OT: "The death of the electric guitar"

[MathOfInsects]

It's a mildly dated stat by now, so I can't speak for today, but I can tell you that a few years ago Guitar Center commissioned a study to find out the effect of Rock Band/Guitar Hero on the rate of "real life" lessons. They found that the stores with the highest rates of sales of those games, also had a corresponding uptick in interest in lessons. (In other words, playing the fake and easy way, paradoxically prompted people to want to try it the real and hard way.)

 

FWIW.

[GovernorSilver]

Obligatory (at this point) kid playing Rocksmith video:

 

[video:youtube]

[ElmerJFudd]

Follow up article,

 

http://theconversation.com/redefining-the-rock-god-the-new-breed-of-electric-guitar-heroes-80192

 

"Redefining the rock god the new breed of electric guitar heroes

 

Ken MurrayJuly 2, 2017 4.12pm EDT

The electric guitar symbolises rebellion, freedom, excess and youth. But with the classic rock period well behind us, is it in danger of becoming a faded relic? The Washington Post recently reported on declining sales in the American electric guitar industry, with some manufacturers expressing concerns about its future. One reason for this was said to be a lack of current guitar heroes.

 

Is this true? Id argue we still have plenty, with artists such as Jack White and St Vincent leading the pack. At the same time, the electric guitar is evolving as an instrument. Increasingly, it features in contemporary art music ensembles. But what makes a guitar hero? Lets consider some of the maestros first..."

[MathOfInsects]

St. Vincent is mine and Ken Murray had better keep his filthy blog-writing hands off her.

[The Real MC]

The electric guitar symbolises rebellion, freedom, excess and youth. But with the classic rock period well behind us, is it in danger of becoming a faded relic? The Washington Post recently reported on declining sales in the American electric guitar industry, with some manufacturers expressing concerns about its future. One reason for this was said to be a lack of current guitar heroes.

 

Too many guitar heroes appeal to guitarists. They need to appeal to the non-musicians. The latter are the mass appeal that put money in your pocket.

 

Van Halen would never have gotten big without DLR or Sammy Hagar. Eddie is a formidable talent but he isn't mass appeal by himself. There were a few albums where Eddie wanted to play songs that appealed to guitar players (IE Fair Warning). Every guitar player I know names those as their favorites, but they were the worst selling albums in their catalog.

 

Too many guitar heroes start their own solo project with songs being nothing more than vehicles to show off their guitar solos. I've kept an open mind and checked out solo projects by Yngwie Malmsteem, George Lynch, David Gilmour... there's no dispute these are gifted guitarists but they are not songwriters. Their approach to songwriting is to stumble onto a cool guitar riff that serves as a vehicle for an awesome guitar solo, the melody and lyrics become low priority, and the guitars dominate the mix. Sure fire recipe for poor songs.

 

I left the last band because the guitar player kept wanting to play guitar hero songs that the audience doesn't know. No amount of explanation or frustration from audience feedback would get it through his head.