Best Buy is a great place for musicians. They have a big selection of instruments and accessories available in store, and an even bigger selection available online. And Best Buy has even been offering music lessons at six of their stores in Canada. So regardless of where you live in Canada, you can easily get great instruments like a Roland Piano or a Gibson Les Paul guitar. And if you are fortunate to live near one of the six stores listed below, you can purchase your instrument and get instruction all at the same location. One very lucky drum student did that and got a little more than he bargained for: one of his recent drum lessons was interrupted by a visit from one of his favourite bands “Theory of a Deadman.”
Instruments selection at Best Buy
At Best Buy you will find amazing instruments from the most well-known and respect manufacturers around. The selection gets bigger and bigger each year. For example, for many years they have carried Fender guitars, like the newest Fender Stratocaster HSS series, Roland Pianos and keyboards and even electric drum kits. Just last year Best Buy added to these offerings with a huge selection of guitars from Gibson and Epiphone, including the iconic Les Paul! On this blog we’ve been getting the word out about the great variety of instruments and equipment available, and have even recently done a series all about home studios and recording.
Music lessons at Best Buy
One thing we haven’t discussed on the blog yet is the range of music lessons offered at six Best Buy stores across Canada. These stores basically have a full music store within a regular Best Buy store. There is one music store-within-a-store in each of the following cities: Kelowna, Kitchener, Barrie, Brossard, Halifax and St. John’s.
With isolation rooms for individual instruction, these stores offer lessons for aspiring guitar, bass, piano and drum musicians. I recently spoke with Matt Dunn from the Barrie store. He teaches the drum lessons in the store. He was extremely enthusiastic about their programs, and happy about how successful they’ve been. “We started three years ago and already have over 80 students learning guitar, piano and drums,” he told me. He also said that his students like that they are not treated as clients but as musicians and friends.
You can purchase lessons individually or get additional savings by purchasing lessons in 5 or 15 week bundles. At these six stores you will automatically get one free lesson just for purchasing a guitar, piano or set of drums (whether you buy the instrument in the store or online at Bestbuy.ca). Also every guitar purchase includes a guitar maintenance package: your instrument will get new strings, a polishing and any required adjustments to the intonation and electronics, after 3, 6 and 12 months – you’ll be playing your instrument worry free for a full year!
One of the great things about learning an instrument is that age doesn’t matter. At the Barrie store Matt Dunn said his musician-friend-students range in age from about 5 or 6 years all the way to over 70!
Theory of a Deadman visits Best Buy
It was one of his younger students, nine-year-old Owen Warburton, who got a little more than he expected during one of his recent drum lessons. Best Buy arranged for one of Owen’s favourite bands, Theory of a Deadman to pay a surprise visit to Owen during one of his lessons at the Barrie Best Buy store. The band’s drummer, Joe Dandeneau, sat at an adjacent electric drum kit in the Best Buy isolation room where Owen regularly has his lessons and jammed along with Owen to one of the band’s popular songs. He even shared some tips with Owen, and presented Owen with a signed set of drum sticks. The whole experience was captured on video and posted on YouTube.
So if you live near a Best Buy in Kelowna, Kitchener, Barrie, Brossard, Halifax and St. John’s, stop in and check out their music store. You never know what surprises await you – you may even surprise yourself and learn to play a new instrument.
