Music instruments aren't impulse purchases. You have to research the market, so that you can be positive you're going to make them best possible choice. If you are a musician, you can't afford to compromise on quality, so you shouldn't try to save money on your purchase. This is why very few musicians buy their instruments online. Most of them prefer to see and touch the real thing before buying it.
If you need a guitar, a drum, a trumpet or any other instrument, and you don't want to buy it online, you should try to find a music instrument store near you. It's always a good idea to shop for such things in your neighborhood, as this could save you a lot of time and perhaps some money. Bulky instruments could be difficult to fit inside a small car, so you may need the shop to ship it to your home address. This is going to cost you, so it's best to be as close to the store as possible.
You can find a music instrument store near you without having to leave your house. The internet is the best possible source of information. All things that matter are on the internet today, so you'd be able to find all music shops in your neighborhood within a few minutes or searching the web. Besides, you'd be able to find out what other people think about these stores, as most of them have business pages where users can write reviews and give ratings to all these businesses.
Music specialized business directions might be another great source of information. These website list all stores and resources musicians may be interested in, so all you need to do is search within each of them, in order to find enough shops to choose from.
If you need a specific instrument, you can search directly for it. Why would you bother with a general music store when all you need is a specific model of guitar? If you can find it in a shop close to your home, you can go ahead and purchase it, without bothering with other stores. Anyway, when you search for things on Google, your location is going to be automatically detected, so you'll be provided at least a couple of results in your area of residence. Of course, you have to perform this search from your home in order to get the desired local results.