Where to find the best music shops in Alpine County? Top-20 options

I ordered 4 records and they arrived quickly and in perfect condition thanks to being very well packaged in a large box with lots of padding. All the records are high quality heavy vinyl and have excellent sound quality. I couldn’t be more pleased and will be a repeat customer!

I’ve purchased from Make Tahoe Records several times now. I love that they pop up all over Tahoe, making it convenient to buy in person or online. They really care about the quality of the records they’re selling and have a pretty sweet collection. When I buy I record from them, I have the peace of mind that it will be in excellent condition.

Sheila from MTR actually just hand-delivered a copy of Lisa Loeb’s “A Simple Trick to Happiness” to my front door. Better service than Amazon Prime! She is very passionate about records and will go the extra mile to make sure her customers are happy.

Highly recommend!!!

Super nice staff and sells lots of acoustics. I bought a stand and it was at a good price and grate quality

Great shop, nice owner.

Great place, Dan is super to work with, repairs whatever ! He can find what your looking for. Has supplied my Band with lots of good quality equipment. Keep on Rockn in the free world ( while it’s free ). Craig Crow. The CrowDaddys

Great store – super helpful staff

Incredible experience! Very helpful staff, beautiful dog greeter, and very helpful advice.

Five stars for the big fluff doggooo that was in the store. We are friends now.

Looks real nice from the outside (didn’t get a chance to go inside). It sells music instruments. Saw some nice ukeleles from the window. It has a rock music school also. And i think the owner has a nice looking fluffy big dog

Local Store can save me time and support is always right here in Town!

Music Lessons, Sales, Repairs, Piano Tuning & Moving. The only music store in Carson Valley.

This is a great place to learn.

This issue has been rectified and resolved. Please see below communication.
*******Update:

Matthew:
It takes a lot of guts to apologize and own up to a mistake and we appreciate you doing that. Pretty sure your dad is smiling down at you and beaming with pride.
Everyone had been through tough times and we are all still hoping to recover and have some semblance of normalcy. We do emphatize and understand your reaction and I am pretty sure you can relate with ours had the situation been reversed.
We accept your apology and wish you the best in your business and thank you for clearing the air. We are pretty sure these kids are blessed to have you as their mentor and a  good role model to emulate from. God Bless.
*******

How would you like to come home (from helping a relative) and find out somebody damaged your property? We could understand that Accident(s) happens; but not to  leave a note and your insurance info is very deceptive. Don’t people have any integrity anymore?
One of your employee damaged our culvert and wasn’t even honest enough to let us know. Fortunately, a police report has been filed that we were able to track it down to your company, Wayne’s Family Music. Not only were we inconvenienced but it almost damaged the gas line which would have been a disaster.  Thank God there wasn’t a big storm as the last time we had one, it totally flooded our ditch as we get all the water from the streets above us.  We’ve given people the benefit of a doubt but in this case, this was a total disregard and respect of people and people’s property. He/she knows our address & could have send us a note with the insurance info. Instead of being Untrustworthy!! I hope this is not how you conduct business or treat your customers.

I took violin from this couple for a few months. It was a wonderful experience, and I wish I could have stayed longer. I felt confident that my teachers knew what they were talking about and I was making significant progress in my goals.

Great guitars and exsessarys, lessons too

Great local music store! Vince is always nice and helpful.

Awesome place.

The owner is great, the attention is great, but there is no much variety.

I didn’t know about this store. What a fabulous place. I went there for information and the owner was very helpful.

The Employees have been kind and SUPER Helpful each time I’ve gone in.

Thank you!!!

Nice and loud

The quality of customer service provided was despicable, hostile, and rude. I would NOT recommend ANY of my friends to go to this store.

I’ve never been treated so poorly by a business owner in my life!

Love this so, the most packed instrument shop. Tons of gems!

Such an awesome shop with a great selection of gutars and amps! Will definitely be making the drive out here again soon!

My wife and I recently purchased vacation, recreational property in Grass Valley. In dire need of a guitar pick I made my first visit to Foggy Mountain. The gentleman behind the counter greeted me with warmth and kindness and showed me what appeared to be a thousand different kinds of guitar picks. Choosing one that felt proper to my fingers and had the word “Cool” on it suited my tastes to a “T”. And that’s my feelings about Foggy Mountain Music, they are Cool people have a Cool store in a Cool town.

To my surprise this lil mountain store was very well stocked with Fender strats and basses. A very nice selection of aucustic guitars. The staff was nice and friendly.

Lots of quality products and good service

While it may seem like a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, the store offers a plethora of instruments and other musical paraphernalia. Music lessons also offered!

Yeah not too sure about that place I feel robbed every time I go in there, yeah of course there’s a lot of good stuff there but overall there wasn’t a chance for no stars they can have one I guess

Absolutely terrible service. POOR selection of instrument strings (they never buy them) They’ve fired their most charismatic workers. The owner/”manager” will ignore you if she’s on the phone. Had an amp in there for six months that was more broken when I got it back, than when I brought it in, due to their “guitar tech” Steve. Worst music store in North California, if I could give zero stars I would.

Owners are rude

My kids took piano lessons for a few years here. On a whim I signed up for voice lessons. At age 48. No music experience since elementary school violin. No talent to speak of. IT HAS BEEN SO MUCH FUN! Patrick is such a kind and inspiring teacher. Each week brings a new discovery. I feel like a kid again. Take a chance and start a new adventure. I am excited to start my next lesson tomorrow.

Got some new strings on this baby and it’s sounds even better than in the store

My sons mouthpiece got stuck in his trumpet. We walked in and they removed it for us at no charge. The service was awesome and they are very knowledgeable. We will definitely be back! And they have private lessons at a very reasonable charge!

Friendly staff and very helpful.

I rented a used violin for my son from the shop. They said the price was $199. The rental was $35 per month. after two months if you want to own the violin then they said they would deduct the rental amount from the original price. But when we want to buy the used violin they said the price is $299 which is hell more than a new violin. So would recommend not to rent or buy anything from this store.

Love my neighborhood bookstore. I always find one or two gems when I visit. The owner has great taste in literature and music.

So much variety in this huge store. There are new additions to the racks every time I visit. There is always something to find and the prices are great!

Huge selection of used books and vinyls !

Books are Pricey but i suppose well worth the price for the selection of hard to find titles

Plenty to choose from

He had the books I asked for, good selection, fair prices for Tahoe.

Prices are high, the clerk was ranting with a friend about politics the whole time we were in the store, the stock is crowded & somewhat organized.

Nothing but junk at high prices and a vile owner! Stay clear!

If an older man is checking your books out, he will most likely charge you $22.36 for whatever items you bring up. Especially if it’s more than 2 books.
(Yes, those random books worth $2-4 charged at $7-10)
Honestly, a trap for tourists.
Locals, go shop cheaper books elsewhere.

Awesome place. They have everything

Great little store, although small, it has alot of the stuff your regular convenience store has, plus a little more

They have everything!

A little bit of everything. Friendly and accommodating service.

Stocked

Absolutely adorable along with lots of hand crafted items. It’s kind of like going back in time.

Okay empty not very clean

Pricey!

This store is out of control with their price gouging. No way will we be going back.

The best violinist in town!! Definitely Recommend!!

Very professional and entertaining

I have been listening to Cecilia make beautiful music for decades. My friends and I would go to the Hyatt in San Francisco to sit in their lobby and listen to Cecilia (and others in the Regency Strings) play to soothe our nerves after a busy day. She was raised in the music business, and I’m so glad that she is still sharing her talents with others. Hire her and her violin for your event, and you will not regret it. She is class personified.

Great selection. Staff are very knowledgeable and helpful!

This is the Best Music shop in the area! Family owned, great service and the best prices.

I am always excited to go into Nicholson’s Music. The staff is delightful! It is always a treat when Nick (the owner) is there, which is often. They always take their time with customers to answer all their questions, even when it is super busy.

I read the reviews below and want to say most of them are unfounded. I have been taking lessons there for over a year so I have seen A LOT of customer interactions both “good” and “bad”. Even when a customer is being rude to the workers, I have seen nothing but the upmost professionalism from the entire staff.

People seem to be getting irritated that they can’t just grab instruments off the wall. There are signs all over the store requesting that you ask for assistance. As they are a small store, that is generally pretty busy, you more than likely will not have someone walk up to you and ask if you need help. Literally walk up and ask for help. They are more than happy to help you with ANY PRICE POINT of guitar (or other instrument for that matter).

Again, people are gripping that you need to be escorted into the expensive guitar room. Again, as mentioned, they are an independent, small store so if a customer screws up a $10,000+ guitar they are going to definitely going to feel the hurt. Along with that, I hate to say it, but there are a lot of thieves out there so again, if someone bolts with a guitar they are going to be effected.

The only thing I will agree with is, if you are planning on running in and out, you are probably not going to be very happy. I can’t mention enough, THEY ARE A SMALL BUSINESS, which means a smaller staff. Since they take time with each customer, you are probably going to have a little bit of a wait, but not an eternity like people are saying.

If you want to have someone essentially ignore you so you can just “do your thing” with a guitar and not have anyone there to answer questions, go to the “big box” store. You can find someone that will leave you alone and basically have zero knowledge. If you want a personal experience, with people that love music and helping musicians (of any skill level) go to Nicholoson’s.

I enjoyed the experience of coffee, paired sometimes with comedy, awesome musicians to so so ones on open mike days. Fun place with friendly staff.
Wish the coffee was better than just good, or maybe I’m just spoilt. Haha.

Large selection of guitars

Good staff

We didn’t realize it was a music night so the music was so loud that we couldn’t talk to each other. The service was great but the prime rib was lousy.

Very snooty to non music experts

*Allegedly, and in my opinion only*

The staff is cool, and so is the person giving violin lessons. However, the owner is rude to paying customers and even to children.

The owner says you can try out guitars, but really, he will micromanage and demand you buy it if he decides you’ve “used his strings too much.” Why even bother letting people try out guitars if you’re going to make people take off jewelry and anything that could scratch the guitar, and then still find a way to act like they are an inconvenience for playing a guitar when you said they could play? Very bad ownership.

Don’t spend money here, especially on your kids. My kid was given permission to try out a guitar by the staff, and then the owner literally ripped the guitar from my kid’s hands, scolded him for using up too much string, demanded he pay for the guitar, and then kicked us out while our other kid was in a PAID violin lesson. Would give 0 stars, never coming back. By the way, we’ve spent enough money at your store previously to pay for that guitar, let alone the fact that we could’ve paid for it. Way to lose money for yourself And next time you want to disrespect someone’s kid, don’t. Sorry you can’t afford to replace $3 wholesale strings on guitars after customers try them out. Maybe just don’t let people try the guitars since you seemingly can’t mentally handle that. And before you try to lie, we were not disrespectful or damaging your property in ANY way. My kid is very respectful. We actually thought you were joking until you kicked us out. Praying for you.

Excellent pianist and teacher. She is who I send my kids to

Good staff, nice atmosphere… enjoyed my conversation with everyone in the store. 🙂

This store is a guitar players dream. It’s smaller, but has no junk. Even the less expensive entry level guitars are solid. The owner has managed to jam more than a dozen PRS, Ernie Ball music man guitars and many others into the space.

Even the cables and straps are top-of-the-line. No junk amps either, mainly Orange and PRS and Line 6– all of which are solid.

The owner and the other gentleman in the shop were super friendly also. The owner did wince a little when I bought the Music Man Stingray out from under him. (This guitar is beautiful.)

This shop is worth the drive for those of us in Nor Cal and deserves to be supported. When we no longer have a local music shop and can only buy things online, we’ll regret it. Shop locally; give this place a shot.

Great place for all your music needs. The owner even helped us out when we weren’t buying anything from them.

Their music selection was a bit small but they had everything I needed at a very reasonable cost.

The line was crazy long and they were extremely under staffed.

Did not have a kazoo

Ownership shines through, excellent service

I have loved this shop for years…bought my acoustic/electric and amp from Ron. Great guy with a lot of knowledge. Great selection too!

Great Knowledgeable, Nice shop
The Best music store in the west!
Thumbs up AAA Rating from me I buy all my gear there,Keith Burrows

I’ve known the owner for many years. I bought an amp and he beat the best on-line price for the same product. So happy to do business local like that.

Friendly and fast service

Great owner….great place…..excellent information….