The Beat Goes On - 30 Years, New Store

Terry Green has had one job in life: music.

For 29 years, Green sold guitars and drum kits to fellow Greenville musicians at his store, Eastside Guitars and Drums on Woodruff Road.

During the store’s 30th year, Green is still selling musical instruments, talking about music, and providing space for music lessons – at a new location on Pleasantburg Drive.

The lease at Woodruff Road was up for renewal. But Green wasn’t ready to close. He has been part of the Greenville music scene since he was a teenager.

“This is all I’ve ever done,” he says. “I started working at a music store while I was in high school at 17. I did one semester at Greenville Tech and decided that I already knew what I wanted to do.”

He headed back to the music store and later took a job as a sales representative for a guitar company.

“Then I got back into retail and opened my own store.”

There was one short stint … “I was out of the music business for maybe three months,” he says. “I had a real job.” It didn’t work out. “I've done just this for 55 years now.”

This summer, Green set out to find a new space for his store in a more accessible location.

“My customers complained about me making them drive to Woodruff Road. They wouldn't buy anywhere else because they are my friends,” says Green, a Greenville native.

On Labor Day, Eastside Guitars and Drums moved to 420 N. Pleasantburg Drive, a strip of stores just south of Lowndes Hill Road called 291 Plaza. Once home to Dragon Den Asian restaurant, Irashiai sushi and a church, the anchor tenant is now Asian Pacific Supermarket.

Green’s new store has plenty of space for three full-time, veteran teachers: Tony Christopher, a drum instructor at Eastside for 23 years; Sam Burgess, who has taught guitar, bass and ukulele at the store for more than 16 years; and Niel Brooks, who has taught guitar and songwriting at Eastside for 15 years.

Repairs are handled off-site by Austin Brashier.

That leaves Green and store manager Bobby Bass to serve customers who drop in to say hello; discuss music, musicians and musical instruments; and make purchases.

Bass followed Green’s path to the job.

“He started shopping with me when he was 14, and he started asking for a job when he was 16. Finally, about eight years ago, he came in at the right time. He’s 42 now,” Green says.

Green was only 8 years old when he first picked up a guitar. It was a circus that changed his focus.

“I went to a circus, and we sat next to the orchestra. Instead of watching the circus, I watched the drummer the whole night. It was the first time I'd seen a live drummer. I was fascinated,” he says.

The rhythm, the noise, the shiny drums and cymbals … “That was it for me. I switched to drums and never picked up the guitar again.”

He joined a band at 14. And by 16, he was playing in bars with musicians four or five years older.

“They had to promise his mother that they'd look after him,” says Green’s wife, Gerri.

Terry still performs locally with a cover band, The Substitutes. And every Monday, he gets together with bandmates from a progressive rock band, The Bosco Bee Band, that played gigs in Greenville from 1969 to 1981. They still write original songs, play music, reminisce, and play the occasional reunion concert.

Some of Eastside’s customers are musicians Terry has known since high school.

The atmosphere is like an old-time barbershop, says Gerri – who performed for 15 years with her own band at resorts, casinos, hotels and honky-tonks in the United States and Canada. She met Terry in 1998 while selling ads for a local radio station. They married in 2002.

Now in her third career, Gerri paints, sells and exhibits her artwork full time.

She’s still the store’s biggest fan.

“Terry specializes in guitars that he knows are good quality at every price point. When your kid comes in to buy a guitar, you're going to get a good, quality guitar in the price range that is appropriate for a beginner,” she says.

Terry cautions against buying a guitar online.

“You need to play a guitar in person. It's something you should touch. Even if you have 10 of the same guitars, they will have different weights, the wood will resonate differently,” he explains.

The store sells acoustic and electric guitars, plus amplifiers and the gear that goes with them.

“If you want a guitar that costs $99, I don't have it. A $99 guitar is junk,” Terry says.

The store’s specialty guitar is the Paul Reed Smith, known as the PRS. Rock artist Santana has used the brand since 1985. John Mayer plays the brand exclusively, Terry says. There’s a John Mayer signature model – one version built in the United States, and one built abroad.

The price of an acoustic guitar at Eastside starts at about $200. An electric guitar for a beginner costs about $250, though it will also need an amplifier and accessories. “You'll end up spending around $400,” Terry says.

The most expensive guitar in the store is $4,500. “Paul Reed Smith guitars go all the way up to almost $20,000. We don't keep those in stock. You have to special order one,” Terry says.

Beginner drum kits cost about $500, and a professional-grade set starts at $1,500.

Terry says his prices are competitive with other stores and online sellers.

Service after the sale is what sets Eastside apart, he says. “We take better care of you before and after you buy something.”

“The difference between Terry's store and every other store in town now is that he's got the most experience and has been around the longest,” Gerri says. “It's a nice, clean shop with responsible and nice people.”

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: The Beat Goes On - 30 Years, New Store