I considered buying a new guitar, but the Guitar Center did a great job renewing and restringing my…read moreacoustic Yamaha guitar.

I highly recommend avoiding the Guitar Center for lessons. Their system is designed make it…read moredifficult to get all the lessons you pay for. I wanted to take the summer off but still have make up lessons I was owed. They use automatic deduction for payment and refuse to refund any money claiming that they can't once the money has been taken from your account. So I was charged for four more lessons than I wanted but here's the thing - once you are no longer allowing automatic deductions they remove you from the schedule. Pretty difficult to get the make up lessons you may be owed if you're not on the schedule. I spoke to the manager about this and he personally scheduled a make up lesson for me for yesterday. I showed on time only to be told the teacher wasn't there and I wasn't on the schedule. Then he tried to blame the lessons manager. Another interesting thing that happened was that once I was no longer doing automatic deductions the teacher canceled twice. She had not canceled once since I started in September. Avoid this place for lessons.

Always great every time, love the rooms to test equipment. Staff have always been awesome too,…read morereasonable prices with a great selection and tons of fun playing guitars I can't afford;)

What a fantastic experience! I recently purchased a Gibson SG Standard - Cardinal Red Burst from…read morethem and I could not be happier. The entire process was flawless. I had a number of questions prior to the purchase, and I posted them in the website's chat feature. The responses were quick, clear, and concise. I pulled the trigger on the guitar and the communication continued to be fantastic every step of the way. The guitar arrived EXACTLY as they had described. I could not be happier. I most definitely recommend these guys!!!

Great, old school, no frills music store. Caters more to electric players with a large selection…read moreof vintage amps and high end guitars and basses. Offers reliable instrument repair, too. All in all, great music store! For you guitar players, they offer a string club.

One of the last "real ones". Much better than any box store, super friendly staff, took me on a…read morelittle tour around when I came in browsing and messing about on a few instruments. Wish I lived nearby to visit more frequently.

Been going to Collar City Guitars since they opened. It's great to have a music store of this…read morequality on Troy. Peter and staff are very helpful, honest and do good work. It's great to see the evolution of the gear they have, a great selection of instruments and gear. Highly recommend, you can't go wrong.

FANTASTIC little shop in Troy. Lots of different types of gear. We came in looking for EarthQuaker…read moreDevices pedals and were not disappointed. (Tho, sadly, they did not have a Spires, which is the one I am still looking for.) We were able to try several pedals. My partner has been seriously looking for a looping pedal for as long as I've known her, so we saw that they had a few, and they were gracious enough to set them up for us to try (even the Electro-Harmonix one that they said was not very intuitive (Guess which one we ended up with.) They were VERY friendly, but at the same time did not hover over us. They let us spend about an hour playing with different pedals, talked about the shop, and guitars, and loopers, several customers came in and out, and all three of the guys behind the counter worked on some repairs. (They are a very repair centric shop.) The layout is a bit tight, but it's cozy. They have comfy seating, and really nice displays. It feels crowded, and it is, but it's in that... Clean and homey sort of way. They don't have a HUGE selection... It is not going to be an experience like guitar center. But it's going to give you that caring and dedicated local shop experience. And that's so much better. The prices were GOOD. (The looper ended up being cheaper than Amazon.) He even gave us each a EarthQuaker Devices sticker. (Before we even bought anything.) These guys are an Earthquaker licensed shop, too, so if you're looking for those pedals, this is a place to go.

In my fairly long experience, there are only two types of music stores…read more Type A, you walk in and you're looked at like you're a perp. If you look like you might even start thinking about taking an instrument down from the walls, you'll get a lecture about not touching the merchandise and a series of inquiries about whether you're a serious buyer or not. The staff may be knowledgeable, but they'll talk to you as if you're a mentally-challenged space alien who has never heard of a major chord or a scale and is need of being spoken to like a slow-witted dog. The prices are fixed, as if Moses had passed them down on an extra set of tablets from the mountain top, and any discussion of same is an apostasy that will quickly get you invited to get serious or get out. Type B, you walk in and the staff are already playing something. They check to see if you need help but will leave you alone to look if you say you're just looking. If you have a passing question about something, instead of answering it they'll pull down an instrument, give you a demonstration, and ask you to try it out. They'll talk to you frankly about the best place to buy X, Y, or Z and may point out the good features of what they have but are trying to match you up to whatever it is you need or are at the right stage for. They love music, maybe just a bit too much, but they love musicians even more, and they really love aspiring musicians. Hermie's is firmly in the Type B camp, and are going to be Cool about just about everything you can imagine. They know the scene, the area, the schools, the teachers, the bands, and they know their stuff. Prices are going to vary quite a bit, like they do at any instrument-oriented store, but as a working musician's place this is incredibly friendly towards the amateur and the student. The staff took time today to show my young musician a bunch of things he hadn't seen before on the guitar and lit a fire on inspiration in him. Honestly, I can't tell you whether you will get a good deal on X or Y here, relative to all the good deals in the universe. It's a small store, and they have more at the Albany location. It's a bit out of the way on the Jay walk in downtown Schenectady. But I've seen so many ***ho*es in the music business over the year I know by now how to tell what's what with the stores. Hermie's is good people.

I called Hermies with a single outrageous question "Would you be able to fit me in for a single…read moremusic lesson today?" I travel full time. I had one day in Schenectady. My boyfriend had taken his bass guitar on the road when he learned I had played cello as a kid. "It's really similar" he said. But I found myself unable to remember anything from playing music. 3 years of cello, a few months of trombone & piano, and 12 years of choir...but my brain seemed as good as having never done anything musical. Larry answered the phone and was both welcoming and confident that he could give me enough info to get me started. "Stop by anytime before 8pm". Around 2pm, I entered the shop and Larry greeted me just as warmly as on the phone. He checked out my travel bass & tuned it for me. I watched as his fingers whirled around the strings moving from fret to fret. I heard a little voice say "there's no way you're going to be able to do this again". I felt lost. Larry handed me the bass & walked me through a set of scales. I fumbled and hit the wrong string, or both strings at once, but I made it through. I went forward and then backward through the scales. It was awkward, but I did it. We'd chat a moment, he'd teach me something else about the bass, and like a good instructor "show me your scales again" and I would run through them forward & backward again. For fun, he taught me the bass line for Louie Louie. How can you not get tickled playing Louie Louie? That lesson was what I needed to get started and believe maybe I "can" learn this instrument. The previous review raved about Hermies. I'm a fan too. This is a must stop if you are thinking of picking up any instrument. Violin, Guitar, Cello, Bass, Flute or Sax. This is the place to go!

I have been taking guitar lessons with John for almost a year and it has been a great experience…read more Besides that the staff are kind and knowledgeable and aren't pushy about upselling/selling junk. The luthier is also very knowledgeable and I plan to use his service for some nut slot filing.

Just bought a digital piano (Roland F107) from Hilton Music store in Colonie Center and could not…read morebe more pleased! As a total piano novice and with limited space in my house, I wanted something compact but with full functionality - 88 key weighted keyboard, etc., and this fit the bill perfectly. Owner Bob Hilton worked with me and was terrific - pleasant, knowledgeable, and not pushy. We asked about delivery and turns out he lives not far from us so he delivered it himself on his way home that very same evening! Also very impressed with the sturdiness of the "console" that comes with the keyboard. I have it free-standing in a room (not enough wall space) and was concerned that my rambunctious cats would jump on it and knock it over - no worries after putting it together with the cover closed over the keyboard.

They also advertise on Reverb.com. I offered to buy a guitar full price (less shipping). Drome…read morelisted the guitar for more than the street price it sold for new in 2015! They wanted $80 to ship?! Really!? Monster Music in NY ships for free! Guy at Drome told me they would get a proper shipping estimate. They let my Reverb offer expired. I didn't hear back from them. So I put in another offer, they rejected it almost right away. I sent them a PM message, that I wasn't happy. I called them on the phone and the guy said he was too busy and he was a little rude. Bad customer service people. No one wants to hear excuses you obviously had time to reject my offer! There are literally thousands of guitars on Reverb. You can find great deals for almost anything. Don't buy from brick and mortar stores they are outdated, lack selection, overcharge and sell new crappy guitars. Find a dealer on Reverb that has a return policy. Use USPS it's $30-$40 to ship a guitar. UPS and Fedex are the worse companies, porch thieves love them cause they dump and run. Bad music stores pass those high costs on to you and don't care. This doesn't make brick and mortar stores competitive. FedEx and UPS are in SERIOUS financial trouble for a reason. If you are a dealer and you use them, you will also suffer or continue ripping off customers by charging high shipping.

This place is amazing it has everything that you're looking for. If you are a music buff and you…read moreabsolutely love music than this is the store you want to go to. If you need anything for any type of musical instrument chances are they have it here. The customer service that is here is very friendly and they go above and beyond when they are talking with you to make sure that you have exactly what you were looking for. They have certain people that are in charge of certain areas, it's like their specialty areas and their knowledge is overwhelming. The reason why I dropped it down one star is because parking is a little strange you don't park in front of the building you park beside the building but there's two entrances and the one entrance goes in front of the building and if there's somebody who happen to be in front of the building you get stuck and you have to wait for that person to move that would be the only downside. Other than that this place is phenomenal. I would recommend this place for any music lover. Thanks for listening.

MDM did not put my daughter's feelings about her singing first. They did not listen to her when…read moreshe was trying to explain to them that a certain singing situation made her uncomfortable. I was so hoping that MDM would be a place where they cared about my daughter's singing and her confidence. Management did not follow up with issues or get back to me when I asked questions. Very sad situation and experience for our family.

Our family loves MDM! The staff are so friendly and approachable. I have had nothing but great…read moreexperiences since I sent my inquiry into vocal lessons. Ms. Nicole is such a patient, attentive, and professional coach. I love the diversity at the center; it makes it welcoming and comfortable. MDM also communicate with parents via a communication portal. I never knew how much I needed something like that until they sent me a video of my kiddo singing her first song. Had no idea that was gonna be a remember forever moment. I'm glad I have copies of it. Soooo affordable and very accommodating with online lessons to help support the community during Covid. Love what they are doing to keep us all safe! Thank you thank you!!

This place has outstanding service. Everyone that I've had the pleasure of dealing with here has…read morebeen incredibly knowledgeable and seems to be willing to go to any lengths to help me. The instruments here are also beautiful and make me wish I could play all of them.

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to buy a cello? And did you know they come in sizes. So,…read moreif you have a kid who wants to learn how to play an instrument, they will soon grow out of the size that fits them. It's kind of like buying them sneakers except with a few more zeros tacked onto the end. Welcome to the world of rental instruments. We rented a cello for the boy down in Princeton last year. It seems the rates in Albany are generally higher than the rates in central Jersey. I guess it's like anything else, business can charge what the market will bear. The good news is that John Keal Music has an introductory offer which is really really cheap for the first few months. So if your kid turns out not to be into it, you won't have to lay out a lot of money every month. Fundamentally, I don't like renting. I would prefer to buy. So we were able to use our introductory period as a chance to try and find a cello we could own. Fate smiled upon us and now we are the proud owners of a slightly larger cello than the kid should be using. But like his dress pants, he'll grow into it. John Keal was great about taking the instrument back. They made the entire process super easy. It was a pleasure working with them. If the shop were a little less expensive, I'd give them that fifth star. And should the next kid want to take on an instrument, I'll be sure to check in here first. I'll also be sure to try and push her in the direction of something cheaper than the cello.

Honest, easy going and more than reasonable rates. I have brought my tuba to him to repair twice…read moreand more than satisfied with the work. Also purchased several instruments at reasonable prices.

Really took the time to make sure my instrument was working well. Very reasonable pricing.read more