At Texas Amps & Axes we firmly believe that having the right gear is tantamount to a student’s continuous desire to learn and to have fun doing so. When students are learning on gear that falls out of tune easily, isn’t tuned correctly, and so on, it can quickly diminish their engagement because they can hear that the equipment isn’t making the right sounds.

Below we’ve put together some suggestions & recommendations to guide you on this path!

Buying vs. Renting an Instrument

With any new learner, we always recommend taking advantage of our student rental program for 2 months before you make a purchase for a new instrument.

Why?

Let’s be honest here, kids are fickle! Sometimes once they discover that it requires real work to learn an instrument, they lose interest. The last thing we want is for you to then be stuck with a $200 (or more) instrument that becomes a glorified dust collector.

We firmly believe that this 2-month buffer period is key to really gauging a student’s interest level AND it takes some of the pressure off too!

Digital Piano Recommendations

You don’t need anything super fancy to get started, and we recommend starting with a keyboard/digital piano before investing in a traditional piano.

Recommended Brands

● Casio* ● Roland* ● Yamaha

* Casio & Roland digital keyboards are carried in our store & available for purchase.Details to Consider

• You don’t need 88 keys, 60+ keys is just fine.
• If you’re spending more than $300, though, you should definitely find an option with all 88 keys.

Make sure the keys are weighted — that way, it will feel more like a real piano.

Piano Tuning

Leon Ziligson

We recommend Leon to all our families, he’s incredibly precise & thorough. Make sure to mention that you’re a student at Texas Amps & Axes!
Book appointments with him by calling, emailing or using his website.
Phone: 972. 965. 3858

Email: leon@ziligsonpiano.com Website: www.ziligsonpiano.com

Guitar Recommendations

Our store carries a wide variety of guitars for the beginner & intermediate learner. We recommend coming in to “get fitted” for the guitar body style that best suits your size, skill level, & style!

Amplifier Repair:

While our store doesn’t currently do amplifier repair, we can point you in the right direction.  Our recommended repair shop is:

Percussion Recommendations

When you’re first learning how to play the drums, you don’t need anything fancy — in fact, for a early beginner a Remo Practice Pad is perfect!

Details to Consider

• If noise will be an issue at your practice location, an electric set is your best option or purchasing mute pads for your kit!

• If noise isn’t an issue, and you think it would inspire you to practice more, select an acoustic set.

• Consider the space you have available, most acoustic kits are 5 pieces and you’ll need to allot a 3’ by 4’ space for setup. Jazz kits are normally 3 pieces and are great space savers if you’re working in a smaller space.

Brass & Woodwind Rentals

If you’re starting band or orchestra at school, please be sure to carefully review the instrument requirements from the school. Most schools have preferred brands they like to use with students. While we do not currently carry brass and woodwind instruments in the store, we can point you in the right direction – Music & Arts or Williams Music First in Frisco both typically carry the school-preferred rentals.

Our studio DOES carry needed accessories like reeds, valve oil, tuners & grease for these instruments.

Orchestral Strings (violin, viola, cello, bass) Rentals

Our recommendations for shops to help you find a great violin or other instrument are:

https://www.luthiershop.com

The Luthier Shop
2201 Moseley Rd. 
Cross Roads, TX 76227
(940) 365-2309

Music Stands

Every musician, regardless of the instrument they play, needs a great music stand to hold their sheet music!

We recommend Manhasset Music Stands which are available in our store.  In addition to the music stand, we recommend have little magnets handy to keep your sheet music from falling 😉

Tuners

Tuners are super important for any musician! Depending on your instrument of choice, you may require a tuner specific for that instrument or a universal tuner will work just find.

We proudly carry Peterson & Korg tuners for our band players, as well as Snark & pedal tuners for our guitar, violin, ukulele & cello players.

There are also some pretty decent mobile app tuners available too!