OT: "The death of the electric guitar"

[Mjazz]

Article in the Washington Post

[Sam Mullins]

The comment that:

 

You dont see a bunch of kids emulating John Mayer and listening to him and wanting to pick up a guitar because of him.

 

was the best news I've heard in a week.

 

 

[Bill H.]

The first time I heard Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" (a current top 10 pop track) I practically fell out of my seat because it starts off with a bluesy guitar riff. That's unheard of anymore. There's just no guitar in current pop.

 

And there in lies the problem if you are trying to sell guitars...

[Marzzz]

I haven't heard too many piano or organ solos either, come to think of it...

[cphollis]

The real issue I see here for the musical instrument industry is -- how do you get young people interested in making music vs. just listening to it?

 

When I was growing up in the 60s/70s, almost all the kids played at least one musical instrument, often several. Although I haven't had a trumpet for many decades

 

Although, in some ways, it's easier if you have the interest. Heck, grab your iPhone and a few free apps and you're in business.

 

I'm AOK with the decline of guitars and guitar players.

[drawback]

The comment that:

 

You dont see a bunch of kids emulating John Mayer and listening to him and wanting to pick up a guitar because of him.

 

was the best news I've heard in a week.

 

 

Why? To me, it's the worst.

[timwat]

If most of the thumbs-up to this article comes from personal anecdotes with guitar players, take a second and stand back.

 

Generally a rising tide lifts all boats. Put another way, the drop in guitar sales doesn't mean all the kids are buying keyboards.

 

If the drop in guitar sales is a leading edge indicator that fewer kids are learning instruments, or that they're instead turning to 'making beatz' or similar, that would not be friendly news.

 

Consider the other current thread on this board about trying to survive as a musician in a streaming world.

 

If it is true that the career prospect of full-time musician is at its lowest, and fewer young people are picking up instruments, then the prospects for new music and skilled musicianship the next two decades is dark.

[Sam Mullins]

The comment that:

 

You dont see a bunch of kids emulating John Mayer and listening to him and wanting to pick up a guitar because of him.

 

was the best news I've heard in a week.

 

 

Why? To me, it's the worst.

 

Because I made the mistake many years ago of going to an arena show of Mr. Mayer's...where I was treated to two hours of the most cliche-ridden guitar wanking I've ever heard.

[Sam Mullins]

Consider the other current thread on this board about trying to survive as a musician in a streaming world.

 

If it is true that the career prospect of full-time musician is at its lowest, and fewer young people are picking up instruments, then the prospects for new music and skilled musicianship the next two decades is dark.

 

I think it is the same concern that people have in other areas: a large percentage of young people's bandwidth is consumed by their phone and social networking. I am not a Luddite, but I am concerned about the addictive nature of these devices and also the fact that the excessive time spent on them means young people are not involved in endeavors that require dedication and discipline (whether it's piano, guitar, Ableton, golf, painting, or poetry)

 

On the other hand, I see an incredible number of young, talented musicians.

[timwat]

 

On the other hand, I see an incredible number of young, talented musicians.

 

Yes, I regularly play within a large community of very talented, dedicated, serious young players. And I was tempted to look at this article and this thread through the lens of my personal experience.

 

I think people's innate drive to make art will always find an outlet. But changes in culture, markets and reward / focus are going to have significant impact on us...and the trend this article cites is one of them.

[Joe Muscara]

If most of the thumbs-up to this article comes from personal anecdotes with guitar players, take a second and stand back.

 

Generally a rising tide lifts all boats. Put another way, the drop in guitar sales doesn't mean all the kids are buying keyboards.

 

If the drop in guitar sales is a leading edge indicator that fewer kids are learning instruments, or that they're instead turning to 'making beatz' or similar, that would not be friendly news.

 

Consider the other current thread on this board about trying to survive as a musician in a streaming world.

 

If it is true that the career prospect of full-time musician is at its lowest, and fewer young people are picking up instruments, then the prospects for new music and skilled musicianship the next two decades is dark.

Stop raining on our parade, Tim. We're trying to enjoy the death of the electric guitar around here.

 

[drawback]

The comment that:

 

You dont see a bunch of kids emulating John Mayer and listening to him and wanting to pick up a guitar because of him.

 

was the best news I've heard in a week.

 

 

Why? To me, it's the worst.

 

Because I made the mistake many years ago of going to an arena show of Mr. Mayer's...where I was treated to two hours of the most cliche-ridden guitar wanking I've ever heard.

 

You mean, the writer wasn't using John Mayer as a metaphor?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Real MC]

I dont wish for the electric guitar to go away, but I can say its been in an identity crisis since the late 1990s.

 

Most new bands since then, the lead players arent as accomplished as players from the 60s/70s. But their songs have mass appeal, theyre focused on the laymen.

 

There are accomplished players like Joe Bonamassa and Eric Johnson but they are not songwriters. Their songs dont have mass appeal, theyre too focused on appealing to musicians or maintaining their guitar hero status. A lot of guitar heros from the 80s - George Lynch, Michael Schenker - started their own solo careers; I've heard some of their songs and they were bloody awful, nothing more than vehicles for their penultimate guitar solos.

 

We havent had anybody like Stevie Ray Vaughan. Not only was he an accomplished player, he was a great songwriter. Havent seen that combination since he was taken from us.

 

The ones who are still with us Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, et al theyre getting too old to tour or even make new albums anymore.

 

The industry has too much focus on the instrument/guitar hero and not enough focus on the song.

[Sam Mullins]

You mean, the writer wasn't using John Mayer as a metaphor?

 

 

Oh, I know. And of course, I'm being a bit of a smart-ass. If people like John Mayer (or any music), that's fine with me. Not my thing.

 

Obviously, there is no "death" of the electric guitar. But it may have peaked. In the same way tennis popularity peaked after Borg-McEnroe and golf popularity peaked after Tiger. And I don't think recycling of the same blues riffs over and over is going to bring it back to that level of popularity.

 

What would have been truly good news is if the spokesperson said:

 

"Due to the increased popularity of innovative guitar players like Nels Cline and Julian Lage, we are swamped in orders for guitars and there simply aren't enough guitar instructors to keep up."

 

...but alas.....

[Doerfler]

And obviously, there is no "death" of the electric guitar.

 

obviously

[The Real MC]

I saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd open for Lynyrd Skynyrd last summer. Kenny has "Blue On Black" as his one-hit-wonder, all the other songs I heard at his show that he wrote were awful.

[Outkaster]

Consider the other current thread on this board about trying to survive as a musician in a streaming world.

 

If it is true that the career prospect of full-time musician is at its lowest, and fewer young people are picking up instruments, then the prospects for new music and skilled musicianship the next two decades is dark.

 

I think it is the same concern that people have in other areas: a large percentage of young people's bandwidth is consumed by their phone and social networking. I am not a Luddite, but I am concerned about the addictive nature of these devices and also the fact that the excessive time spent on them means young people are not involved in endeavors that require dedication and discipline (whether it's piano, guitar, Ableton, golf, painting, or poetry)

 

On the other hand, I see an incredible number of young, talented musicians.

 

I don't see tons of young musicians out there but I know about the addiction of phones. My daughter was with 4 friends at a graduation party and spent the whole night in a basement on their phones. The parents say that their kids are boring and don't know how to have fun. Each one of them at one time took an instrument at school. Bottom line music is a disposable commodity and not really respected. Think of it you don't see piano's in every home anymore like you did in the 1950's up until probably the last decade. As for guitar players I don't really care as they are the ones that screw up bands half the time.

[GovernorSilver]

Surprised nobody noticed the part about the guitar teacher and his growing roster of students - most of the new ones being girls who want to play acoustic guitar because of Taylor Swift.

[timwat]

Surprised nobody noticed the part about the guitar teacher and his growing roster of students - most of the new ones being girls who want to play acoustic guitar because of Taylor Swift.

 

I saw that, and found it encouraging, but not sure that will lead to electric guitar sales.

 

Joe posted this article a few days previous on FB. My response then was I was waiting for the next great thing in electric guitar playing. Eric Johnson is 62, Allan Holdsworth has passed, and where's the next great incredible guitar player?

[Sam Mullins]

Joe posted this article a few days previous on FB. My response then was I was waiting for the next great thing in electric guitar playing. Eric Johnson is 62, Allan Holdsworth has passed, and where's the next great incredible guitar player?

 

Assuming you are looking for someone less than 30 years old, my vote would be Julian Lage.

[TommyS]

If only there was a decline in the size of the egos,,,,,

[J. Dan]

There are a lot of guitars out there. I wonder how much of it is just people using sites like CL and EBay to find used guitars at a better price, then take their lessons off YouTube videos.

[timwat]

Dan,

 

The article cites a reduction in sales units from 1.5 Million to 1 Million annually.

 

That's an alarming drop in units moved, only some which I would think could be attributed to a preferential shift to used instruments.

 

I don't think any industry survives a 33% reduction in annual sales intact. Either demand swings back up or this movie doesn't end well.

 

That being said, now I'm very interested in seeing the parallel sales trend over the past decade for keyboard instruments.

[Synthaholic]

I wonder how much the current climate of instant gratification has had on declining instrument sales. If people can't master it quickly, like they do with their XBox equivalent, they just give up.

[David Loving]

...

 

Consider the other current thread on this board about trying to survive as a musician in a streaming world.

 

If it is true that the career prospect of full-time musician is at its lowest, and fewer young people are picking up instruments, then the prospects for new music and skilled musicianship the next two decades is dark.

 

Mose Allison once advised students wanting to be musicians to marry a woman with a job.

[ElmerJFudd]

I'm not convinced entirely by the connecting lines being drawn in the article. Saturation in the market place and people's ability to afford expensive instruments doesn't necessarily equate to "the death of the guitar". It means from a business standpoint companies need to reassess their endless expansion plans. The business is no longer growing so guitar manufacturers as an investment in your portfolio isn't a good idea. And as far as Guitar Center - heck we have seen brick and mortar shops on the decline in every segment.

 

The guitar is an integral part of the sound of so many musical styles current and classic and those yet to come. But like fashion, it will mix in and cycle along with everything else now. No longer the one central sound palette in popular music. But guitarists have for years been trying to alter their timbre to something new and interesting. Thus spawning an ancillary industry of fx boxes, pedals, amps, etc. Those companies have also been dealing with the shift to digital, then modeled, then software instead of hardware trends. Non professional and semi and pros alike are finding their phone and an app gets great tone - or good enough for the minimal investment.

 

The ableton crowd, beat makers, bedroom producers, they're just another trend in an ever evolving music scene. Guitarist will be fine. The music they create with it, that's a matter of opinion.

[Outkaster]

I wonder how much the current climate of instant gratification has had on declining instrument sales. If people can't master it quickly, like they do with their XBox equivalent, they just give up.

 

That's probably it. Think of all of us that have sweated it out in the trenches and are still learning what I believe is a very hard instrument to play.

[The Real MC]

I wonder how much the current climate of instant gratification has had on declining instrument sales. If people can't master it quickly, like they do with their XBox equivalent, they just give up.

 

That's probably it. Think of all of us that have sweated it out in the trenches and are still learning what I believe is a very hard instrument to play.

 

Guitar students no longer put the hard work into learning an instrument. Too many guitar players are looking for shortcuts. Before Van Halen became a recording act, Alex used to warn Eddie to turn his back to the audience lest guitar players steal his technique. Eddie didn't believe it at first until he saw all the players copping his tapping technique a few years later.

[GovernorSilver]

Surprised nobody noticed the part about the guitar teacher and his growing roster of students - most of the new ones being girls who want to play acoustic guitar because of Taylor Swift.

 

I saw that, and found it encouraging, but not sure that will lead to electric guitar sales.

 

That won't because Taylor Swift is apparently known for her acoustic guitar playing rather than her electric playing. I don't really know because I'm not familiar with her music.

 

Strandberg Guitars has some female artist endorsees, but they all play some variation of heavy metal (prog-metal, technical metal, etc.). Metal is a genre that continues to have a decently size audience among today's youth, but it's still kind of on the fringe compared to the big corporate stars like Swift, Gaga, etc. I must admit though I would be quite entertained if I saw music stores packed with girls wanting to play metal guitar.

 

Relatively young electric guitarists who seem to be up and coming:

 

Julian Lage

Tosin Abasi

Sarah Longfield

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

Do you guys think the FL Studio/Ableton/Bedroom EDM producers are stealing would be guitar or keyboard players because it's less work for greater results than learning to play and instrument?

 

That's a tough call, I'm not sure. Synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, and software have been around a long time. In many ways they've allowed people to understand and discover musical concepts without having to master real time performance/control of an instrument. But it hasn't kept musicians from gravitating toward instruments. In fact, a lot of instrumentalists have also picked up computer music to enhance, compliment, assist, produce (however you want to express it) their music.