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Lack of youth playing instruments?

#21
I dont think there's any difference now between number of young players versus older. I'm 40, so I'm kind of in-between both camps. Within the younger players, there seem to be the metal-heads, which seem to stick close to the newer metal (post-Lamb of God), and the blues players... I do note the effect of internet YouTube making early obscure blues artists more available to these kids, waaaay more available than it was to us.
 
#23
I'm 16, too. I've been called a "prodigy" by bassists that have been playing for 30+ yrs. But I started a thread about "Young Bassists", it took a turn for the weird haha but it was mainly about the stigma of being a young (like teen young) musician. How people perceive you right off the bat and how sometimes you're underestimated purely based on the fact that you're young.

And it can be discouraging to be the youngest one, even if you have the chops. After while I just tell myself, do your best then you can go home and eat in like 2 hours. Sorry, I'm an introvert :P And I'm young; don't judge me :D
 
#24
playing music in a band in an organized fashion through a school program or disorganized fashion in garage or basement provides an experience that tech-based instant gratification can't. and actually there's no reason kids don't do both

and all the tech available allows anybody with a computer and some affordable,sometimes included,software to post their music online and burn CDs.
Only a certain small percentage ever get rich or famous, but a lot of kids find out something about who they are dipping their toes into an ongoing musical history.
 
#26
BassBrass said:
There are nutritional "dead zones" in parts of the country, places where you can not get non processed food, fresh vegetables etc., and there are musical dead zones too. School music programs are gutted because they are frivolous, actually all art and literature is seen as unproductive in making good citizens. Where I live, in MA, cities and towns have always considered the arts to be an essential choice, celebrated as much as sports. There are perhaps less musicians then previous decades, maybe because of other creative options, but kids are playing because they love it and are achieving a higher standard than in my day. There is strong intact institutional support from the music educators also. This stuff won't be gutted here ever...barring total environmental/elec. grid collapse that is. Our encampments are armed with brass instruments if that happens.
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Or you can live on the East Coast in a corporate suck, where all the food is processed, so are the jobs/people/"lives"and creativity is replaced with a "good paycheck". I like earning a living, but when you're surrounded by nothing but that, you find fewer people who make life interesting. I miss my island...
 
#27
Pudge Fish said:
Or you can live on the East Coast in a corporate suck, where all the food is processed, so are the jobs/people/"lives"and creativity is replaced with a "good paycheck". I like earning a living, but when you're surrounded by nothing but that, you find fewer people who make life interesting. I miss my island...
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Yeah that sounds like a drag, man, one I've never actually seen in real life... Actually I have a very easy time finding and eating unprocessed fresh food, from local sources often too... you should see the percentage of artists and musicians in and around Boston who are not living corporate suck, most companies are under 40 people... when they get older they move out to Cape Ann or Easthampton and their kids play in the Honk Festival... the dead zone places I referred to are not in New England actually OR New York for that matter...
 
#29
BassBrass said:
There are nutritional "dead zones" in parts of the country, places where you can not get non processed food, fresh vegetables etc., and there are musical dead zones too. School music programs are gutted because they are frivolous, actually all art and literature is seen as unproductive in making good citizens. Where I live, in MA, cities and towns have always considered the arts to be an essential choice, celebrated as much as sports. There are perhaps less musicians then previous decades, maybe because of other creative options, but kids are playing because they love it and are achieving a higher standard than in my day. There is strong intact institutional support from the music educators also. This stuff won't be gutted here ever...barring total environmental/elec. grid collapse that is. Our encampments are armed with brass instruments if that happens.
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I grew up in western MA.
 
#30
matty1039 said:
I blame the Guitar Hero/Rock Band games from a few years ago. Kids just played those instead of picking up real instruments.
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I think those games did as much to encourage musical exploration though. Players were exposed to new genres as well has having to listen to "their" part of a song. I came thru on the "old side" of gamers so I had fun getting drunk and playing plastic instruments, but I think I know a few people who picked up real instruments as a result. At least they were steeped in "real" music. For the downfall, I blame Skrillex :roflmao:

Real rockstars play 'laptop'.
 
#32
Shovel said:
My dad actually got me my first bass because I was always playing it in guitar hero, now I'm in quite a few bands in high school and play a lot. I don't think thats the norm though.
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You are probably an exception. I think that a lot of people who would have taken it up causally got an experience from the games then never moved forward from that.

I gave those games a try. After some song I thought to myself I need to practice the game to get better. Then I turned around and looked at my real instruments and realized I actually should be practicing with those.
 
#33
My kids have been gigging since they were something like 9 & 7 respectively. When we moved to the small town we currently live in 5 years ago there were only a few kids at the school playing guitar with most of them learning with the local classical teacher. Now there are something like 40 kids playing guitar and my now 15 year old has 6 students of her own. She could have plenty more but doesn't have the time to take more on. A lot of this has been due to kids seeing my kids play and wanting to do it as well (or so their parents tell us).



 

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