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Yeah, they're playing pockets of kids into guitar music, but things have changed a ton from when I was a teenager in the early 90s.To all those ragging on the old guys, really?
Have you considered that maybe we saw and lived in a world that you never experienced, and can only read about or see videos of?
I don't care who the guitar heroes of today are, trust me when I tell you they don't come anywhere close to comparing to Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen... our parents and grandparents knew who those people were, what they did, even what they looked like. There is not a single electric guitarist I can think of that is influencing kids in the capacity today that those guys did back then.
I'll add that I've been working in a HS for over 20 years, and I'm very much connected to whats going on musically with the kids - not just today - but over the span of the decades. The guitar playing kids today are mostly into classic rock. And that's not quite as cool a thing to be into as it was before it was classic. There is currently one band I know if in the school I work at. In the 90s there were many. And they were gigging bands, too.
I could go on, but this old guy wants to take a nap. I'll remind all you younger folks too that if you're lucky - one day you'll get to be the same age as us older folks. We're all getting older, you included, together. That's not something only people over 40 do.
I'll end with this - Do you really also not believe that guitar sales are dropping, and electric guitar isn't as popular now as it was in the 80s? Or am I just misreading and misunderstanding your posts because of that nap I need.... ?
Jeeeeez, you kids!
58?
Bah... tadpole!!!!
I'm 61, and how the heck do I know about (for example) "Falling in Reverse?"
The kids I teach guitar bring me these songs they want to learn. They get them from Youtube, Satellite radio, or a dozen online sources.
As was posted on the "other" thread, we're never going to go back to having anything so widely, singularly influential as the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Or, unfortunately for the music industry, anything so easily marketable. Get used to it.
Bah... tadpole!!!!
I'm 61, and how the heck do I know about (for example) "Falling in Reverse?"
The kids I teach guitar bring me these songs they want to learn. They get them from Youtube, Satellite radio, or a dozen online sources.
As was posted on the "other" thread, we're never going to go back to having anything so widely, singularly influential as the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Or, unfortunately for the music industry, anything so easily marketable. Get used to it.
Means2nEnd
Supporting Member
Guitarists are just waking up to the fact the basses are better and way more cool and hopping the fence.
To all those ragging on the old guys, really?
Have you considered that maybe we saw and lived in a world that you never experienced, and can only read about or see videos of?
I don't care who the guitar heroes of today are, trust me when I tell you they don't come anywhere close to comparing to Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen... our parents and grandparents knew who those people were, what they did, even what they looked like. There is not a single electric guitarist I can think of that is influencing kids in the capacity today that those guys did back then.
I'll add that I've been working in a HS for over 20 years, and I'm very much connected to whats going on musically with the kids - not just today - but over the span of the decades. The guitar playing kids today are mostly into classic rock. And that's not quite as cool a thing to be into as it was before it was classic. There is currently one band I know if in the school I work at. In the 90s there were many. And they were gigging bands, too.
I could go on, but this old guy wants to take a nap
I'll end with this - Do you really also not believe that guitar sales are dropping, and electric guitar isn't as popular now as it was in the 80s? Or am I just misreading and misunderstanding your posts because of that nap I need.... ?
Jeeeeez, you kids!
one of the things that hasnt been mentioned in this thread is "Mystique".......back in the 70s, we (generalized) were mesmerized by the electric guitar. Rock music was in its adolescent stages (our parents hated it and it was a form of youth rebellion). We didnt have internet. We had five channels on TV....and when our favorite band was going to be on Don Kirshners Rock Concert or Midnight Special on TV, that was a big deal and we counted the days just to glimpse our heroes for 5 minutes on TV....that mystique is gone now. As far as electric guitar is concerned, theres no mystery or wonder anymore
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I disagree ...
But have you noticed not as many bands have keyboards as in the old days ...
Why does "guitar" have to equal "rock"?
Hint: it doesn't.
but, as stated before, there are many VSTi instruments replacing guitar on actual recordings, and this includes country....so, yes, there will probably always be a demand for guitar timbres....its just that you dont need a guitarist to actually play one anymore
Depends how you choose to evaluate things. I mean at one level, we have not yet disproven Darwin's main theory. Science tends to be reliable, even when people don't care for the result.
The internet has some as yet undetermined structural aspects that bear on the dynamics in play. I posted a comment to that effect here:
Dead?
We shall see where the current implementation goes.
The folks at PARC early on recognized the dark behind the PUSH architecture. In the PARC implementation, distribution lists were regulated and users chose what they wanted to be included on. You couldn't create distribution lists and then push your POV at them. It was a user controlled environment vs a seller controlled environment. Important distinction.
Anyhow, we have what we have. It and we will either survive or we won't. That's not alarmist. It's reality.
Why does "guitar" have to equal "rock"?
Hint: it doesn't.
It doesn't, I suppose. But other than that and country where do you see guitar sales being driven? You and I know the prowess of Nashville guys, including stars like Brad Paisley. But do you think Brad Paisley is driving guitar sales? Most country fans don't have posters of him on their walls dreaming of the day they can chicken pick like him.
So I would argue that rock music drives guitar sales more than country.....especially if we're talking electric. That might be hard to see from where you sit....the country music mecca town with some of the best guitar shops on earth. But out here in the rest of the world Telecasters aren't exactly flying off the shelves. Most small shops won't even have one. Ours don't.
I think the premise of this kind of an article is mass consumption/pop culture. I've never read an article like this about the French horn (for example)--it's pretty far out of mass consumption/pop culture mainstream (can you imagine 1 million French horn sales a year?!?), but that doesn't mean it isn't thriving in a certain niche. Perhaps guitars will go the same way. I don't think that's a musical problem, although it is a financial problem for mass manufacturers.
I think this is a retail/economy story, not a music/creativity story. It sounds a lot like the bookstore articles being written 10 years ago, as Amazon was knocking out Borders and people were worried nobody would buy physical books anymore.
I think this is a retail/economy story, not a music/creativity story. It sounds a lot like the bookstore articles being written 10 years ago, as Amazon was knocking out Borders and people were worried nobody would buy physical books anymore.
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More like, idiots overexpanded niche companies, now pay the price.
I wonder what was being said about the demise of the acoustic guitar when the electric was invented.....
FWIW, my perception is that Classical Music is endangered; at least here in the US. I play in a local orchestra; and for sure the audiences are getting MUCH older and greyer. And, there is no one any more, other than family relatives, under the age of 35 at the performances. Add to that the removal of music from much of the country's educational curriculum, and the result is Classical Music is becoming so niche that shortly no one will be there to listen. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Rhetorical, but the point is clear.
ive always maintained in this thread that I see guitar moving away from mainstream to niche: its not dying, nor do I think it will it ever die in my lifetime
You know, that's not a joke! Ever see the input jacks on an old Ampeg amplifier? Look it up if you haven't.
Awful article. GC and Fender are not in trouble because people aren't buying guitars. My son is 19 and I can count six of his friends who play guitar. GC and Fender are in trouble because venture capital got involved and their primary focus became happy investors instead of happy customers along with the crippling debt.
PRS is having to rely on its offshore guitars? Well yeah. All their guitars have looked more or less alike (except for the hollow body) for about 25 years now. They no longer have boutique cachet. High end buyers have moved on and PRS made their bed when they chose to put their guitars in metal players hands so their 19 year old fans clamor for one they can afford.
Horrible article notwithstanding, things do change. In the early 20th century there were 100 American piano makers. Now there are 3. Steinway, Mason and Hamlin and Charles Walter. OTOH People still buy and play recorders. Everything finds its level and a look at Warped Tour tells you that there are plenty of people still playing guitar and listening to guitar oriented music.
PRS is having to rely on its offshore guitars? Well yeah. All their guitars have looked more or less alike (except for the hollow body) for about 25 years now. They no longer have boutique cachet. High end buyers have moved on and PRS made their bed when they chose to put their guitars in metal players hands so their 19 year old fans clamor for one they can afford.
Horrible article notwithstanding, things do change. In the early 20th century there were 100 American piano makers. Now there are 3. Steinway, Mason and Hamlin and Charles Walter. OTOH People still buy and play recorders. Everything finds its level and a look at Warped Tour tells you that there are plenty of people still playing guitar and listening to guitar oriented music.
songwriter21
I have an obsession for wood. The musical kind.
Did someone also say that GC is in trouble? I worked at that sham of a "guitar shop" for a few years, and my distasteful experiences are pretty much like the majority of people who've gone through their revolving doors. Guitar Center is the McDonald's of instrument shops.
I quote Jerry Seinfeld, "...that's a shame."
I quote Jerry Seinfeld, "...that's a shame."
Only for the last decade...
