Carson City music store hits the right notes with unique business model

Playing to the beat of your own rhythm comes from years of watching how others do it and then improvising to set a course of your own.

When it comes to making perfect pitch, where melody and harmony fit together organically, Vince Gates has turned his Carson City music store into the equivalent of a six-piece power band that customers can't seem to get enough of.

Tucked on the west side of Carson Mall, Play Your Own Music is a 2,200-square-foot shop that's structured like no other music store in Northern Nevada. It offers retail, rentals, repairs, four practice studios and a recording studio. Like a well-constructed rock n' roll band, each component complements one another to produce a clean, crisp and successfully sound business model wrapped around individual creativity.

The store's retail end sells guitars, string instruments, sound equipment and all those gadgets musicians typically need to keep the mojo rising and the music flowing.

On the rental end of the business students of all ages can find guitars and string instruments they need to practice. When it comes to repairs, Gates is a master at fixing and fine-tuning damaged instruments to get them sounding like they're new again.

As chief conductor, arranger and owner of Play Your Own Music, Gates has invited the very best music teachers in the Northern Nevada region, if not the West, to teach there. More than 200 students take weekly lessons in guitar, violin and piano from six professional music instructors. The teachers are world-class musicians that Gates says he's lucky to have.

"I really do believe we have musicians here who are the best on the planet," he said. "Our operation, whether it be with the lessons or the retail end is really designed to inspire people to play their own music so they can get to the level where they believe in themselves as musicians and what they can create for the world to hear."

Among the stand-out music teachers are Curt Mitchell, a former 1990s-era guitarist with Bangalore Choir who is best known world-wide among rock n' roll guitar circles for his string of "Guitar Method in the Style Of" videos sold on Amazon and downloaded more than a million times on YouTube.

His other renown teacher is Sue Jesch, the education director of the Carson City Symphony and teacher of violin and viola for more than 30 years. She became founding director of the Symphony’s successful Strings in the Schools and Strings in the Summer programs in 2005. She is recipient of the 2011 Nevada Governor’s Arts Award for Leadership in Arts Education. She studied violin performance and pedagogy extensively in Oxford, England, and she's played professionally with the Duluth Superior Symphony, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Minnesota, Duluth, String Quartet. She served as concertmaster of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, Symphony Orchestra and the Oklahoma Community Orchestra.

There's also other very talented, noted musicians that provide private lessons at Play Your Own Music among them are Jacki Montgomery, Dale Poune, Jim Gustafson and David Johnson.

"We're really fortunate to have this caliber of professional musicians with us," said Gates.

Himself a guitarist, Gates spent many years as a consultant and sales representative for music outfits throughout California and Nevada before settling into the business for himself. As a sales rep, he routinely visited more than 200 music stores throughout Northern California. At these stores he was able to see what worked well for each business.

With Play Your Own Music Gates said he took pieces of what he learned about these music stores and applied them to a business model all his own. Instead of specializing in retail, the idea was to branch out into other areas such as lessons, repairs, retail, rentals and studio production.

Besides that, the store has become a hub where musicians of all stripes can hang out with other musicians, compare notes and ask questions and work off each other whether it be in conversation or inside the studio.

Gates is a lover of all kinds of music and especially likes and encourages customers to talk about what works for them and what they hope to accomplish.

Jake Painter has been a customer for six years and says that he stops by the store regularly not only for the guitar equipment but for inspiration.

"I can come in here and just talk things out with Vince and get the feedback so that when I go back and try it again, I have something to work with that I hadn't thought of," said Painter, a guitarist and singer. "If I have questions, Vince is always here to help."

Josh Bailey of Dayton has been taking guitar lessons with Dale Poune since October inside one of the studios and regularly brings his son Hank and daughter Morgan along. The brother and sister have guitars of their own and both enjoy playing along with their father during the lessons.

"I'm giving myself the opportunity to play better and them the opportunity to see if they like it. If they catch on, we'll make plans for them to take lessons," said Bailey.

Poune said he enjoys giving lessons at the store because he and Vince share a symbiotic relationship with music. If an instrument breaks down in the middle of someone's practice, Vince is always there to add a quick repair or fix a guitar string, he said.

"It works out great," said Poune.

The store is open 10 a.m., to 7 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The store is closed Sunday. Play Your Own Music is located at 1213 South Carson Street on the west side of the Carson Mall. The telephone number is (775) 885-7529.