Why George's Music?
Customer
Satisfaction Policy
Our Mission is YOUR TOTAL SATISFACTION.
We want you to feel secure, confident and comfortable that any purchase
you make, is the right one for you.
Service PLUS
"What support does George's Music offer?"
At George's Music, we're committed to provide you with quality service.
Our toll-free Customer Service Hot Line is 800-686-4723.
We are prepared to help you find the right product and get the most out of your purchase. In addition, many George's Music locations offer factory-authorized service by trained technicians.
"What services does George's Music offer?"
For your convenience, George's Music offers the following services:
- Toll-Free Customer Service Hot Line - 800-686-4723
- "Musician-Friendly" Financing with George's Music's Exclusive Musician's Express Card
- Lessons with Qualified Instructors (available at select locations)
- Special Orders in any amount
- Easy 2-Month Layaway Plan
- No-Obligation Sheet Music Ordering
- In-House Service Departments (available at select locations)
- VIP Benefits and Discounts
- Email Club: Discounts, Specials & News on Upcoming Events
- Guitar and Drum Club: Save on Strings and Sticks
- Artist and Manufacturer Clinics
"Does my purchase come with a warranty?"
New instruments and electronics are sold with a factory warranty. Warranty repairs will be handled at no charge if you provide a copy of your sales receipt. (All manufacturers and service centers require proof of purchase.) Warranties begin from the date of purchase and vary in length from one manufacturer to another.
If the manufacturer requires that a product be shipped to a service facility for warranty repairs, there may be a charge to you for shipping and handling. Out-of-warranty repairs will include a diagnostic fee which will be applied to the labor and shipping fee. Refer to the warranty information accompanying your product for details. Abuse of products voids all warranties.
If you have any questions about any of the products we sell, we are here to help. Just give us a call or stop by any one of our locations. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you.
+ Restrictions: Due to certain legal and health restrictions, computer software, books, videos, CDs, harmonicas, internal earphones, earplugs, and microphones are exempt from this policy. DJ cartridges, fog fluid, demo gear, opened strings, and tubes are also exempt, as are any items special ordered from a manufacturer for a specific customer. Any other product exemptions may be noted on customer receipts at time of purchase.
Product
Satisfaction
"Can I return my merchandise if I'm not satisfied?"
At George's Music, if you're not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return it in original condition within
30 days and we'll gladly exchange it or give you a full refund.
**
+ Restrictions
| On open-box returns in the following product categories, there is a 14-day return period, and 15% restocking fee. (Defective products may be exchanged for an identical product without the assesment of a restocking fee.) |
| - Recording devices | - Rackmount signal processors |
| - Studio monitors | - Pro keyboards & workstations |
| - DJ mixers, turntables & CD players | - Fog machines & lighting effects |
| Return your purchase to any George's Music location with your receipt, manual(s), blank warranty card, and original packaging (including cables, power adapters, UPC codes etc. as well as the actual packaging) for exchange or refund. |
Price Protection
"What if I find the item somewhere else at a lower price?"
If at any time within 30 days of your purchase, you should find the identical item advertised by a local, authorized dealer at a lower price, just bring in the ad along with your receipt and we will gladly refund the difference. This does not apply to verbal quotes, internet, mail order sales, free offers, or "B" stock or reconditioned merchandise.
Huge Selection!
George's Music is truly "The Musician's Choice"™. Our stores are jam-packed with
thousands of items from the leading musical instrument manufacturers throughout the
world. We stock hundreds of products you won't see anywhere else. Our huge multi-million
dollar product selection allows you to compare name brand products side-by-side. We
make it easy for you to buy right the first time.
Factory Trained "Super" Staff
Our staff has been trained by factory product specialists from all over the country. We're
here to answer your questions before and after you make your purchase. By the way, our
product specialists know that "Making you #1 is what makes us #1." We're large enough
to get you the best price on the best gear, but small enough to give you the down home
service you deserve.
Thanks for Making George's Music #1
George's Music's sales volume ranks us among the top 1% of all music
stores in America! Thanks for your support over the last 30 years. We're working
harder than ever to continue to earn your business!
History
George Hines opened his first George's Music store in Spring City, Pennsylvania on August 17, 1977. Since then, George's Music has grown to a 10 store chain, making us the largest musical instrument retailer in the greater Philadelphia area.
In 1985, we opened our 2nd location in North Wales, PA followed in 1987 by our third store in Springfield (Delaware County). 1989 brought our 4th location on Street Rd. in Feasterville, PA. Then in 1992 George's Music opened it's 5th Pennsylvania location in King of Prussia (moved in 1994 to Berwyn, PA which also includes the office headquarters).
In 1995, 10 years after opening our second store, George's Music enters the Florida music market with a store on International Drive in Orlando. A year later, two more locations are opened in the Fern Park area of Orlando and in Jacksonville Beach. Those stores were followed by storefronts in Orange Park (Jacksonville) and West Palm Beach, bringing us to our current count of 10 stores in Pennsylvania and Florida.
Partners
George's Music Partners
AIMM - The Alliance of Independent Music Merchants
An alliance of leading musical instrument retailers and manufacturers whose
mission is to help develop and grow the music industry. By focusing on quality
products, educational programs and exceptional customer service, AIMM empowers
its stores to provide better value to customers.
George's Music is proud to be a founding and contributing member of the AIMM
group.
For more information, visit www.musicmerchants.com
George's Music Springing the Blues Festival
George's Music Springing the Blues Festival
April 4-6, 2008
Performance Schedule
Springing The Blues 2007
Every spring thousands of people gather in Jacksonville Beach
to celebrate America's indigenous musical art form, the Blues. Springing
the Blues Festival has teamed with George's Music to present Florida's largest
outdoor free blues festival. The event will continue to be held annually on
it's original site at the oceanfront Seawalk Pavilion in Jacksonville Beach.
The week's events kicked off with the Blues in the Schools program where performer
Roger "Hurricane"
Wilson visited local Jacksonville schools performing and educating kids
about blues music.
This year's attendance was among the best ever. The festival kicked off on Friday,
April 6th and lasted through Sunday, April 8th. This year's headliner Tab Benoit
brought down the house on Saturday night with another memorable performance.
This year's event featured 3 days of music on two stages - the Main Stage and
also the West Stage which included an amazing performance by George's Music's
"Win a Spot at the Festival" winner Conrad
Oberg. We would like to thank all of you that attended this years event,
we hope you enjoyed it! Mark your calendar for next year's event April 4-6.
Here are some photos of this years event:
George's Music President George Hines getting presented with the key to the
city of Jacksonville Beach commemorationg George's Music's 10th year of sponsorship
of the Springing the Blues festival.
Jammin' on the Custom Shop Guitars at the Gibson trailer!
George's Music's Guest Spot Winner, Conrad Oberg performing on the West Stage
on Saturday...
A happy George's Music customer enjoying the festivities on Saturday!
Jacksonville Regional Manager Alan Friedman presenting a lucky autographed
guitar winner with his new collectible!
George Hines and Festival Coordinator Sam Veal - the man that makes it all
happen!
Jacksonville Beach customer Bruce Barclay - the winner of the autographed Ibanez
Artcore Guitar with Jacksonville Beach manager Derek Porter
Winner of his new Apple iPOD, Dan Coady with Jax Beach manager Scott Relstab
Click
here to view and purchase Springing the Blues Festival photos!
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BLUES
What Are the Blues?
Blues music began as the primary artistic expression of a minority culture:
It was created mainly by black working class men and women. Through its simplicity,
sensuality, poetry, humor and irony, it mirrored the qualities and the attitudes
of blacks in America for three-quarters of a century.
The definition and most important extra-musical meaning of "blues" refers to
a state of mind. But "the blues" did not enter popular American usage
until after the Civil War as a description of music that expressed such a mental
state among African Americans. It is generally understood that a blues performer
sings or plays to rid himself of "the blues."
As the blues was created largely by illiterate musicians, scarcely any of whom
could read music, improvisation, both verbal and musical, was an essential part
of it, though not to the extent that it was in jazz. To facilitate improvisation,
a number of patterns evolved, of which the most familiar is the 12-bar blues,
Apparently, this form crystallized in the first decade of the 20th century as
a three-line stanza in which the blues singer sings two lines of the same lyrics.
While singing these two lines, the singer must come up with the last line of
the verse to coordinate with the other two. The simplicity of blues lyrics gave
the blues singer freedom to express emotion while improvising. This structure
was supported by a fixed harmonic progression, which all blues performers knew
and which they played almost automatically.
From the Delta to Chicago
In its early years, the blues was wholly an African-American art form. Influential
in its development were the collective unaccompanied work songs of the plantation
culture, which followed a responsorial "leader-and-chorus" form with an emphasis
on rhythm and meter similar in nature to the marching songs of the military.
Work songs increasingly took the form of solo calls or "hollers" comparatively
free in form but close to blues in feeling. The vocal style of the blues probably
derived from the holler. One of the most famous work song leaders was Huddy
Ledbetter, better known as "Ledbelly." As blues increased in popularity, Ledbelly
moved from leading work songs to singing the blues and was very successful at
it.
Self-proclaimed "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy first heard the music in 1903
in the Mississippi Delta. By the late 1920s, the blues were being heard throughout
the Delta at fish fries and juke joints, performed by such bluesmen as Charley
Patton, Son House, Willie Brown, Bo Carter and the Mississippi Sheiks and Tommy
Johnson. Delta bluesman John Lee Hooker is famous for "Boogie Chillun", first
recorded for VeeJay records in 1948.
In the early 1930s the most popular blues singer was Leroy Can, a pianist who
was accompanied with uncanny rapport by the guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. Their
approach had a strong southern character, but their lyrics had a considered,
reflective quality, colored by disappointment rather than bitterness and reflecting
the mood of many of their listeners. Carr was widely copied, and his classic
performances, such as "How Long, How Long Blues" and "Midnight Hour Blues" were
recorded by numerous singers, even in the 1970s long after his death in 1935.
In the 1940s, the heart of the blues scene shifted to Chicago's south side.
There, greats like Elmore James, Willie Mabon, Jimmy Rogers, Sonny Boy Williamson,
Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Songs like "Hoochie
Coochie Man", "Mannish Boy", "Sloppy Drunk", and "Don't Start Me Talkin" are
representative of this time.
Who Plays the Blues?
There is an ongoing debate among blues enthusiasts: Can people who are not African
American truly enjoy and/or play the blues? Purists insist that white people
cannot truly appreciate the blues, while others argue that the feeling within
blues music comes from personal hardship — a lesson learned by people of
all backgrounds.
Many rock ‘n roll bands mention bluesmen as early influences. When the
Beatles arrived in the United States, they wanted to meet Muddy Waters and Bo
Didley (and were astonished that mainstream America was not aware of these artists).
The Rolling Stones took their name from the song by Muddy Waters and Keith Richards
said that early on, their aim was to turn people on to Muddy Waters. Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Alvin Lee, Steve Miller and Jimi Hendrix also paid homage
to the great bluesmen through their music.
The Rock Camp
Royersford Baptist Church in Royersford, PA sponsored a Rock Camp for their
kids interested in music July 14-18th. The Rock Camp is presented for Middle
and High School students interested in playing drums, electric guitar, bass
or vocals. The kids have lots of fun learning more about how to play electric
guitar, bass and drums and share what they know with the other participants.
The Church and participants have had a great relationship with George's Music
for years and we were proud to offer the kids T-shirts and additional George's
Music items.
