The Death of the Electric Guitar ("news" article)

[GuitarDrummer]

If you can handle something heart-breaking, then this video is about how to make a hit song in one minute. Where I come from, this isn't a song. It's a start, or a framework. Within the context of the "music business," this "music" has not much to do with music or musicianship, and has everything to do with being energetic, and it requires the "artist" to be popular with large groups of people.

This is intertwined with our cultural deification of youth. It wasn't like this when I was young. I liked Black Sabbath, and gave not one thought to the fact that they were old, ugly, and weren't trying to get me to like them as people.

The popularity of the artist is more important than what they make. Kind of like being famous for nothing, which is a strange beast unto itself.

I did go to a venue where I used to see rock bands take the stage. These five kids go up, and not one of them has a guitar. No drum set, either. They all had laptops and were "DJs." Why they needed five, I have no idea.

There's an allure to the path of least resistance. One can sweat and spend years painfully learning how to play an instrument, OR they can get instant gratification and acceptable results by learning how to program something. I remember being in a cold music room at university, as a Percussion Arts major, and dragging a bow across the strings of a double bass. It was painful for quite some time.

Most of what I've written about revolves around what is popular. I suspect that the art of playing a guitar, drums, and other instruments, is still floating about in the under-current, obscured by what is popular with kids who have too much expendable cash. Maybe the art of playing an instrument will make a resurgence in the future.

I'm no expert, and only know what I've experienced. And now... Here's a talented kid, playing his PRS. It sounds hopeful.

 

[Lee B.]

I think nostalgia gets the better of folks from time to time. If you look back at the golden age of rock guitar, it was always in the underground. Heck, "Sweet Home Alabama" barely scratched the top twenty. Most of that 60s-70s stuff that us middle aged and old farts dig got 10x more airplay on classic rock stations 15+ years after the fact than it ever did in the moment. Guitar-based rock in its actual moment was FM only, often confined to late night programs, and its popularity was driven by word of mouth, buddies swapping and sharing albums and 8-tracks, and the bands' concert reputations. The contemporary stuff played on mainstream AM radio in the 60s and 70s was pretty much the same then as now, a blend of pop and dance music. The article author seems to be mashing round pegs into square holes to a degree, trying to make the facts fit his thesis.

 

[Lee B.]

I'm no expert, and only know what I've experienced. And now... Here's a talented kid, playing his PRS. It sounds hopeful.

Love that guy's vibrato! His style reminds me of Gary Moore and Steve Lukather.

 

[alantig]

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated - Mark Twain

So what? Mark Twain couldn't play for sh**!!! Now, if Frank Zappa could say that - well, I'd be a lot happier. (Or Michael Hedges, or Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Gary Moore...)

 

[Tucson Thump]

GuitarDrummer has it.

 

[flux]

Silly me, I should be using this as an opportunity to grab a couple more core models.

"Honey, I'm doing it for the industry... they need me."

Yeah, that'll work.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

And riffing on the correlation of sales vs actual players: maybe the lower sales of F&G simply represent more players using quality instruments from other brands that last longer and do not need to be replaced as often.

I think it went the other way. People bought cheaper guitars and as resale tanked people became less experimental, which I think has played into Fender and Gibson's favour. Within my local scene I see a lot of Fenders, Les Paul Studios and Ibanez. The one guy (other than me) I've seen playing PRS is using SE.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Most of what I've written about revolves around what is popular. I suspect that the art of playing a guitar, drums, and other instruments, is still floating about in the under-current, obscured by what is popular with kids who have too much expendable cash. Maybe the art of playing an instrument will make a resurgence in the future.

I think it'll be difficult to attract people so long as there's minimal financial incentive.

 

[bodia]

I think it'll be difficult to attract people so long as there's minimal financial incentive.

Man, I got into music because my elementary school brought in instruments for kids to try out. Violins, cellos, all the woodwinds, trumpets. The intent was to get kids interested enough that they would end up in Jr. High School band. Worked on me. Granted, it was 1978. I played sax for 4 years, and then quit when the band teacher made it more like work. It wasn't enjoyable any more. Traded the sax for my first guitar. It's too bad that stuff doesn't still go on.

 

[László]

I bought my grandson a 3/4 size, lefty guitar for his 7th birthday. He's really excited about it, is taking lessons, and wants to learn Metallica stuff.

There is hope for the future.

 

[GuitarDrummer]

When I was in school, I wanted to play drums. However, we had to buy our own instruments, so dad gave me his trumpet. That was my focus throughout most of grade school.

I think there are people out there who know the importance of getting instruments into kids' hands, even today. Like Mr. Van Halen donating 75 of his guitars to Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.

Here's a young guitarist's thought on the matter.

 

[GuitarDrummer]

I think it'll be difficult to attract people so long as there's minimal financial incentive.

This reminded me of this time when my g/f and I met up with this woman we met online who became friends with us. She had met this new guy and wanted to introduce us to him. She introduced him as a drummer, but he quickly corrected her.

"I gave it up a few years ago. No money to be made in it, and you end up losing more money than it's worth. It's a real money pit. Plus, a royal pain in the fear lugging gear around."

The older I get, the more I can understand it. Sure, it's expensive, and everything else he said is true. But for me, I get a true satisfaction out of playing music. When I sit down to play one of my guitars, it's like a re-awakening. The same is true of other instruments that I play. And yea, I have to spend extra money on a storage unit, because I have no room for drums in my current place, and no room for guitar cases, either. But I still do it, without any financial incentive at all. And playing drums requires lugging them to a sound studio, setting up, sweating, tearing down, and spending money. It's still worth it to me.

I think there are people who are driven financially when it comes to music. Even though I understand trying to sell a song, or being in a band that is "trying to make it," I don't think I'll understand pure financial incentive.

My band will have an album / musical coming out later this year. I'm sure it will do well in some ways. I'm also sure we won't see much in the way of money. But I'm already super-proud of the project. We'll see what happens.

 

[László]

I think it'll be difficult to attract people so long as there's minimal financial incentive.

The intersection between art and commerce was always tenuous. And yet the arts still attract people in spite of the odds.

I think some folks (myself included) simply can't live any other way.

 

[bodia]

I never hoped, or expected, to make money from playing music. I simply wanted to experience it. My first OMG moment was in 1982 seeing Mick Box (Uriah Heep) playing one handed pull offs. My little 15 year old mind exploding because I can't fathom one handed playing. After seeing Joe Walsh, and then Dokken and Blue Oyster Cult, I knew I needed to ditch the sax and get a guitar. Then I learned that the one handed pull offs that blew my mind weren't that tough. It didn't diminish my excitement, but made me want to dig in even more. Curiosity overrules all. The need for further enlightenement rules all.....or at least it should.

 

[Clashcityrocker]

The millennials are too busy playing with their smart phones.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

I think there are people who are driven financially when it comes to music. Even though I understand trying to sell a song, or being in a band that is "trying to make it," I don't think I'll understand pure financial incentive.

Honestly, I don't think many artists are driven by pure profit...

...but, the industry that profits off of musicians is focused on profit, and it determines which bands get the exposure and the advertising dollars.

It's hard for an impressionable youth to be impressed by someone they've never heard of and will never hear of.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

To put it another way, many of the "everyday names" I see on the internet most of my co-workers have never heard of. They're simply not exposed... there's no profit motivation for industry to do it, so they'd rather focus on their dwindling resources on known commodities (i.e., pop-stars).

When I was growing up (I'm currently 39) my Mum (who's currently 59) through exposure to mainstream media knew the names of all the major bands even though she didn't like them. She knew the lead singer from Blind Mellon had OD'd before I did even though she had no idea who he was and didn't know any of their music. Further, through media I was exposed to not only my Mum's music, but my Grandparents music. Guitar based music was everywhere, home, work, the mall, television, radio... you couldn't escape it.

Compare that to today where I play in a rock band with a bunch of dudes in their mid-20s and I don't recognize 90% of the stuff they talk about while they don't recognize 90% of the stuff I'm talking about. Despite being music fans that play in a rock band they've never been exposed to a lot of rock music, and conversely me being a ~40 year old metalhead I don't listen to the EDM-alternative-power-pop-indie-hipster music these guys listen to. I simply don't hear it anywhere. Not at home, work, in the mall, TV (I haven't watched TV since 2003) or radio (who listens to the radio?).

In the past my Mum was forced to listen to my music and I was forced to listen to hers. That doesn't seem to happen anymore. It's like we're in isolated social circles that don't come into contact with each other even though we physically stand in the same room and shoot the sh*t on regular basis.

 

[bluefade]

What's an ACCORDION?

 

[Screamingdaisy]

What's an ACCORDION?

It's a bellows driven aerophone.

 

[bluefade]

OH ! and all this time, I thought it was a leg-less miniature piano with a wind bag connected to it.