Thats very sad indeed. The size of those places blows my mind. Guitar shops in the UK used to be tiny pokey places with 3 bass guitars & 1 bass amp, well until PMT stores started opening up. Great pic of you & the Ken Smith. That fretless P bass though!!! 😍🤩
Hey man, how have you been?? I actually thought about buying that fretless P bass but I walked away. In hindsight, I think it would've been better than the BFR fretless I bought last year. Thanks about the Ken Smith pic. I wish I still had the thing to fiddle around with. Yep, music stores were like that around here too until the mega stores moved in.
@@progrockjock all good my friend. Just coming into the summer gig season. Was out last weekend & a nice little festival headliner for my soul funk motown band this Sunday. Hope weather holds out. Have a great weekend brother.
Sad to see so many music stores shutting down permanently as of late. A lot of music stores here in my city have disappeared since the mid to late 2000's. Places that were there for decades and which we all thought would be there forever just suddenly began to dwindle and eventually disappear. Once Guitar Center came in, it killed off a lot of local competition cause they offered more variety in terms of brands and gear but, now GC is struggling to stay above water due to all their financial problems. The whole pandemic thing also affected a lot of shops as well. It really is sad to think of all those employees that are now gonna have to go out and look for new jobs. In my personal view, it is also sad how, in the greater scheme of things, music and musicianship has just de-valued and seems to have lost it's lustre modern society. Being a musician now seems to be considered as an outdated and obsolete "hobby". Something that is now just overlooked and dismissed as "disposable" and unimportant. I can't imagine music not being in my life. If it wasn't for music, I'm almost positive I wouldn't be here right now. I would've left this party long ago. It quite literally saved my life quite a few times and continues to do so... A sad but, important upload here, brother.. thanks for it.... ✌️ P.S. Awesome kit you got! I'm sure it's got a lot of upgrade potential for the long run! 👍👍
In your intro I was that exact same guy at my local Sam Ash in the NW suburbs of Chicago. Missed a couple great deals. Missing the staff that I became friendly with over the years. Yup kinda felt like a vulture looking for the last diamonds in the rough.
The people that used to work at Sam Ash and Guitar Center will just have to adapt... It's a new world now and all the metrics have changed for good. You can get great instruments online now and since the economy has headed South, the pawn shops are a good place to look for bargains too.
I understand but I can't help but feel sorry for the employees that lost their jobs. On the other hand, I have noticed that pawn shops are starting to up their game.
The one here in San Antonio is still open but, they're close to closing the doors. I was there last Saturday and it was a sad experience to say the least lol. I'm going to miss Sam Ash I bought some good gear there and met a lot of cool people to jam with. My question is what will they do with the unsold stock?
I guess we are going back to small local store days. Things changed drastically in my area when mars opened then got even wierder when guitar center moved in a block down. Mars is now a Grand Furniture Outlet.
Here is proof WE are headed for a depression... I was in the pawn shop Yesterday... There was a custom 4 string Epitone Bass - creme colored - not a scratch on it - a real collector's item... It was $745.00.... They only allow 1 quarter of the value on a loan, so that was a $3,000 bass...
We don't need music stores anymore if we don't mind buying instruments sight unseen. Sam Ash, as well as Guitar Center are victims of the "Amazon Effect" where people check the merchandise in person at the store and then shop online to find the cheaper price. This same thing happened with the high-end photo/video production stores in Atlanta. Amazon crushed them by selling for much less. Then you have Sweetwater, Zzounds, Musicians Friend, Reverb and others. I agree, the power is in our hands now and with that impulsive sales will drop immensely.
@@progrockjock so true... the music business is not the same anymore either. I do miss going to those music stores and hanging out with other bass players
Hey man, it's Rich the tech from SA ATL here. :)
Rich!! What's going on, sir??
Sorry for your loss.
Thanks, man. Fortunately, we still have a few other places where musicians can gather. Hope you're doing well.
Thats very sad indeed. The size of those places blows my mind. Guitar shops in the UK used to be tiny pokey places with 3 bass guitars & 1 bass amp, well until PMT stores started opening up.
Great pic of you & the Ken Smith.
That fretless P bass though!!! 😍🤩
Hey man, how have you been?? I actually thought about buying that fretless P bass but I walked away. In hindsight, I think it would've been better than the BFR fretless I bought last year. Thanks about the Ken Smith pic. I wish I still had the thing to fiddle around with. Yep, music stores were like that around here too until the mega stores moved in.
@@progrockjock all good my friend. Just coming into the summer gig season. Was out last weekend & a nice little festival headliner for my soul funk motown band this Sunday. Hope weather holds out.
Have a great weekend brother.
ruclips.net/video/F7nG7e1GuCo/видео.htmlsi=Ozo_tKbl7wzaJO9D
Awesome! Great to hear. I hope your festival goes great!! Wish I could see it!
Wow, dude!! That's an excellent promo video and you've got some serious chops!! I love the way you play "Everybody Dance"!!
Sad to see so many music stores shutting down permanently as of late. A lot of music stores here in my city have disappeared since the mid to late 2000's. Places that were there for decades and which we all thought would be there forever just suddenly began to dwindle and eventually disappear.
Once Guitar Center came in, it killed off a lot of local competition cause they offered more variety in terms of brands and gear but, now GC is struggling to stay above water due to all their financial problems. The whole pandemic thing also affected a lot of shops as well. It really is sad to think of all those employees that are now gonna have to go out and look for new jobs.
In my personal view, it is also sad how, in the greater scheme of things, music and musicianship has just de-valued and seems to have lost it's lustre modern society. Being a musician now seems to be considered as an outdated and obsolete "hobby". Something that is now just overlooked and dismissed as "disposable" and unimportant. I can't imagine music not being in my life. If it wasn't for music, I'm almost positive I wouldn't be here right now. I would've left this party long ago. It quite literally saved my life quite a few times and continues to do so...
A sad but, important upload here, brother.. thanks for it.... ✌️
P.S. Awesome kit you got! I'm sure it's got a lot of upgrade potential for the long run! 👍👍
In your intro I was that exact same guy at my local Sam Ash in the NW suburbs of Chicago.
Missed a couple great deals. Missing the staff that I became friendly with over the years.
Yup kinda felt like a vulture looking for the last diamonds in the rough.
I just bought the last 2 sets of bass strings in the store near me , 😮
The people that used to work at Sam Ash and Guitar Center will just have to adapt...
It's a new world now and all the metrics have changed for good.
You can get great instruments online now and since the economy has headed South, the pawn shops
are a good place to look for bargains too.
I understand but I can't help but feel sorry for the employees that lost their jobs. On the other hand, I have noticed that pawn shops are starting to up their game.
The one here in San Antonio is still open but, they're close to closing the doors. I was there last Saturday and it was a sad experience to say the least lol. I'm going to miss Sam Ash I bought some good gear there and met a lot of cool people to jam with.
My question is what will they do with the unsold stock?
My sentiments exactly! Maybe they will revise their website and sell off the rest of their stock online.
I guess we are going back to small local store days. Things changed drastically in my area when mars opened then got even wierder when guitar center moved in a block down. Mars is now a Grand Furniture Outlet.
Here is proof WE are headed for a depression...
I was in the pawn shop Yesterday...
There was a custom 4 string Epitone Bass - creme colored - not a scratch on it - a real collector's item...
It was $745.00....
They only allow 1 quarter of the value on a loan, so that was a $3,000 bass...
Things have changed and will continue to change, that's for sure.
Ah I have one of those Rumbles, if I put 20 Marlboro & a Bic lighter on it, it doubles the weight 😂
WE don't need music stores anymore...
The experience was crummy, the prices were overboard ...
The power is in the hands of the musician NOW...
We don't need music stores anymore if we don't mind buying instruments sight unseen. Sam Ash, as well as Guitar Center are victims of the "Amazon Effect" where people check the merchandise in person at the store and then shop online to find the cheaper price. This same thing happened with the high-end photo/video production stores in Atlanta. Amazon crushed them by selling for much less. Then you have Sweetwater, Zzounds, Musicians Friend, Reverb and others. I agree, the power is in our hands now and with that impulsive sales will drop immensely.
@@progrockjock so true...
the music business is not the same anymore either.
I do miss going to those music stores and hanging out with other bass players