Probably more difficult than figuring out which guitar to buy when I decided to pick it up was…read moredeciding on a teacher. The internet is filled with many instructors with impressive credentials. What I noticed about Dave's website is that, unlike others who focused on what they know, Dave focused on how he would teach a student. There is that big, big difference between knowing something and teaching it, and Dave was focused on helping the student to learn. I have been with Dave for two years this month and am very happy with my choice. Yes, of course he knows how to play, and knows this intricacy of the fretboard and that intricacy of theory. But anyone teaching should know those things anyway. What I like about Dave, and why I highly recommend him, is that he is interested in getting me to play that way, and will go over a piece, or even a measure, as many times as necessary to get me there. Thankfully, he not only knows how to teach, but also possesses that most important attribute for someone in the field: the patience of Job.

I've been taking lessons weekly with Dave for over a year now. When I started, I'd never played an…read moreinstrument before--except for the trombone back in 4th grade band. Dave worked with me to help me learn how to read standard notation and tabs, get familiar with the fretboard, and begin developing as a guitar player. Dave's got an amazing depth of knowledge of styles and theory. He's helped me with flatpicking and fingerpicking styles, and I'm now able to play some rudimentary versions of Doc Watson and Rev. Gary Davis tunes. I want to emphasize that his help has allowed me to get there in just a year of playing--friends of mine who've been playing for years are surprised by my playing, and I give full credit to Dave. His greatest assets as a teacher, without a doubt, are his patience and encouragement. There's been hundreds of times when I've flubbed notes and chords over and over, and he's never once shown any frustration, but just said, "that's all right, take your time." He's passionate about the music he teaches, and that enthusiasm definitely inspires me to practice, practice, practice! Dave is friendly and knowledgeable, a calm and patient teacher, and an amazing guitar player. You won't regret picking Dave to teach you how to play!

I had a vintage hollow body that needed a re-fret and made the long drive to drop the guitar off…read more The good = the removal of the frets, and re-planing of the fretwork is the cleanest and most conservative I've ever seen. He also pinned the floating bridge in a really neat, clean, and innovative way. The turn time was less than two weeks. The bad = The final charge was over $100 over the estimate, and they didn't inform me of this before hand before I made the long drive to pick it up. The new frets were too high and not crowned properly, so it was painful to play. The frets were squared off and not rounded. I couldn't afford the time and money to make the drive again to have this corrected, so I had to pay somebody else to correct the work (by leveling and re-crowning the frets). I now have to ship my guitars out of state for fretwork since there is nobody good in the DC/Baltimore area aside from a few hobbyist working out of their homes. I've definitely seen worse fret work than this, like I said, I was impressed with the care taken with the removal of the old frets and re-planing the fretboard. But the re-fret felt incomplete to me and the extra unexpected charge was a kick in the gut.

If you ship your guitar to get work done here, be prepared to wait at least half a year to get it…read moreback. No joke. Don't believe them when they say it will be several weeks to a month. I shipped my guitar to Philtone years ago and had them PLEK and set up my guitar years. Didn't hear back for months and didn't want to seem like I was too pushy. After four or five months, I started to get a little anxious so I emailed or called them. They said it would be soon. I ended up getting my guitar six or seven months later. It's known in the guitar community that time management is this place's worst attribute. I've read a number of complaints about not hearing back and waiting forever.

Our friend's little one enjoys a music and dance class at the Baltimore School of Music up in…read moreRoland Park, Baltimore (May 2026). One of us participates, and the rest of us can watch through a glass wall at the back. The teacher is cheerful and encouraging. At this young age, it's mostly an intro to the idea of learning to dance around to different songs in real life, not only in front of the tv at home :-) Plus some fun with singing and percussion.

The music teacher was great. However, we thought we had only signed up for a few classes (it was my…read moredaughter's bday present). I wasn't notified that we had missed over ten and only found out we were still being billed by looking through my credit card statements. I would have expected to get a call from someone asking if my daughter was coming after missing two classes. Please establish ethical business practices and not rely on contract language to manage the B2C relationship.

I would not recommend going to this store. I've been there three times now, and two of those have…read morebeen bad experiences. For context, I am not a great guitarist, but I have been playing for around 30 years, and I regularly purchase guitar equipment. In the past two years, I have bought 4 electric guitars, 1 acoustic guitar, three amps, and 2 pedals from local shops. In short, I know most of the guitar stores here in town and have negotiated at all of them. This store is my least favorite in the entire Baltimore area. First, though, the positive. Overall, this shop has a nice collection of instruments. I'm going to focus on guitars and basses, but they also have a good range of brass and woodwinds and percussion. In terms of guitars, they have a good collection in all price ranges. In addition, their guitars tend to be set up nicely. Finally, their prices tend to be pretty good. I've read other people complain, but I think most of their listed prices are average to good. Because of these things, I thought this was going to be one of my favorite places to buy equipment. I was quite wrong. In fact, I won't ever be shopping there again. The problem is that the staff are a@#holes. There's not really another way to say it. There's one guy with long blond hair that pretty friendly and nice. Otherwise, the staff here are the literal worst. The first a@*hole is the manager. I stopped by with an original 1st run 1987 Ibanez Jem. The guitar has been repainted, and the bridge had been replaced. Obviously, this isn't a collection-level guitar, but a@*hole offered me $800 and told me that I should consider selling it for parts. The guitar is in nearly perfect condition and plays great. For context, I sold the guitar last month for $2700. However, it wasn't just the low-ball offer. It was his entire attitude. He came in talking about how he has a 1987 Jem (probably a lie) and how that may be worth $2000. He pretended to know everything about Jems and treated me like an noob. I chose to think he was just an idiot rather than dishonest, so I just left. Today, I purchased a Reverend guitar from this shop. Today is black Friday, so they had "deals" on quite a few guitars. They had a guitar that had been sitting on the shelf for over a year for $850. I asked them if they would take $800, which I don't think is an unreasonable offer. Chris (one of the a$%holes there) said that it was marked down to $850 already. I told him that I had been there about a year ago and that the original price had been $850. It was marked $899 online but $850 in the store. He told me that I was a liar, which I am not. When I told him he was wrong, he called me a liar again. So I told him that he could let the guitar sit there for another year. Ironically, as I was leaving, the nice, long-haired blond worker realized that the price on the guitar was actually wrong, and that it should have been $799.99. I bought the guitar because I thought it was worth $800, and I liked the guitar. I'm filled with regret, though, because that a#$hole called me a liar when the guitar was incorrectly marked then as before. I will never set foot in this sh#tshow of a store again. I will make sure to tell everyone I know to avoid it as well. If you want to get angry, this is a great shop to go to. If you would like a good experience, go somewhere else.

Been buying guitars here for 25 years. Awesome staff and always a great selection and fair prices.read more

Baltimore Brass is a fantastic music shop. I sold a tuba though consignment and sold them several…read moretuba mouthpieces. The staff there are easy to work with, quite knowledgeable, and professional. I highly recommend them.

This is absolutely the coolest brass instrument shop that I have ever been to. They have an…read moreincredible selection of new and high quality used instruments. You want Tubas? They got them. You want trombones? They got them. You want euphoniums? They got them. You want trumpets? You know the deal! And the staff is super helpful and friendly! And apparently, Catonsville is known as "Music City, MD".

I love Bill's Music, tbh. The only thing I don't like about Bill's is that they close at 6. I…read moreunderstand why, but it does mean I have to hurry to get there after work. That all being said, I make sure to rush to Bill's when I need stuff because the alternative is going home and then going to...well, another store with an instrument in the name, and that has never been a good experience unlike Bill's. A few years ago I made an online purchase for a used pedal from Bill's. I showed up to get it and as it turns out, they had no idea where it was. They had spend an hour looking for it after I purchased it, and then they spend another 20 minutes looking for it after I arrived. To make it up to me they offered me a brand new version of the pedal at the mid point of the difference between the used one and the new one. I took that offer because it was a great deal. Since then I have bought 3 more pedals from them over the years, a microphone, and a whole lot of accessories. If I want to purchase another guitar at any point, I will definitely hit them up if possible.

Stopped in to Bill's this morning looking for a less expensive guitar to set up for slide-only…read morework. I didn't find anything to surpass the Firefly product in bang-for-buck. While there, I recalled I needed a male to male 1/4 inch adapter. I found one and was looking for other similar items for a project I'm working on. Before I got much further, a young man approached me and suggested in was time to check out and he would "escort" me to the cashier. The clear implication was that I was attempting to steal this little item. This young man clearly needs more education in reading people. I was pretty insulted and I will never have a need to return to Bills Music in Catonsville Md. There are numerous other places to purchase their product line without the rude, passive-aggressive treatment.

Dave's deals is the real deal. He has been around for a long time and always has great prices. He…read moreis very honest and has helped me with things above and beyond

Great repairs done affordably, selection of reasonable second hand gear and guitars, some vintage…read morefinds