Whether you’re looking to learn to play guitar or serious about getting one for recording and giving concerts, the guitar you choose can have a big impact. Getting a guitar that is capable of projecting your musical vision and sound is key, but professional grade guitars tend to be expensive and are therefore out of reach for many people. In cases like these, financing can allow you to start learning on an high quality instrument you can grow with or give you the opportunity to start recording professional quality audio and give memorable concerts now. But, according to cfed, ‘more than half of Americans are either credit invisible, or have poor credit,’ which means financing may be a real challenge for many people. In this article, I’ve put together a list of some of the absolute best financing options for people of all credit types with a list of pros and cons for each that I think will be helpful.

zZounds

Zzounds is my personal top choice for financing musical instruments interest-free on a payment plan. In fact, I wrote an in-depth comparison earlier on why I pick them over other music stores. I’ve personally shopped with them and had nothing but good experiences. They’ve also always held true to their promises, including their best price guaranty. With Pay as You Play you can currently finance from $59 up to $1000 in guitar goodness with no credit check. With a credit check, zZounds will allow you to spread out a purchase over 12 months with zero interest. Another plus is that zZounds has a huge selection of both electric and acoustic guitars to choose from. All you have to do is add whatever eligible items you want to your cart, then select Pay as You Play to finance it on monthly payments at checkout. They also offer 6, 8, and 12 payment terms, but for these you’ll need to be approved through a credit check. I love that zZounds spreads out financing over 4 payments rather than 3, like many of the other music stores, because it makes financing a guitar more affordable to consumers.

Update: zZounds now offers up to 6 monthly payments on their financing without a credit check. They already offered the longest term without a credit check we’ve seen, but this makes their financing even better!

American Musical

American Musical Supply is another music supplier that offers interest-free monthly payments through their EzPay plan, which currently doesn’t require a credit check if the purchase is between $49-$1500. While, like Sweetwater, we do wish they’d offer longer payment terms without a credit check, this is still definitely one of the best options for people looking to finance a guitar. I’ve personally shopped with them and my experience has always been a positive one. It’s cool that AMS offers up to $1500 in credit check free financing – $500 more than zZounds does currently, but keep in mind that if you choose to finance more, you’ll have to be able to make higher payments over a 3-payment term to swing it. AMS also offers 5, 8, and 12 payment options, but they do require a credit check and approval.

Sweetwater

Sweetwater offers fantastic guitar selection and awesome customer service, which definitely makes it a worthy consideration for financing your next guitar. This may not be currently be an ideal option for people looking to get a guitar without a credit though. Sweetwater.com currently states that "[Sweetwater] may request a credit report" as part of their 3 month and 6 month financing. While may doesn't necessarily mean will, it's certainly worth bearing this in mind before making this your guitar financing option of choice. The site also specifically mentions that Sweetwater will "simply charge your credit card in equal amounts" for their payment plan. Using a credit card could result in interest in addition to their current $10 processing fee for 3 month financing or $15 fee for 6 month financing - that's something else to consider. While their best financing option is arguably the Sweetwater Card, which does definitely require a credit check, the 3 and 6 month term Easy Payment option could be a good choice for some people looking to finance a guitar with less than perfect credit. Sweetwater currently requires a purchase of $100 or greater to qualify for their 3 payment option and $400 or more to qualify for their 6 payment option. This is another place I’ve personally shopped before. In fact, I purchased several guitars from them. While not every experience has been perfect, they have gone out of their way to make things right when problems arose.

Note: This section about Sweetwater guitar financing was updated on 9/6/2022 due to apparent changes in their Easy Payment financing.

Sam Ash

Sam Ash is an amazing musical instrument store with years of experience and tons and tons of guitars to choose from. I've had plenty of positive past experiences with them and still have fond memories of visiting their store at King of Prussia Mall. Sam Ash does currently offer some pretty exceptional financing options through the Sam Ash Card, but according to one of the forums I referenced, it does appear to be a harder card to qualify for if you have poor to bad credit. If you're feeling luck or adventurous, it may still be worth trying to apply for.

Update: In addition to the Same Ash Card, Sam Ash now offers a "no credit needed flexible payments option" that currently allows customers to get 90 day financing via approve.me progressive leasing. Since they've decided to make financing more attainable for more people, I've decided to bump them up in the rankings.

Bananas.com

Bananas at large is a well established retailer of musical instruments and pro audio equipment. They’ve been in business now for nearly 50 years and claim to offer over a million products to their customers. While I wasn’t able to find BizRate survey information, they do have a lot of good feedback on other platforms. Yelp currently ranks customer satisfaction at 4.5/5 and has 108 reviews. Browsing through their inventory of acoustic and electric guitars, it’s immediately noticeable that they’ve got an amazing selection of instruments to choose from. At checkout, they also offer an incredible number of financing options through various 3rd parties.

Eastwood Guitars

Eastwood Guitars now offers interest-free credit-check-free financing on guitars as well through their Play Now, Pay Later option. While we weren’t able to locate the specifics regarding their minimum and maximum qualifying order amounts, it does appear that they currently offer payments spread out over a period as long as 6 months, which is pretty exciting because it makes getting more costly gear much more attainable for consumers. While I haven’t personally shopped with them and I wasn’t able to locate BizRate survey information on them, they do appear to have lots of good customer feedback on their website.

Tundramusic.com

Tundra Music is a relatively new company that appears to have been started in 2014, according to the Better Business Bureau. That said, Tundra does appear to offer a very good selection of both new and used musical instruments and has a trade-in program as well. While I wasn’t able to find BizRate survey information, their 1 star customer review rating on BBB, 2.5 star average on Trustpilot, and 2 star rating on Yelp is somewhat concerning. On the potentially more positive side, their website says they offer zero down financing with no interest OR payments for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months terms. They also claim to offer “Equal Monthly Payments with No Interest for 12, 18, 24 or 36 months” and a “same as cash” option for 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 month terms. This all seems a little too good to be true and I haven’t personally ever shopped with Tundra and there may be undisclosed fees involved in their financing, so I’d review what other people have said and proceed with caution before making a purchase there.

Lane Music

Lane Music also offers financing with no credit needed through their Progressive Leasing option. According to the information currently provided on their site, Progressive Leasing allows you to pay off music equipment over a 90 day term -or- make low payments over the course of a year on purchases up to $2,500. It's worth noting that you do not own the musical instruments you buy from Lane Music until they are entirely paid off. While they claim to have 'no up-front-fees,' it's unclear from their current info page whether or not fees are charged at some point or interest is applied. Given the generous 1-year term for payment, it may be something worth writing or calling them about to check into.

Alto Music

Alto Music is yet another online musical instrument store that allows you to finance finance a guitar on a payment plan. However, if you're looking for payment options without a credit check, Alto Doesn't offer a true pay as you play option. Instead, they offer terms up to 6 months on layaway, allowing you to pay for the instrument and receive it after it's paid in full. AltoMusic also offers Progressive Leasing, which they currently claim does not require a high credit score. They also let you make payments via Affirm or the AltoMusic card, both of which require a credit check.

Kiesel Guitars

While you'll only have access to Kiesel brand guitars, Kiesel does currently offer a 90 day payment option with no credit needed through their Progressive Leasing option. You can quickly apply online for approval for this in-house financing option and Kiesel does appear to make some pretty badass guitars so you likely won't be disappointed.

Reverb

While Reverb doesn't currently offer any payment options without a credit check, they do offer financing on lots of new and used instruments, including electric and acoustic guitars, through Affirm. According to NerdWallet, Affirm currently has no minimum credit score or minimum credit history requirement so this may be a good guitar financing option for people with low credit scores, but we can't say for sure.

Guitar Center

Visit Guitar Center!

Guitar Center is another musical instrument store I've had lots of positive experiences with. In fact, I bought my first guitar at one of their stores back when I was a teen. They also offer some pretty awesome financing options with their Gear Card, which does require a credit check. According to WalletHub, people with fair credit have a pretty good chance of getting approved for financing at Guitar Center so this may be a good alternative to the Sam Ash card.

ZAGER Custom Guitars

Visit ZAGER!

Zager makes beautiful custom guitars played by the likes of Garth Brooks' guitarist, Mark Greenwood and Bruce Springteen's guitarist, Garry Tallent. Zager guitars can be purchased directly from the company's website, which, according to Zager, helps keep the cost of their instruments down versus some of their competitors. While they don't currently offer their own financing options, they do allow you to pay with PayPal Financing. However, it's worth noting that according to Pocket Sense, the average score for people who qualify for PayPal financing is about 720, which is rather high, making financing with this company potentially unattainable for those with poor to bad credit.

Amazon

Visit Amazon!

While most people don't think of Amazon as a place to buy musical instruments, let alone a guitar, the fact is, they have looooooads of options to choose from and some of the best prices out there. Amazon also currently offers special zero-interest financing in 6 and 12 month terms through the Amazon Store Card. According to WalletHub, you'll need good, but not necessarily excellent credit to qualify for financing with them.

Musician's Friend

Visit Musician's Friend!

I haven't personally shopped at Musician's Friend, but people I know have raved about them for years. While they don't offer payment options without a credit check for your next guitar purchase, they definitely do currently offer some pretty awesome options for financing, including 6, 12 , 24, and 48 month payment terms with no-interest through the Musician's Friend Platinum Card. According to the forums I referenced, including HarmonyCentral, it appears that it's not a very difficult to card to qualify for. This may be a good option for people who want longer payment terms with no interest, but have poor to bad credit.

Walmart

Visit Walmart!

Like Amazon, Walmart is another place that might not immediately come to mind when you think of financing a guitar. However, you'll find they have tons of great guitars to choose from on their website. Another plus is that, according to WalletHub, you may only need to have fair credit to qualify for the Walmart Store Card, making this a potentially awesome option for people with less than ideal credit scores.

Kraft Music

Visit Kraft Music!

Kraft Music is another well established musical instrument supplier that offers a good selection of guitars to choose from at excellent prices. They currently offer a number of interest-free financing options including terms of 12, 18, and 36 months. They do, however, require a credit check. While I wasn't able to locate any information on what kind of credit scores usually qualify, it might be worth reaching out to them by phone or email to see what sort of credit scores currently have a good chance of being approved.

The Music Zoo

The Music Zoo!

The Music Zoo has been around for 25 years now and offers a great selection of guitars, musical instruments, and pro audio equipment for your recording studio. They currently provide musical instrument financing on purchases over $100 through Affirm. According to their website, "approval is based on creditworthiness," so this might not be an easily attainable option for people with bad credit or unestablished credit.

Fingerhut

Visit Fingerhut!

Fingerhut is well known for offering a great store card that helps with rebuilding bad credit, but what many people don't know is that they also have a decent selection of guitars. While there is a credit check required, WalletHub currently reports that people with bad credit can get approved. If you do a quick price comparison, you may find that Fingerhut tends to have slightly higher prices on their items than other retailers, but they're a great store with a long standing history of helping people rebuild or establish a good credit standing, so they're totally worth considering as an option for financing your guitar.

HSN

Visit HSN!

HSN is another store that's fairly well known for their accessible payment plans. They offer 4 payments on most of the items they sell through FlexPay. While a quick comparison may show that guitar prices at HSN tend to be a bit higher than other options, their payment plan is quick and easy to qualify for and they offer a limited selection of Guitars. If you're a beginner looking for something to start out on, this may be a good option for you to consider.

Quest Musique

Visit Quest Musique!

Quest Musique offers a great selection of guitars and other musical instruments. For financing, they currently have three different options, Pay in Full, a layaway plan with an 8 week payment term that doesn't require a credit check, and financing through Desjardins Accord D Financing Program. It's worth noting that the last option, according to the site, may require a well established credit history for approval.

LeaseVille

Visit LeaseVille!

LeaseVille offers a wide array of products, including loads of guitars you can choose from. They allow you to lease your guitar and pay it off while you play it. According to their site, not having credit isn't a problem, so if you're having difficulty qualifying for other no-credit-check/bad credit options, this may be a good one to consider.

Gettington

Visit Gettington!

Gettington is another online store that offers a small but good selection of musical instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars. Wallethub currently reports that people with fair credit can qualify for financing with them, making them a great option for people who are building their credit scores or trying to establish credit.

FlexShopper

Visit FlexShopper!

Flexshopper is another online merchant that allows you to rent music equipment until you own it. The process looks quick and easy and they have a good selection of both acoustic and electric guitars to pick from. FlexPay also offers options like early purchase, which helps bring down the overall cost of a purchase. If other options haven't worked for you, this may be a good one to consider.

Emporium

Emporium is another retailer that offers a buy-now-pay-later option along with a surprisingly good selection of guitars, despite not being a music store. They currently offer up to a $5000 credit limit and state that less than perfect credit is accepted.

Update: it appears that Emporium Retail Group, LLC may have closed. The website has been offline for quite some time and the company's BBB rating has gone from a B to an F. They also appear to have lost their BBB accreditation, as bbb.org now states that "this business is not BBB accredited."