Long-Term Debt (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended					3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2011 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2010 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Holdings	Dec. 31, 2011 Holdings	Dec. 31, 2010 Holdings	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Guitar Center Minimum	Mar. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Extended commitments	Sep. 30, 2011 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Extended commitments	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Extended commitments Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Non-extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility LIBOR Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility LIBOR Extended commitments Guitar Center Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility LIBOR Extended commitments Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility LIBOR Non-extended commitments Guitar Center Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility LIBOR Non-extended commitments Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Prime rate Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Prime rate Extended commitments Guitar Center Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Prime rate Extended commitments Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Prime rate Non-extended commitments Guitar Center Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured asset-based revolving facility Prime rate Non-extended commitments Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Asset-based facility due in February 2016 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Asset-based facility due in October 2013 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior secured term loan Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Extended commitments Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan LIBOR Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan LIBOR Extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan LIBOR Non-extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Prime rate Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Prime rate Extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan Prime rate Non-extended commitments Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior secured term loan due April 2017 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Obligations under capital lease, payable in monthly installments through 2013 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2011 Obligations under capital lease, payable in monthly installments through 2013 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured notes Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior unsecured notes Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured notes Guitar Center Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured notes Guitar Center Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured PIK notes	Oct. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured PIK notes Holdings	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior unsecured PIK notes Holdings item	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior unsecured PIK notes Holdings	Dec. 31, 2012 Term Loan, Asset-Based Facility and Senior Notes Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Loan maturity in April 2017 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Loan maturity in October 2014 Guitar Center	Dec. 31, 2012 Letters of credit Guitar Center
Debt instruments
Long-term debt including current maturities		$ 1,581,379,000			$ 1,016,706,000	$ 997,462,000			$ 564,673,000	$ 564,673,000																					$ 621,762,000	$ 621,762,000										$ 613,800,000	$ 54,000	$ 700,000	$ 394,890,000	$ 375,000,000					$ 564,673,000	$ 564,673,000		$ 613,800,000	$ 7,900,000
Less current portion		135,725,000	646,000		5,941,000	646,000			129,784,000
Long-term debt		1,445,654,000	1,561,489,000		1,010,765,000	996,816,000			434,889,000	564,673,000
Maximum available amount												373,000,000																	323,000,000	50,000,000
Initial aggregate principal amount																															650,000,000														375,000,000						375,000,000
Percentage of ownership interest in guarantor subsidiaries																																																					100.00%
Share of credit facility facility held (as a percentage)																67.00%																		95.00%
Amount paid to third parties, expensed			800,000			500,000
Amount of extended commitments obtained														55,000,000	15,000,000
Arrangement, consent and extension fees	8,100,000													700,000	200,000
Amount of extraordinary sales of assets or receipt of insurance proceeds that would trigger a mandatory pre-payment of principal													2,500,000
Variable rate basis																			LIBOR					Prime rate												LIBOR			Prime rate
Interest rate margin (as a percent)																				2.75%	3.25%	1.25%	1.75%		1.75%	2.25%	0.00%	0.50%									5.25%	3.50%		4.25%	2.50%
Commitment fee (as a percent)																	0.50%	0.25%
Outstanding letters of credit fee as a percent of the LIBOR margin rate																																																								0.50%
Annual agency fee payable in each quarter												200,000																			125,000
Current borrowing base												295,400,000
Undrawn borrowing available												286,800,000
Number of semi-annual interest payments																																																			4
Secured leverage ratio																																																			8.5
Outstanding principal balance																															622,000,000
Letters of credit outstanding												8,600,000
Average daily borrowing												9,700,000
The percentage of the initial principal amount applied to principal that is repaid quarterly																															0.25%
Percentage of excess cash flow which is required to be used for principal prepayment																																	50.00%
Applicable interest rate (as a percent)																																			0.00%										11.50%						14.09%			5.56%	3.71%
Option to make payment of percentage of interest by issuance of additional senior notes																																																			50.00%
Percentage of interest payment reinvested																																																		50.00%
Notes issued																																													19,900,000						189,700,000
Future maturities of long-term debt
2013		135,725,000			5,941,000				129,784,000
2014		14,314,000			14,314,000
2015		6,500,000			6,500,000
2016		6,500,000			6,500,000
2017		983,451,000			983,451,000
Thereafter		434,889,000							434,889,000
Long-term debt, net of current portion		1,581,379,000			1,016,706,000	997,462,000			564,673,000	564,673,000																					621,762,000	621,762,000										613,800,000	54,000	700,000	394,890,000	375,000,000					564,673,000	564,673,000		613,800,000	7,900,000
Anticipated amount of one-time principal prepayment																																																	129,800,000
Certain dividend restrictions
Aggregate amount available for distributions from Guitar Center, Inc. after March 2, 2011.								25,000,000
Percentage of consolidated net income to calculate dividend and other distributions																																																50.00%
Percentage of proceeds received from issuance of capital stock to calculate dividend and other distributions																																																100.00%
Percentage of cash contributions to calculate dividend and other distributions																																																100.00%
Percentage of cash received from sale or disposal of investments to calculate dividend and other distributions																																																100.00%
Additional amount pursuant to fixed charge coverage ratio																																															1.00
Deferred Financing Fees
Amortization of deferred financing fees		3,191,000	2,896,000	2,531,000	2,779,000	2,485,000	2,130,000		412,000	410,000	400,000
Unamortized deferred financing fees		$ 13,097,000	$ 15,524,000		$ 10,899,000	$ 12,913,000