I was really bummed when Chris Jensen passed away and venerable Jensen's Music closed after being…read morethere forever. He was such a nice guy. So yesterday when I wanted to play La Bamba on my equally venerable guitar, one of the strings popped. So I reluctantly had to find a new source of replacement strings. I'm happy to report that Nick Rail abundantly filled the bill. Nice helpful staff, prices that don't drive you to the internet, and a store filled not just with guitars, but also keyboards, drums, and horns. School band members rent and shop here, too. All In all a good experience. They've been there 40 years, and this was my belated first visit. Does anyone else remember the Bonnie Langley Music Store in downtown Santa Barbara?

THE BEST! Right before a gig I broke a few strings on my guitar and ran straight to them for the…read morefirst time. The staff was so incredibly sweet and eager to help me. I wish I could've gotten their names. They probably fixed my guitar within 30-45 min and saved my life! Would recommend!

They are out of business, After leaving messages every two months I decided to drive there and…read morefound out the hard way... I wish they would take their website down or note out of business till further notice... Don't bother leaving a message they will not get back to you...

I have read all the reviews...where everyone sounds like they really appreciated their experience…read morewith this business...which I was hoping to duplicate, however, despite my multiple messages via email & voicemail, I've heard nothing back in over 4 days...which perplexes me.

We sent our fifteen year old daughter to Amplify for the first time this Summer, and she had an…read moreamazing time! We would highly recommend Amplify for any girl that is passionate about music or art- especially middle and high schoolers trying to find themselves in the world while being pulled every which way by social media. For a bit of context, our daughter has had a passion for singing since she was able to sing. From singing in the car as a toddler, to completely filling both her iPad and the family iCloud account with videos of herself singing along to her favorite artists during COVID lockdowns, she was always singing. But the insecurity and bullying that came with middle school and high school stifled that for her, and singing became something that she did in secret. She insisted she wanted to pursue a career as a singer, but she was afraid to let anyone hear her voice. When we read up a little more on Amplify and the positive environment and opportunities that they provide for girls to explore various aspects of the music industry, we decided it would be just the confidence boost that she needed to come out of her shell and let her voice be heard. While the girls are at camp, parents are kept informed through the camp's social media groups for parents of campers, and through the bunk1 app, both of which feature pictures and videos that are uploaded every day or two. We loved seeing pictures and videos of the girls having fun and interacting with the various visiting artists. If any issues or questions came up, camp staff would text us to keep us in the loop, such as when our daughter wanted to change her intensive on the second day of camp. She also sent us an amazing video of our daughter practicing with her band. That's right, the girl that was afraid to sing in front of anyone was singing confidently and beautifully with her band on the second day of camp! She also performed in the camp talent show, and (after a little bit of jitters) the camp showcase! I haven't seen our daughter's performance video yet (I heard that they send out the full performance videos later in the year), but the pure joy I saw in the videos that were posted from the talent show was absolutely infectious! The girls are so supportive of the other bands, dancing and singing along to the lyrics as they cover songs from artists ranging from Bikini Kill to Billie Eilish! Besides practicing and performing with her band, the biggest highlights of the camp for our daughter were the performances from visiting artists. Each two week session features visits from well-known and emerging female artists. During our daughter's session, Lisa Loeb and Emi Grace both visited the camp, performing for the girls, answering questions about their experiences as musicians, and signing autographs. During session three, the camp also invites campers from all sessions back for Campchella, an all day music festival featuring some of the artists from each session and over fifteen artists in total. Emi Grace quickly became one of my daughter's favorite artists during her visit to camp, so she was super excited to see Emi perform a second time at camp before she headed off to Chicago for her Lollapalooza gig! Overall, I'm really impressed with Amplify and the positive impact it had on my daughter. My daughter loved the music aspect the most, but I feel like Amplify is so much more than just a music camp. It's a totally accepting and inclusive community of creative girls coming together to grow, learn, and have fun, without a cell phone in sight! From starting bands and songwriting, to photography, album design, and fashion design, to working on Cuqui magazine, to musical theatre, there's something for every interest. I love how Amplify brings the community and diy spirit that I grew up with in the 90s riot grrl scene to a new generation! Girls to the front!

My 12-year-old went to Amplify for the first time, and she had the BEST time. We drove in from out…read moreof state, and it was absolutely worth it. She chose the rock band intensive, where she learned to play bass and collaborated with her bandmates and instructors, Effy and Sarah, to write and perform an original song at the end of camp on stage. She was so excited when other girls asked for her autograph after the performance! The best part of the experience was that she found "her people." She met girls who were kind, encouraging, supportive, and just a little edgier, which made her feel like she truly belonged. She also loved that all-girl bands came to camp to perform and stayed afterward for Q&A sessions with the girls. One of her favorite days was Field Day, which still makes me laugh because she does not like PE at school. I love that Amplify has a focus on music and arts, but still keeps some of the traditional campy activities. As a parent, I really appreciated that the camp nurse called before camp to discuss my daughter's medical needs and medications. The dining staff also did a great job accommodating her dairy-free diet with plenty of vegan options. She spoke positively about the counselors, especially Chloe. The campus was beautiful, and drop-off and pickup were both organized and easy. My daughter came home more confident, with new skills, deeper friendship, and memories she'll never forget. Before we were even home, she was already asking if she could come back next year and stay longer than two weeks. I think that says a lot.

Nina is a gifted and talented Musician would recommend. She has a sensitivity that comes throughread more

My daughter has learned from Nina for three years, and she has made tremendous progress. It has…read morebeen an incredible experience. My daughter was a beginner, so it should have been like drawing on a blank page for Nina. She knew what was the most important and effective thing for a beginner like my daughter, understood her emotion and needs, and passionately communicated with her, showing her contagious love for music. Her lessons have always been very active, dense, and filled with high energy. In fact, my wife, who sat in the lesson, loved Nina's teaching style and often said she was fascinated to listen to Nina's frequent demo play for my daughter! Most importantly, we saw significant improvement in my daughter's play in each lesson. Regarding technique, her training in basic skills and intense focus on musicality was perfectly on the right level for my daughter. She picked up errors and pinpointed the source of errors, then gave clear instructions and the right advice for practice and improvement in musicality. Overall, we had a great time with Nina. I wholeheartedly recommend her violin lessons.

Beautiful property with a great concert venue. Helpful volunteers. Handicapped parking very close…read moreto entrance. General parking a short walk during which you can enjoy the property on the way.

Elderly people of Santa Barbara, beware of this organization!!!…read more Was recently reminded of how these people scammed my grandmother in law out of a LOT of money, then tried to take an even MORE exorbitant amount from her as she was lying on her death bed. After several conversations with them, we had to sue to get the money back. The money was on hold and the Music Academy of the West immediately did a 180 and sent the money back, which shows they understood that they did not deserve that money. I just want to reiterate, they manipulated a dying elderly woman into "gifting" money to them, even after she had acted as a more than generous patron while she was fully with it. Don't worry, you guys can delete this. I'll be back posting this if yall do!

Have enjoyed hearing Dewey play at various venues and have hired him to play at our events…read more Versatile & always a treat ! Thanks Dewey !

I've heard Dewey Roberts play beautiful sweet music at a wedding, background music at a restaurant,…read moreand fun music at a bar, where he had the patrons singing along as well as dancing. He has a good sense of when to play what type of music, and sounds great! I just love his voice! He's a very kind soul who always does his best to please his audience. I highly recommend him.

We absolutely love it here. We are learning so much about music but also motor-skills, independent…read moreplay, listening skills, as well as various social skills. I also love that Teacher Alex loves our babies so much. She loves sharing music with the little ones and the little ones love her right back. Highly recommend checking out YBM.

We have taken Piano and recently Violin with Mimi. She is a very kind, patient and wonderful…read moreteacher. Highly recommend taking any music classes here. The space is so fun, bright, clean and inspiring. Such a gift to have this music education space for kids in this tiny town by the sea. Thank you Alex!

We greatly highly recommend the wonderful Teacher Vera!! She…read moredeserves 10 out of 5 stars! Seriously. For the parents who were told that their son's talents in science and math, we care even more about the cultivation and inspiration in art and music education, at his 10-year-old stage, on-going and persistent, on the right track, so to naturally and capably falling into another beautiful and profound world, MUSIC, like one's life long asset, where he could release for self-entertainment, self-satisfaction, or to indulge in to become one's career. Teacher Vera realized our wish. I was so grateful to have found her, the best of the best, finally. She is a rare but all-in-one mentor who covers the materials such as Kindermusik, Yamaha Piano programs, etc, theories, techniques, dynamics, music stories, performance practice and recital. Not only that, she is an incredible magician, who unleashes my son's potential to believe in what he didn't think he could have played but he could play well by heart-- that only took 3 months. One thing really matters Teacher Vera brought in: train my son to be self-disciplined, practice the piano 5 days a week and then self-motivated to want to play it more!! It's tough and challenging for all the teachers and parents who want to plant that seed in our children. Teacher Vera has that power to have motivated our son to build up that practice habit. We're so happy to see that the desirable improvements and progresses is happening to my son's piano learning with Vera. She is the best of the best!! We believe that in long-run, all the lessons, the activities and the related with Teacher Vera will benefit our son tremendously for life long. Last but not least, the comments posted here I checked up are all very true so no need to repeat here. Thank you so so much and beyond, Teacher Vera!!

I witnessed Vera teaching piano for many years, and I have to say that her dedication to the art of…read moreengaging and motivating students to achieve their best is remarkable. I've heard performances of her many students which demonstrated their transformation from beginners to late intermediate level players within months, due to Vera's strategic and thoughtful approach that is customized and highly effective. She is personable, kind and diligent teacher that anyone would be lucky to have. I couldn't recommend her enough.