As museums go, my experience here was quite fun! Having a walk-through time with making music seeing musical instruments from thousands of years before my time to musical instruments at the forefront of Music Creation today and moreover getting an opportunity to play some of them was a hoot! There was a family who joined us after we arrived at the Museum and it was especially fun watching their kids explore and express themselves musically. There truly is something here for everybody who loves music. I thank NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants, for creating this Museum for the public!

My dad and I both love music and thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history behind progression of musical instruments. Our favorite part, of course, was trying our hand at a variety of different instruments. Oh, and learning what a theremin is!! So crazy!! 😂

Excellent interactive musical instrument museum. Plenty of fun instruments for younger kids to play with - guitars, basses, synthesizers, drums, etc, Free admission for NAMM (North American Music Merchant) members. Great way to spend an hour or 2.

I recently visited the museum after hearing of their major renovation and was extremely impressed! The displays are so well done and informative and the new interactive touchscreens are very cool! Oh and the staff and volunteers are so nice and knowledgeable about all things music. The entire experience was really fun and can truly be enjoyed by all ages.

This museum is so nice. Everyone was so kind and helpful, and very knowledgeable about music and the instruments. My children loved being able to play the many instruments at different points throughout the museum.

Had a really wonderful experience. A nice small exhibit, but depending on how much information you enjoy reading and exploring, you could spend many hours at this spot. It even had a couple of interactive musical instruments that you could play with!

What a beautiful experience for my family at the Museum of Making music! The volunteers are super nice and very informative and definitely an added bonus to this experience!! Facility is very clean and organized and was super impressed on the organization and interactive learning experience!! Thank you!! Will see you again when we come back for a vacation next summer again from Westchester County NY! Thank you Again!!

Knowledgeable volunteers add to the experience. There are some interactive displays that allow you to play some of the instruments. There are touch screen monitors at each display area that provide good information and some entertainment. I would suggest kids 7 and up would enjoy. Takes about an hour or more to soak it all in.

NOT BAD ! We brought our 5 year old grand daughter here today. There was a lot of musical instruments on display and some were for visitor interaction but there was only one attendant running around helping people to engage properly with the musical instruments. I wouldnt bother coming here again.

Love this place. The remodel is stunning and my favorite areas are where you can play different instruments.The volunteers are all wonderful and very knowledgeable!

Came here with my husband, 7 yr old and 12 year old . Really loved seeing the old instruments and working our way up through the years . My kids love hearing the different sounds the instruments made . The last room is SO cool. I think we spent at least an hour trying different instruments . The volunteers are friendly and knowledgeable. Highly recommend .

Different type of museum! I love it. There are some areas where you can try the instruments yourself which is pretty nice!

Local or vacationing, you MUST visit the Museum of Making Music! It is newly renovated and youre going to love the interesting and interactive exhibits. The whole family really enjoyed our visit to this local gem.

Great place! Interactive, informational, and interesting. Fun for everybody and music lovers alike! Especially loved the Beatles section! Anyone can also play the instruments provided there (electric guitars, ukulele, banjo, bass, and even a drum kit.)

Great attraction for all ages. It will keep you busy and entertained.

Amazing, an so well put together. Gorgeous displays, areas for some hands on interaction, places to listen and learn. Well worth the few bucks to get in. Reservations on the website.

The museum is back! Saw the member preview today and it is REALLY good! The format is completely changed from the decades model and is much more immersive with kiosks, demonstration stations with directional speakers instead of headphones, etc. An extremely pleasurable and deep new experience and even more to see and absorb than before. Youll need several visits to take it all in. Home run by the museum team and backers!

This is an absolute hidden gem.in Carlsbad. I cant believe Ive lived here for 15 years and have never visited! There is so much history and such a fantastic assortment of musical instruments. Of the course the end is the best!!!! You can play all the instruments! And the bug video screen of the world showing all the different cultures and their instruments was fascinating! Im going to make sure I take all my friends here especially all the musicians I know!

This was a great place! My 3.5 year old loved being able to play instruments! My 33 year old also loved the museum and playing the instruments! We will definitely be back!!!

Nice little museum last part where you can play different instruments was a lot of fun.

This museum is tucked away the older ladies at the front were thrilled to receive us! they have a great introduction and from there it was all up to us. its a great walk through and a hands on museum for the most part. the best parts were actually being able to play some of the instruments. my personal favorite was the beatles drum kit they had. wow.

I love this place, their employees are so nice and help you to find out everything.

Pleasantly surprised with this museum. I learned a lot about music history and appreciated the hands on activities. Yes, they actually let you play the guitars, drums, etc.

So much fun. Informative and hands on. Everyone should go.

Nice updates to the exhibits with touch screens, and a lot of unique instruments to play with.

I was disappointed. My kids loved it. But 10 years ago was so much better. It put the history of music with the instruments

Very informative and encompassing of many different instruments and music types. I really enjoyed my time here.

Quick Facts:Size: SmallPrice: $10 (Adults)Est. time in museum: 45min - 1hourRecommended for: Musicians, Teenagers, AdultsBest Feature(s): Instruments you can playNice, small museum. Focuses primarily on musical instruments, with an emphasis on guitars and pianos, rather than on being a history lesson on musical genres or specific artists. They have some rare instruments that Ive never seen before and instruments that are one-of-a-kind works of art. All the instruments are beautiful to look at. Exhibits are divided by different time period from ragtime and early jazz of the early 20th century to folk, blues and early rock n roll of the middle 20th century to heavy rock and electronic music of the late 20th century.Very interesting especially if youre a musician or if your interested in vintage things. Each exhibit of the museum has a different instrument (guitar) that you can pick up and play and also there is a music station at the end where can try out other different instruments as well such as a guitar, drums, a theremin and a piano (a good distraction to keep little kids interested). If you dont play any musical instrument, I cant strongly recommend this museum to casual music listeners because its primary focus is the instrument and not the music.

Lots of cool instruments to to see and play! Something for all ages.

Defenely a land marc in Carlsbad, educational, informative, recreational, for all ages, you see, hear, and hands on, ove it a must see place

Unique place to see the history of modern music with friendly, knowledgeable, volunteer guides. Play various instruments. Kids will love it! Join the museum for special pricing to attend weekly events and workshops. Nice, modern building with easy access and plenty of parking.

Fun for the kids, lots of hands on experiences.

Lots of musical instruments and history

We were able to play the musical instruments, read about their history, and listen to some of the older songs. My parents in their 80s and my grandnieces who were 12 and 6 years old all enjoyed the museum as well as my nieces and I. It was a nice afternoon of family fun.

This place is a hidden gem.Was so fun to walk around and explore the different eras and genres of music. Lots of interactive things for the five year old. She thought it was so neat to play the instruments.Highly, highly recommended.

Good way to introduce music and different type of instrument. Entertainment for the kids.

So much fun stuff! Very interactive and a great gift shop :-)

Give youself a couple of hours, facinating

An awesome place to visit! Especially if you love music. I visited here with the family and the younger ones (they’re teenagers) really enjoyed getting to play with the instruments. Very educational and love how interactive the whole museum is. Definitely recommend!

Small but very friendly and nice museum to come alone or with kids. The local store has cute things to purchase and the price is OK.

Nice place to visit if you like to experience sounds and play with nice instruments. Also the hidden place to visit the flower fields without paying.

The MOM is a jewel of a venue. Close to us in North County, easy parking, friendly venue and crowd. Excellent talent, so far. Here are shots I took of Charley Hunter and his band.

Great museum and experience. Thanks NAMM. We did wish more of the automated instruments would play.

A fun, educational, and interactive museum

Lots of twentieth century musical instrument history. The majority was strings and wind instruments. Could have had a bit more variety, but still very interesting and some very unique pieces.

Great docent fun place

This museum is fabulous. We enjoyed everything, the music,the hands on lessons, the beautiful instruments and learning all about them.

It was well laid out, you can play various instruments and hear music from different eras . However, its a very small museum.

Fun place to explore the development of instruments in the US. The best is the instruments that are available to play, including the rare and unusual theremin.

Great interaction give fun!

Amazing place for music lovers but honestly it’s an amazing place for anyone

Small, booths are interesting but if anyone is playing music can become a jumble of sounds because of small space. In time may grow and be able to be spread, or would recommend individual headphones to play music/information with closed circuit connection. Some good information.

This is a hidden gem! We visited as part of a school group. This was fun, interactive and educational musem. I highly recommended it!

The roots of modern music on display.👌🏽

My first time at the Museum of Making Music and it was worth the trip. It is a small museum, but with exceptional exhibits from different decades. My favorite parts were playing examples of music from the exhibits era, playing on the musical instruments, and learning about how American music has changed over time. It was really fun to make noise and the workers were really nice.

Amazing local museum

The National Association of Music Merchants founded the Museum of Making Music in 1998 to showcase and celebrate the music products industry. It was opened to the public in March 2000, and has since provided the community with many opportunities for cultural enrichment while preserving musical heritage through special exhibitions, innovative concerts, and educational programs. Hundreds of vintage instruments, audio and video clips, and a vibrant interactive area are permanent exhibits in the museum. Each gallery features historic milestones and the popular music and instruments of the eras, all organized chronologically, giving visitors a nostalgic glimpse into the music products industry. Twice a year, special exhibitions are displayed, along with music presentations and workshops that showcase renowned international and national musicians as well as local talent.

We had fun at this little museum. Everyone was super nice and helpful! It was quick to go through, I wish they had more to play or interact as you walked through. We had a spread of age 2-50 and everyone found something they enjoyed!

Great music museum the staff is so helpful. My son loved being able to play the instruments.

The Museum of Making Music is a fabulous gem in Carlsbad: A world-class museum and concert series that is always pursuing excellence! From historical and contemporary interactive exhibits for families to a stellar concert series, it is not to miss!

Loved this experience! You get to try out instruments and listen to old recordings. But the best part is the staff. One guy in particular was amazing. My husband and I had all kinds of odd questions (like when accordions became popular, how pianos were delivered, and what material records were originally made of) he always had fantastic answers for us and expanded on the related history answering lots of why. Wish I had read his name tag.

The Museum of making music is temporarily closed. It will reopen in June.

Great venue. I held a meeting at The Museum of Making Music. The staff were flexible and very responsive. The conference room has a view looking out to the Pacific Ocean. I will definitely use this location again.

Worth every penny!My kids and I had a blast! Towards the end of the tour, we were able to play with instruments. The gift shop is amazing and very affordable.We will be returning for sure.

Cool museum, a little pricey but fun

June 2021. The new layout is great and everyone who works there are friendly.Great place for kids of all ages. The hands on area was so much fun for my kids.

Dont judge the museum based on how small it is. It definitely has a lot of interesting facts and music pieces. The innovation studio is also pretty amazing because you can try out a bunch of different instruments. As a group we also played drums together in a large room. We also had Zach from NAMM come speak to us about what it is. It was pretty cool to see how big their conferences are every year. This is definitely a cool museum that everyone should experience. I know it just looks like an office building, but it truly is much more than that.

This place is radical, we visited from Utah, the tour guides were patient, kind, and provided great information.I love the expository materials, the plenty of information and the music Workshops.Thanks for being such nice to visitors.

This is a small museum that is located on the first floor of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) offices. The fee is reasonable, $10 for the general public, $7 seniors, students and active military, children under 3 are free. It follows the history of the musical instrument manufacturing industry from 1900 to today. There are displays and some interactive areas. We spent about 1 1/2 hours. It is an interesting place to spend some time if you get rained out of Legoland or Carlsbad in general.

Very informative tour and the exhibits are exquisite and many are interactive. Highly recommend it. It also has a great gift shop.

It was wonderful! Trish was very friendly and helpful. I wish it was longer, it felt short and small but nonetheless it was still a very entertaining experience. Definitely would recommend you playing every instrument there that can be played.

I had a great time with my out of town guests and almost 2 year old. I got asked by several friends how it was for little kids, so I will speak to that. The gift shop has a coloring station, which my little loved! There were instruments to play in each section and buttons to play the music of the Era. At the end there was a great interactive room and my little one was given a musical shaker at the end. Overall I recommend it for young kids, but do keep an eye on them because there are several pianos that say do not touch.

Nice looking area and setting, plenty of parking. Apparently many volunteers to assist patrons.Acoustics are better in seats at or near the the back of the room than in the front several rows. Definitely better than in the front row. Despite the fact that there are smaller speakers farther back from the stage, the poor up-front acoustics are because they never set up the sound equipment properly. Too often I have been in the front row, only to experience horribly loud, even painful sound.Poor planning for some events, such as the beer tasting in conjunction with classical music? Long line surrounding the auditorium, arriving at one corner of the room with ONE person serving dinky tasted of beer, which is from ONLY ONE brewery. Poorly conceived, poorly executed.Another time, a blond woman, the director, SHOUTED into the microphone, literally blaster HERSELF at the audience. All others who used that same mike were appropriate in their demeanor and speaking voices. There you have the reason that this place is a good idea, in a nice setting, but it falls on its face because the narcissistic selfishness of director herself is the primary objective of the organization.Those few events, above, were so unpleasant, therefore off putting, that I subsequently declined to continue my previous contributions to, or my regularly patronizing of, MOMM. Too bad that selfish egos of the director. and ill conceived, clumsy, tacky social stunts, and improperly coordinated and arranged performance events - including the sloppy, unprofessional stage and sound production... Too bad those things pull the rug out from otherwise ostensibly good intentions.The narcissism of the management, which is not true leadership, gets in its own way.Notice the inordinately long, haughty backlash? That which confirms the narcissism?Aw gee. Well? This place has problems, the most significant of which which is that the management refuses to consider anything beyond their own narcissistic ego - to their obvious detriment.

A quaint little museum. It has a fairly small loop of historic instruments and educates about mostly American music history. At the end there is an area for kids and adults to try out different instruments. It was fun and interesting, depending on your love of music dont expect too spend more than an hour there.

Small, plenty of cool instruments to see and some interactive exhibits. My kids race through exhibits to the making music area...the drums are a highlight. They have free days with activities...highly recommend.

Very nice museum. Lots of history. Learned a lot. Brought my young daughter and my family as well. Shes into music and really enjoyed it.

Had some good stuff in here. Great gift shop. Some great views and other amazing things to do around here. Try your hand a geo caching while your here..lots of nice ones in area

Very interesting museum. Staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever played an instrument.

The museum is great for older kids and adults. Not too big so it stays interesting. Very interactive. The staff was very friendly and were committed to the best possible experience. Parking was ample for the number of visitors. Walking distance from nearby resorts and hotels.

Went there for a event.This is a hidden treasure and great place that every music lover have to visit.Its a very small museum relatively, but it is packed with some great information. Every nook and corner have lovely instrument. Not like other museum, you could try each of these instruments. And some of these are very old and rare instruments, at the end where you could try these instruments, they even have instructions for the same.Price: Admission is $10 for admission also they have student discount. This place has a private parking lot and can handle good crowd.Staff are great.

A great collection and put together very well. Love the ability to try out the instruments.

Loved this museum! Staff were welcoming and very helpful. The interactive displays interspersed with different genres and eras along with the actual instruments was outstanding. The gift shop was amazing...I just didnt have enough time to fully explore.

Good history of music. Last part is great. Ever wanted to try out a guitar or bass or drum set or piano or synthesizer or congas and other instruments, youll love this. You can try to play them all

A wonderful place to visit. Historic and modem instruments on display and to play. Samples of music from 1890-1990. Staff is friendly, enthusiastic, and love to share and teach. They have rooms where you have an opportunity to play interesting electronic instruments. Great for kids and adults!

Super fun and interactive! No matter what kind of music you like this place makes you appreciate music on a whole other level 🎶

Informative and interactive fun as you can play various instruments throughout the exhibits. good entertainment for the whole family

Love this place. Very informative and interactive. Reasonably priced admission and nice collectibles in the gift shop. A definite museum to visit for music enthusiasts.

So many cool things to see in such a small space. The collection is quite impressive. I wish there were more audio samples and that they correlated more with what I was looking at. Videos of people playing the instruments would be very useful.

This is such an intimate and amazing venue to enjoy all kinds of different artists live. You cant beat the price, the ample free parking as well as the staff and volunteers that make this venue so warm and welcoming

Just plain fun. Whether you play an instrument or just the radio, if you appreciate music this place is amazing. There are interactive displays throughout, press a button and hear the instrument youre looking at. Pick up a guitar, bang a gong or play a virtual drum kit. I spent hours there and loved every minute.

As mentioned before, definitely a hidden gem. Friendly staff, cheap prices and adults and kids get to play a multitude of instruments including but not limited to drums, Gibson and a Fender Stratocaster guitar, pianos harp, etc. I plan on coming here again with my family. I recommend this place to anyone and everyone!!

The historic significance of this museum is readily apparent as soon as you advance to the first exhibit. A must-see for musicians visiting the Carlsbad/San Diego area.

Went to a free Jass concert last night & it was a very pleasant experience, they also served refreshments. I would suggest checking out their website for other upcoming concerts.

My grandson had a great time with the interactive instruments. When we arrived, the lady at the front counter offered him a booklet that deepened his involvement via a scavenger hunt, and he received a prize when he finished. The people were friendly and attentive, and the displays were nicely curated. The prices for most gift shop offerings were a challenge for my grandson because they exceeded his allowance by a wide margin.

Fun place for kids and adults to learn about music and music history. Nice way to spend an hour in Carlsbad.

What fun! Great displays, informed staff, you can play some of the instruments. Only downside is the outside of the building only says NAMM, nothing about it being the home of the Museum as well...drove thru the parking lot a few times before deciding I was in the right place. But thoughtfully laid out, and a great overall experience. I will add it to my list of things to do that I can offer visitors coming to town.

Great museum with a variation of musical instruments. My 5 month old and I had s great time exploring the musical decades and seeing the way instruments and more have changed throughout the years!$10 - general admissionFree for under 3!

Incredible priceless, collection of musical artifacts. A great place for all to visit.

A definite must for anyone who appreciates music of any kind. The staff are sweet and very helpful. They place various instruments throughout their very well thought out displays and at the very end is a music room so you can play anything from a Fender strat to a Synthesizer and several keyboards theres even a Roland electric drum kit. Spent 2 hours and going back tomorrow.

Super cute. Its interactive so you can press buttons that show you the music of the era, and you can play instruments. Takes about an hour and a half minimum to walk through. Staff is very friendly.