Guitar Center

This review isn’t for the store because I haven’t actually been, but for Rob, the guy who helped me on the phone on Saturday.
My friend from out of town was performing for a private party at a rented penthouse in Soho. He was supposed to go on in a few minutes. It was about 7:15 on a Saturday. The people who hired him promised they would have everything there for him, but they did NOT provide a mic stand.
I called Guitar Center and Rob was SO helpful in figuring out how to pay for a mic stand over the phone, getting the mic stand for me and making sure it got to the Über Rush messenger guy outside (who was also awesome and got 5 stars). So the problem was solved in about 20 minutes total.
ROB RULES!

Josh could not have been more helpful when it came to purchasing my first electric guitar! I must have been in the store playing this guitar for at least two hours, and he came around just often enough to answer the questions I kept thinking of, but never once made me feel pressured or rushed. He went out of his way to make sure I had everything I needed without going over my budget, and even stayed beyond the end of his shift to tune my new guitar for me before I left. He was knowledgeable, friendly (in a chill way), and best of all, not all salesman-​y. I couldn’t be more pleased with the customer service I received, and I am thrilled with my new guitar. Thanks Josh!

Big retailers in this part of the city are really difficult and, personally, I’m not a fan of this location. It’s big and well stocked, but it’s often overrun and noisy. That’s no knock on the store, since it’s pretty much unavoidable in this part of the city, but just a personal preference.
With that said, I’ve found the staff really helpful and knowledgable. Shout out to Miguel, who I chatted with a bit and had sound advice (pardon me) on amps. Overall, a pleasant experience. As I said, it can definitely be overrun, slowing down the service, so I recommend coming during off hours. And the service you do get is solid.

Super disappointed with the service in drum department. Every guitar center I’ve been to has let you try the drums. My friend and I were playing on the drums and an employee comes up to us and asked us where we found drum sticks so we told him and he asked to see them. When I gave it to him, he went up to the register dropped off the drum sticks and walked back and said if you have any other questions ask. This for sure won’t bring me back to this store…

Massive store with everything you could want for a guitar. Helpful staff. Even separate acoustic room. Downstairs is a DJs delight with all brands of production equipment. Mind spinning.

Typical guitar center. There was nothing special about the selection. Although the employees are helpful.

I am definitely not the best guitarist in the world, but I own a couple of guitars and I’ve frequented this location a couple of times in the past for things like strings and picks. Stores like Guitar Center have been known to often drive away beginner musicians with its picky staff. Regardless, I decided to pay this location a visit after seeing an ad on TV promoting budget priced ukuleles.
When I walked into the store, I was directed to the acoustic room, located in the back of the store. There was no one behind the counter when I first went in. After about five minutes, a salesman came back in with another customer. After he was done assisting the other customer, he was finally able to speak to me. When I inquired about the ukulele sale, he began telling me about other ukuleles, which while they were nicer, they were also much more expensive! When I asked about the budget priced one, he told me that it was practically a toy. He told me the ad I saw was misinforming and promoting a bad product. He still demoed it for me, commenting that the tone was cheap and plastic-​sounding. While I am absolutely no expert, to a novice like me, it sounded alright for the price. I told him I wanted it, but it was definitely awkward to say so after hearing all the negative things he said about the instrument. He looked confused by my decision before giving off a wry scoff and heading toward the stock room to get me my ukulele.
After reading some of the other posts here, I definitely agree that the staff here is unconsciously biased depending on the customer. I do not think I will be coming back anytime soon, and I’ll stick to online shopping instead.

Ive had the best experience ever. Brian was very helpful and had a lot of knowledge and he knew what he was doing. He was very nice and sincere, it wasnt like he was doing his job with a love and passion. Im so glad he helped me to chose best option for home recording. I wish i came here before going to sam ash music. Ill always come here for everything music related. Thank you guys

Can’t believe how rudely I was treated. I love guitar center and this store was magnificent, in terms of product offering and quality of display.
However, my entire trip to the store was blown from my first step inside. I was planning on checking out some guitars for a potential later-​time-​buy, as well as pick up some miscellaneous accessories and cables. I live about a mile away and the weather was nice, so I decided to walk. I brought with me a backpack with a snack, water, sweatshirt, and other random shit. First off, I guess you’re supposed to walk in trough this turnstile thing that isn’t very well marked as ‘This is how to enter the store’. It was easily avoidable and had no sign saying I needed to go through it, so i walked right past it. I was promptly yelled to ‘Get over here!’ By the employee at the checkout area. He asks why i didn’t go through the turnstile, to which I simply said i didn’t know that I had to because you could have entered without passing the gate. He made me feel stupid– ‘Hah, kid there is usually a rope there so people know to go…,’ yadada. Anyways I apologize and walk through the turnstile.
He calls me back over (almost like he was playing with me & treating me like I was stupid) — ‘we’ve gotta look through your backpack’. Like what? I asked if it was required for entry to which he just laughed and looked around at his fellow employees.
Long story short the employee at the gate treated me so terribly that it actually deterred me from buying my shit there. I walked around for a bit after finally passing all his tests– couldn’t even focus I was so heated.

I bought a power supply, the product was defective and they refused to give me a return/​exchange. I felt totally ripped off! Don’t buy here!

Pleasantly surprised by how friendly and helpful the staff in the pro audio section were! They gave me time to do my own thing, then at just the right time they came over to ask me if I had any questions. Then when I checked out, the manager chatted with me about my purchase. But then today, I got an email from the manager asking how I liked my headphones. Maybe some people would be annoyed by this but I personally despise impersonal shopping experiences so I really appreciated this.

Say NO to corporate Big Box musical retailers. This is akin to the Walmart of guitardom. Why support the continued financialization of America by the ever expanding Corporate model that promotes profit over people, cheap and exploitable labor and the usual bag of Bernaysian sell all — at all cost gimmicks. Fuck advertising.
Incidentally at this location, a rather annoying salesman who looks oddly enough like an aged down on his luck, Dennis Miller always seems to enjoy running around telling people to turn it down. I have observed this cretin do this on several separate occasions at separate times. Yes, this might be a viable strategy when things get out of hand or when many people just completely suck at playing. For instance, beginners who always seem to feel louder is equivalent to sounding better. However, this buffoon has even asked people to turn DOWN… who can actually play on a professional level. seriously WTF? Yes, clean players whose tone does not include over the top annoying distortion. Clean, remember how that sounds? No pedals to cover up… hybrid pick and fingers… Think Joe Pass, Sabicas and Segoivia with a touch of Bach… no not Malmsteen, really classical finger-​style. I guess they were not rockin’ in a free world eh?
Ditch the Dennis Miller wannabe authoritarian ass clown and allow players to indulge, especially those that CAN actually play and have the sense to already express themselves both eloquently on the instrument and at normalized volumes. The Dennis Miller clone should do some inner reflection… perhaps working in a music store called «Guitar center» and having ambivalence toward guitars and players might not be the best option for a career choice.
«I don’t have credibility, I’m a comedian.» the real Dennis Miller once said. This version in Flatiron can rephrase the latter half to… I’m a salesman.
Indeed you are and it shows.

I know people like to cap on Guitar Center but at least for the drum department at the Union Square location I’ve had nothing but good experiences. The guys are all musicians and very knowledgable/​helpful — at times a little pushy but not outrageously so for guys mostly working on commission. Give them a break.
GC has very competitive prices — maybe too competitive — but that’s the way of the industry unfortunately. Unless focusing on vintage only equipment it is really difficult to support small independent music shops — especially for drum gear.

Like that you can try out majority of the instruments. Staff was helpful and encourages you to try out the equipment!

Let me preface. I am a former Guitar Center Employee. I worked at 3 different locations, the last and longest being this here Manhattan location.
My one star is for the GC corporation as a whole, NOT the sales staff, not the operations staff, not even store management. That one star is for the super big box mentality of Guitar Center Holdings. It would be no star if possible, but we’ll have to settle for a single dim dying star.
Let me give you the consumer a little insight on the jobs of a GC employee.
First of all, the employees at this store do have your best interests at heart. Many of them have years of professional experience in the music industry. If not the majority of the store. Yeah there are a few novice young ones who slip through the cracks, but I’ve worked along side Grammy Award winners at Guitar Center. I can honestly say that 90% of the Manhattan sales staff actually know what they’re talking about.
The main gripe customers tend to have is that the sales staff is pushy. Well, yeah, they’re there to SELL you on a product. Not only to tell you all of the benefits, but to actually get you to open your wallet and give them money. They may pitch you the high end product that is out of your price range, but they do that for 2 reasons. First reason being, they’re sales people, THEY GET PAID ON COMMISSION. Second reason being, that really cheap product you keep picking up is just that, a cheap product. It’s so poorly designed, it’ll malfunction in a years time and you’ll be back wishing you went with the better product. Only fools sell you the shitty products, nobody’s playing a trick on you. It isn’t Chinatown, they aren’t upselling you from crap into more expensive crap. In the Guitar, Drum, & Professional Audio world, if you want performance from a product… you have to pay. Higher priced products work and sound like the «Ka-​ching!» on a cash register. You’ll appreciate them more and they’ll last longer. I have equipment twice my age that will outperform stuff made today. I had to pay for that quality.
You may have had a crappy experience at GC. We’ve had them at pretty much any big box retailer. But chances are you got a crap attitude from a salesperson right after another customer wasted 2 hours of their day only to leave the store empty handed (and ultimately buy it online, at
, then shipped to the store to pick it up. Ohh that one always burned the most!!). You have to remember, they’re commissioned employees. Not hourly. They don’t want to throw a shitty guitar in your hand and boot you out the door. You’ll end up returning it and guess what, that comes out of their paychecks. So have a listen to what they have to say and sure as hell DO NOT walk into the store with a defensive attitude. Salespeople can smell that a mile away and will avoid you or do anything they can to ditch you.
We have dealt with every possible person. Had some of the worse possible reactions from people over the most miniscule and uncontrollable things. GC is a block and a half from Union Square, so if thats any indicator of what kind of crazy rolls through than I don’t know what is.
I’ve seen store employees musical careers destroyed by GC. It’s actually a very common thing for GC employees to sell their gear and instruments to the store so they can make rent. So give them all a break. If you’re not willing to deal with the hassle of shopping for musical gear (which is a big part of being a real musician), then you should probably drop the hobby. Cuz it’s just that at best for you, a hobby.

I am new to learning the guitar. I came to the guitar center for some extremely basic questions and to purchase some guitar picks and a tuner. It was very discouraging that when I was asking my very basic questions (again, I am a BEGINNER) the sales representatives at the counter were SNICKERING and LAUGHING at me. Obviously, no one likes to feel stupid, but that is exactly how I felt during my experience at the guitar center. Needless to say, I left without asking my remaining questions and certainly did not purchase the items that I came in for. I would much rather buy what I need from an overpriced mom and pop shop any day rather than feel like an idiot like they made me feel.
Don’t go here unless you are at the knowledge level they apparently expect you to be at to enter their store.

Very friendly and knowledgable staff. I came here specifically for the lower level with all the DJ, recording, & production gear. They have a great selection and offer a price match guarantee which is great to take advantage of.
Find what you need in store, pull it up on amazon for the lowest price, then speak to a manager to see if they can price match.
Great way to save money on gear that you need to buy right away or physically in person. Would return to purchase other gear again!

went to the back to check out some acoustic guitars and that was fine. The sales man was pleasant and i checked a really nice dreadnaught acoustic that i really liked.
But unfortunately thats not the end of my visit. I’ve been looking at an American Special Telecaster for awhile but only online and really wanted to play one and see whats what. So low and behold, there it is, right behind the counter, but the Asshole behind the counter would not acknowledge me and took two customers that where behind me… Matt i believe is his name. Short black hair and lots of ink on .his left arm. Too bad Asshole cause I liked the Tele and would have bought it but you had to be a total Douchbag… deal breaker.
It’s sales people like Matt are the reason people call GC the Wallmart of guitar stores.
Do your self a favor and take the F Train to W4th Street and go to Matt Umanov’s guitar shop and get treated right

I am not a big fan of Guitar Center but this store was much better than most due to the inventory. It’s hard to find a Guitar Center that has something other than 200.00 guitars on the wall. For someone looking to buy a higher end instrument, most Guitar Centers just don’t cut it. This location had the largest selection of higher end instruments I have seen at any location.
While I am not a huge fan, if you want to try a higher end guitar in store, this is a good place to check out.
The sales staff are OK but not great. Due to the volume of customers, it can be hard to get someones attention to help you out.
My verdict is that this is the best of the worst kind of thing but can be helpful if you want to try before you buy.

‘I need Elixir strings, but I don’t know which kind.’
‘Do you like your sound bright or warm?
Warm.
Light or heavy?
Light.‘
He then grabs me a pack and I’m on my way. Very easy and quick transaction but had I the time to spare I would’ve ordered strings on Amazon.