Matchetts Musical Instruments

This is the originally and less spacious Matchetts shop which has adorned Belfast for many a year, keeping us musicians happy and content.
The so named, ‘folk shop’ here sells a range of traditional instruments, acoustic and flamenco guitars, bluegrass instruments and a few of the old woodwind also.
There is also an abundance of all kinds of sheet music on offer to tickle your fancy regardless of your musical persuasion. The last thing I purchased in here was a mandolin to add to my burgeoning string collection. The staff are more than helpful and threw in a music book for free along with knocking a little bit off for the accompanying case.
A fantastic place to get your musical needs sorted.

Music shops are great places to hang round. I’ve been to many different shops with an ex-​boyfriend who was a maestro on the guitar. I’ve also had my own ill-​fated attempt at learning guitar, I didn’t have the patience. Most recently though, I had to call into Matchett’s to get some sheet music for guitar and piano for my sister– she plays virtually everything. And I’m not even one bit jealous!
They have a great selection of sheet music and some lovely looking guitars as well as some more unusual instruments. There are lots of grade books to cater for music students.
The staff are really friendly and helpful, which is needed in a shop like this. There are always people hanging about at the guitars strumming away, luckily I haven’t heard any stairway to heaven just yet!

I’m pretty attached to this shop. As a former trumpet player, it used to be my first port of call for sheet music. It’s also the place that I was bought my first trumpet, so I get a bit nostalgic when I go in.
They stock pretty much everything the music student needs, and while you can get a lot of the stuff cheaper on the internet these days, what sets them apart is that the staff know what they’re talking about. Most of them play an instrument, so you can usually find an expert to chat to about what you need, but if not, the rest of the staff will have enough knowledge to steer you in the right direction.

Back in my guitar shredding days (joke-​I was more of a folky acoustic kinda gal), Matchetts was a favourite haunt. While it advertises itself as a ‘music’ shop and does indeed sell a wide range of instruments, it’s best known for its’ range of budget guitars. Matchett’s tends to cater for the school mums crowd in general, targeting those looking for budget beginners kits for their children’s lessons at school. It’s at the lower end of the market compared with the other 2 guitar shops in the City Centre, which are both extremely expensive. So if you’re just starting out/​looking for a cheap buy for any instrument, but particularly guitars, I’d come here. Great service and friendly staff who care about music.

There are several Matchetts Music stores around the central Belfast area. This one, the original, deals in all things classical in the music world. It is a small shop, with helpful staff that have vast knowledge of all products stocked within the store (and particularly in the form of educational resources, there’s a lot).
This shop is the go to place for all music students. Not only will it have all the bits and bobs instrument wise, but it has a huge collection of resource books and grade books for all ages/​levels. Of course, if what you’re looking for isn’t there, they are more than happy to order it.
I have been in this shop personally to buy many a random instrument I’ve attempted to take up. They were always really happy to help me out and knew that if I was beginning at something it would be best to start at the lower price range and never tried to rip me off. Needless to say, whenever I take a notion to fail at learning the mandolin or ukulele, I’ll be back!

Matchett’s Music is a friendly little store in the city centre and its arguably the one-​stop shop for your musical needs. Living with a budding young music teacher, I have paid a visit to this shop more than a few times and despite throwing in the towel on my career as a trumpet player many years ago, I have to say this is the sort of shop which would encourage me to take it back up.
The staff are very friendly and the shop is stocked everything from music books by Robbie Williams to children’s toys to every musical instrument you could every want to learn.
I had to collect a trombone book for my girlfriend’s brother and despite the shop not having it in stock, they ordered it for me and called me whenever it had arrived.
My friend also purchased a clarinet for £90 which may seem expensive but the staff get you everything you need to know from books to equipment.
Not the cheapest store in the world but never the less, the staff are experts and writing this review makes playing the trumpet seem marginally more appealling than it did when I was 12!

From my days as a student in the school of music, I always ended up in here every so often, looking for rosin for my bow, or the latest music theory book (retch!) and now I trawl through it’s shelves looking for singing/​vocal scores. They have just about everything you could think of in the music book section, from jazz, to pop to well-​know hits and classical symphonies. You will always get great knowledge and assistance from the staff there — they know their stuff when it comes to music.
They also sell instruments, and you can sample them out before you buy which is great — although working there could give you a headache if you were forced to listen to 15 years olds play «Smells Like Teen Spirit» over and over again. The instruments are expensive, but I would say that you would find this to be the case no matter where you bought them, and the music books are good value for all the use you get out of them also. They do have the market cornered in Belfast but could do with bringing their prices down a little to compete with all the online stores that are offering similar things.