Varsity Music

Situated on the bustling Nicholson Street, Varsity Music is in a great location for catching any music fans as they pass through. They aim to specialise in pianos and seem to have a good range, but they also offer brass instruments, a wide selection of bass, acoustic and electric guitars and even accordions.
I’m no good at music myself, but the staff in here are friendly and keen to lend a helping hand to anyone looking to into an instrument. They sell plenty of instructional books and DVDs for all the instruments they sell along with sheet music.
Whether you’re looking for a new instrument to take up or just a renewal, Varsity Music is the place.

With fellow music shop Scayles just down the road, Varsity Music has some competition. However whilst Scayles might focus on providing for the budding rock/​pop musician, Scayles is more of a classical, traditional music shop with its main focus on pianos.
Varsity Music sells a good selection of brass instruments (I am a flute player myself) as well as violins. Despite what I said above, they do still retain a decent collection of electric guitars. However their speciality is still advising, selling, repairing and delivering pianos, and for this it is well known.
I am also happy to come into this shop and just browse around and take in the atmosphere. I also enjoy perusing the sheet music. The owners seem quite happy to let me and others do so.
My only complaint about Varsity Music is that it can get a touch pricey on the instruments front. But if you’re serious about investing in an instrument, you will always be best to shop around.

I used to play guitar and bass guitar but after having to study music for three years at school it took all the enjoyment out of instruments for me and I’ve literally not picked up any of my guitars for almost five years, except to maybe give them a wee dust down.
I still love browsing musical instruments to see them all new and shiny and Varsity Music Shop is the perfect place for a browse. Guitars, pianos, banjos, violins, saxophones, trumpets even ukulele’s, they have it all and all i different price brackets. The staff are also very friendly and knowledgeable and when I popped in I enjoyed having a little nosey around although I did feel a little guilty at the thought of my own instruments gathering dust at home.
A great independent music store and worth a browse if you’re looking for a new instrument.

Just like Eleanor, my enthusiasm for music was more or less destroyed at school. Mrs Black would take a swig from the half bottle of Tesco’s gin under her desk, swallow a couple of anti-​depressants, then, dead behind the eyes, embark on an incompetent, embittered and slurred «lesson». By the time the booze and the pills kicked in about the half-​hour mark, any semblence of creativity or inspiration present among our class of budding Lennons was long gone. Not that it would have mattered, as creativity and thinking for oneself are not personal qualities promoted in anyway by our shockingly inept education system.
Old gin breath’s failings perhaps ensured that me and Varsity Music would never become one, but oddly enough it is still a shop I like to have a nosey in, mainly to gawp in both horror and amazement at how much money people will spunk on a new violin. It is quite a serious music store, so unlike Cash Generator a few doors down, you won’t get an impromptu performance on the guitar from a drunken, occasionally hostile vagrant, which is a bit of a shame.

Varsity Music boasts pianos as its speciality and I agree wholeheartedly with them here. It may sell a whole range of instruments, but its focus is certainly on those pianos.
You can buy guitars from here and if you are buying your first guitar I would recommend coming here. The guitars on offer are in general entry level guitars and unless you are serious about playing, will satisfy your needs. That siad if you want a guitar to cherrish, go elsewhere, these aren’t the greatest guitars, but if you don’t want to spend a lot of money these are the best you’re likely to get.
The staff here are friendly and are more than happy to set you up with a guitar and amp to try out, although this friendliness is very much a trait of many of Edinburgh’s music stores.
All in, if you are buying an instrument, don’t know what to buy and don’t want to spend too much this is a decent place to go, but if you are a music lover you may want to try the more specialised shops.

After deciding to learn how to play the guitar for the third time, I ended up at Varsity music, a no-​brainer as I walk past it almost every day. It’s a cute music store on Nicolson Street, right opposite Edinburgh University’s Old College. A friend and I bought our guitars within a day of each other and managed to become quite friendly with the staff, who I suspect may be the owners as well. We managed to score a discount and one of those electric tuners, which I’d put down to our natural charm! Although I’m not a musical expert, I will say they had a great range of guitars, some tipping the £300 scale, but mine was thankfully an affordable £60. Guitars come with a case, a few picks if you’re nice and will usually be tuned; if not just ask and they should happily oblige. They also sell some great instructional material, and I believe they offer lessons as well!

When I first started playing the violin, I would come in here when I came to Edinburgh to browse through their music books. My family hated me for it, because I would spent more than an hour just looking and choosing which book I would take home with me. They had a great selection, that’s where I got most of my repertoire! But don’t be impressed — I’m talking about themes to movies and musicals! I must have about 30 music books with cds now.
I came here when I was a bit more advanced and was disappointed at how easy everything was. Still, their selection was brilliant.
If you play an instrument and are just a beginner/​intermediete (i.e. grades 1 – 4) then this is your goldmine. It served me very well and I appreciate it greatly for that!
I should point out though… the quality of their stringed instruments isn’t the best. Again, if you’re a beginner or an intermediate then it’s absolutely fantastic, but anything beyond grade 6 I recommend you go to Stringers on Queen Street for a better quality instrument.

With a gloriously old fashioned sign, I was enticed into Varsity for the variety of instruments displayed in the window, and the promise of low prices.
Vasity have been supplying the Edinburgh musical community with good quality instruments for over 30 years. Although they primarily specialise in selling and repairing beautiful pianos, they also have an impressive brass collection, with flutes selling for as low as under £200. They also have a number of affordable, good quality electric guitars that would be good for beginners like myself wanting to get a handle on things. For aspiring musicians and people wanting to teach themselves scores, they have a number of song books at the back along with some classical sheet music.
A perfectly adequate music store with numerous services, Varsity is good for people in high school playing instruments to professionals who are in need of good equipment or repairs. The staff are friendly and great at pointing you in the right direction.