diff --git a/beets/ui/commands.py b/beets/ui/commands.py
index 42b06c5d5..fe03cc1a4 100644
--- a/beets/ui/commands.py
+++ b/beets/ui/commands.py
@@ -1292,7 +1292,14 @@ default_commands.append(write_cmd)
 completion_cmd = ui.Subcommand('completion',
         help='print shell script that provides command line completion')
 def print_completion(*args):
+    if not (os.path.isfile(u'/etc/bash_completion') or
+       os.path.isfile(u'/usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion') or
+       os.path.isfile(u'/usr/share/local/bash-completion/bash_completion')):
+        log.warn(u'Warning: Unable to find the bash-completion package. '
+                 u'Command line completion might not work.')
+
     for line in completion_script(default_commands):
         print(line, end='')
+
 completion_cmd.func = print_completion
 default_commands.append(completion_cmd)