The top 16 music shops in Riverside, United States

I needed a guitar tech to re-string my acoustic/ electric guitar, with some broken pieces. He charged me the standard rate for replacing strings, when he could have charged me extra. I was happy with the service I received

there are some very helpful guys

Friendly, knowledgeable staff. Helped me out of a jam.

Probably the best customer service that I’ve gotten in a music store. The only reason why I’m giving a 3 stars is because they outsource there guitar repairs to someone who has absolutely no concept of quolity assurance or even knowledge of how to do a standard set-up.
IN SHORT go to the store for lessons and to buy stuff while feeling really welcomed, BUT for the sake that is all holy with electric guitar repairs; DO NOT TAKE YOU’RE GUITAR THERE FOR REPAIRS.

I really like this place, it sells really good reeds. Quick question.. Do you guys fix violin’s?

Nice people and very informative. Prices are reasonable and a good collection of instruments.

They take simple things and make them very complicated. All I wanted was a simple return and it turned into a week long ordeal. Not shopping here anymore. Sam Ash is cheaper anyway.

Work on my fifty year old fender guitar was done well. Off site by a luthier. But the employee, one in particular leave a lot to be desired. I don’t go into a business to be given attitude by a person behind the counter that is younger than my own daughters.

They wont give back my deposit of $35 for fixing my guitar but they never touched it. My guitar just sat there for 4 days. They kept telling me it would be ready in a day. Then a week. Then a week till he could get to it. It just took it back. I will figure out the $35 later. The really tried to hold my guitar hostage and were rude as rude gets

Best Violin Shop ever!!!!!

These folks know their violins! Super knowledgeable staff who can answer any question you have regarding their products. Great shop for a rent-to-buy option for your budding musician.

Great customer service. The owners were friendly and very knowledgeable. They will definitely get my business in the future. Highly recommended.

There was to many people around while he was explaining things to me than I was comfortable with. There wasn’t a private area to receive instructions.

This man can Tech you something new every time you go see him he is an amazing man

Honestly the best place to record your songs they have a profesional studio and a really good producer

Enzo and his team always get me sounding right!

Highly recommend that you do not waste your time here. Kid has no professionalism or work-ethic.

Enzo refuses to follow through on agreement and send my client his work. We were considering Enzo for further work but after just two sessions, my client reported to me that Enzo is very unprofessional and texted on his phone for intervals of time that “seemed to last from 5 to 10 minutes”. I do not recommend working with this “business”. My client has made three separate attempt to reach out to Enzo, each time being told that the files would be supplied the next time he is in the studio. My client has been patient but we will not put up with this any longer, we would typically consider small claims court for such a situation but do not want to bother wasting anymore time in what would effectively only serve to train this young man on the standards of professionalism that are expected in this industry, standards that Enzo clearly falls short of. Word travels. This is not how business is conducted in the recording industry.

Joe is not only a killer player, but he is a fantastic TEACHER! He can play and teach any style or genre you can think of. And he holds you accountable, which is what a great teacher should do. In a sea of guitar teachers, there is ONE guy who rises above the rest — Joe Harter!

Ian is very professional, was well prepared. The music was beautiful. I highly recommend his services
For your event

Ian did a great job playing for my party I was very impressed with his talent, he easily stole the show was a big hit with all my family and friends. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a talented live musician for any style of event.

Ian Kauffman made was the icing on our wedding cake! I was deciding who I should hire for our wedding ceremony and when I spoke with him on the phone, I could tell that he was professional and experienced. That was worth the money. He played what we wanted in his own soothing style and I am looking forward to hiring him for our baby shower party and maybe even the house warming event! He also played for our cocktail hour and almost stole the show! I could not recommend a better live guitarist! Thanks Ian!

Great place to get your guitar or amp worked on.

Greg did a great job setting up my guitars.

I have a beautiful Epiphone Sheraton Pro that was almost unplayable right out of the box. Greg tweaked the truss rod and did some fret work, and now it plays like a dream.
My Strat came out perfect, too.

Finally, a quality guitar repair shop that not only gets the job done right, but also gets it done quickly!

Took my Stratocaster to Greg for a fret dress and did a great job!

I called and asked to help with picks installation the guy said they have too much work and I should fine specialist elsewhere. I ended up doing it myself.

If I could give them negative stars I would…I waited almost 2 years to get my amp back…Brian never picked up my calls, when I went in person he was out on “vacation”. After finally getting it back he turned on my “fixed” amp and smoke was coming out further damaging it….he didnt charge me, but overall the worst busniness Ive ever encountered..

It was a pleasure taking classes with Batista. She is a professional musician with noticeable experience in teaching piano. I definitely recommend bringing your kids to her, she loves the art and is really patient with her students!

I took lessons with Dr. Alma Batista from the fall of 2016 until the Summer of 2019. That time transformed me as a musician, and helped me grow as an individual. Dr. Batista is amazing to work with, incredibly invested in her students, and a dedicated teacher. I came to her in 2016 with 8 years of experience, lots of bad habits, and many gaps in my education. She was patient with me as I developed new habits and understanding as I struggled to master some of them. One of my favorite things about working with Dr. Batista is that she does not accept excuses. She called me out on areas that I needed to grow in, but was always kind and ready to move forward. As an ambitious person I often picked the hardest songs and signed up for all the competitions I could. This was hard for her to watch at times, and she would warn me that I was taking on more than I could handle. At the end of the day though she let me try what I wanted, and guided me all the way through. From late night emails trying to get me into competitions, to dealing with me being a chaotic mess at lessons, I’m so thankful I had her as my teacher through it all. I could go on for hours about all the lessons I’ve learned from her both in music and life, but that would take too much time. I highly recommend Dr. Batista to anyone looking to learn piano, and especially those looking for a dedicated coach to help them reach a high level of piano performance.

Dr. Batista is a distinguished professional who is currently with the music world. She makes learning fun and engaging and instills the most important foundation skills and techniques to her students which sets them up for excellency! She also provides opportunities to perform and engage with other studio members. Highly recommended!

Dr. Batista is very professional and nice. The other teachers in the studio are also very nice. I definitely recommend this studio.

We signed up for singing lessons with Dr. Batista’s studio. Right off the bat, we noticed that Dr. Batista herself was the one replying to our questions which at first, we thought was pretty awesome since you’re speaking directly to the owner. After speaking to her more on the phone and via text, we noticed that she came off a little rude, but hey we chalked it up to just being new to us and gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Fast forward, lessons have started and her teacher (Karina) was a blast to work with. We did find it rather interesting that towards the end of the lesson, Batista would always barge in the room to bark at Karina that time was almost up. Again, maybe it was a fluke we thought. Time and time again, we had these rude occurrences with Batista. After about two months of lessons, we let Batista and Karina know that we’d be leaving for vacation for a week and that we would not be doing the lesson that week. We returned to an irate Batista demanding payment for the next month’s lesson and that we would have to incur a late fee in addition to missing a class. It was almost as if she never knew we were gone after we clearly had told her.

What’s worse is that Batista said that we had not returned her emails…well, of course, we didn’t, we were on vacation! Plus we thought we had left everything in order prior to leaving. After returning from our trip, we had just had it with Batista’s lack of respect, and simply lack of tact when speaking with her clients, so we canceled our lessons with her studio.

We gave her honest feedback and let her know that the teachers that she employs our GREAT, but unfortunately the customer service is TERRIBLE. We suggested that she get help with the “front desk” and let someone else talk to the customers because it’s clear that wasn’t one of her strong points. Anyhow, there’s plenty of music schools out there where you can go…. we all deal with enough rude people in this world and the last thing we need is to deal with one more around something that’s supposed to be a pleasurable hobby/education.

I feel bad for Karina and the others working there. They deserve a much better business owner! Unfortunately, she lets her pride get in the way of what her business is capable of. She’s educated and will let you know it. (Don’t believe me? It’s the first thing she mentions in her Yelp business bio… ). Being educated doesn’t mean you have the right to be rude to your customers. If you’re considering this place for your child/significant other/friend, spare the abuse and look elsewhere!

Kurt knows his stuff! Decent rates and times! Used to practice here for years before my band broke up.

Wrote an album here, it’s a fantastic price for the rooms and the PA is great

Kurt is a dedicated audio professional very into the needs of your project driven to make sure your satisfied with his service that means you can ask any question and he’ll hang out help you with the best Acoustics best sound setup he shoots from the hip though so don’t ask him for his opinion on your music if you’re not ready to hear the truth just saying

Poor service and poor selection of audio equipment

My fist experience was made pleasant due to a young man by the name of Jah who was very knowledgeable friendly and personable he has created a repeat customer who loves music but has little knowledge on what works well thanks to Jah keep your positive ways oh and continue to enjoy the music I was just assisting my DJ friend wound up with a new sound system

Very helpful staff but, bags are hanging at the door. The bag thing was a little odd. If you’re going to hand me my merchandise and my change why not bag my items.

Good

You need a larger selection of guitars. But the salesman are great!

The overall service was good, but the Rodecaster Pro II that I bought was purchased at full price. When I opened it up and turned it on I found that it was used. Smudged all over the screen, already setup for a different microphone, buttons and pads already assigned. It’s in great shape, but I should have received a small discount on it.

Store is ok, staff doesn’t care much except for the Manager, he is great. rest of staff is not great. Too bad they’re hidden all the way in the back of a lackluster shopping center

Slow service and the people who work here are rude, they treat customers as if they are inconvenienced when asking them for help.

I don’t know how you stay in business. I went to Redlands and order a Martin guitar, they said ” there are 300 orders ahead of you It would take till March to get yours is” I said ok no problem…. Less than 2 weeks I got an email saying my order was in. I was really looking forward to see my new guitar., SMH they sent me a used guitar.
I was investigating 1500 dollars in a used… Really!?
I will not do business with you for any reason.

You are a disgusting sick company. How dare you hire wanted pedophiles and child sodomites with FELONIES on their record to work closely with CHILDREN! And then try to hide it and tell your employees to sweep it under the rug. It’s abominable! I’m a mother of two and I’m completely disgusted!

Marie, if you ever read this, bravo for being so brave to make the truth come to light. This cannot be tolerated!!!

Son muy amables,

The best attention. Thanks so much

Great service, very friendly and great guitar repair ! Will definitely keep visiting in the future (: DO NOT GO TO GUITAR CENTER FOR REPAIRS EVER… INSTEAD GO TO JKEAA !

Update: We had a recent issue with being given much higher pricing on an instrument we rented than initially quoted. However, the manager got involved and, while the price we paid wasn’t what we were initially told when we first rented it, the final price that we ended up paying for the instrument was fair. It’s a good store. There just needs to be more consistency among the staff so that customers feel that they can trust what they are told.

the employees who work here have a great attitude and will help you with whatever you need the prices aren’t to high and they have good quality for their products. this is the only place i go to, to get any thing i need for my guitar such as picks and straps. I highly recommend shopping here!

Things have changed at the music repair shop within the last year. It’s all about money and not customer service and satisfaction. On top of that I had a conn 6m alto saxophone that I took to them over two years trying to get fixed correctly and after shelling out over $500 I repair costs I finally took it somewhere else who guaranteed to get it fixed right and said they never fixed the problem.

A hidden gem. I never knew this place was located here. It’s a great place to produce music, record a podcast and a great work environment

I purchased 2 CD’s and sum stickers here and i really loved the prices that they had at this record shop. super affordable and convenient. The shop itself was super cool, authentic and well organized. Even the owner was super nice and helpful. I loved everything i got and I will definitely be returning 🙂

The Rat Hole is hands down one of the best record shops I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. It’s refreshingly free of unnecessary clutter, offering a fantastic selection of hits that’s frequently updated with new stock. The owner goes above and beyond, even accommodating special orders and restocking based on suggestions. Thanks to this store, I’ve managed to complete a significant part of my King Gizzard collection. The prices are great, including an entire wall of $1.88 vinyl, and the friendly owner makes the experience even better. Stock is replenished regularly, and you’ll often find hidden gems here. Highly recommended!

It was great helpful to answer any questions you may have. They got patches, buttons, stickers and band tees.

Great to have a used record store in riverside. Prices are kinda high, the selection is not that vast, but also gotta give some slack because they are relatively new.

it is cool to support local business and keep the love for vinyl (and cd) alive but this place is honestly not as great as i want it to be…

the listening station is garbage
(old & dusty belt drive jvc turntable)

its a bit of sh!t show in there… it can be fun to find some obscure music in here but then you’ll find the prices to be not so fun… (something you can find on discogs for much cheaper and perhaps much better condition)

*on a brighter note, i did hear the owner say that if the record skips, or you are not happy, you can bring it back…

*on a darker note, he also suggested a girl to cleaner her rare elvis presley release with and “old shirt” & “windex”- windex being a big no no for cleaning records…

Great selection, helpful people, but so very very cramped!

Badly overpriced. He spends most of his time going onto Amazon when he rings you up to figure out what he’s going to charge you. The decor and selection is decent

This place is a joke! Nothing is priced then they look up the highest price they can find on the internet plus the shipping I don’t pay because it’s a shop. Owner is impossible to deal with avoid at all costs

Waaaaay to over priced only good if you want to spend 50 to 100 dollars on a record and there not even rare records