So we’ve gone to great lengths to tell you all about how to listen to some music around here. You can go to a bar, a restaurant, a theater, a community college or a coffee shop, among other places.
But what about all of you musicians out there? All of you who actually play and contribute to the area’s active and passionate music scene? Where can you go to sharpen your skills or pick up some new instruments, or even catch a little show?
Well, we’d be remiss not to mention the one true music shop in town, the one place where musicians can go to get everything they need to keep on rockin’ in the free world: Strings and Things.
The music shop on South Main street has been a Concord fixture since 1982 (disclosure: the store did move out of Concord for a short bit, but it’s really been a Concord locale from the start), and has been 100 percent family owned and operated since inception (not the movie).
The shop pretty much offers everything: new and used instruments (obviously – those walls of guitars aren’t just for decoration), amplifiers, lessons on almost every instrument you can think of, repairs/services, accessories, clinics and a friendly, welcoming environment (you won’t find any “No Stairway to Heaven” signs in here).
The gear they sell runs from beginner level all the way up to professional-grade stuff, though the majority of the stock is about intermediate level, said Eric Bilodeau, a guitar instructor who has worked at Strings and Things since he was 6 and the son of the owner, Mike Bilodeau.
“We try to stay in that intermediate area,” he said. “More people are going to start out than finish.”
Good point.
Now don’t let that fool you – you can still drop a couple thousand dollars on a single high-end (and beautiful) guitar here if you’d like, but the store wants to be able to provide instruments for everyone, not just big-time pros like Brad Myrick, who also works at the store and who held a guitar clinic there last week.
Myrick has been a pro musicians for basically his whole life, playing in bands, by himself, in the studio – you name it.
After spending some time doing his musician thing out in Los Angeles, he decided to come back to the brighter lights of Concord to work with his longtime good friends at Strings and Things.
On Sunday, he wowed a decent crowd who showed up to the store for his guitar clinic – the shop puts on various clinics every couple months or so. Myrick played some original acoustic music and then talked about it with those in attendance.
Somewhat similar to the Granite State of Mind event at NEC, this offers music fans a chance to interact with a musician on a personal level. And Myrick loves that experience.
“Really good personal relationships here,” he said. “That’s a big push we’re going to be making this coming year, is just community relationships and continue to build the community, and hopefully have us in the center of that, as far as the music community.”
And that community aspect is important to Strings and Things. After all, it’s a fraction of the size of even the smallest Guitar Center, so one would expect a more personal experience.
If you walk into Strings and Things, somebody will nicely greet you and then let you wander about – no incessant following and bothering, and that’s a big deal to a lot of musicians (myself included). Nothing worse than trying to poke around while some corporate salesman is in your ear going on about the premium lacquer finish and whatnot. And you usually don’t have to compete with a dozen other guitar shop show-offs shredding at max volume throughout the whole store while you’re trying out a ukulele.
But if you’re not really in the market for a new instrument right now (the shop sells mostly stringed instruments, hence the name), there are still plenty of events for you to enjoy.
You just missed Myrick’s guitar clinic, unfortunately, but there will be a drum clinic and trio concert featuring PJ Donahue on March 20 for all you skin-beating enthusiasts. The instrument clinics run on about a bimonthly basis, Bilodeau said, and there is some kind of event each month.
The shop recently hosted a re-stringing event, where people could bring in their guitars and get some new strings put on for free, courtesy of the string provider.
The shop just completely overhauled its website, stringsandthingsmusic.com, so it’s not the most up-to-date at the moment, Myrick admitted, but the Facebook page (facebook.com/StringsAndThingsMusicStore) is regularly updated. Look there for updates on upcoming events and shows.
You also might start seeing some updates in this here fine publication (but no pressure, Strings and Things), so be sure to stay tuned – see what we did there?
In the meantime, you can stop by the store at 113 S. Main St. or give them a call at 228-1971.
Now go forth, make noise and get famous!
