A terrible self serving corperate entity that is ultimately concerned about making MONEY - Private Music Lessons Instructor Guitar Center Employee Review

2.0
23 Jun 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Their system of paying music teachers is not bad when you look at the market of what some other employers are paying. (however their system for pay continues in the cons) ...it's pretty cool to be the Guitar teacher in a store that is literally loaded with guitars everywhere. Even though it is primarily a music store, they do not push their teachers to help customers with anything during store hours. You are most certainly allowed to advertise yourself in between students if you chose to. They do a pretty good job of making sure everyone has their own section. No complaints there

Cons

.....well where do I begin... Literally over half the entire team I joined with in October for lessons was either fired or quit before two full months had passed. They had the tenacity to fire myself and my co-workers without giving any notice whatsoever. I was literally fired one morning before work. every time they fired somebody the circumstances were both morally wrong and quite frankly stupid on their own behalf. They make you stay so true to their "curriculum" that it is basically a script. I was told that I have 30% freedom over the way I tought my own students and 70% Hal leornard chapters. Oh yeah Thats also so they can scam you on selling their books too. They pay $9/hr + an $11 spiff on any hour where a lesson was thought. This can be good but it is also bad. If they chose to schedule you for four 30-minute lessons back to back then you made $40. I wish this was common knowledge but here's the whole truth guys. You want quality private lessons? Then don't go to guitar center to get them. Go almost anywhere else. I can't garuntee that you won't be ripped off as much as guitar center will do to you, but I can with certainty garuntee that the rest of the world has far, far better quality on average. That is the whole truth.

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5.0
16 Jul 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Management takes good care of you

Cons

No complaints that I can think of

1.0
21 Apr 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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