Dude, don't go to guitar center (unless it's the absolutely last resort I guess). Their employees are probably going to suck anyway, and not just in the sexist way.

And of course girls like guitars! I've seen pink and hello kitty ones! If the sales guy wasn't such a dick he could've directed you to a nice pink acoustic, maybe a 3/4 size (I'd actually like to know how it went after he finally acknowledged you).

And piano is totally girly, and guitars must be manly, I mean, just look at em. If that's not a big dick with strings I don't know what is.

You didn't buy a guitar there? Shocking. After they treated you so well and all...

When my fiancee was looking for a car with his mom (he is 21) both him and his mom introduced themselves to the sales guy. When the sales guy introduced them to the head boss? "This is (name), and this is his mom." Cause you know, that's all that the woman PAYING FOR THE FREAKING CAR IS. His mom.

Ugh.

I guess I'm lucky that every time I've had to shop at a guitar store (I play bass guitar) I've been treated like a human being. Still, I stopped buying bass magazines a while ago because I was fed up with them not representing female bassists at all. When one of them did a list of the top 25 bassists of all time, there were no women, despite the fact that I know of a few (Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, for instance) who could play circles around half the guys on the list. But they did feature a wonderful quote from Gene Simmons (who isn't much of a bassist himself) about how women playing bass guitar is "unnatural" like "men knitting" and women can be good but not as good as the best men. That was the last straw for me.

I now go to a music conservatory where I'm majoring in composition, and as a part of a feminist & queer theory class I'm taking at my university's main campus, I had to look at the gender breakdown in the departments in our conservatory. It's ridiculously stereotypical: no female brass faculty except for one French horn teacher, no female jazz faculty, and no female faculty in my department. And on the flip side, no men teaching harp or flute. I expected it somewhat, but couldn't believe how stark it was.

The music world can be amazingly sexist sometimes.

I'm sorry you had to go through that; I was considering buying an electric guitar a few months ago and went to a Guitar Center near me because the location was accessible (I don't drive, and not many music stores are on bus routes in areas where I feel comfortable walking and standing by myself). This was the first time I'd gone instrument shopping without one or both parents nearby (hadn't since high school).

There were at least five employees I could see on the floor, two out among the guitars and some behind the counter as well. One of the male employees approached me, was respectful when I said I was just looking at first, and then helped me get set up with an amp and a pick when I was ready to try playing a few of the guitars on display.

All in all, the atmosphere was sort of uncomfortable, but nothing unmanagable. There were other women in the shop, mostly girls with one or both parents, or else parents shopping for boys. I remember seeing one woman employee, but she wasn't helping me so I'm not sure which instrument was her specialty.

I don't know how to describe why I didn't buy anything from the store that day, but sometime during my visit the atmosphere changed from discomfort because a woman was looking at a "boys'" instrument to all-out "get me out of here" disconnect. Maybe I wasn't ready to make a decision, but the attitude I got from my salesperson in particular (polite but patronizing) made me want to try Sam Ash next time, or else explicitly ask for a different salesperson if I have to go back.

I am so sorry for that experience. I love the Guitar Center nearest my house- I go there for everything, because it's way cheaper than the other music stores nearby. I've never been treated badly, and I'm on friendly terms with a few of the employees there.
The only time I'm treated badly is when I pick up a guitar to test it; the other customers trade looks and then I play and they look away.

It is a rare occasion that I see another female in there, though.

Again, that's a rough experience. I'm sorry. I'd call and complain.

Insert shameless plug for supporting your local music store owner here.

My sister needed a guitar once, and the employees at the local store (Jim's Music Center in Orange County, CA) were extremely courteous, friendly, and personable. On top of that, the first time she went into the store, it was with a male friend, and the employees acknowledged and spoke with both of them instead of assuming that he was the one who needed a guitar. Win.

I've had good experiences and bad experiences with music shops. I play guitar and was looking for an electric guitar because at the time all I had was an acoustic guitar. One of the local music stores was a mom/pa kind of shop and they were extremely friendly and offered me all types of different models to play, asked me how long I had been playing, and even complimented me on my playing (probably to sell me something, but it made me feel good nonetheless). But, I didn't buy anything from them because they didn't have a model that I was interested in buying.

I ultimately ended up buying my guitar from Guitar Center because it was the model I wanted for the best price. The sales person was OK, but I think the only reason he was friendly to me was because I was buying a guitar and he probably needed the sale. Guitar Center is the Wal-mart of music shops. If you already know what you want before you get there, you'll probably get a good price on the item. But don't expect friendly sales or people that have any interest in your musicianship besides selling you something, they're not exactly the soulful music shop owned by local musicians where you can actually talk to the people for hours about, oh I don't know, MUSIC!

It often feels like the guitar world is dominated by spoiled little boys who grow up to be spoiled little boys with fancy equipment who will only let you play with them if you are a spoiled little boy. I mean, otherwise, how did emo and screamo become so friggin popular?

I forgot to add: My other suggestion is that rather than shopping at guitar stores, you shop at ones that carry band/orchestra instruments as well. Those stores tend to be a lot friendlier, in my experience, and less sexist. They're used to girls coming in asking for, say, trombones, so they know that choice of instrument doesn't always fall along stereotypical gender lines.

Just make sure that if you go to one of those stores, you go to one that still has a good guitar selection and high-quality versions of everything you need. One lesson I've learned the hard way is that just because it carries every instrument doesn't mean it's good for every instrument. (Like, I go to a general music store for my bass guitar gear and a violin-maker for my cello & double bass gear, because the general shop I go to isn't so good for the orchestral strings.)

Of course the piano is girly. Only a girl would play an instrument like that. Unless we're talking about the best pianists in the world, which can't be girls, of course. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart- so not girly.

I was once called dyke-ish for playing the drums. It's amazing that there's a protocol for what instruments we should and shouldn't be playing as women.

It's not only the franchise stores that have assholes.

I once went into a locally owned store nearby. I was looking through the picks and trying the finger picks on to make sure I got the right sizes. After I picked out a few, I asked the guy behind the counter to grab a couple boxes of the strings that I like. He got them down and started ringing up the strings and the picks THAT HE WATCHED ME TRY ON and asked "are these for your boyfriend?" I stood dumbfounded and after a couple of seconds I answered "no" with a stern face. He replied "Oh.....a lot of girls come in here to buy strings and stuff for their boyfriends; I think it's sweet."

I ended up paying (which I wish I hadn't done) and leaving. I thought to myself about a couple of things later. First, How unromantic of a gift? That'd be like buying a friend who is a handyman a box of screws. Second, I do happen to know what kinds of strings and picks my boyfriend likes, but I wouldn't know if I didn't play guitar too. I don't think anyone would buy strings for a significant other as a present unless they played guitar too.

Hi there. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President for Guitar Center. One of our employees forwarded this to me, and I am sharing your experience with the most senior execs on our sales team for training purposes.

Bottom line is, we most certainly DO very much care about female customers. String benders come from both genders.

A 4 foot by 4 foot painting of Memphis Minnie playing a guitar hangs in my office at GC HQ. I'm reading a biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe right now. And the guitarist in my garage band for years was a woman whose solos routinely smoked mine.

The experience you had was contrary to the training we spend millions on every year. We have over 10,000 employees, and it sounds as though one of them misfired in your case.

We're sorry about it, and we'd like to make it up to you, if you give us a chance. Please contact Jeremy Cole at jcole@guitarcenter.com, and refer to this post. (He and I have already discussed it.)

Thanks!

Norman Hajjar
Executive Vice President
Chief Marketing Officer,
Guitar Center, Inc.

Well I hope you get some free shit.

We could start an entire blog based on sexism and the music industry (if there isn't one already). If it isn't the store, it's the radio or the venue management or the bookers or the sound person... it's so depressing.

I've had similar experiences at Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and local music shops. Typically, I'm just ignored. When I to a store for recording equipment, the employees are usually shocked b/c I'm a woman who knows the geeky lingo. I make it a point to never go into a music store with a male friend. I go solo.

IF Guitar Center REALLY cared, they'd make it a point to ADVERTISE to woman, to HIRE female employees, to INTERVIEW female musicians for their catalog regularly... (the only female musician I've ever seen in their catalog is Kaki King). I'd like to see them ACT on these words.

Great post, Athenia.

Hey Athenia, what guitars do you like?