Guitar Center is dropping its ban on playing ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ It’s part of the CEO’s big turnaround plan

Musicians often see an instrument as a physical extension of themselves and that sort of connection doesn’t always lend itself to the online shopping experience. 

“Selecting a musical instrument is a deeply, deeply personal experience,” says Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Guitar Center. It’s something you have to touch and hear and smell for yourself. A guitar that seems appealing on a website might not speak to a player trying it out in real life, Dalporto says. 

Dalporto, 56, is a true believer in the need for brick-and-mortar stores, and he’s made them a pillar of his turnaround of Guitar Center, the once-bankrupt music instrument retailer that’s betting big on customers’ desire for an in-person shopping experience, where newbie and veteran musicians alike can tinker with instruments and tap into employees’ know-how. 

Guitar Center’s comeback is still a work in progress, but Dalporto, a nuclear engineer by training and bona fide music nerd, wants the retailer to offer the vast inventory of a big-box store while fostering a sense of community usually reserved for independent music retailers. “The No. 1 thing I get from independents is that they personally know their customers,” he says, “and that’s what I want us to get to.”

A bad bet on beginners

Guitar Center is just now recovering from its epic, six-year COVID hangover. 

During the pandemic, millions of Americans took up new hobbies to pass the time; some baked sourdough loaves, others took up the ukulele or guitar. A surge in online sales was a lifeline........

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