Guitar in the 2020s

[p90jr]

Thinking about the current state of our favorite instrument. Its death is pronounced with regularity every two years or so...

 

It is rare that it is present on modern top 40 pop recordings, which is mostly sequenced dance music created on laptops... but it does have a place, visually, in a lot of the lip-sync'ed performances of those songs, which to me looks ridiculous since there's usually no audio that matches, but people standing behind laptops or synths aren't very exciting (what happened to the keytars?).

 

I don't keep up with the metal and prog-metal worlds that much because I just don't enjoy it, but it seems to be a thriving scene.

 

The guitar still rules the Americana/'NPR country music' world...

 

I've noticed that for a generation that would've been the equivalent of hard rock shredder kids in the 80s the new thing is country chicken-picking... tons of young guys on youtube doing the Brent Mason/Albert Lee stuff... it's become like an Olympic sport and I get tired of it easily, though I love Mason and Albert Lee.

 

For a lot of the stuff I listen to, I guess indie rock, I've noticed it's all about fuzzy solos that are almost synth-like... instead of the guitarist having an identifiable tone, it's like each song is approached with 'programming' a sound to use, like a synth player... check out The War on Drugs as an example.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

 

I dig that... I was always a fan of Warren Cuccurullo in Missing Persons and his stint in Duran Duran... and that Alan Holdsworth guitar synth record for the 80s... and Andy Summers' stuff in that vein... hardly a new thing, but...

 

I think acoustic guitar is edging its way back into pop and soul music...

[p90jr]

[video:youtube]

[hurricane hugo]

[font:Verdana]I never heard of these guys until yesterday; they were described to me as "indie prog". I don't really hear it on this, but they have a couple of songs from the same album that break 15 minutes, and I can definitely hear it on those.[/font]

 

[video:youtube]

[p90jr]

[font:Verdana]I never heard of these guys until yesterday; they were described to me as "indie prog". I don't really hear it on this, but they have a couple of songs from the same album that break 15 minutes, and I can definitely hear it on those.[/font]

 

[video:youtube]

 

There's some "metal blastbeat" type drum fills going on in there... a prog band that understands the importance of a hit single?

 

I'd heard the name but never checked them out... will do.

[Larryz]

Get up and go to the show when a guitar playing icon comes to town and you will renew your faith in the guitar living on forever. I have watched some extremely talented players and have sat in awe down in front. I come away knowing why the guitar is such a wonderful instrument. Here is someone I have never heard before but I'm going to try and get tickets this month to keep hope alive!

 

[CEB]

Leo got it right the first time.

[KuruPrionz]

Leo got it right the first time.

 

Or, by the time Leo's friends had played out enough with prototypes to find out what was wrong with them and make changes, Leo's instruments were ready to present.

 

Don't get me wrong, I play a Tele, a Strat and a sort of knock-off P-bass ( a USA made Peavey Fury) and I love them all.

 

I think the P-Bass was the most important new musical instrument of the 1900's. It changed everything.

 

Back to the topic, I know many younger people who love playing the guitar. It isn't going away, ever. It has way too many things going for it.

 

Here's one of my favorite Jeff Beck tunes:

[Winston Psmith]

I think it was Adrian Belew who described the Guitar as a small, portable orchestra, or words to that effect? That's a LOT of potential, in a box you can generally sling over your shoulder.

 

IMHO, there are few Instruments that are suited to playing either Bach or Beatles, "Greensleeves" or Green Day, as you like. Almost anybody could learn to play at least a couple of simple tunes on it, and you could carry one just about anywhere. I can even understand why some politicians saw the Guitar as an Instrument of - dare I say it - Communism: a rousing Sing-along is much more engaging than some ranter with a bullhorn. OTOH, imagine if Woody Guthrie, or Phil Ochs had played the Accordion? How about the Tuba?

 

Much as I love Electronic Music, and Electronic Instruments, for many people, playing a purely Electronic Instrument feels much like pushing buttons, while a vibrating string seems like a living thing, by comparison. There is also an appeal to an Instrument that you hold in your hands, one that warms to your touch. Again, the comparison with a living entity is apt.

 

Individual Guitars also have traits, if not personalities. Pick up several of the same make and model Guitar, Electric or Acoustic, and you're likely to hear or feel subtle, even not-so-subtle differences among them. Line up a dozen brand-new Digital Synthesizers of the same model from any major manufacturer, and unless one or more are simply defective, I defy you to hear, much less feel, any substantial difference among them; they're essentially interchangeable.

 

By the time the Guitar is well and truly dead, if that ever happens, I suspect none of us in this Forum will be here to mourn its passing. Until then, it's time for me to take FZ's advice, to "Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar . . ."