Samantha Russell found her first guitar on the side of the road. Amber Russell got her first guitar as a loaner from her older brother.

Both found a career in music years down the road and are sharing the power of instruments with Portland-area residents alike.

Rose City Guitar Company,  2724 E. Burnside St., is their queer women-owned guitar school and retail shop in Portland.

“It was really important for us to have a guitar shop that feels really inviting and like no one is going to mansplain to you,” Amber Russell said.

Filled with plants and colorful décor, crafted and painted primarily by Russell, the aesthetics of the space aim to provide a welcoming vibe, not, “Grandpa’s garage.”

The Russells launched their business to encourage older aspiring musicians to strum a few strings and take a stab at it, because it’s never too late to start learning guitar.

“That’s the best feeling in the world. That’s everything to just feel like I’m making any kind of impact,” Samantha Russell said when asked how it feels to help people achieve their goals. “That feels like the reason for living really.”

Samantha Russell finds a love for music – and a guitar on the side of the road

Samantha Russell grew up in Kent, a county in England, where she started playing the guitar at age 12.

Her first guitar came from the side of the road, sitting outside someone’s house.

“The rest is history from there,” Russell said.

Her dad’s music taste largely influenced her. She said she remembers him teaching her that good music doesn’t fit into a certain genre.

Though she said she loves her mother dearly, the music she introduced Russell to was not her style. It leaned into American country, which Russell said was random for being in the United Kingdom.

Her dad on the other hand, introduced her to disco and Motown, and loads of metal and rock, which is what she fell in love with.

“I feel like he was always sharing CDs and cassettes with me, with lots of different artists the he thought I would like,” Russell recalled.

Once he noticed her tenacity, sticking with acoustic guitar, he gifted her her first electric guitar.

Attending an all girls school, Russell started a band, with more people named “Charlotte” than one could imagine — her estimated headcount was at least three.

She was exposed early on to music like Metallica, Alanis Morrissette, Linkin Park and Green Day.

Russell played music with lots of girls, so she wanted to see more girls in heavy music. That’s when she discovered Riot Grrrl.

“It’s funny now because I live in the Pacific Northwest,” Russell said, referring to the feminist punk movement that spread in the region.

Up to this point, Russell learned all she knew on her own.

She didn’t have any books, she didn’t even know a guitar needed tuning. She didn’t even have YouTube.

Russell, without knowing, played like a bass player, listening to the bass of a song and humming it back.

“I would then play the notes in a painstaking way,” Russell explained.

In her early teen years, he dad bought her guitar lessons, which allowed her to explore types of music she never heard before.

Russell’s family relocated to Tucson, Arizona, when she was 16 years old, and suffered immense culture shock.

The landscape she was used to offered mass amounts of public transport, a cooler climate and a different type of humor.

“I hated it. I was like, ‘I need to get the hell out of here. I need my independence,'” Russell said.

She she moved back to England, ran out of money quickly, broke up with her boyfriend, and headed back to the U.S. at 18 years old and joined the Air Force.

In 2013, Russell moved to Portland at age 23, because she loved “the vibe.” This quote-un-quote vibe she liked included the bustling music scene and a city that didn’t feel too big or too small.

Later, she attended Portland State University to study jazz guitar.

Amber Russell finds a love for music — and wishes her older brother would let her play in his band

Amber Russell was born in Florida and raised in Indiana.

Her 10-years-older brother was in a band growing up, so she’d always go to practices. Her attendance, at times, was better than some of the bandmates.

“I’d always wish that one of these days they’re going to ask me to sing and play,” Russell recalled. “I just wanted to be in a band.”

Russell remembers her friend getting a guitar for Christmas, but her family was poorer. She was about 12 years old when she took a liking for guitar.

The loop hole: Her brother attended guitar lessons, loaned her a guitar and taught her the songs he was learning in class.

She started with an electric guitar before moving to acoustic.

“I like heavier music, but I liked playing acoustic a lot more,” Russell said.

Later, Russell moved to Los Angeles for five years. She held the mindset that she’d leave no sooner than two years, but stay no longer than five.

“I gotta give it a real chance,” Russell told herself.

A guitar friend of hers was living in Portland and invited her to come live with them and try out the city.

Russell packed up everything, moved to Portland and was beyond disappointed upon arrival.

“I had learned I was in Gresham. So while I was like, ‘Oh, Portland sucks,’ That was Gresham,” Russell said laughing.

She would take the bus from Gresham to the Portland Saturday Market as her primary form of income. This lasted about three to four years.

“It paid my bills and I would get other opportunities,” Russell explained.

This hustle opened doors for Russell to land gigs or get brief features on local television news stations from time to time.

Starting a school

The two lived together when they got the idea for Rose City Guitar Company in 2020.

Sitting outside in the backyard of their Kerns neighborhood apartment, they sought an endeavor where Amber Russell’s community networking skills and Samantha Russell’s music teaching skills could marry.

After running classes from a rented space, they were able to open a brick and mortar in November 2023.

What sets their business apart is their concentrated focus on guitar education, rather than the retail sector. They explained that many shops have retail with guitar lesson offerings as an afterthought.

With a focus on adults, they aim to support people to try a go at guitar regardless of age. A typical type of client is one who hates guitars because they were forced to play as a child, and now they’re ready to pick it up again.

“It’s important for us to only teach people who want to be here,” Amber Russell explained.

Courses are paid for monthly, based on how many a person chooses to take. This varies from four to 12 session per month. Sessions hosts about five people in a group at a time.

Students can participate in daily guided practices, which are like study hall, so if someone misses a lesson they can sign up and make up the lost time. Other lessons include genre specific courses or skill specific classes.

Rose City Guitar Company does offer classes for children, but they aim to keep it to those above the age 16. Oftentimes, the children and their parent will sign up for lessons with the school.

“We just want people who can make decisions for themselves,” they explained.