left.

Guitar Center can be hit or miss. This experience was a hit. I brought in a guitar ordered online…read more(risky) as a Christmas gift because the action was off and I was concerned about the integrity of the neck. The store was pretty busy the night before Christmas Eve, and the two dudes working were clearly outnumbered by customers. After not too bad of a wait, Kai took a look, agreed the action wasn't right, and even though the regular guitar tech wasn't there, said he might be able to fix it. And he did--he fixed it well, in a way that felt knowledgeable and trustworthy. Suddenly, the guitar played great. I was impressed by these two guys juggling various things and making it all seem easy.

My two daughters have been taking the Young Musician Group Piano classes for the last two years…read more They both completed Level 1 and now are in Level 2 and Level 3. When they started they were six and seven years old. They love this piano class. Their instructor, Mr. Cobbins, is a lot of fun but also has a great attitude for teaching. He makes the class enjoyable and instructive. There are times when we have to miss the class due to scheduling conflicts, and my girls gets very sad and disappointed when they do- now, that's a great sign of how much they love this piano class! At the end of each semester, each student gets to perform their own piano recital in front of all the other students and parents. My girls loved dressing up and playing their favorite songs. My eldest daughter also attended the Academy of Fine Arts summer program, more specifically the sing dance and act sessions. I can't tell you how much she loved this program. She met new friends and had such a great time. At the end of the program, they perform a show with a combination of all three - singing, dancing and acting. I already signed her up for this summer's session!

Our experience with the institution is varied. They have some incredible teachers who are really…read moreengaged and others that are not. We had Sekulic who was not engaged, on her phone in a virtual setting for Piano. Fortunately, we found another piano teacher who is really engaged and devoted to the arts outside of the academy. There are other nuances with the academy directly related to lack of communication that also contributed to this review.

I've been taking voice lessons from Delia for almost two years, and in that time I think I've…read moreimproved dramatically as a singer. I started as a complete beginner, not really knowing what to expect, mostly assuming that raw talent was a prerequisite to have a nice singing voice. It sounds silly now, but I really underestimated the technique and functional training required to sing. That's good news for me, because technique you can practice and improve, even if you're not born with raw talent :). Delia is great at explaining the technical aspects of singing and isolating problem areas either in a particular range of your voice or a part of a song. I learn something new at each lesson and feel that I make real progress, yet it's a relaxing and fun environment. For me, it's a time where I can de-stress, and think of nothing else except singing and music. I look forward to it each week.

Delia has been a huge help to me. Her lighthearted cooperative approach is relaxing and a real…read morepleasure. Yesterday was different. It was serious business, as we worked hard on "If I Loved You" from Carousel. Suddenly I flung my shyness aside. Hey maybe I really can handle a solo after all! Yea!!!

Chuck levins is the one of best music store in the country. Definitely the best in the dmv …read more actually a dc institution for decades family run business. I have bought guitars. PA systems amps back in the day and also recently Got a kick ass deal on a custom shop Gibson Flying V .thanks Pete . Great service always any problem they take care of it . wide selection of top brands and good deals. i always go to the store . So far as online I can't really can't say except call them they have more stuff then they list and get a deal . I had a keyboard shipped to Texas for my daughter went fine. . I highly recommend the place . Great place for beginners or professional musicians. They have it all !

Would not shop here again. We picked up an online order and we were not given a bag or a receipt,…read moreeven though we asked for one and the worker said we didn't need it because we had the one on our phone. We walked to the next building that had all of the guitar supplies and greeted a security guard at the front, he saw the online order in our hand when we walked in. I made direct eye contact with him. My mother and I walked around and looked for pedals and other guitar accessories. We had started to carry around things we were intending to buy. We headed towards the back of the store with the midi keyboards. The security guard from the front followed us to the back of the store and ordered us to come to the front and make an itemized list of the things in our hands. I told him that we hadn't paid for the items in my hands yet and that we were shopping. It was very confusing to me because he was inhibiting us from shopping. I asked him directly why we were being singled out when the store was full of people. He was very rude and I believe it had something to do with our race as we were the only black people in the store. I was adamant on wanting to know why he was singling us out and he continued to talk in circles. I demanded to know why I needed to come to the front again and he would not give me a reason so I refused to come with him. Another employee saw that this was becoming a situation and diffused the situation. This interaction was very demoralizing and they humiliated my mother and I by accusing us of theft when we had done nothing wrong or suspicious. He yelled at us in front of everyone. I would not come here again and will continue to take my money to the Guitar Center down the street.

Have to support these small music shops. Victor Litz has a lot to offer from types of instruments,…read moreelectronics, lessons, used gear, you name it. I was especially impressed with their selection of ukuleles. Never have I seen so many in MD in one place! Definitely more than what Guitar center offers. They have an acoustic room in the back to try their acoustic/classical guitars. I had the chance to buy one of their used guitars at an amazing price. I appreciate the staff working with me on the price and even holding the instrument for a day when they could have easily sold it to next customer. Shows that they care about customer satisfaction more than just making a sale. I was able to spend a good amount of time trying out the instrument and they also helped tweak the intonation before I decided to take it home with me. The only few downsides I could see was some of the staff were not particularly knowledgeable about certain guitar models that they were selling, but much better than say Guitar Center. The humidification in the acoustic room basically only controlled by a residential type humidifier, so not very precise. Compared to other small guitar shops in the DMV, I don't think I would feel comfortable getting my guitar worked on here just based on the level of expertise I surmounted from the conversations I had. But a good place to buy gear nonetheless if you know what you are looking for. Parking is just a little challenging since it is in the middle of old town Gaithersburg. But in the past I have come on the weekends and there is some parking across the street at the museum.

I used to be a fairly loyal customer but cannot continue to patronize a store that does not…read moreappreciate and respect ALL of their customers. There are many better options in the area such as Chuck Levins and Bill's Music that are more welcoming and frankly have a much larger selection of instruments. EDIT - Tony, you know exactly what you did. You thought you were being funny but ended up insulting a group of people that you may disagree with, but are still some of your customers or potential customers. I do not feel comfortable doing business with companies that do not treat all of their customers with the same level of respect. I respect your right to have your opinions, but we all have choices.

So far so good! Attentive teachers and great hours. There appear to be a lot of available hours…read moreand even later in the day, which helps with scheduling and pickups.

My favorite part is that they're very flexible with schedule. For last minute cancellations they…read morecan arrange a make up lesson which is great. Location is also very convenient. Drop off your kid and get your groceries done. Overall staff is great & supportive and love that the students can participate in recitals which I personally think it's a necessity for musicians to grow.