Brings to mind the quote "Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr Epstein."
This was a music exec telling The Beatles' manager why he wouldn't sign them.
Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
41–50 of 78 posts
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#42As a lifetime guitar player and owner of way too many, I think what I've seen (and keep in mind this is only anecdotal) is that boutique guitar makers are making a big comeback while traditional mass producers are seeing less interest. If I'm going to spend $2500-7500 on a top of the line guitar (that is often an art piece as well) I'd rather work with a craft builder and get something unique to my specs versus a mas…
Bingo! I'd say it's similar to the craft beer movement.
Exactly... I think my generation specifically (Gen Y) is 1) starting to come into having disposable income (hitting our 30's mostly), 2) skeptical of traditional marketing, big corporations (to some extent), etc, 3) learning to value craftsmen/women and quality goods over brand names.
It's an interesting shift to watch.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
My personal answer to "how many guitars do you need?" is basically one for each tuning that I use regularly. Unless it's simply changing one string from E to D, re-tuning a whole guitar is a pain in the ass and just being able to swap guitars is a lot nicer. I have one for standard tuning, one tuned like a cello, and one in open D-minor. I do admit if you're playing a bass guitar this rule isn't as applicable.
My dad loves to tell a story about a Q&A session with Norm Abram of PBS [Edit: This Old House, New Yankee Workshop] fame, which your answer reminds me of. Why does Norm own an entire drawer full of routers? Well, he used to ask himself the same question. All these companies kept giving him free tools as a promotion. Especially routers. He had dozens of them. WTF do I need all these routers for? It occurred to him tha…
Took me a bit to figure out you weren't talking about a guy with dozens of network devices.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#44Music tastes run in cycles. If vinyl can make a comeback so might guitars. That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification. Learning to play guitar takes time, lots of it. In the current climate a comeback seems pretty unlikely.
That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification
My experience:
In the 1990's, a kid given the video game "weapons station of a starship" probably starts pressing controls and blowing stuff up.
In 2014, a kid presented with the video game "weapons station of a starship" freezes and meekly waits for instruction from an adult.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#45Did you know you can buy a $350 "Gibson Les Paul" that says "made in the USA" on AliExpress? The guitar in question is CNC cut and then hand assembled. I may speak from experience when I say the item is very high quality and is a pretty danged good guitar. The point here being that it's an industry what are the American players have not modernized their manufacturing process... We live in an amazing age where you can…
Link? [1] gives me no results for that price range and search keywords.
[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?minPrice=300&maxPrice=4...
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#46Music tastes run in cycles. If vinyl can make a comeback so might guitars. That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification. Learning to play guitar takes time, lots of it. In the current climate a comeback seems pretty unlikely.
Guitars (or any musical instrument) are essentially REPLs and therefore do provide instant feedback and often gratification.
Learning to do anything well takes a lot of time, so that statement is true == true. Learning to have fun with something often happens (and in the case of a guitar) quickly.
Lowering the barrier to accessing guitars, mixers, computers and software to get a recording up is the real challenge, because that takes cash.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Capitalism and the unrealistic idea of infinite sales growth is what gives rise to "services" and "subscriptions", no?
Hush! Don't speak of such things, or before you know it there will be DRM enforced IoT dongles with 4G cellular radios, requiring a subscription plan and annual fee before the guitar pick-ups will serialize their signal to a 1/4 inch patch cable.
We regret to inform you that we will be discontinuing server support for your myFender.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#48Music tastes run in cycles. If vinyl can make a comeback so might guitars. That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification. Learning to play guitar takes time, lots of it. In the current climate a comeback seems pretty unlikely.
If we're dealing in stereotypes, guitar playing as an indicator of work ethic seems like an odd choice.
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#49As a life-long guitarist, and skeptic of capitalism, I have an anecdote: I own a few high-quality guitars. They have served me well for many a decade, and they are still in perfect condition. Why buy any more guitars? Perhaps the total number of guitars in circulation is enough? Businesses seem to think that there should be infinite growth forever, but that seems ridiculous to me. I don't think capitalism has a good…
> I own a few high-quality guitars. They have served me well for many a decade, and they are still in perfect condition. Why buy any more guitars? This is the exact same question my wife asks. About bicycles, too.
Let alone watches :-)
Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?
#50Music tastes run in cycles. If vinyl can make a comeback so might guitars. That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification. Learning to play guitar takes time, lots of it. In the current climate a comeback seems pretty unlikely.
If we're dealing in stereotypes, guitar playing as an indicator of work ethic seems like an odd choice.
Work ethic? Nah. That's a different conversation for another day.