Guitar Center
From LoveToKnow Guitar
Whether you are a professional musician or an amateur hobbyist, you have no doubt needed the services of Guitar Center at some point in your life. From small ticket items like strings, picks and straps to larger purchases like guitars and amplifiers, Guitar Center is the one stop shopping destination for everything a musician could possibly need. While the stores carry everything from drums to horns to pianos to recording equipment, the focus of this article will be on what this music superstore can offer guitarists and bass players.
History of Guitar Center
Guitar Center opened in southern California in 1959 as a music store that originally specialized in organs. In fact, the original name for the store was Organ Center. The name wasn't changed to until the end of the 1960s when the popularity of rock-n-roll music made the guitar the instrument of choice among newbie musicians. As guitar-driven music continued to rise in popularity throughout the 1970s, so did the fortunes of Guitar Center. New stores were opened on the west coast, and as business continued to grow, so did the company.
Today, there are over 200 physical locations in the United States. In addition to the brick and mortar stores, their subsidiaries currently include the online commercial retailers Musician's Friend, Musician.com, Harmony Central and others. All of this success has made the Guitar Center franchise the largest music retailer in the world.
What You Can Expect to Find Inside
Walking into a Guitar Center is like walking into a musical candy land. Instruments are stacked to the ceiling, and piles of amplifiers create narrow walkways visitors wind their way through. Sounds of strummed acoustic guitars, experimental guitar pedals, distorted amps and thumping bass fill the air. It's a bit like walking into an avant-garde musical jam where everyone is playing his or her own song at the exact same time. While it can be a bit overwhelming at first, the excitement that walking into these stores can bring is undeniable.
Guitar Equipment
Follow the following links to get to the official Guitar Center website.
- Electric Guitars – Most of the major guitar brands manufactured today including Gibson, Fender, Daisy Rock, Ibanez, Washburn, Yamaha, Paul Reed Smith and Charvel are available.
- Acoustic Guitars – If you're looking for an acoustic guitar, check out their line of acoustics that includes Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Yamaha, Dean, Seagull and more.
- Guitar Amplifiers – No matter what kind of amp you need, you'll be able to find it. The store carries amp heads, cabinets and combo amps of both the tube and solid-state varieties. All the major brands are available including Fender, Peavey, Line 6, Crate, Marshall, Randall and many more.
- Accessories – While they're not as fun to purchase, guitar accessories are vitally important. If you need a strap, set of strings, picks, guitar stand, cable, case or anything else, the guitar superstore has got you covered.
Bass Equipment
- Electric basses – The store caries a wide range of electric bases including basses by Fender, Warwick, Music Man, Peavey and more.
- Acoustic Basses – Acoustic basses are becoming increasingly popular, and you can pick up a Dean, Breedlove, Fender, Ovation or any number of other quality instruments at any location.
- Bass Amplifiers – Bass amplifiers are available from Gallien-Kruger, Ampeg, Fender, Peavey, Roland and many other of the most respected amplifier companies in the world.
What else can You Find?
As was said before, there's much more to Guitar Center than guitars. In addition to almost any other instrument you can think of, the company also carries sheet music, computer software, microphones, mixing boards and much, much more. If it has something to do with music, you can find it at this amazing store.
Learn More
This page has been accessed 818 times. This page was last modified 18:41, 22 November 2008.
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