Guitar Dying Among the Young

[ch willie]

I saw a thread on the Les Paul forum with an article that said guitar music is dying, that there are fewer clubs and such.

For the most part, posters agreed and said that live clubs are dwindling, guitar sales are slumping, and that most of the players in clubs are older folks.

I live in a small town where there are actually about 4 venues for guitar groups, and they stay fairly busy. Granted they are small clubs. I see that bands are playing all the time in nearby Jackson, Tn. So I really have no real means of reference to know how true it is that the guitar is a dying animal.

What do you think?

[OldStrummer]

Do you have a source for the article? Personally, I've just about given up on believing anything I read, whether it's in a mainstream publication or an off-the-wall blog. But I'm more inclined to believe the blog.

It seems these days that authors are looking to the venues they know will give them the stories they want. The news media are full of channels that tote out talking heads to support one agenda or another; the victim is usually the truth.

Here's a personal example: A woman working for my employer has a son, who through his own hard work, saved enough money to purchase a Gretsch 5622T. He's twelve, and this woman sent me a video taken at his guitar class, where a room full of students were working their way through "Stairway to Heaven."

I'm not worried. There are garage bands, Schools of Rock and other venues where the next fretboard maestros are honing their chops. Some "reporters" just don't know where to look. Or don't want to look.

[ch willie]

I didn't read the article. I'm just going on the summary they gave on the Les Paul Forum. I will say that most of the ones posting agreed with it. My gut instinct is that guitar playing is alive and well, but again, I'm in a small town and don't have a point of reference to know what it's like around the rest of the country. Most of the musos I know here are in their 20s, and a lot of them are guitar players. And there are quite a few of them. One of the points the people on that thread made is that in the big shops, it's people in their 30s on up who are buying guitars, that the only young people in those shops work there. I haven't been to one of those shops in years, so I just don't know.

[Offshore Angler]

It's fine. What I think I see is the end to a "boom" where lots of baby boomers went out and bought guitars. We had a lot of guys buying guitars and gear. A lot of them formed or tried to for bands but since there wasn't an associated boom in drummers or bass players it lead to a dearth of blues bands playing too loud which along with the DJ and karaoke craze made it really difficult for ANY band to get decent jobs.

Nowadays - not so much. I, along with guys in other bands I know are working as much as we want to for decent bank. We've been turning down work for fear of being "overplayed". Club owners - at least in our area - have done a one-eighty and are seeking out the experienced bands and are paying them. For while it was almost pay-to-play because there were so many bands. Most of them weren't so good, and didn't keep the ring at the bar. It hurt everyone.

Most guitars today are bought by hobbiest/collector type people. They want to own it as much as play it. Nothing wrong with that. Look at Fender. They sell all kinds of high-end versions of a guitar that really isn't "high end". Truth be told, if you're a competent musician there's A LOT of affordable guitars available today made by Yamaha, Ibanez, etc. that are perfectly capable of Grammy-winning performances. They may not say "Made in the USA" but they sure play and sound great.

That was part of the "boom" - the mystique. Which I always found remarkable. Tell a guy that your car is a Ford or a Chevrolet and you get told that if you don't have a Honda, Toyota, Beemer, or other import you had a piece of crap built by americans. Tell the same guy your guitar was built in the USA and all of a sudden it was imbued with copious amounts of mojo distinct to superior american manufacturing.

So what I perceive is that the casual players and collectors are dwindling but because of the availability of great, affordable instruments I meet more and more up-and-coming younger players. These guys and girls will keep the gears turning into the future.

There's something deep, deep down in the male psychic that makes up want to suit up like a knight or a gladiator and stand in front of the crowd and do something they can't do. Until that changes, we'll always have guitar players playing live.

Chuck

[ch willie]

OA Chuck,

I agree.

I remember that in the 60s, even drugstores might sell guitars. I also bought a lot of my records at a local pharmacy. The British Invasion fueled a lot of affordable but crappy guitars and players. Saw that in the 70s too.

Now you can get a good, playable guitar for just a few hundred bucks. Hell, one of the best Strats I ever had was a no-name thing that cost just a little over $100 used.

I just don't have a point of reference in happening spots, except for Nashville and Memphis, which have been central to country and r&b. Recently, a buddy of mine went busking in Nashville and earned $60 in no time.

The few clubs operating in my town can pick and choose good bands and never seem to want for good bands. But again, we're in a small town where guitarists are a dime a dozen.

[S. Cane]

Do you have a source for the article? Personally, I've just about given up on believing anything I read, whether it's in a mainstream publication or an off-the-wall blog. But I'm more inclined to believe the blog.

It seems these days that authors are looking to the venues they know will give them the stories they want. The news media are full of channels that tote out talking heads to support one agenda or another; the victim is usually the truth.

Here's a personal example: A woman working for my employer has a son, who through his own hard work, saved enough money to purchase a Gretsch 5622T. He's twelve, and this woman sent me a video taken at his guitar class, where a room full of students were working their way through "Stairway to Heaven."

I'm not worried. There are garage bands, Schools of Rock and other venues where the next fretboard maestros are honing their chops. Some "reporters" just don't know where to look. Or don't want to look.

It's fine. What I think I see is the end to a "boom" where lots of baby boomers went out and bought guitars. We had a lot of guys buying guitars and gear. A lot of them formed or tried to for bands but since there wasn't an associated boom in drummers or bass players it lead to a dearth of blues bands playing too loud which along with the DJ and karaoke craze made it really difficult for ANY band to get decent jobs.

Nowadays - not so much. I, along with guys in other bands I know are working as much as we want to for decent bank. We've been turning down work for fear of being "overplayed". Club owners - at least in our area - have done a one-eighty and are seeking out the experienced bands and are paying them. For while it was almost pay-to-play because there were so many bands. Most of them weren't so good, and didn't keep the ring at the bar. It hurt everyone.

Most guitars today are bought by hobbiest/collector type people. They want to own it as much as play it. Nothing wrong with that. Look at Fender. They sell all kinds of high-end versions of a guitar that really isn't "high end". Truth be told, if you're a competent musician there's A LOT of affordable guitars available today made by Yamaha, Ibanez, etc. that are perfectly capable of Grammy-winning performances. They may not say "Made in the USA" but they sure play and sound great.

That was part of the "boom" - the mystique. Which I always found remarkable. Tell a guy that your car is a Ford or a Chevrolet and you get told that if you don't have a Honda, Toyota, Beemer, or other import you had a piece of crap built by americans. Tell the same guy your guitar was built in the USA and all of a sudden it was imbued with copious amounts of mojo distinct to superior american manufacturing.

So what I perceive is that the casual players and collectors are dwindling but because of the availability of great, affordable instruments I meet more and more up-and-coming younger players. These guys and girls will keep the gears turning into the future.

There's something deep, deep down in the male psychic that makes up want to suit up like a knight or a gladiator and stand in front of the crowd and do something they can't do. Until that changes, we'll always have guitar players playing live.

Chuck

Yeap!

exactly my thoughts.

Besides, if classical music is still around, guitar music has nothing to fear anytime soon.

[ch willie]

I don't know how true it is, but someone on that thread said that classical musicians are used less and less because of all the use of samples.

[DanTheBluesMan]

the industry is far from dead, it IS going through a correction to fix an over expansion the industry experienced through relentless consumerism by my generation and gratuitous unlimited credit. As more and more people start facing the reality of elder care and looking down the road at their own looming fixed income days, the incentive to purchase high dollar relics and reissues will and is waning. Unfortunately thanks to the short-sightedness of the money mongers, if it isn't constantly growing, it's 'dead'.

As far as the young goes, they aren't getting presented with as many artists being developed for their skill in playing and songwriting, again because of the short sighted focus on money and profitability now versus long term success.

If anything, the vast availability of lower cost eminently playable instruments is just waiting to kindle the next wave of artists who will rise to stardom outside the money machine and proliferate before the behemoth awakens and engulf and devour them. Then the next wave of consumerism may or may not happen but the guitar will live on.

The industry is just moaning the fact that the young can't buy millions of 3-6 thousand dollar guitars to keep them rich as shit.

[ch willie]

Here's a link to the article by Geoff Edgers of the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.3f315f57d3b2
Just listened to him on NPR All Things Considered (Sunday), and he says the main reason is that there are no big guitar heroes at this time. I wonder what it's like in the UK, where there seems to be a vibrant scene of guitar-based bands--a listen to BBC 6, and you'll see what I mean.

[OldStrummer]

Bah. Having lived in the shadow of the Washington ComPost for most of my life, my own personal experience with the quality and accuracy of their reporting leads me to believe their reporters couldn't find their ass with a map and a flashlight.

It's now the Bezos Post. I guess he wants a venue to air his personal opinions.

[renderit]

I don't see it. I think they are still out there amongst the youngsters. Fewer percentage wise maybe, but there are more of 'dem younguns.

[concert410]

One thing I have noticed is that I see a lot of young female guitar players. They tend to have that first starter guitar and then choose a better guitar and stick with it. The boys will buy 5 pieces of used junk, cover them with stickers, and then buy (used) 5 more slightly better guitars, and then carve them up or do something stupid to them. They will quit playing, start playing, quit and start......
Because there are so many used guitars out there, and new guitars cost a fortune, I totally get that sales of new guitars are down.

[redisburning]

when all you old folks pass please leave me your old echo machines and Marshalls I will put them to good use with my boomblaster.

Bah. Having lived in the shadow of the Washington ComPost for most of my life, my own personal experience with the quality and accuracy of their reporting leads me to believe their reporters couldn't find their ass with a map and a flashlight.

It's now the Bezos Post. I guess he wants a venue to air his personal opinions.

WaPo is highly reputable. If there is any agenda it is to smear a hundred the hundred year old institution made up by the NYT, WaPo, etc. and substitute in more self-congratulatory fare. Let us not forget if not for WaPo we may never have known what Nixon did at The Watergate.

the impetus behind this article was the Fender CEO talking about his company's demographics. it's hardly wapo making it up to sell newspapers (because lmao no one buys them anymore).

[OldStrummer]

WaPo is highly reputable. If there is any agenda it is to smear a hundred the hundred year old institution made up by the NYT, WaPo, etc. and substitute in more self-congratulatory fare. Let us not forget if not for WaPo we may never have known what Nixon did at The Watergate.

the impetus behind this article was the Fender CEO talking about his company's demographics. it's hardly wapo making it up to sell newspapers (because lmao no one buys them anymore).

"Highly reputable?" Hahahahahahahahaha! Are you living in the past (hat tip: Jethro Tull)? Fifty years was a long time ago. It's been said that John F. Kennedy would not be allowed into the Democrat Party.

Have you ever seen the media go after a Democrat? Richard Daley in Chicago, for example. Or, why is the media in such a furor over unsubstantiated "Russian interference" but blind to factual sale of 20% of the USA's uranium mining operations to a Russian concern in a bit of quid-pro-quo contributions to the Clinton campaign?

I'm going to drop this now, because this isn't a political board and I don't want to a) turn this thread into a flame war, and b) run afoul of the mods and admins. Just suffice it to say that as one who has lived and breathed in the same air as the WashPo, I'd be stupid to not put on a gas mask.

[redisburning]

"Highly reputable?" Hahahahahahahahaha! Are you living in the past (hat tip: Jethro Tull)? Fifty years was a long time ago. It's been said that John F. Kennedy would not be allowed into the Democrat Party.

Have you ever seen the media go after a Democrat? Richard Daley in Chicago, for example. Or, why is the media in such a furor over unsubstantiated "Russian interference" but blind to factual sale of 20% of the USA's uranium mining operations to a Russian concern in a bit of quid-pro-quo contributions to the Clinton campaign?

I'm going to drop this now, because this isn't a political board and I don't want to a) turn this thread into a flame war, and b) run afoul of the mods and admins. Just suffice it to say that as one who has lived and breathed in the same air as the WashPo, I'd be stupid to not put on a gas mask.

just because someone posts it on facebook doesn't mean it's true.

Im really glad your generation is on the way out you have completely absconded from reality as a group and the clean up effort my lot is going to have to do is already overwhelming.

Im going to enjoy it so deeply when we vote to take away the SS and Medicare checks you lot think you "earned" by stealing from us and your parents so we can pay for free weed and cell phones.

ps unsubstantiated except by the CIA, NSA and FBI hahahahahaha but you dont like law enforcement when they're going after people that look like you I know how it goes.

[redisburning]

guys Old Strummer is so woke



GET ME OUT