Russo Music

My son has been taking guitar lessons from Phil at Russo Music for a few months now. It has been a terrific experience. Both of my children take piano lessons from Nicole Russo and have for about 3 years now, and my older son wanted to add on guitar — and he is SO HAPPY.
Phil has an easy going personality and teaching style, and provides a good mix of contemporary and the «classics».

Selection for Guitar Strings was sub par. and strings were ridiculously over priced… It was 22 – 23 dollars for a pack of elixir guitar strings… which can be found for 10 – 15 in any other stores. I purchased it because I made such a trip and trek to find parking but will not consider going back.

I would not recommend Russo Music. It started out fine, but our experience quickly went down hill. Our son’s instructor was good, but the management of the shop was not.

Me and my family went in yesterday after a nice lunch in Noe Valley. The sign on the door still said closed. The 2 young people behind the desk couldn’t seem to be bothered to even say hi. I picked up a guitar and started to check it out. My son has playing with the piano in the main room. The blonde girl behind the desk screeched «you guys should go in the other room as we are trying to deal with emails and stuff»
This sort of thing happened once when I was checking out ukuleles a few months ago… and I was relegated to a lesson room. No help. No nothing.
So after i hung up their overpriced off brand guitar we left. This is the last time I will even set foot in their crappy store. Music stores are about customer service. I feel I would probably be treated better at Guitar Center… and I hate that place.

I ordered a book from Russo in early December, and it never came. When I called after about a month, they said it was «back-​ordered» due to the holidays. Finally in mid-​February I called another music store and they had the same book. They sent it to me and it arrived the following day! Bad job, Russo!

I live in the neighborhood and Russo Music is top notch! They have a great selection of instruments, and they are so helpful! The owners are a joy to talk to, and Rita is always so helpful. I know people who take lessons here and always have positive things to say. Stop by if youre in the neighborhood!

What an amazing music school! Brilliant teachers! Wonderful staff! Unlimited resources! This is THE place for music education!

If I could add another star, I would! I started piano lesson at Russo Music in December 2013. My teacher is Rita and I wish she would have been my teacher when I was 12. I probably would have never stopped and now I’m 50. She really brings back music into my heart. Rita is so positive, engaged and encouraging, practicing on my own at home has become so enjoyable and I feel I’m learning more in 3 month than I did in 2 years when I was 12. Russo music was recommended by my friend who’s daughter is taking piano lesson with Dominic and she loves it.
I find everybody working there very friendly and I look forward to my next lesson on Monday. Thank You Rita !!

I can’t say enough great things about Russo Music. Our 7 ½ year old son has been taking lessons there for over 2 years and is an amazing drummer. We have gotten to know the owners, Dominic and Nicole, and they are like family friends to us. Manny is also great, he’s really friendly and is very helpful with our musical exploration in the store. When I have more time I’m planning to take some lessons myself! Highly recommend you try Russo’s.

I was greeted by an incredibly enthusiastic fellow who was nothing but helpful the whole time I was at the shop. The guitar picks are at a great price.

Russo Music is a delightful place with great service. My two children have been taking lessons here for about a year and a half and are already making such a great progress. The environment is lovely and the staff are wonderful. Nicole and Dominic are the friendliest people you could ever meet and their new employee is really polite and helpful. I couldn’t recommend anywhere else.

Russo Music is a great place for music lessons and rentals. The staff are friendly, helpful and talented. My family has been taking lessons from the owners Nicole and Dominic for almost three years. They have encouraged my kids to learn and enjoy their instruments. It is fantastic to have a neighborhood music studio that offers lessons for so many instruments and has a staff that is committed and fun to learn from.

Russo Music has been a wonderful place for my 8 year old daughter. She has been studying violin with Chloe Allen for one year. Under Chloe’s guidance, my daughter’s knowledge of music and love for playing the violin has blossomed.
Chloe is a talented musician and a patient and encouraging instructor. She shares her passion for violin in a way that is approachable and contagious. We are grateful to have such an incredible resource in our neighborhood. Thanks Chloe and thanks Russo!

Russo Music is a great place for music lessons. The teachers here are passionate about what they do and the store always has the books, and other items students need.

Take Rita away from Russo, and what remains is an empty ZERO.
I took a guitar to Russo Music to sell on consignment 4 months ago. Not having ever heard back from there, I went in to get the scoop. This led me to one of the most miserable service experiences with the most pathetic store representative-​let me introduce you to «Becks». The woman without a smile and an inaptitude for customer service.
After explaining I had been there 4 months ago, she lazily looked around, didn’t see the guitar, and said it was sold already. Well thanks for the call, can I have my check? She didn’t have one for me, and wasn’t really bothered that it had been so long with no communication. After insisting she needed to provide me more information, she hesitantly made a call, and then said she still didn’t know how much it sold for. I was pretty irked by the fact that there had been no attempt to inform me of the sale, and that the horrible attendant was making no effort to help. She took my number and said the owner would call me. A week later and still no call.
Today I followed-​up and spoke to Rita. I mentioned the whole situation, and Rita was on it! She called me back in a few hours and said I had a check waiting for me. When I went to pick it up, I thought of buying a ukelele from her but unfortunately it wasn’t Rita’s area of expertise so she asked Becks for her help. Becks walked over recommended a package deal that they offer and walked away, just like that. No concern if it worked for me, if I wanted other recommendations… Rita still made an effort to smooth things over, but at this point I had no incentive to spend any money there.
I certainly do not want to seem like some negative dude that uses Unilocal to shaft businesses, so I want to share some statistics with you… I have written 200+ reviews, and only about 5% of those reviews have been awarded a star. Oh and on a final note, the check that I got was precisely the lowest amount that I had specified in my range (to the penny). If I had not followed up with them, I am reasonably confident that they would have just pocketed the money. That’s my opinion; you too probably see how I could rationally come to that conclusion.
I do have Rita to thank however for a job nicely done!

Yeah.
This makes sense.
I travel constantly.
Because of the travel, it’s hard for me to:
— Do basic chores
— Workout consistently
— Eat healthy
— Watch my Giants
A simple solution would be to cut back on activities so that when I am home I can concentrate on the basics.
Nah…let’s take on the Cello.
Lucky for me Russo rents so I can play without a huge financial leap.
Super friendly staff who even hooked me up with lessons.
Why the Cello you ask? Why not?
Strings.

Affordable monthly rental.
Pleasant staff.

I have ordered from these people online… a gift for a 14 year old boy whos birthday is next week.,. They took my credit card info, and now will not process my order, nor discuss the transaction with me… I have called left messages sent emails… but they will not reply… I just wish to know if they will either send me what i ordered or cancel my request, but they will not even tell me that… I just get «oh we will get back to you» but they never do… now the 14 year old, I have to explain why I was late with his birthday gift… Way to go Russo Music! I really have a hard time accepting these people are legitimate in any way… do not order from them online!

Glad there’s a place to get sheet music in a fun part of town. They’re always friendly and every time I go I manage to find something new. They actually have a decently wide selection for a tiny shop, and they’ll order or download and print anything else you might want. However, I just tried to access the website and it gave me a malware warning (!). So… I think I’ll stick to going in person to see what they have in stock.

So, this is really just a place to take lessons, don’t be fooled. There are some instruments and some sheet music but for someone like myself, who’s played self taught guitar for over 20 years, there’s little here to be had (though I hear you can also rent sound proof booths for recording, which is pretty cool).
It’s not that I’m against having a shop for lessons, but the instruments in here are all super basic and entry level. I asked questions about the Ukuleles they had hanging on the wall… they couldn’t answer them. Simple questions like «What kind of wood is this top made out of?» or «Is it laminate?» Eventually, someone had to go pull out their supplier’s catalog and look it up.
From what I hear, the lessons are really good here. But if you need a guitar, hit up Noe Valley Music up the street. If you want a Ukulele, go to Aloha Warehose in Japantown. I guess if you need a clarinet or a violin, this might be a place to go get one, but, I’m doubtful, any shop selling instruments that can’t answer questions makes me wonder.