Guitar Center is a place where an uneducated musician can make a living if you are willing to put in the work. - Store Manager Guitar Center Employee Review

3.0
Aug 6, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Provides you with an opportunity to work with lots of talented musicians and customers where you can make lasting connections in the music world. Its also a great place to get a free education on music equipment if you stay long enough and pay attention to whats being taught. If you move up you will make good money.

Cons

As a salesperson you will struggle to make money at first and a lot of the new policies are designed to make sure the ground level sales associate doesn't make too much money. The freedom to think for yourself as a manager and make decisions has been taken away and replaced with cookie cutter answers laid out by upper level management. Daily life is very micro managed

Explore other reviews about Guitar Center

5.0
Feb 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

*friendly environment *great discount deal *lots of opportunities to connect *Good opportunity to get comission *Tour Leave

Cons

*hours / shifts get cut *Sometimes understaffed, sometimes overstaffed *Competitive salaries because of selling Protection Plans, Credit Card Applications and Lessons

1.0
Apr 21, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Plenty of capable individual contributors doing real work. - The brand and the business itself are legitimate — the problems are organizational.

Cons

- Senior leadership is politically driven rather than outcome-driven. Strategic initiatives stall out, and leaders spend more energy assigning or shifting blame than actually diagnosing and fixing problems. - Some parts of the org operate on deference to the top. Honest assessments get softened into whatever narrative leadership wants to hear, which makes real cross-functional work difficult. - Senior leaders do not consistently advocate for their own teams. When things get political, self-preservation takes precedence over backing the people underneath, and capable managers end up exposed.

2
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