These are my guy's. I'm unfortunately, only giving it 4 stars b/c there seems to be some unwritten law that a music store has to employ a few rude jerks, that I simply refuse to do any business with. Fortunately, the majority of the staff are great, helpful, friendly and even have conversations on mutual recommendations. Also, credit must be given to one individual who has made up for an incident that goes beyond terrible service to neglectful, but the manager took care of that and he has proven to be more hospitable. They always encourage me to try out equipment that they truly think I'll dig. I just refuse to take advantage of their generous nature unless I'm able to make an actual purchase. I have made some exceptions however. I do wish their return policy wasn't so tight, but it's a simple case of "People ruining thing's for everybody else" that have compelled them do so. Great conversations, great prices. Anybody who is criticizing their price range I am compelled to ask where are you finding better? (Aside from one store that specializes in USED gear) Money's tight our economy is in shambles and these guys are doing the very best that they can to keep their stock affordable. I always say, these guys are my hombre's AND I HAVE NEVER USED THAT TERM IN MY LIFE! read more

A local music shop that allows people to come in and just enjoy the atmosphere. With well over 100 instruments on display, there is something for everyone. We were able to touch and play anything we wanted and the store employee Rob was out of this world helpful. He seemed to genuinely care about the instruments and the people he sold them to. He showed my son a few tricks for his newly purchased mandolin and he even made sure it was tuned perfectly for us before we left. We had such a good experience in this place, we made sure to visit it twice while we were in Ottawa. If you're an officionado of music, this is the place to go!!! If we ever come back to Ottawa, we will definitely come back here. read more

In my search for some Christmas presents, a friend of mine recommended Steve's Music Store. Originally, I wanted to get some type of acoustic guitar stand, but I know nothing about this kind of thing, so I thought it would be best to call ahead and ask a few questions before heading over. They picked up the phone right away and I explained exactly what I needed and why, and the man on the phone was very nice and more than willing to help. He not only answered my questions, but asked some of his own to try and get an idea of what I was looking for. He suggested that I get a wall mount instead, gave me a price range, and told me that there's always something they can do, and whenever I came in to ask for Phil. I had some free time so I bussed over to the store later that day and asked for Phil. He was with another customer at the time but asked someone to help me and explained what I needed. There were a few guys there that were ready to help me out, and one walked over to show me the different kinds they had and gave me a little information on each of them. The store itself had a bunch of people in when I came in, but I was helped right away and was able to walk in and out with no problems. For what I bought, it was very inexpensive, but I want to stress that the service was incredible. Great guys - very friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and funny! read more

Steve's Music Store - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

this store is a rip off they mark there original prices and the put a price to make it look like it's on sale . They also do not setup the guitars ,sold as is with no way of getting proper service or customer care . Do not buy anything from this store . read more

It's huge! That's the first thing that comes to mind when you see Steve's Music. It is an entire building of musical instruments and other music related objects. Steve's is known throughout the area as being the place to go for musical instruments in the city. The top floor is almost entirely drums, this should give you an idea about what they have to offer. Beyond that, the staff are, well, experts. Most, if not all, are musicians themselves, so if you're looking for advice, it is still a great place to stop in. You will likely leave as a customer. Of course it helps that the store is right on Rideau Street, just a couple of blocks down from the Rideau Centre AKA. Shopping Central read more

When I think of Steve's Music, guitars and drum sets usually come to mind. I didn't realized that they had such an extensive collection of keyboards too. I am always on the lookout for good places for music supplies, as music teacher and there are lots of little gadgets that you can get here that are fun for the kids. This is also a "cool" place to come for older kids and teens to get instruments and learn that music is fun! The prices are normal for instruments and the service is great. It's good that the workers here are all musicians, so that they have a good knowledge base for what they are selling. read more

The best music store in ottawa. You can try Intercontinental and others some are not bad. But for the location and the price you can't beat STeve's.. You are not going to get super deals from this place or any place for instruments but they are pretty competitive in pricing with other music stores,, (Apart from shopping online, But then you never get to try the online instruments..) The staff is very knowledgeable and will help you if you have repair issues.. Don't try used stores because you may end up paying the same price for a used one as for a new guitar at steve's... Other stores over charge for string but steve's is pretty reasonable.. Shop around and prove me wrong.. read more

Be warned. Do not shop at Steve's Music. I've been shopping with Steve's Music for probably 30 years. Its always been my goto music store in Ottawa... Until now... I will never again set foot in that place and won't buy so much as a guitar pick from them ever again. By my assessment I've spent about $10000 at Steve's over that last 7 or 8 years. While I'm sure this doesn't exactly make me their biggest client, I'd guess it means I spend more there than the average person... This and my 30 years of patronage apparently means absolutely nothing to them. What happened you ask? Well, about 6 weeks ago I bought a brand new Taylor Guitar for $1100 from them. I also purchased a guitar humidifier for proper care of the instrument. After only 6 weeks, the guitar developed 4 serious cracks in the body despite my following the care instructions to the letter (incidentally every other guitar in my house is in great condition). When I took the guitar back to the store a couple days ago, the manager became defensive, belligerent and accusatory before I'd even opened the case to show him the damage. With a cursory look at the guitar he accused me of mistreating it and his exact words when I said that I really just wanted to return it for store credit were "Not gonna happen!" He continued to speak to me in a demeaning tone and refused to do anything for me except to tell Taylor guitars that I'd bought and destroyed a brand new guitar (which was simply not the case). I left the guitar at the store in hopes that some form of customer service might happen once Taylor Guitars got involved... Sadly they appear to have the same non existent customer service and I'm now on the hook for repairs to this clearly defective guitar for up to $350. Returning to the store today to pick the guitar up and see if there was anything they would do to keep me as a customer, I received the same belligerent, condescending attitude from the same rude and disrespectful manager. Although I really just wanted my money back, Steve's Music could have made any number of small gestures that would have kept me as a customer. Had they offered to pick up the cost of repairs or even offered some store credit I would not be writing this right now but instead they offered only an insulting, demeaning and completely unprofessional attitude. I will never buy anything from Steve's Music ever again. read more

Service is terrible, service people barely look at you when you come in as if you are a musician competing with them, nobody ask if you need help, if you do, you are lucky if you find the right guy for the right department. For those bassist looking for a GOOD and nice looking bass, that's not the place to go shopping. They have the most ugly selection of bass I've ever seen. They only had one 6 string bass (March 29 12), very few 5 strings (3-4), and they're all flat tasteless models. I'll never go there anymore, went a few times and got dissapointed everytime. Mike from Ottawa read more

This might be the single worst place to buy any music gear or equipment. I can stand in that place for 3 hours without having a single staff person ask me for any assistance, plus I have had multiple instances of when I bought something (which was overpriced to begin with) and it has been faulty or defective and when I have attempted to return these items for repair under warranty they always feed me some bullshit line about what is and isn't their responsibility and funny enough, its never been their responsibility. If I were to recommend any music store to anyone in the Ottawa area this would be the last one I would recommend. read more

My experience at Steve's music store was short lived and unpleasant to say the least. It took all of 10 minutes in the store to be criticized and arbitrarily picked on by an employee. My friend and I went to the store with the intent to try the guitars that we planned on purchasing in the future. These were not the most expensive guitars, but not cheap either. After picking them and playing them for a few minutes we were approached by an employee who implied that we would "scratch" or "damage" the guitars simply by playing them, and said that it would make HIM feel better if we place them back on the wall so that they would not get damaged for future customers. Now am I mistaken or is the purpose of a music store to go in, try an instrument, and based on your experience with that instrument, decide whether or not you would like to purchase it? This employee assumed that because two young adults walked into his store, they were there to only look and not buy (which is fine by the way), and based on that assumption he bullied us out of the store. One thing is for sure, when I DO buy that guitar, it will not be from Steves. They have lost my business because of a stupid act of discrimination based on age. read more