Who’s Buying Guitars? Kids Don’t Care About Rock

[swarfrat]

I guess we can all ask ourselves.....How many kids have you encouraged/taught to play guitar?...

guitar kids don't just appear out of the woodwork..

I'd say parents are far more encouraging of their kids to play guitar, especially electric guitar, than say... the parents of kids 1960-80.

You know... parents of the kids who created much of todays dinosaur rock whos demise we lament

 

[buster poser]

Stupid young people and their non-real-instrument iPads!



(she can play a real button box pretty well too, it's weird but I heard you can play different kinds of instruments)

 

[Dave W]

Guitar playing is taking a beating, I've seen Hendrix level players on the street corners playing for change and no one gives a rip. Pretty soon we will be seeing homless guitar player with signs "will play for food" as someone who came up when there were still guitar heros being made, it saddens me. Guitar is such an enjoyable instrument for the player and if he/she is a good player the audience gets to share in that joy.

...

Guitar playing for money may be taking a beating but that's beside the point. The world has never owed musicians a living. Music was played for millennia before the idea of making a living from it took hold.

 

[String Tree]

It all comes around.

 

[swarfrat]

Music was played for millennia before the idea of making a living from it took hold.

This. I think the combination of recording and prohibition coincided to create a unique point in history, and the ripples of that are beginning to die out.

 

[Trenchant63]

I guess we can all ask ourselves.....How many kids have you encouraged/taught to play guitar?...

guitar kids don't just appear out of the woodwork..

I’m a teacher - all beginning, near beginning students. Yes they want to learn rock - and not just from the classic era unless their parents are exposing them to that. Ex: I have a 16 yr old girl and her mom who attends the lessons. Last week she showed me what she had learned on her own the past week : Day Tripper. But she also brings up contemporary rock as well.

 

[LOSTVENTURE]

You know that the guitar can be used in any number of styles, rock only being one of those.

 

[arlum]

I have a hard time knowing what anybodies into these days. Folks don't go out like they used to and that even includes their on front and back yards. Many people seem to spend a larger amount of time indoors doing their own thing by themself. For all I know there could be a couple of dozen guitarists living in our neighborhood but I've never seen a single one. Even in the warmer months when I grab and acoustic and sit outside on the porch I'm the only one doing so. A few folks still do the BBQ / grillin' thing but it's usually for their family and sometimes a few friends. Other than lawn mowing / planting / watering in the summer or shoveling snow in the winter I just don't see the other types of outdoor activity I grew used to over the years. So everyone's inside. Maybe they're playing games or "socializing?" on a computer but there's also the possibility they're playing their guitar or keyboard or whatever. I'm guessing the creepy window peepers are the only one's left who know what's currently popular.

 

[AquariumRock]

Who is buying guitars. Does anybody on this board own less than 5 guitars?

I only have one, but if anyone wants to spot me some money I’d be happy to try and catch up a bit. I’ll pay you back as soon as my album drops.

 

[bottlenecker]

I've seen some amazing buskers that otherwise should be famous. There's usually a pretty good reason they aren't.

I've seen lots of great buskers with respectable music careers, and aren't famous enough to be recognized by a TDPRI'er. Charlie Hunter did a lot of busking once. I think every musician should busk.

I'd say parents are far more encouraging of their kids to play guitar, especially electric guitar, than say... the parents of kids 1960-80.

You know... parents of the kids who created much of todays dinosaur rock whos demise we lament

Great point. I bought an electric guitar with lunch money I saved by skipping lunch, and had to hide it from my parents. My five year old is on his second guitar and has a mini p-bass.

 

[radtz]

Stupid young people and their non-real-instrument iPads!



(she can play a real button box pretty well too, it's weird but I heard you can play different kinds of instruments)

Mama had an iPad and Daddy never sleeps at night...

 

[Brent Hutto]

Who is buying guitars. Does anybody on this board own less than 5 guitars?

I own four (one of which I no longer play or want but it's not worth enough money to bother selling) and in online forums I sometimes feel like I'm the weird guy over in the corner who just doesn't get it.

 

[Strat Jacket]

I guess we can all ask ourselves.....How many kids have you encouraged/taught to play guitar?...

guitar kids don't just appear out of the woodwork..

Part of the issue is that when we were younger, we heard guitar on the radio, saw bands like the Beatles and Stones on Ed Sullivan, and lusted after it...the fame, the chicks
, the power, and most of all, the mastery of music. How do you inspire a kid raised on rap and auto tune garbage to want to have to "do something really, really hard" like learn to play an instrument?
You can't in most instances. And you won't, unless the desire comes from within.

 

[swarfrat]

I've seen lots of great buskers with respectable music careers, and aren't famous enough to be recognized by a TDPRI'er. Charlie Hunter did a lot of busking once. I think every musician should busk.


Great point. I bought an electric guitar with lunch money I saved by skipping lunch, and had to hide it from my parents. My five year old is on his second guitar and has a mini p-bass.

Maybe you should forbid him to play it. that could work

 

[bottlenecker]

Maybe you should forbid him to play it. that could work

I'm going to forbid him from a high paying career in the medical field.

 

[bobio]

I don't buy the premise of this thread.

I see plenty of kids at the Music store where I take Sax lessons and I tend to hang out at a lot.
I am also seeing more young girls taking lessons, Guitar, Sax and Drums.
Be careful of looking just around your little piece of the world and then trying to extrapolate what you see to the whole world
Someone must be buying those guitars, there seems to be a significant market for guitars geared to the munchkins.

 

[Informal]

I thought synthesizers were going to destroy music 35 years ago, I was wrong.

I thought auto-tune would would make attractive people, who couldn't sing into pop stars... Partially correct.

I thought guitar builders, would be struggling big time by now, to sell anything to people born post 90's.... No hard data on that one, but I do see a lot less youngsters at Guitar Center, the few times I pop in to one.

The tech that may very well kill actual Musicians IMO... Is AI like Chatgpt.

"Chatgpt... create a 3 to 4 chord rock procession similar to (enter response here)
Now give me a killer beat, in the style of John Bonham (or enter fav Drummer)
Now analyze the last 4 decades top grossing albums... and give me some killer lyrics, hooks, choruses...
Now throw a mashup of all the guitarists I list... and add a killer riff and solo."

 

[Blackmore Fan]

They sounded pretty good!

The drummer is KILLIN it.

The instruments weren't the only thing rockin' on that stage.

 

[swarfrat]

Be careful of looking just around your little piece of the world and then trying to extrapolate what you see to the whole world

When i was fresh out of college I would do my grocery shopping after work at a brand new Walmart. I was puzzled at this well stocked clean store with a ton of employees and inventory when it was always absolutely deserted.

After a few months I realized it was deserted because I was working 100hr weeks in a startup and I did my grocery shopping at 2am after leaving work.

 

[kuch]

My 15 YO grandson has a band with 4 pretty good guitarists including him. several of them also play keyboards and horns. The drummer even plays sax too. He also has other friends who play guitar, both guys and gals....