Guitar Center is bringing artificial intelligence into the world of guitar strings and stompboxes. The company just launched something called Rig Advisor, a mobile-based tool designed to help customers shop smarter while standing in the store. It’s already live at locations across the country.
This isn’t your usual e-commerce filter slapped onto a website. Instead, Rig Advisor is meant to work in the real world, in the aisles of Guitar Center, while you’re holding a guitar or testing out an amp. You scan a QR code, punch in a question like “How do I sound like Jack White,” and it spits out gear recommendations based on what’s physically in stock at that store. No guessing. No online-only bait and switch.
What’s cool here is that it works for beginners and seasoned players alike. If you’re new to this stuff, Rig Advisor helps explain the difference between things like analog and digital effects or tube versus solid-state amps. If you’re already deep into gear, it can still speed up your decision-making by showing side-by-side comparisons and inventory that actually exists on the floor.
It’s not just a chat box either. It speaks your language… literally. Multilingual support kicks in automatically, so you don’t need to mess with settings.
Quite frankly, the whole thing feels more like a tool built by musicians than marketers. It’s simple, quick, and gives you answers without pushing you into a corner. You don’t need to talk to a sales rep unless you want to. And when you’re ready to play, the gear it recommends is ready for you to plug in.
For a company that made its name selling real instruments to real people, Rig Advisor might be a smart way to keep in-store shopping alive. It’s a use of AI that doesn’t try to replace humans, just helps you make better decisions when you’re standing in front of a wall of pedals and don’t know where to start.
Rig Advisor is available right now in all Guitar Center stores. You can try it out here: https://rigadvisor.guitarcenter.com
