Inside The Noise with Gabe Dalporto

As Season 2 of Inside the Noise comes to a close, Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto joins Max Lauer-Bader to reflect on the remarkable guests, memorable stories and recurring themes that emerged throughout the season. From musicians and entrepreneurs to innovators, builders and industry legends, the conversations revealed how creativity, curiosity and conviction can shape careers both inside and out...

Phil McKnight—the creator and host of the popular Know Your Gear podcast—expresses to Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto on how he found success on YouTube, why humor is important when reviewing guitars and other gear, and how to buy smarter.

Billionaire investor—and guitarist for Ghost Hounds—Thomas Tull talks to Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto about entrepreneurship, creative leadership, making blockbuster films and being a gamer and comic-book fanboy. (The Guitar Hero video game was one of the inspirations for making It Might Get Loud with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.) As founder of Legendary Entertainment, Tull started out...

Genre-bending bluegrass, country, blues and Americana artist—and shredding soloist—Trey Hensley shares his musical journey with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto in this episode of Inside the Noise. Raised in East Tennessee and immersed in country music from an early age, Hensley has blended virtuosic flatpicking, savvy improvisation and hook-propelled songwriting to capture honors such as a Grammy...

Yvette Young of Covet joins Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto to discuss guitar technique, tapping, alternate tunings, songwriting, tone, and the evolution of math rock guitar. Young’s expansive and innovative creativity prompted Rolling Stone magazine to rank her as #155 in its 2023 article, “The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

Ernie Ball CEO Brian Ball sits down with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto to trace the family legacy behind one of guitar’s most influential companies—from Ernie Ball’s first rock ’n’ roll string sets to Music Man, the StingRay bass, artist partnerships and the future of guitar innovation.  Then, guitarist Tosin Abasi joins the conversation to discuss his collaboration with Music Man, extended-rang...

Guitar Center Hollywood’s Dave Maddux sits down with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto to trace more than 40 years of guitar-building, repair and restoration history—from the Fender factory floor to the earliest days of Fender’s Corona operation, the Mexico factory launch and his current work with vintage instruments at Guitar Center Hollywood. 

Rock guitarist and defense consultant Jeff “Skunk” Baxter shares his multi-faceted music and music technology accomplishments with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto. In this episode of Inside the Noise, discover how the member of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers—as well as a renowned session musician—has probably played on your favorite songs and also helped create the synth and modeling guitars y...

Through his Marty Music YouTube channel celebrated guitar teacher Marty Schwartz has shown billions of players how to decode songs, absorb riffs and licks, get hip to “practical” theory and supercharge their potential. In this third episode of the second season of Inside the Noise, Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto delves into the specifics of Schwartz’s popularity as a teacher, his educational meth...

We’re moving through the much-anticipated sophomore season of Inside the Noise with Gabe Dalporto, and episode 2 features Taylor Guitars CEO Andy Powers, who is also one of the industry’s most innovative acoustic guitar builders. In this CEO-to-CEO chat, Powers discusses building his first guitar at around eight years old (it “exploded”), how the acoustic guitar slump in the 1970s actually helped...

Season 2 of Inside the Noise kicks off with Adrian Young of No Doubt. Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto talks with Adrian about growing up in a rock-and-roll household, auditioning for No Doubt after barely a year and a half behind the kit, the long and uneven road to Tragic Kingdom and the way his creative life has expanded into drum design, producing, engineering and film scoring. 

In Episode 12, Gabe becomes a guest on his own podcast as Guitar Center Senior Manager, Content and Social Media Max Lauer-Bader interviews him about the initial 11 episodes of Inside the Noise. The two unpack what industry leaders and artists shared during the first season, including what makes companies truly great, as well as the success paths of artists such as Chad Smith, Blu DeTiger and Kenn...

In this episode of Inside The Noise, Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto examines the incredible “hat trick” Marcus Ryle and his teams bestowed upon the music gear industry. In three revolutionary tenures at three different companies, Ryle was instrumental in the development of the Oberheim DSX, Oberheim OB-8, Oberheim DMX drum machine, Alesis ADAT, Line 6 POD and several other indispensable music-mak...

Chris Lombardi joins the podcast to talk about how his dad, Don Lombardi, and DW cofounder John Good transformed the company from an exclusively educational enterprise to a premier drum kit and drum hardware manufacturer. NOTE: This episode was filmed while Chris Lombardi was serving as CEO of DW. We hope you enjoy the episode, and we want to congratulate Chris on a remarkable, decades-long career...

Martin Guitars Executive Chairman Chris Martin is the sixth-generation family member to have lead the legendary company, which was founded in 1833. In this episode of Inside the Noise, Martin shares the challenges faced by the iconic brand in the disco, new wave and heavy metal eras of the late ’70s and early ’80s, as well as the ability to pivot under pressure that he learned from his family hist...

Blu DeTiger sits down with Gabe to share the development process with Fender on her signature bass, how she crafted her approach to playing the instrument, her engagement strategies for social platforms and how Guitar Center helped reunite her with the first bass she ever owned.

David Kalt is a serial entrepreneur who founded Reverb.com. Celebrated for designing “more fair” platforms—prior to Reverb, he disrupted the options trading business—Kalt is passionate about improving customer experiences and providing pathways to accomplishment and success.

Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff joins Guitar Center’s Inside the Noise with Gabe Dalporto to talk purpose, perseverance and the moments that changed his life. From playing with John Mellencamp and The Rolling Stones to becoming one of the most in-demand drummers in the world, Aronoff shares the mindset behind his success.

“Our family has been traced to continuously making [musical instrument] strings all the way back to 1680,” D’Addario and Company Chairman and Director of Innovation Jim D’Addario tells Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto in the fifth episode of Inside the Noise. “The town our father’s family came from was Salle, Italy. There are four families still making strings today that came from that town—Mari, B...

“My wife calls me a nerd when it comes to guitars and music,” Martin Guitar CEO Thomas Ripsam tells Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto in this episode of Inside the Noise. “And I’m pretty proud of that.” It’s a story that resonates with a lot of players and their partners. But the tale was also a factor in Ripsam’s journey to Martin. Throughout his long career as a strategic business consultant, Rips...

Our debut episode of Guitar Center’s Plugged-In with Gabe Dalporto begins with a moment nearly all guitarists share when they hang out with other guitar players—the unveiling of their prized gear. In this instance, Dalporto shows Fender CEO Andy Mooney his first guitar—the 1964 Stratocaster his father gave him when he was 12 years old. After trading a few licks on the ’64 Strat, the two business l...

In this episode of Guitar Center’s Inside the Noise with Gabe Dalporto, our CEO travels to the PRS Guitars headquarters in Stevensville, Maryland to tour the manufacturing facility and have a casual and informative chat with founder Paul Reed Smith. The two leaders detail business struggles and successes and dig into Smith’s enthusiasm for “just wanting a chance” when artists try his guitars. Smit...

In this episode of Guitar Center’s Inside the Noise with Gabe Dalporto, our CEO sits down with legendary drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a candid, funny, and deeply insightful conversation about creativity, collaboration, and longevity. From Chad’s first real Guitar Center Hollywood purchase after joining RHCP to the band’s famously organic songwriting process, the two explore...

Further expanding our commitment to elevate the experiences, education and growth opportunities for musicians at every level, Guitar Center is launching a new music industry podcast series, Inside the Noise. Mark your calendars for January 6, when the season’s first three episodes will drop.  Hosted by Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto, the podcast features insightful and inspirational conversations...