Doesn't WalMart also sell musical instruments? I must admit, I first thought the story said Medical equipment.

Our Best Buy opened their music center a couple of months ago. It's better than you might think, but it's not anything spectacular.

If they sell me a Kate Hudson rock groupie, my faith in Bogus Buy will be restored.

Kudos for the first video of a best buy group music video lesson... I know it will be priceless!

A best buy that just opened my my house already has a Musical Instrument section and it' not too shabby either(at least according to my brother who's a musician). Photo below

Uh no. No matter what you thought of Best Buy before, at least it didn't have douchebags showing off by playing the riff from "I Feel Fine." Can't even claim that anymore!

Yah, but we have places like guitar center and sam ash local. Best Buy will never be able to compete with those places.

Is it against store policy to play Stairway to Heaven?

Yes! Another place to buy a $140 MONSTER™©® guitar cable!

I went into the one at Fairlakes in Virginia. It was like guitar center only with retail prices and 2% of the selection. Plus as is par for the course with best buy I was wandering around the section for about 20 minutes and not once did I see a store associate in the area.

I only play fenders, and order them directly from whichever factory I want.

Anything Geek Squad can't do?

Um...fix comptuers properly?

Sell computers properly?

And apparently, string a guitar.

@Geekybiker:

They'll do fine since most guitar manufacturers use price fixing, aka MAP pricing (minimum advertised pricing.)

If listening to stupid customers and staff weren't cacophony enough, now I have to endure a bunch of tone-deaf musicians pretending they're rock gods?

-1 for Best Buy.

@tedyc03: DAMN YOU.... You beat me to it.

@COELACANTH: Was the Rock Band and quitar Hero demo's not enough for that?

@rndmideas: Looks exactly like Guitar Center, just smaller. Our local Best Buy already sells a couple cheap guitars and keyboards, but nothing like this.

I don't know if I'm for this or against it. Best Buy is a near-monopoly, but so is Guitar Center. Best Buy doesn't know anything about instruments, but neither do most employees of Guitar Center, from what I've seen. The local Guitar Center doesn't even do repairs anymore, so I have to go to Sam Ash if I need work done.

Joking aside, I bet that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are the impetus for this. First, electronic drums then . . .

Video games are gateway drugs--first to teach people to drive like crazy***holes, then tojoin the army, now to learn instruments, what's next?

I already thought BB had this stuff in their stores. Been seeing crappy guitars for at least a year.

I like the idea that BB selling guitars. I can't stand people playing guitar hero and not playing guitar.

Although, I don't know if I'd buy a BB guitar. It's like going to walmart and buying a boxed guitar...just seems wrong.

I don't know if I'd trust BB for a musical instrument unless I was looking for a low-end backup guitar.

I live in Minneapolis, where Best Buy is based. They opened one of these in a newly expanded store back at the beginning of March. Conveniently, the store is located directly across the parking lot from Guitar Center. Guitar Center has placed ads locally on bus shelters to the effect of "A drum kit is not a tech gadget."

@TACP: the Guitar Center in Fairfax was great...I knew most of the guys that worked there, and they happened to be in some decent local bands. I got stuff at cost most of the time because of it.

If their music lessons is anything like there HD Calabration (story a few months back), they're going to sit you in a room, put on a DVD of a Eric Clapton concert and charge you $100.

This is going to be 8 kinds of terrible. Guitar Center is bad enough! Now this? Oh man, if you thought the service @ Guitar Center was bad/clueless...

(Former touring musician and local store whenever possible devotee)

Well, good things nobody has found a way to store naked pictures of themself on a Les Paul.

I guess they're counting on the confused souls who think that playing Guitar Hero means they can actually play an instrument... probably not a bad bet, either.

I just noticed that Target sells guitar. (Just the one, at least at the store I was at.) And strings, and pick. (Just the one, again.) Anyway, I thought it was odd.

@Sucko-T: Unfortunately they guys at guitar center actually appear to know their product and be musicians themselves. Best buy they seem to have tests to weed out the competent employees. Even if they match their prices (and I sort of doubt they will) the other stores will be much better solutions.

@Sucko-T: Yeah and then places like Guitar Center advertise that they have a price below that MAP, but just won't tell you what that price is. Which seems counterintuitive, but there you go

I think I can speak for all of us when I say: Sam Ash is pretty good.

Anything Geek Squad can do?

Fixed. :)

Besides, who doesn't have a semi-reputable pawn shop nearby? I'm not sure I'd trust Best Buy for even a plain ol' cable.

@Wormfather is Wormfather: In the words of a great man, if I have to hear "Yah Mo B There" one more time, I'm gonna Yah Mo Burn This Place To the Ground.

@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: Is it against store policy to play Stairway to Heaven?

It may not be against store policy, but it is a crime against humanity.

(More seriously, we'll have to wait and see if the staffers are the elitist type who can't stand the song, or the type who learned about guitars from the purple book during training. Judging from Best Buy's history, I expect the latter.)

@Michael Belisle: @Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: You know as funny as that scene was, it actually holds some truth. The reason being that everybody and their freakin grandmother thought they could play it, although they couldn't. My dad worked at a music shop (called the musis shoppe) and said that was why a lot of places didn't like it, or wouldn't allow it.

Anything that gives Guitar Center a bit of price competition is a good thing...

In Lewisville, TX, Guitar Center and BestBuy are right next door to each other. It'll be interesting to see if something plays out there.

I'm scared, though. If Guitar Center is bad enough of an instrument retailer, what will BEST BUY be like? *shudder*

"You should get this replacement plan on your Telecaster, so that if you spill something on it it will be covered."

Is there anything the Geek Squad can't do?
fix a laptop?

Eh, they're running out of options...If their service techs are anything like geek squad, then yeah. Good luck returning anything, I will personally commend the brave soul who succeeds this daring feat.

@SgtBeavis: Should be interesting if Best Buy decides to put instruments in that location. My guess is that Best Buy will undercut Guitar Center on price, but GC will beat them with bundles.

This reminds me of a time when I saw some lady ask the BB employee what the difference between Rock Band and Guitar Hero is. He said, "Well the main difference is that Guitar Hero uses Gibson guitars, and Rock Band uses Fender guitars"

Not making that up... I almost stepped up and took over for him.