Pittsburgh Guitars is a music store that’s staffed by musicians. We understand your love of music, especially guitars, and we’re here to help, show, teach, or just talk about guitars and gear with you. We know guitars!

Current Band: Last Fall

Name of First Band: The Metal Rainbow

First Live Gig: Carrick High Talent Show—I played my ’76 Les Paul through an Ampeg V4 full stack. Thought that it would be cool to turn the amp to 10. I was wrong…I DID buy both at Pittsburgh Guitars!

Main Live Rig: `58 Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissue through Vox AC15

Favorite Bands: Oh so many, but a couple on the list are: Beatles, Zeppelin, Badfinger, Tom Petty, XTC, Tommy Keene, The Jam, Crowded House, World Party, Marty Wilson-Piper, Miles Davis, The Kinks, Neil Young, Big Star, Grip Weeds, Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Wilco, The Byrds, Beck, Jeff Beck, Rush….it’s a long list! Let me go through my record collection.

Musician would most like to Meet: Jimmy Page

First Concert: Aerosmith with Golden Earing

First Car: 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix. It was $900.

Humor Influences: Monty Python, King Of Queens, The Office, Austin Powers, Peter Sellers

Who Would Play Him in a Movie: Rick Springfield! Lol!

Play The Kevin Bacon Game: Nick Nolte shopped at Pittsburgh Guitars, Nick Nolte is in Cape Fear with Robert DeNiro, Robert DeNiro is in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon

Scott got his first guitar (an Airline archtop) as a junior high school student in Ft. Worth, Texas. Influenced by The Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion, as well as the Beach Boys, he sold his comic book collection to buy his first electric guitar. After moving to Pennsylvania, he switched to bass (a Hofner Beatle Bass). Not destined for the corporate world after graduating from college, Scott began repairing guitars to supplement his musician’s pay. The rest, as they say, is history.

Name of Current Band: I’m a bassist at large

Name of First Band: Raspberry Jam

Live Rig: GK 800RB & 410 cabinet/ Rickenbacker 4001

Favorite Bands: The Beatles, ZZ Top, the list is long Or Musical Influences: I like good songs by anyone

Humor Influences: Monty Python, Daniel Tosh

Musician I Would Most Like to Meet: Billy Gibbons- love the attitude

First Concert: Yardbirds w/ Jeff Beck

First Car: 1961 Chevy station wagon

Favorite Beer: There’s so many–what day is it?

Favorite Food: Grilled meat

Although he doesn’t remember it, Sam’s parents told him he saw the Beatles play on the Sullivan Show at age 5. But Sam often refers to the Monkees, with their TV show being his first musical memories, as his “gateway drug to rock and roll.” In 8th grade Sam decided to learn guitar, and “borrowed” his first instrument, a Harmony Stella acoustic, from his Junior High music department. Fascinated by instruments, Sam plays guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, some drums and keyboards and records music in his spare time. Even though he’s a child of punk rock, Sam has studied guitar with the likes of Ernie Hawkins, John Renbourn, Woody Mann and John Cephus. Favorite quote: “It’s a guitar. There are no rules.”

Name of Current Band: Ancient Skvlls

Name of First Band: The Whereabouts

Live Rig: Gibson Les Paul Special with P-90’s ,Marshcaster Tele, Gibson EB-3 or Rick 4001

Favorite Bands: Too Many to count. Sonic Youth, Zeppelin, the Stones (Everything up to “Some Girls”), Sabbath (“The first 4 LPs are perfect”), Bowie (“everything up to “Scary Monsters”), Mott the Hoople, the Velvets, John Coltrane Quartet, Neil Young (on electric guitar), Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash. Should I keep going?

Musicians I Would Most Like to Meet: Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, Neil Young

First Concert: Humble Pie/REO Speedwagon, Civic Arena ‘74

First Car: $600 Mazda Hatchback with 160,000 miles on it.

Favorite Beer: Too many to list. But Dancing Gnome is our “local bar.”

Favorite Food: Grilled flesh, sushi, but I never met a pizza I didn’t like, either.

Humor Influences: Monty Python

Rob is a rejected K-Pop backup dancer who afterwards found refuge in Pittsburgh in 2014.

Name of First Band: Dolorous

First Gig: An Irish pub in Westchester, NY (I forget the name)

Live Rig: Sommatone OD-35 amp, ES-335, Sommatone El-Toro (bass amp), Fender P-Bass

First Concert: AC/DC

Favorite Bands: “Currently Spinning” – Rich Robinson, The Magpie Salute, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Samantha Fish, Larkin Poe, Big Wreck, Band-Maid . . .

Musicians I Would Like to Meet: Jimmy Page, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Rich Robinson, Bonnie Raitt, Luther Dickinson, the guys in Pearl Jam

First Car: `92 Saturn SL-21

Favorite Beer: IPAs

Favorite Food: Not picky/ open-minded

Humor Influences: Films: Police Academy series, Mel Brooks films

Favorite TV Shows: NewsRadio, Seinfeld, Friends, Ash vs. Evil Dead

Who Would Play You in a Movie: Fozzie Bear from The Muppets

Rich started playing guitar at 14 after realizing that he wasn’t great at basketball. A friend at school introduced him to the Beatles’ White Album and the rest is history

Current Band: Sweat & Gold Dust Rush

First Band: In Session

Main Live Gear: Gibson Les Paul Classic 60’s, Marshall Origin 50 & Supro Statesman Cabinet

Favorite Bands: Beatles, Ramones, The Nerves, Todd Rundgren

Musician You’d Most Like to Meet: Todd Rundgren

First Car: ’98 Honda Accord

Favorite Beer: Coors Banquet!

Favorite Food: Pizza- Vegan of course

Favorite TV Shows: Snuff Box, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

Humor Influences: Matt Berry

Who would play you in a movie: Probably Shia LaBeouf

Graham has lived out eight of his lives and is happy to find a home for his last remaining life at Pittsburgh Guitars. Having spent a considerable time living in Boston, MA to complete his music undergraduate degree program, he can tell you just how cold winter can get and how much Tom Brady ruined his early-to-mid twenties. Ask Graham about falling out of the tour van in Montclair, New Jersey while having pneumonia on tour today to enter Pittsburgh Guitars’ “could it be used as a gigbag” sweepstakes!

Current Band: Beach Boise, ID; Terpene Station; Sponkers

First Band: The Kick (the kind of name a band gets when you don’t speak up in rehearsal)

Notable Mention Bands: BILLY BALDWIN; Mitchell Lips

Live Rig: Gretsch Broadkaster/Fender Strat, Fender Hot Rod

First Gig: High school talent show. We covered “Joker & The Thief” and fulfilled the obligatory “shreddatonics” right of passage as a 16-year-old would do.

First Concert: I was born in a Phish lot. (Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull)

Favorite Musicians; Bands; Artists: Wilco, Pavement, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Tribe Called Quest, The Flaming Lips, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Thelonious Monk, Daniel Johnston, Deerhoof, Gil Scott-Heron, Chet Atkins, Tom Robinson, Joni Mitchell, Solomon Burke, Pete Seeger, Silver Jews, They Might Be Giants, Ted Hawkins, Little Feat, “Weird Al” Yankovic, John Prine, Nina Simone, Father John Misty, Ringo Starr and those other three guys and everyone who ever lived.

Musicians I’d Like To Meet: Jeff Tweedy, Brian Wilson, Bob Weir, John Linnell, Joe Walsh, Kermit The Frog

First Car: Purple 2005 Scion XB.

Favorite Beer: Aurochs session IPA (RIP Aurochs); Arsenal Fighting Elleck

Favorite Food: Pho

Humor Influences: Marc Maron, Norm MacDonald, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Eric Andre, Larry David, Louis CK

Favorite TV Shows: Curb Your Enthusiasm, The ____ That Built America, The Muppet Show

Who Would Play You In A Movie: The digitally-rendered Godzilla from the 1998 film starring Matthew Broderick, but it would just be doing regular stuff like being stuck in traffic, shooting the breeze with Rob, played by Fozzie Bear, etc.

Hanna has been working at the guitar shop part-time since she was a puppy. She enjoys greeting customers and playing with kids. One of her favorite things to do is howl when someone plays the harmonica! She typically comes in to work when she is not sleeping.

Favorite bands: Three Dog Night, Temple Of The Dog, Wolfmother, Steppenwolf, and Fleet Foxes

Musician you would most like to meet: Howlin’ Wolf

First Concert: Good Brother Earl at Narcisi Winery

First Car Ride: Suburu Legacy

Favorite Ice Cream: Frosty Paws

Favorite Food: Croutons

Favorite TV Shows: Scooby Doo

Who would play you in a movie: Molly from Air Bud

Our Instructors

Greg Richards has been teaching music in private and group settings since shortly after high school.  He is a graduate of Duquesne University's School of Music, with concentrations in guitar and sound recording technology, and holds an AS degree in Theatre.  He has played in musical ensembles as small as acoustic duos and as large as pit and chamber orchestras, with rock bands in between.  This has led him to utilize electric and acoustic, 6/7/12-string, and nylon string guitars, along with bass (fretted/fretless/4/5), ukulele, mandolin, and voice.  Noteworthy gig: served as a hired gun in Gilby Clarke's (of Guns n' Roses) backing band for a September 2015 Pittsburgh performance.

• Guitar, bass, ukulele, voice
• Rock, classical, folk, blues, jazz
• Electric, acoustic
• Theory, harmony
• What the controls and components of the instrument, amp, and pedals are meant to do

Current Band: MidKnight Rose

Name of First Band: The Six Balls and Kenny

First Live Gig: The Six Balls and Kenny11th grade Variety Show.  Played Pink Floyd's "Nile Song" and Bowie's "Moonage Daydream."

Main Live Rig: Lately, guitar is "Patient Zero" from EclipseGuitarsUSA and some older Rocktron rack stuff as an amp head.  Bass is a Fender Precision into a Markbass head & GK cabinet.

Favorite bands: Many of course, but turning points for me include Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Hendrix, CSNY, Bowie, Jane's Addiction, Bauhaus, and counting ...

Musician I Would Most Like to Meet: Robert Plant, so that I could tell him how much I appreciate the surviving members of Joy Division recognizing their remaining chemistry as a songwriting  team, and continuing on under the different name New Order. I'd like to think he'd get the hint.

First Concert: Page & Plant, Wednesday July 1st 1998, Civic Arena

Favorite Beer: Blue Moon had a good Iced Coffee Blonde for a little while

Favorite Food: I do hold myself back from eating Asian cuisine as often as I'd like.

Favorite TV Show: The X-Files is classic, but 21st century includes 1st seasons of 24, True Detective, & Stranger Things

Humor Influences: Clue, Tremors, Leslie Nielsen, Bruce Campbell

Who Would Play Me in a Movie: James McAvoy could bring it. I'd be curious to see that.