Where will the Electric guitar be in 50 years from now ?

When you look back on the last 50 years and see so little desire for innovation, I don't see why anything much will change. Teles, Les Pauls, and Strats, inspired from the 1050s.

 

doubt I'll be around to give much of a hoot, I'm afraid.

 

At least one of mine will be cremated with me and then scattered on the Irish Sea

 

Hopefully with me playing it!

 

They'll nail guitar-to-MIDI, and your regular old 6 metal strings on a piece of wood will be as sonically powerful as a £2000 digital synthesizer is today and it will probably cost £500.

They will also be able to sound just as good as they did 50 years ago.

 

Care to explain?

 

The electric guitar, like the violin did its evolving a long time ago.

They won't change by and large, because they are made for music that hasn't/isn't changing.

You pick up a violin and play "old" music. You pick up a guitar and play "old" music. Sure, you might create something new on it ... but it'll be an "old" genre you are creating within.

The new musical instrument of the 21st century is the computer.

I agree with Bill's post above. I have a Roland GR55 and a GK3 pickup. The guitar it's attached to is almost inconsequential. It is simply the most fantastic piece of guitar kit I have ever used. Mind blowingly fantastic.

 

under the bed

in a closet

hanging on a wall

 

Hopefully hung around the necks of astounding, creative, entertaining
players.
I think/hope it will have a long run.
Violins, pianos, brass and woodwinds had their day(s).
The electric guitar is still a baby, but it has proven to be a very malleable
instrument.
I doubt there will ever be the mania it created from the 1950s through the
1980s again, though.

 

A similar progression to what we're currently seeing: more frets, more strings, more pickups/electrical options, better quality and cheaper cost. The choice now is staggering, even compared to what it was 10 or 15 years ago. Options abound at every price point.

One thing I'm certain we'll see (and something I'm happy about) is the usage of materials currently uncommon to guitar building, or 'esoteric' materials as they're called nowadays. Richlite, paperstone, compressed wood fibers, recycled woods and/or viable domestic alternatives (of which there are many) coupled with a huge increase in the power and reduction of cost in 3d printing I think we'll see a lot more interesting things to come in the next half-century.

Personally I'd like to see a single block of recycled material 3d printed into a one-piece guitar. The only human involvement would be the fretting and the electronics. I don't think this is too far off, ODD guitars in NZ makes a printed body but they're ugly and prohibitively expensive, this is just the next step. The material is there, the technology is catching up: marry these two things and there you have it.

Gibson and Fender will still exist but I hope Gibson especially embrace more environmentally conscientious materials for production- the only domestic thing they use is maple, everything else is imported.

I also expect to see USB connections so people can plug-and-play straight into mixing desks or recording units, along with built-in effects with downloadable patches for future upgrades.

It's an exciting frontier.

 

Over produced and overpriced on E-Bay China.

 

Almost where it was 50 years ago:

“Why did they keep changing guitars and amplifiers when they were perfect? They did the same things with cars, if you ask me. They forgot how to make them right, because they focused on style and bells and whistles.” —Buddy Guy

 

Hammer will become the #1 selling guitar when guitarists mutate into Octohumans and grow 8 arms to avoid having to deal with other musicians.

 

Here it is:

 

50 years from now mine will be the same as me, dust..
I see guitars becoming all electronic with no strings..Probably like those silly toy things that are all the rave with the wannabees today..
I already have the Roland gear that gives me weird sounds that are totaly unrelated to guitar..

 

You can't improve on perfection! The tele and strat will be as popular as ever, and the precision bass will continue to be the standard for bass guitars.