Guitar Center – Please visit our new location in Middleton

I bought a ukulele here on Black Friday 2014. The employee who assisted me was incredibly helpful and friendly. He took his time to ensure I knew all the different options/​brands and that I got what was in my budget. At checkout, he helped me get coverage on my uke and was incredibly patient in explaining things to me. It felt like I was the only customer in the store with this great customer service.
Fast-​forward to 2016 when I’m ready to purchase a case for said uke. I was initially going to make the purchase online, but I called the store to see if there were any other options. Again, I was extremely pleased with the customer service, even over the phone.
If it couldn’t get any better… A new location! At the Hilldale Shopping Mall, which is closer to where I live. I stopped in there, was greeted right away, and I explained to the employee what kind of case I needed. He clarified my request, informed me of a good option they had in stock, and quickly grabbed it from the back. Very decent prices here.
The only thing is that I didn’t see any nametags. I would’ve loved to give the manager a call and praise these employees.

Went there to repair broken string.
They only charger for string and repaired it for free in 10 minutes even during rush hour.
They also cleaned up my old guitar.

It is good, got a good guitar but the salesgirl tried to sell me expensive guitarbag and say it is the lowest price in the shop where there are a few more choices which are definiteky alot cheaoer than that. Overall, good experience.

I can’t believe it’s been 2.5 years since my last review; I’m here so often, I should probably be on the payroll.
+ Continually fantastic customer experiences
+ Staff are ALL local musicians who are very passionate and knowledgeable about music, instruments, electronics, and everything in between. Have a question? They’ll give you the straight scoop, and they’ll usually have some personal experience to share with it. I especially enjoy the help from folks like Doc, Goat, Andrew, Cliff, Sara, and Jeremy — they’re all *super* awesome.
+ Great pricing; look for sales and pop-​up deals
+ Decent selection of used gear
— A bit noisy with all of the «testing» of gear at times, but it’s not obnoxious
I do FOH sound for a few venues around town and I can’t tell you how many times various acts have asked me where the nearest Guitar Center is. Most recently, it was Peter Buck from The Minus Five (oh, and he also played in REM)… I’m dead serious.
If legends seek out our Guitar Center, that’s good enough for me. Even if they didn’t seek it out, I’d still be here on a regular basis. I like the staff, I like the selection, and I like the store. Kudos!

Oh Guitar Center… It’s a great place for guitar strings, cables, drums sticks, and the little things that you have to buy to keep rocking out. 5 stars for this! But this review is for all of this Guitar Center in Madison… so 3 stars.
If you are looking for a guitar, odds are if you love Gibson, Fender, & Ibanez you will find a nice guitar for a fair price. I enjoy that they offer a little wiggle room on the price as well, based off how long the guitar has been sitting in their inventory.
As for a other guitar brands… PRS, G&L, Reverend for example, forget it. You are not going to find these great brands here unless they are sitting on the used selection rack which lately has been getting smaller and smaller.
I’m still looking for a sales guy at this place that will sit down with me and give me some helpful thoughts. The goal should be to sell me a guitar, yet when I walk in the door I feel like they almost don’t want me to buy anything. Maybe that has to do with all the «I’m just here to look» people, which is fine too… But I’m walking in to buy, so show me some salesmanship.
I’m a little bummed this Guitar Center took away their high end wall of guitars. I’m in the market and now left to online searching. Where can a guy find a decent PRS custom 24 in this town? Not here!
I hate nothing more than picking up a guitar to try and the thing is way out of tune and sounds like hell from the start. I think these guys need to take a second and tune what they have on the wall on a daily basis. Again, it comes down to, do they really want to sell me a guitar or not?
The drum section I’ve had good luck with. I found a great used DW 7000 double bass pedal, and the sales girl behind the counter was awesome. I not only bought the pedal at a great price but she talked me into a huge pack of my favorite sticks on sale too. Cymbal selection is hit or miss. I’ve seen a couple great drum kits at unbeatable prices here, so definitely come take a look if your in that market.
Note for the used gear GC online buyers: If you are ordering a used item that you found online at GC
call the store the item is located in directly and have them ship it to your house — - not GC Madison. Just forget even going into GC Madison and having them ordering it in for you, it could become a real mess.

I live 25 miles away in Sun Prairie but am a regular customer at GC mainly because of the great attitude, knowledge and service I receive from Bruce Wasserstrom. It’s well worth the 50 mile round trip even if I just need strings.

I’m from Ann Arbor and was in town making Cigar box guitars with grand kids when I found I hada defective tuner. Went to two other stores, no luck. Jerry at guitar center salvaged a few other parts and saved the day. Also great vibe in the store. Everyone was very helpful.

I love this place. After spending time in snooty music stores where everyone has the most expensive instrument, walk around with their noses in the air and think they just know everything (even things that come down to personal preference.)
Spruce Tree Music is the most snobbish place, stay out of there unless you think your poo doesn’t stink. Ward Brodt is OK… depends on who you deal with, kinda stuffy, but not obnoxiously so. I can deal if I ever need to go in there.
Guitar center is such a relief after dealing with that. It is a laid back environment, people are usually playing music in there. It is just comfortable. The staff is cheery and definitely willing to help.
A member of the staff there went out of his way to help me with a $ 5 set of strings for my ukulele. This place is definitely going to be my local place to go for stuff that I need for my uke.

I don’t know if it’s this location or if all guitar center locations train their employees to be rude to potential customers?
Four, count em; four guys in the pro audio department. No one else in that area walking around and ALL four just ignore me for ten minutes. Two of them talking to each other, one on the computer and the last one MAYBE doing some work-​although I have no idea what «work» he could be doing. Then I finally get asked for help. I want a tascam recorder. I’ve done my research before coming in. Just want that, but I want it at discount. (I had previously been a customer for close to fifteen years.) Guy won’t give it to me. Mumbles something about coupons he could print in store to bring the asking price down but then refuses to do it!
I ended up spending even less for the same thing later that week at Amazon.
That is the point of my review-​spend your hard earned money elsewhere, I’m convinced that poor service like this is why retailers like this slimy company will eventually fail.
I will never set foot, let alone spend money in another guitar center in my life and I will continue to by musical gear!

I’ve been here several times since they opened about 5 years ago. With Ward Brodt seriously reducing their store space, this is one of your only options for a full-​featured guitar/​pro audio/​keyboard store in the Madison area. In that sense, I’m glad they’re here — but I wish the store was better.
First, the prices for accessories like guitar strings/​picks, stands, racks, etc. aren’t very good. If you have favorite strings or picks, for example, that you always get, online is a much better choice. That’s true of most stores these days, but it must be said. As another reviewer pointed out, the staff don’t always know what they’re talking about. I’ve found some of their guitar staff to be really nice, friendly and helpful; one of their keyboard ‘specialists’ didn’t know very much, had a vaguely contentious attitude and was clearly trying to ‘steer’ me toward certain things. I’m sure the people in charge of higher-​end items are working on commission.
The atmosphere is what bugs me most, and what keeps me from going there unless I really need to. They aren’t condescending to amateurs that I’ve noticed, but in general the staff and store has a sort of hardcore, punk, ‘throw up the horns’ kind of attitude. I find it off-​putting. I even listen to some heavier music, but with all the multitude of genres of music out there that people make with guitars, microphones and keyboards, why does every guitar shop have to be all hardcore and heavy metal? I know more than one person who plays guitar or bass, who bluntly says ‘I won’t go there’ about Guitar Center because of the lame hardcore attitude of the store.
As a professional musician, doing everything from orchestral to jazz and recording/​mixing, I know there are plenty of good, responsible, personable musicians out there. But they don’t usually work at stores like this, for some reason. The last time I was there, I walked in, and a young punk-​looking girl at a counter near the entrance — whose job it is to verify receipts as people leave — says hello. I nod and give a quiet ‘hello’ in response. This is normal, I’m a low-​key guy. With a definite attitude she’s like ‘I’m good, how are you?’ as if chiding me for not asking her how she’s doing. I was a little taken aback, and just kind of looked at her smirking face for a second and kept walking. As I browsed the store she and some guy, who looked like a manager, stood there for a few moments looking at me and offering snickering asides to each other. Good lord. The other person I spoke to there was nice, but it was a needlessly unpleasant way to stop in and get some guitar strings.
So that’s what the store has been like for me. If you really need to test out some equipment, go there and give them a chance. But you might not like the service, and you’ll probably find a way better deal online. If you need regular stuff like strings and such, and don’t want to get them online, one of the mom and pop stores in town, or Good’n Loud, are probably a more pleasant experience.

Amazing service. They got it right. Come anytime, sit down, plug in, start playing. Stay as long as you want. Ask any dumb question and expect them to not treat you like an amateur musician, even if you are. Guess what? People love this environment and Guitar Center — Madison understand that this is how you sell.
Furthermore, they understand how to make the customer happy. Bought an expensive double bass pedal for my son for Christmas. The 30 day window for returns passed. They let us return it anyway. Of course he bought the one he really wants immediately. Of course they matched the competitor’s sale price in his drum magazine ad! Of course we will never shop anywhere else.
GC-​Madison, you rock, literally.

As the Best Buy of instrument and equipment stores, I found myself explaining various features of the digital pianos to the sales people, whom I had hoped would actually be educating me, and helping to narrow down my selections based on my needs. Previously having checked out instruments at their store in Chicago, I was amused by the conflicting opinions and facts I got, and could tell that they were pushing certain models based on what they had in stock, or floor models they wanted to get rid of. At this point my purchasing process began to remind me of shopping for a car — I soon found myself in the awkward game of negotiating accessories. In the end I like to imagine this helped me to save money over what I would have spent online. Definitely plan on doing your research before you go.
If you’re looking for music or more obscure instruments, go elsewhere. I tried looking for a banjo here, but they had a selection of one, and no one on staff who was knowledgeable about the instrument — for this task I’ll stick to mom n’ pop shops like Spruce Tree Music
.