Return musical training as a priority to the school system. Teach kids music young and let them learn to appreciate it as art. They will find their own way back to the guitar. Learning a musical instrument is proven to build success in academics. It is a shame to let band and orchestra classes be stripped of funding.
Guitars are more affordable now than they have ever been - $60 can buy something way more usable than it would 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Financial pressure isn't the issue - what's "cool" is. Fashion changes. All hope isn't lost - I'm sure i'm not the only one but my kid likes some non guitar stuff but is still guitar crazy and i'll do everything I can to keep ot that way! Guitars are here to stay....
My youngest is 13 - I was asked to teach her how to play a Passenger hit in 3 days. I even have a 24 fret 3/4 Ibanez - the first problem was getting her off her phone. The next ... It would mean cutting fingernails. Then getting the attention span ... Ashamedly I gave up and left her to use a keyboard. To be fair as a teenager I was into synths big time. 1980s - everyone was. So I buy into fashion concept. It is also a cultural thing. I leave my children to learn what they want - don't force them. Some other parents insist their children learn piano, violin, clarinet etc etc.
Interesting video. I agree with you pretty much all the way. Exept for learning how to play an instrument. Back in the days it was not that easy to learn how to play music. I remember I had had to buy a monthly magazine to learn licks and techniques. Nowadays RUclips is such an awesome resource. You can learn whatever tune or technique that you want. And it's way beyond music. You can learn anything. For free. I know an internet access is not really free but kids will subscribe one anyway for email, socials... So basically learn from RUclips won't cost anymore. I've learn a lot from you on how to make guitar (thanks a lot for this) and it didn't cost me anything.
Cheap guitars are everywhere, so that's not it. It's a fashion thing. Digital music is what's in right now, but that trend will probably change. Hard to say how long it will take, but we did have a similar wave in the eighties. At some point people will get fed up with that.
RUclips has changed our way of learning ... I call it Google with moving pictures :-). We are evolving back to cave drawings where stories are how information is handed down - rather than spending the time to structure and generate grammars for expressing and recording information. The culture is "tell me" or "show me" - instantly - don't explain the breadth just a sound bite. And yet inspite of all these resources I think youngsters are getting less capable of developing critical thinking and problem solving because you can JFGI. The irony being how many folks ask for info ... As one person put it "imagine my surprise when I Googled JFGI". All this to say even with these resources and cheap ok guitars it still takes 10000 hours of practice - coordinated undistracted effort to learn anything to expertise level and these darned phones are preventing that time. Hell I spend hours YT plus full time job plus music practice and performance in church plus ... - but in my youth I learnt expertise in a few areas and tech reinvents itself every 30 years so same old stuff coming around with a different name. Plus you don't need as much sleep as you get older. I can make the time. Unless guitar can give instant gratification it's unlikely to complete against phones. At least that's how I see it. Rant over.
Here's another issue involving cell phones. I'm 67 now. My father loved music. When I was very young I listened to Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Liszt, Wagner, etc. on a Radio Shack stereo. As my father prospered he moved to AR and Pioneer. By the time I was in high school and all through community college I was listening to all the above plus Joseph Zawinul, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, and Steely Dan on a Klipsch-Macintosh system. Chris, regardless of the level of music kids may listen to, they are listening primarily on cell phones. They have no idea how music of any complexity should actually sound. They have never heard any. You are also correct about current music trends. It's not always bad stuff musically but there are no idea heros backing it up.
Why would they? In the 90s, everyone played guitar, cus there was the grunge movement. Obviously things were gonna tail off after that. If you look at the really big bands right now, they're all either from the 80s or 90s or early 2000's. There hasn't been an album like Nevermind, that opens the floodgates for a whole bunch of bands to get signed or to get noticed. Festivals are still being headlined by Foo Fighters, Metallica, etc. And while both have inspired people to play guitar, the people they inspired have so far failed to pass the torch. Also...health and sefety, and licensing laws have made it much harder to find those little local gigs where you go with half the kids from your school, and realise that if you played guitar, you could be onstage, at the center of attention.
Very well put thats exactly what i say about the matter! Also I am class of 2020 and 90% of kids are ignorant to all aspects of music in every way. its sickening that im going to be 50 years old one day and the culture of music will be lost because my generation would rather make tiktoks then create intellectual property or learn a craft. :(
I agree with your thoughts, but I remember when I was in high school back in the early 60's being captivated by the Beatles being a simple group that went onstage with basic amps and guitars and made music that you could imagine yourself playing..... it was the start of the "garage band' and I was all in! I got a cheap Sears electric guitar and taught myself how to play and was in several rock, blues and jazz bands through high school and college. I think the current state of pop/rap music is missing the example of "do it yourself" basics and is far too overproduced and focused on superficial personality as the ultimate goal.
I think the comments posted are very true. But the whole attitude in the music industry and the types of music being born these days as you alluded to is so much different than it was in the 70's and 80's. There was such a diversity of music and great players. Quite frankly I think most of the music today has no soul and it sounds so much alike. Listening to music was an investment, albums, cassette tapes. Everything today is just about free. Who wants to make music to give it away.
Bad music has existed as long as music itself has existed, making such sweeping judgements about "today's music" is more telling of your own close mindedness than anything else. There was plenty of soulless factory made music in the 70s and 80s. It's funny how you complain about the accessibility of music nowadays but it's that same money-driven mindset that kills the soul in music
A lot of great points. Its interesting to see some of the up and coming pop stars using the acoustic guitar in the studio as a writing tool or for reference. At the end of the day, the song will be recorded with all electronic instruments. Perhaps getting kids to want to learn to sing, could spark an interest in guitar as an accompanying instrument.
I appreciate your perspective and bringing up this subject. Kids will do what they like. I think the bigger "but to crack" is how do we get kids liking guitar music and how do we create more opportunities for kids to play music in a band environment. Guitars are better than ever and cheaper than ever so cost of entry isnt an issue. A beginer guitar and amp used is easily under $300. A new phone can be around $1000. If I want something bad enough, I'm beg, borrow, and just my hump to get what we want and my kids are the same. Get them to want it badly enough and they will make it happen.
This is a really thoughtful conversation and it's super great to read equally thoughtful comments and opinions below. I think I would put the cost of guitars lower down the list of barriers to why kids are not playing guitars. Some kids have far more discretionary funds than I recall as a teenager. I think that there are some other social drivers that have a greater impact; 1. Kid's time is very scheduled now. Unlike the boomer generation, they have more events and more options that means they don't have down time to be creative. Kids are never bored. 2 Everything is competing with screen time. I watched my son play 7-hours of Playstation in one sitting. It was heartbreaking so when he showed interest in music, I was happy to invest in a good guitar. 4. With the transition to digital distribution of music, kids are listening to a lot of music but, it's in single downloads, etc. There isn't the need to listen to a whole album. When my daughter is playing music in the car, she never listens to a song the entire way through. 4. One of your listeners called out the defunding of music programs. I agree with the comment below that music programs helped kids in many ways. What we need is a couple of good movies that feature young prodigies playing guitar. Archery sales blew up after the Hunger Games movie featured the heroin using a bow in the movie. The music has shifted but, it shifted for the boomers too. Coming out of great guitar decades of the 50s, 60s, and 70s and the music shifted to disco and electronic pop in the mid-70's and 80s. Just some thoughts
Great video, and i agree with your points. I've played almost 20 years I'm 29 born in early 1990. I currently have a 6 string Schecter $400 a 7 string ltd $400 and a ibanez acoustic $300 an my amp is a marshall DSL100HR $749 which I got a great deal on from Sweetwater cause of a misprint. I've had more expensive gear but it always succumbed to bills needing to be paid. Point being, I'm a good player who plays everyday and sees playing guitar as hugely important in my life but I still can't afford a fender tele or strat or les paul. I do all the work on my guitars and turn them into a much nicer guitar then they started out as (fret level, electronics change, pickup change, new nuts and bridges, tuners etc. Completly upgrade them one part at a time when I can afford it). But each time I want a new guitar I have to buy guitars that are marketed towards beginners which drive me crazy and often are b stock or open box. I've played too long and consider myself a good enough player so i think I should be able to afford a quality guitar that i can be proud of that can be taken seriously. Anyways I'm very grateful for the instruments I have but I'd love to have at least one name brand QUALITY guitar that's a solid well made instrument like a telecaster that I can modify with a bigsby. My point with all this again is that so many times my friends and I who can play very well are playing on beginner or intermiadiate instruments cause we can't afford a guitar that matches our skill level. I'm sure I'll eventually get a chance to get a nice guitar like I got my amp with my tax return but even then I had more important bills but I knew that was my one chance so I bought the amp and ate oatmeal for a couple weeks lol, worth it btw. A little light at the end of this tunnel is sites like zzounds which I've used a few times and will certainly use again. If anyone reading this isn't familiar they have a no credit check no interest buisness model for anything on their site. The payments at first without credit check will be 4 as in you'll pay your first payment and a 3.95 fee which is a processing fee and that's the only bit extra you pay and then for the next 3 months you pay a 3rd of what's left on the balance or more if you want to pay it off early. So you make a payment when you order plus the 3.95 processing fee and they send it to you immediatly. Then each month you make a payment until it paid off. I've always paid my stuff off early but I hear they are very flexible If you think your going to be behind on a payment as long as you call ahead of time to let them know. If it wasn't for the fact I haven't been working much for the last year for a medical reason that will last about 1 more year then I'd use them to get that tele I mentioned earlier. So there is ways for those of us who have too many financial responsibilities to get the gear that would match our skill level but it shouldn't be this difficult. Not to mention we should be saving for retirement but people my age for the most part are hardly making it by as it is. Putting away money is a fantasy for most of us. Don't get me started on healthcare.....uh....now I'm rambling.
I came into this expecting "kids have no respect for good music", but a lot of this is right on point. I bought my first guitar, a mid tier RG series Ibanez, in high school at age 17 in 2007. I still have and play that guitar. The only other guitar I've ever had that I bought myself is a Squire Telecaster that I bought last year. Coming out of college I didn't land a career type job. Now I just have a bunch of debt. I'd love to have a collection of guitars, but the guitar I have works (even if I need to rewire it), making everything beyond that pure luxury with no practicality. I'm not going from no guitar to jam with my friends if I pick up something new, I'm just going to one more thing to make my shared living spaces messy. Ain't got the space, ain't got the money. I do, however, feel like the main guess at why people aren't playing guitar more these days is a bit off base. I see a lot of people in their 20s on stage playing guitar. The problem isn't that there are no bands, the problem is that they can't make a living off it. It is very much the money element, from my standpoint, and not the popularity element. Music earns a pittance, it's not treated like a job, it's just one more piece in my generations never ending list of side hustles. Everyone I grew up with that plays in local bands now gets up in the morning and goes to work at something else. The obscenely talented kids from Jazz band? One stocks shelves and the other does audio work for a church. My best friend and one of the other guys from the group of guitar kids? One's a mechanic the other works retail. Me? Perpetual contract job and stretching funds to make ends meet. All of us have college degrees, none of us have careers and there's no where to move upwards to. Our jobs aren't going to move us upwards, and the money in the music world is so concentrated in marketing and trend chasing that it's not getting down to a wider array of different artists. I see that more as an affect of economic system. There's less money in music, because the music itself was commodified and as soon as it became commodified it became a way to not just make a living, but a way to make a profit. And then the bottom line becomes profit, and the money is only distributed to people who can turn a profit. Long enough at that and you end up homogenizing stuff, because one thing is always going to be more profitable. Focus on profits and you choke the less profitable out by forcing the artists out, limiting their exposure, or forcing listeners to chose what they listen to if they want it. In the 90s, we got the last one, today we have the first two, but it's all the same problem. If we lived in an economic system that provided people more freedom to live more diverse lives, and required less worrying about efficiency, more people would choose to play guitar. Kids gravitate toward electronic music because it's accessible via means that are more efficient. Need a computer to do school work? Cool, you have something that can also make music. Got enough cash for a cheap mic? Cool, you can add vocals to that. Making music doesn't work out or you lose interest? That's fine, you still have a computer to use for years. That efficiency creates the popularity, because there's more of that music than the rest, and because there's more of it, and more people listening to it as a result, it becomes the thing that is most profitable and becomes the thing people to aspire to make as a result. It's not even about the price of the guitar. Squires are dirt cheap. If you wanted to learn guitar, a couple video games skipped over or a shopping trip passed up and you have one with a practice amp. It's really that commodification of our lives, that need to be efficient. The guitar is not efficient, in time or form.
I play my electric guitar outside sometimes, i live in a community. I bring my microcube amp outside and my guitar and i play it. Lots of the kids always want to try it out and want to learn how to play. Hopefully me playing will inspire them to pick one up somewhere down the road I’m already trying to get them into rock and it’s been working pretty good.
I agree with many that cost is not the issue. There are thousands and thousands of new and used guitars (and amps) all around the world with a price to suit EVERY budget. Price and choice have never, ever been better. Not to mention the myriad of online media about gear and what to buy, how to play etc. To me the biggest issue is definitely the cool factor. Rap has taken over and they just need a computer, a voice and some lyrics. Why take up playing an instrument that a) isn't "cool" and b) is too bloody hard to learn! This is the 'click' generation - click and you get - no need to work hard at something as optional as playing a guitar for recreation. Learning the guitar takes passion and most of us players have been driven by a band or an artist we idolised and we worked hard to learn a few chords to experience the buzz. What we need is a rock n roll revolution! We can't leave it all up to the Metal genre to keep guitars alive. Without Metal, where would the guitar world be???
I watch some of the reaction videos the younger generation is posting on RUclips when classic videos are recommended to them. When the total amazement look in their eyes is so blatant, it gives me hope that the art of actually playing an instrument may not be totally lost. The glimmer of hope that they might want to do as they've seen and heard, is what will keep it alive.
It is a satisfaction thing. Most humans will continue an activity that provides satisfaction, and the easier the activity is to get that satisfaction results in wanting to do that activity. Guitar, like many musical instruments including digital ones, requires time and learning to become satisfying. I think it will honestly rely on a combination of parental and peer influence to continue to grow the guitar industry. Some areas have schools that allow for a "show and tell day" or "learning fair". This may offer an opportunity for local guitarists and guitar builders to come out and play. I remember playing in front of a group of 3rd graders, and afterwards I had at least 5 of them asking how to get a guitar and learn. Do that at an open event and you might be able to talk the parents into getting lessons and building a new generation of guitarists.
i disagree. i've been playing guitar for a month now and it gives more satisfaction than whatever, most people my age play videogames all day, i play guitar all day. I LOVE IT.
I think you are partially correct. There are so many other factors to consider. I think everyone will agree that developing the skills required to be able to play in a professional environment takes years of practice, lots of mentorship, lessons ect. and a bit of luck so its a huge commitment and cost. Most every kid that purchases a music instrument really wants to aspire to a be great (rockstar) so to speak but............ Secondly, we have no stepping stones available anymore. I speak as a working musician that has played a bit more than 4000 live gigs. When I was young, I could sit it with other bands for a few songs and that provided me with some very valuable experience. I would love to be able to give that
Hey Chris, I'm seeing more of this type of question and concern in the past year or so "Why are kids not interested in electric guitar?", and " How do we get kids involved with electric guitar?" You touched on a big point with kids of the last 20 years...too many alternate entertainment choices are available. Between all the cable channels, streaming services, RUclips, Twitch, Twitter, Snapchat, PC games, phone games, console games, portable console games...there are too many "stimulating and easy" entertainment choices available that require little to no skills, but require the same level of funds to procure as to outfit a practice rig. I will say that in my area there are guitar specific and rock band specific curriculum in the Jr. High/High schools, and I am involved with them. Some of the kids are amazingly talented shred-beasts and aside from their vocal pitch being higher than the original singer, can cover songs with a high degree of proficiency. While this may not be the norm, it is encouraging. With the music industry moving away from musicians and more toward samples, loops, and canned production methods via DAW plug-ins, the making of "music" is a few clicks/keystrokes to something that sounds appealing. Learning an instrument and the 10,000 hours to mastery becomes unappealing in comparison. How to sell more guitars? Good question. Idols and icons...the "guitar heros"...would certainly help, as would reasonable pricing from major label manufacturers. The higher prices should be reserved for the Luthier as these are hand-crafted Bespoke instruments. The guitar may also need to undergo an electronics nd materials update/upgrade to incorporate composite materials to reduce/eliminate damage and warping, and electronics for more of the tonal/sonic manipulations, or to allow for direct headphone connection for practice (no amp needed). This is very possible with modeling systems no larger or more complex than an old iPhone and AD/DA box. Just my thoughts on the topic.
I wish there were video responses like in the past... anyway great video, as a guitar teacher myself, I agree with most of this. I may do mine, in spanish for the latin american market.
I really love this video. I'm 25, and started playing when I was 14, so 11 years ago. What was huge 11 years ago that caused a reasonably sized resurgence in youth guitar playing? Guitar Hero. A video game. In my opinion, the solution lies less inside new music featuring The electric guitar (though I agree that it needs to happen regardless), and moreso in coming up with a universal medium to show kids how *fun* playing guitar can be.
I reckon there will be a resurgence eventually I can see it beginning to happen here in Ireland and parts of Europe, especially Scandinavia and Germany where Metal is very popular. The introduction of reasonably playable guitars are extremely popular and the likes of Thomann are getting bigger and bigger. When i was learning in Dublin in the 80s there were 2 shops now there are at least 6. Most have opened up in the last 5 years so all may be not lost.
OK, here's my take on this subject. Guitar magazines, shows, etc all seem to imply you need a PRS, a Vintage Strat or Gibson to be a good player or to stand out in the crowd. I too build guitars, but it's more of a hobby than a business. When a company like those mentioned whip out thousands on a CNC a week, and charge way too much, where is the market? Not with kids. And actually, how many semi pro or pro players are going out there and buying the latest and greatest when a really well setup lower priced guitar will fill the bill. You can play a five thousand custom guitar, in concert in front of thousands, do you really think that fan knows what your playing or for that matter, can even hear the music with all the noise. I read in Premier Guitar where a well know player's favorite, on stage ax is a Fender Squire. Yes, he has a good guitar tech, but. So I'll build my own style bodies, buy necks on Amazon, buy decent pickups, bone nut, other good parts. I don't buy the tone wood bull, all my bodies are $20.00 Alder blanks, I don't need the latest pedal, I use a Fender reverb amp many years old, get the picture. I think the big name guitar factories are killing the sales themselves. Guess we're from the same old school.
we could lower prices of guitar, even make lessons free but you cant put a price on motivation and kids have no motivation to pick up an instrument.. its just the truth.. its a cultural thing.
Hey Chris, My name is Mike owner of Black diamond custom guitar shop and I liked your video, and it’s something I’ve thought about a lot myself, I agree with you that it needs to be addressed somehow if we can why younger people aren’t picking up traditional instruments as much. I think a lot of the comments are good that people have posted, I also think that younger bands such as Greta van fleet in their early 20s making what I think is really good music and using traditional band instruments guitar, bass & drums etc. will possibly Spark younger musicians to want to pick up an instrument and learn to play like we all did. Just my 2-cents👍🎸
Speaking of Greta van fleet, this is what kids need to see and learn: ruclips.net/video/09r98guvvqU/видео.html That's what it should take to be cool, popular, and attract members of the opposite sex. Not social media and video games.
Well it's pretty easy to figure out... think back at why you picked up the guitar and got into them. Your heroes were playing them in the music they played and you listened to. He hit it right on the head with the digital music part of it. None of the music kids are listening to have real instruments anymore, and the only real instruments they hear are on their dad's classic rock stations. Only way to fix this issue is having a complete cleanse on the music industry and starting over, and we all know how likely that is. Kids these days with little to no musical knowledge can quickly install a few pieces of inexpensive software (or pirate them) and start making music in minutes with a few clicks of the mouse. Software like fruity loops lets them make "beats" like their favorite rappers and then they just go and post those on soundcloud and have an opportunity to get noticed by a few people and may even are able to sell a few of these to other inspiring musicians who want to focus on vocals rather than music making. I don't think it's a expense issue these kids are having, I think it's a instant gratification issue rather. They want to be good immediately and don't want to put in the time and effort learning a real instrument when they can crank out a full song in a few hours after clicking their mice and tapping a few keys on their keyboard.
Another thing worth mention is how music is almost not taught in schools anymore. I teach guitar at two schools and there is almost no music class any more. When I was in school music was an every week class. Now its a fortnightly class every 6 months and its more performing arts
As a kid who plays gutiar I think being exposed to music has alot to do with it. I go to a school where we all play orchestral instraments and i have noticed that when i started to share with my friends what i have done on gutiar they get super excited and want to play. Schools and parents need to have more musical opportunities for the kids because playing sompthing like a violin can change the way you look at music. Violin was not som0thing I was looking forward to but it made me interested in music and now I play the electric gutiar and the violin.
In my experience, the best way to get kids to do something is to tell them not to do it!. I went to high school in the late 80s and there were maybe 5 people I knew that played guitar. People tend to fantasize about the days of yore. 2020 saw record sales of guitars for the big manufacturers. Yes some was due to the pandemic but not all of it. My 6 year old daughter is surrounded by guitars, ukuleles, pianos and has little interest in playing any of them. She loves music though and even likes guitar based music. One of her favorite songs is Crazy Train. All I can do is keep her exposed to music, take her to live shows and hope it sparks something at some point. Schools will never get kids interested in guitar. They never have.
It's important to understand who the big manufacturers sell most of their guitars too. It's not you and me (the consumers), it's the retailers (the customers). And what the retailers can't sell is either returned or written off.
@@HighlineGuitars True. At my local Guitar Center they barely have any guitars to sell and are constantly pestering people to sell back their used gear. I know GC had the bankruptcy thing but I've heard the same about other stores. To your point in the video, much of the boom has been driven by middle aged men who got a stimulus check that roughly covered the cost of a nice guitar. Not exactly sustainable.
Great subject and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Frank Ocean, Tyler The Creator, or even going back to Tupac or Biggie, some of the more respected artists in the hip-hop genre usually includes a guitar track that plays a significant role (regardless of it being sampled or not). The more popular but transient artists that you might be speaking of most often do not. Even if 'rock' music may never be as popular as it once was, and hip-hop continues to be, if kids are exposed to decent music (created by true artists with respect to music and not for popularity), then naturally, I think, the guitar would be sought out because it almost always complements any genre of music.
There has never been a better time to buy inexpensive, decent guitars than now. I can remember buying an inexpensive Squire Strat for ~$130 in 1970. Using one of the inflation calculators that works out to ~$850 today. A guitar of similar quality can be had for about $100 or less now. The same can be said about inexpensive, modeling amps for
The rush of Earbuds for listening to music has caused a shift in music to what earbuds can reproduce accurately/well which is voice and drum kits. Guess what kinds of music kids are most interested in .. vocals and beats. Added to the kids want to spend $300 to $1,000 on phones plus the monthly service fees and there is no cash to buy guitars even if they somehow listen to music with guitar playing in it. The other factor is inexpensive guitars -- kids are used to video games where the intro level is super easy and level ten is hard but guitar companies flipped that around so the hardest to play guitars are the ones kids start on and the easiest to play are the level ten custom shop models.
I'm a hobby guitarist, but as a career i manage social work so i meet a lot of kids, hear about their problems indirectly thru the small talk at work. And i would say that we have never been in a time where conformity, obedience, appearences and not rocking the boat has been more important than now. Who's going to rebel or be a rock or punk musician when you can render yourself unemployable for the rest of your life, when a few few corporations ruled by a few few people decide everyones future. I do think that the contemporary culture of the day is a reflection of the society that produce it, and we do have dark, scared and frankly mostly stupid times. Eventually it will change, it always does. And until then i'll be in the basement, playing my old worn planks.
There are a lot of factors involved money is certainly a factor. I think people in general seek out instant gratification. You're not instantly gratified playing a musical instrument. It is a lifetime of playing achieve that satisfaction that someone can get instantly with an electronic device such as a video game, the computer and the like. I don't think you will see the guitar Heroes that we once saw when we were kids sadly ever again. But all we can do is encourage kids to take an instrument up whether it be guitar, bass, drums, keys or even orchestral instruments. Encourage your kids to take part in music programs. There might still be hope but that is our only hope. Just my humble opinion.
A lot of kids around me think playing music with instruments is novel. They're aren't interested. It's also a lot of work to learn how to play an instrument well, so that is a turn off to them. On the flip-side, I teach a band of 11 year old girls that play well together, and listen to all kinds of music, esp Rock. It's very far and few between though. Great video.
I grew up in Cincinnati, OH. Before the Beatles, the main instrument for kids was the accordion. 5 or 6 of my grade school friends had them and were really good. Absolutely true! After the Beatles, all accordion sellers were gone. Time marches on.
There a some huge issues with most articles and stories regarding this subject. One of the first issues, is that most of these stories they interview places like Norms Rare Guitars and listen to them complain how sales are dwindling. First off no mere mortal can really afford to buy from Norm's so right off they story is skewed. Let's face it, to by a new quality guitar is expensive. Kids are buying guitars and amps but it's now the used market like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. They are used but they are a lot more affordable. Kids are playing, more than the older generations want to realize. There is also a lot of music out there that is both acoustic guitar and or electric guitar. The other thing besides high new guitar prices is that we have killed music and arts in a lot of schools. So that early bug isn't there like it was. After my rambling it comes down to this, kids are playing but they are buying things used. There still is a lot of guitar/electric guitar music out there to drive kids. It's not all rap/hip hop and samples that the older generations like to think. There is also an amazing amount of free education out there to learn. It's happening it's just the "olds" aren't seeing it.
I also find what you say is very true. I also think there's a couple of other things at work here to. One. The new music technology. Now with modern tech you don't have to spend years studying guitar and music theory and you don't have to hire or pay or put up a band. You can be a band of one. You just buy a midi and setup the music type you want and the software will make you sound like a full band. I've seen a pop music or hip-hop band come out on stage with 20 dancers, a lead singer or rapper and no band. No instruments at all. Just a guy with a laptop and a bunch of music software and that's all they need to do a complete show. Technology has changed a we do thing and that includes music. Me, I stink at guitar, but I love to practice and feel the instrument in my hand and hear the sounds that my fingers produce. But, young musician's see that as " old school."
I feel price is not the issue at all. I am one of those young kids you talk about early in the video who are playing today at a young age. I'm 18 now and picked up an electric for the first time when I was 10 and it cost my father around 250 for the crappy starter guitar and small amp. I learned how to play 100 percent for free without taking any lessons or paying for online courses, all I needed was RUclips and other online guitar communities. It has to do more with social aspects. I am often the only kid in a classroom that can play guitar or even enjoy rock n roll, metal etc. I am often not praised or looked up at for my ability to play due to guitar being such a niche hobby nowadays. Also once you become a teenager time becomes a big issue with all the pressures of getting into college. AP courses, standardized testings, scholarship competition, work, college itself. All this takes up so much time I can barely play myself for an hour a day let alone imagine what it would be like picking up the guitar for the first time at this age. 250 dollars is not hard for a teen with a job to get but getting that 3 hours a day or more like I had at 10 is almost impossible on top of the fact there is little pop culture influence telling you to learn. Overall I do not regret learning guitar for it is my favorite past time and a high passion of mine as I'm in a local band with people similar to me writing music with a dream I can drop all these modern college pressures and play for a living.
Tom Morello recently expressed similar sentiments, and he's right. There are lots of good, cheap guitars and parts and the money is there to buy them, but it's being spent on gadgets instead. Instant gratification and "multi-tasking" have made making long term commitments almost foreign to many kids and their parents. Not to mention the fact that even "simple" music of today is quite difficult compared to a few generations ago, which can be very daunting to new players, as well. Thankfully, a little inspiration goes a long way. One or two good guitar heroes can be enough to spark a renewed interest, but I don't think it will be in the traditional Blues/Rock/Jazz/Country genres. The guitar companies, festivals and other outlets like RUclips would also be wise to broaden their appeal outside the typical guitar show shredder dude. More variety across the board probably wouldn't hurt and is a cheap and easy way for the companies to broaden their customer base.
Kids today are too busy with their noses in their cellphones. There's always been costs associated with playing, but kids just want to do what everyone else is doing. Their parents could buy them a $350 Gretsch Electromatic, but they have to have the new iphone. I've offered to teach my nieces how to play, but they had zero interest. It also doesn't help that every hit song is written by the same two guys, and nobody actually performs. When you pick up the new issue of Rolling Stone and they call the Black Eyed Peas, who don't play instruments, the hottest "band" in the country, then it's not hard to see where the problem is.
You hit the nail on the head. Is it cool? Will it attract the Girls. It used to and being in a band in general was about as cool as being the star high school quarterback.
For me anecdotally, There is just so much more in the way of music due to electronic music which in itself has many different styles. Not counting top 40. Many people think the electronic music you hear on the radio is pretty much the only sound you can make. Because of this it's why people think electronic music isn't real music because it sounds too digital and robotic whereas good electronic musicians can make purely electronic music sound emotive. I spent a while learning guitar, and while it was fun in itself, over time I became addicted to electronic music creation. Also experimental electronic music. Because of midi and such I felt like it was easier to get my ideas out there very quickly due to the insane control you have over audio. Whereas with really any acoustic instruments, it takes a few years before you are competent enough to come up with decent music, and you have to join a band really to create fully fledged rock music. Otherwise you will have to also learn bass guitar, drums, and cowbell. In addition electronic music you create each part in the song/track and it stays the way you made it. I started with trying to learn guitar, and I did slowly get better. But after I started making electronic music, not a month later I was making full tracks on a DAW, making melodies, chord progressions, drums, pads, leads, bass, etc. It was so much more fun than the guitar so I tried to force doing both at once but over time I just lost interest in learning it.
I watched some vids on the subject. Everyone seems to ignore the fact that children/younger people today lack a long attention span. Entertainment today is basically swiping on your phone searching for something "thrilling". Swiping. Changing constantly. Never focusing on a subject. It is even the same with books as chance to escape the everyday life. Go to a library and ask how much is "the clientele" reduced nowdays. The new way of life has focusing on the back burner. Guitar is something that needs focus, needs practice. And it is outdated because it is really hard especially in the beginning to have great results. Persistence is not something preferred in this day and age.
Couldn't agree more. There are far too many entertainment options and distractions now. In simpler times, we had more time on our hands, we heard mainly guitar music and we were motivated to learn it. If kids are not listening to guitar based music, why would they want to learn guitar? Guitar playing on many older songs was relatively easy to learn, once basic skills had been grasped, so it was easier to achieve satisfaction. The market became swamped with wannabe guitar bands, reducing the opportunities to get pub gigs and climb the ladder to wider recognition. There's always going to be a healthy demand for guitars but maybe it has peeked and it is now sliding down the other side of blueberry hill? Maybe a retro craze for routes music will re-ignite it? It's not that important in the scheme of things, because there are far more worrying aspects in our societies right now.
Rocksmith works actually pretty good pulling people to play guitar. But what we really would need is similar opensource software (cause ubisoft and DRM bad)
I think the death of guitar driven music was partly caused by the 1996 telecoms act that deregulated media ownership and consolidated radio broadcasting into the hands of 2 or 3 companies and took regionalism completely out of the equation. I think that killed the local band to regional band to national band pipeline that got kids out to live shows they could actually afford and inspired them to pick up guitars in the first place. The other big component is the new marketplace for music, having big tech companies like youtube and music streaming services making most of the money off of music and paying pennies to artists and smaller record labels. I am almost 40 now and started playing guitar because of Green Day and I was prime age for the punk resurgence of the mid-90s. Bands on an indie label like Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph could make a very good living selling 100,000 records in 1999, even without radio attention, but Napster killed that, and even though streaming services killed music piracy, the money never returned to the smaller labels that acted as a rock and roll farm system for the major labels, and these massive media conglomerates are very risk averse and aren't interested in developing new talent.
How many guitars have been manufactured since say 1955? I think there are plenty guitars out there! What about the piano? Once everywhere - now you can't even give 'em away. Let the youth enjoy making music on their laptops - some of them may even do something great...
And don't forget...the guitar🎸 (& all instruments) have to compete against the all-mighty video games, which often occupie more of their time than schoolwork (yes, really), & for which they put allot of their money into as well...
I agree with you on this with the new technology and how this new generation of kids are playing a musical instrument is no longer their cup of tea even with the myriads of way of learning in the web, plus I sea them doesnt have the patience to sit down and learn something much tedious as a musical instrument. They’d rather burn their hours paluing on consoles. I reckon by another decade guitar player will be a dime a dozen.
My kiddo plays trumpet in school for a couple years now. He’s got a natural music ability. He does all the advance and technical stuff with very little to no work and practice. I’ve tried teaching him guitars. His response, it’s too much work, isn’t their an app for this. 😐
I can say this, most luthiers don't even do raffling or do charitable events for guitar builds. If some luthier does that, they can get their sales back up. You have to give something to make something.
Very good points. I'll add another. The school system dropped music programs in the 90s-2000s! No interest in music = none of the small amount of people who used to switch from Band instruments to Guitar/Bass/Drums/Keys just don't exist! it all starts somewhere, and right now, it's the musically inclined parents influencing new musicians (Greta Van Fleet) or they just become pop singers...the few that even get seen. (sounds like the pre-Rock and Roll times...what comes around...)
Totally agree. However, I am not sure that making the guitars cheaper would help… I’ve been playing for almost 50 years. My first guitar was cheap and… unplayable. When I turned 16, I invested all my savings in a quality instrument and it made a HUGE difference on my ability to improve. Nowadays, you can quite easily get a used Epiphone Les Paul Special II for $100 and it is a very decent guitar. It is absolutely true that, more and more, kids are seeing the electric guitar as a “geriatric” musical instrument but I believe this is exacerbated by the fact that there are probably too many guitars on the market for the number of potential musicians. The used guitar market is flooded with instruments (many of which are coming from Asia and/or are fake copies of guitars from reputable brands) that are getting increasingly harder to sell. Globalization is largely responsible for this situation. People should be encouraged to “buy from their local luthier” instead of buying “big brand” instruments that are made abroad simply to maximize profit…
Technology, budget, mainstream music industry greed, axis of awesome, repetitive feeding of this crap music through most radio stations who play the same top 20 - 100 songs all day long. The few good guitar teachers online who try to do good and spread knowledge for a few bucks and get copyright strikes for playing a chord or chord progression or even humming a melody in a very small section of their videos by the devil WMG and co. and the music industry political lobbying towards tougher copyright laws so they can squeeze every last penny out of content creators work. Music's become pure rough business and there goes the fun of it.
They are playing Guitar Hero. Actually, as a teacher I see kids these days throwing all of their time and energy into their phones and entertainment rather than spend the time to learn a skill.
IMHO point has to be researched at the start of the chain.. Music no longer sells, expecially the PLAYED one.. those that are still on the biggest stages now, are only bands that are followed from whom were kids and young guys in the 70's 80's and 90's: US! I'm 42 and remeber that in high school, most of us used to play an instrument at that time, since our idols were the long haired guys banging on the stage.. actual idols for the kids instead are the pure reflection of modern life, where you always search for a shortcut to the "glory" even if you have no talent or skill AT ALL.. and so Music is made with samples and a laptop and a cool "bad guy" attitude.. or even worse, when music is confused with the DJ job..
I think kids are just more interested in computer related activities now than playing a pastime instrument. It comes down to attention span. If it takes months to get satisfaction from an activity you can pretty much nix it from a kids interest these days. Everything is fast and immediate. A cheap guitar still requires months to learn a decent tune. Its not a way for kids to socialize anymore either. People used to start bands to share common interests. Now there are multiple online forums/games to satisfy this
The big problem with youths today is they have no musicianship in modern music, it is corporate driven formulas for music. We had great musicians to follow and emulate. I.E led Zeppelin, Rush, Allman brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie wonder, SRV, etc.
I‘d like to add one or twp major reasons why kids won‘t learn to play guitar (mainly any instrument) anymore. The e-guitar doesn‘t play a role in most of the mainstream music anymore. The time of guitar heroes is over. Most of modern (programmed) music does not need guitar sounds at all. Of course there are guys like ed sheeran who kind of pushes the instrument - which is a big deal for martin as an endorser - but 90% of the rest is silence. Shortly: no need to learn the instrument any more... Second: YT has made a big change of mind and social behaviour. I have been a guitar and bass teacher for 20years. I realized that kids dont have the endurance any more. They start out passionate but as soon as it gets to hard work and practise they quit. Its easier to watch, to consume, than to learn. This is the downside of worldwide „free“ information via YT. If YT decided to push it they could move the industry into new heights.., imho. The major guitar manufacturers have missed to jump the train, as well as the major record labels missed to cope with social media, streaming and self-publishing possibilities of artists.
Probably because guitars are overpriced and the guitar golden age is gone, the music now a days is so different than in the 70\80\90s that doesn't attract kids to get into it, also kids today want instant gratification, they want to grab a guitar and be able to shred right away, or they give up so only the ones that really like will succeed for being patient. I completly agree with most of your points, im not a kid but i'm only 22, and i bought my first guitar (acoustic) about 6 years ago by a drunk man for 30 bucks and it was the start of my journey and in the beginnings i felt really bad because weeks trying to play something and i couldn't do anything yet until i finally played something that was a theme from a videogame and that made me fell happy, by that time i started to know the fi fingerboard , where each sound is at and things like that, i just now like 3 months ago got money to buy a eletric one and finding a good guitar for less than 100€ was a challenge, i ended up buying a Kit and assemble it myself because it was cheaper, and youtube was not much help because most youtube channels are either guys from the 80s that say gibson and fender are the only good guitars and the rest is garbage and kinda overwhelm the new players with all the technical details that we don't understand and it's a hard huge drawback, i say it, the guitar industry is overpriced to the bare bone, i see you working in your vids and tou even do the pickups by hand and i can totally see why a guitar like that can be expensive, it's hand made and you put a lot of care into it, now big brands that make their guitars on china with cheaper copper alloy in the pickups and "chinesium" metal in the slugs, and all kind of outsourced materials they charge 100, 200 bucks for those parts, they sell them 10x or 20x more expensive than the original manufacturing price just because it says "gibson" or "fender" and that outsourcing problem has been increasing in the industry, all they do in quality control and branding, and the guitars can reach the price of a car, all the work is made by machines so there is no excuse to sell them so expensive and that drives everyone away, i saw a screw selling for 3$, a small metal plate for 20$, thats ridiculous, people see that guitar is a very expensive hobby and back off to do something else and kids don't have the money for that, and playing guitar is a skill that takes time and kids nowadays just give up if they can't do it immediately
I think that the point of interest shifted, I call the new generation the "Screen generation", all they do is waste time behind one screen or another. Today you can actually buy a very descent used guitar for $300 and that goes for any guitar related equipment as well, it's way more affordable now. when I was a kid it was unheard of. but back in the day the fire was much bigger, The interest is a totally different issue, it's a social issue.
I think Ubisoft did it right to help get more interest and make it fun to learn guitar with their game Rocksmith. Problem is not many kids know about it and they were really bad with their naming of it since it's called Rocksmith 2014 Remastered (now) and kids will look at it thinking it's an old outdated game. It combines real guitar with the Guitar Hero type gameplay.
Children should not have any money issues for guitars. Firefly, Solo and all over Amazon. I do see your point about the psychological side of seeing someone older performing Vs younger. Your other point is also relevant about what is on display on stage. Shredding and the crap called Rapping has a negative influence on music making. Both styles infer violence when the Guitar playing in the 40s through the 70s was a clever method of making and adorning music.
The problem is that today's children do have money problems because there is so much more competition for what they have in their wallets compared to children 30 years ago.
I see your point. It's probably bad judgment on their part. Skipping the purchase of a Guitar that could be an investment towards their educational and financial future vs buying an iPod nano, which is worthless for furthering their future in music.
Kids will learn to play guitar only if they have the inner desire and motivation to do so. You either have that or you don't. Also.....most parents would happily buy their kids a guitar so price is not an issue. There are just too many other fun things to do where you get immediate gratification......an instrument takes time to get to a level where you're going to start enjoying it. Most kids these days just don't have the patience to get to that level.
Things go in cycles. Guitars will come around again. Also you can buy an Epiphone for $100! I see young people playing in rock bands. But they aren’t as common as in our day. At the same time it’s easier to make and record your own songs. I wish we had this technology back when I started!
The truth is videos like these. Yeh your right on saying " games,phones, blah blah. The likes of youtube and interweb has broadened their interests beyond having something to do. Me as a parent am guilty of allowing video games in my child's life. I have and play guitars all over the house and he still ain't interested haha. It's how we encourage said kids to play an instrument or console....,...,..
Tech and the Internet as a whole have made young people expect instant gratification, which we all know is not associated with mastering an instrument. Rocksmith is a fantastic, fast learning tool,, but the developer Ubisoft is in it only to rake in as much cash on DLC as they can. I understand a business has to make money, but it limits how quickly you learn to a weekly investment. If something like that were free, I think many more would take advantage of it.
It became popular to play guitar in North America and Europe when the popular musicians of the day played guitar. Kids truly started learning guitar en masse when they saw Elvis, Chuck Berry and all those great early pop sensations who played guitar. That first wave inspired the next wave, likes of Hendrix, Page, Clapton. This second wave inspired the third and final wave; Slash, Steve Tyler, jack black, the edge and all the alternative and punk scene guys of the 80s and 90s. Name me one chart topping band in the past 20 years who has an up front guitarist....name me a chart topping "recording artist" in the past 20 years who even knows how to play an instrument at a high level. I'm not talking modern day chart toppers in specific genres like jazz or country, I'm talking chart topping youth oriented music. There are none. In an age where mumble wrappers are the new musical heroes there is zero attention paid to learning and perfecting musical ability let alone learning an instrument. Its up to us guitar playing moms and dads to turn our kids on to the guitar and vast library which makes the instrument great. Depending on the momentum of society to lead our children to great music is a thing of the past.
A new punk movement might be the answer. It's violently aggressive, the equipment is generally lower-end, less expensive stuff, and the music is not as technically demanding. And not a lot of time spent learning scales, arpeggios and music theory. Strap it on, plug it in, turn it up and start banging on it and see where it goes.
One of the driving forces that made me want to become a bass guitarist was the chance of playing in front of thousands of people in a band. Granted only 1/10% ever make it to the levels of Iron Maiden and Metallica (which we will never see again). That was very appealing to my 13 year old self in the late 80s. Being in a band was one of the best things I ever experienced, but I never "made it." I didn't live in LA, San Fran, or New York where the scenes were all over the place. MTV and radio are basically dead these days. In fact MTV is Empty TV zero calorie content (screw you Viacom) and radio is so corporate controlled that you will always hear the same crap repeated over and over. There's no real motivation anymore for kids to aspire to be the rock star. So why pick up a guitar? Another reason I feel is that over saturation of untalented bands and musicians killed off any hopes of getting known. Pay to play (which started way back in the early 80s and to the extent in the late 70s) made the motivation for kids to want to play. Begging friends to buy tickets just to get a gig is horrible, and that's on top of club owners not paying a band or artist even if they were promised. One other side is technology and the "cool factor." Applications like Studio One and Pro (Slow) Tools gave EVERYONE the chance to create music, but it doesn't breed talent. In fact there's a lot of terrible music from people that lack the skills to record, mix, and master their music. In the music world the learning curve is a lot higher than say learning how to shoot an NPC (non playable character) in a game, or sending a text or using social media over a smartphone. Digital music like electronica is atrocious to my years, because samples and pressing a key on a keyboard isn't that complicated. Having to create shapes with your hands which create the chords for guitar is far more challenging. Another thing that has killed it off are competition shows like American Idol or America's Got Talent. Go back to the 80s with Star Search and you can see what I mean. Kids obsess about going of these shows with the weak hope of making it (I would not want a 6 year contract with Simon no matter how desperate I was). Then if these kids don't make it "my life is over" and they are 17. A lot of kids want to play guitar, but most don't want to put in the time it really take to become skilled. In fact most crafts and trades are suffering growth due to this phenomenon. Parents are not showing their kids what is possible and would rather be the kids best friend. I've seen the growth, the height, and the fall of guitar players. In another generation or two we may not have any new guitar players that is truly memorable (like The Beatles, Elvis, The Temptations and so on). These prodigies we see now might just give up on the instrument when they reach adulthood. Their fame on RUclips won't be a thing at that point 30 years ago I picked up the bass guitar because I wanted to have the career in a band like my heroes. I lived, breathed, ate, and slept this passion for many years. Even though I've been a musician 41 years and (as I mentioned) 30 has been bass, I'm driven to play, but I doubt I'll ever see my name in lights. Ego never drove me, but passion did. Those are the kids we need to see pick up the instrument. The ones who will have that deep passion, but it's a dwindling proposition, but maybe there is a chance guitar heroes will once again reign.
Interesting video, the historical trend I've seen during my lifetime is that Baby Boomers used the guitar as an inclusive, "people's instrument", much like early rock 'n roll was. Then, Generation X flipped it, and it became about exclusive indie bands, with secret shows and other nonsense (in my opinion). Who wants to be a part of that? Thank you.
expensive if you are trying to keep up with others...certain car, certain phone, certain restaurants, certain guitar, certain vacation spots, going to certain college, having certain house. If you dare not to conform, it opens many possibilities in many areas. i have a cell phone yes, but it was under $200 and I've had it years, my car is 17 years old and still runs great so need to change, eat out - but not all the time and relatively inexpensively....and of the 10+ guitars I own, never spent more than $400 on one. It's about choices and not letting society set priorities for you, you set them for yourself. Too many people are PC conformists and don't think and act for themselves but instead try too much to get others notice and approval.
It's an interesting discussion, but one which seems to presuppose that music ought to be made using traditional instruments, that require "playing" with skills aquired through practice. One of your arguments is that if instruments were more affordable, more youngsters might take up the guitar. But why does there really need to be a market for people/companies making electric guitars? If young people are already making music through their iPhones and tablets, why should the instrument itself interest them? It's just a vehicle, a means to an end. Perhaps there is nothing inherently noble about playing an instrument. Perhaps the noble persuit is more truly the creation of music. Perhaps the electric guitar, along with a plethora of other instruments, has had its day. I am a guitar player of 48 years, and an amateur luthier so I am aware I am cutting my own throat with these remarks, but then I never started playing or making guitars in order to make a living out of it. I believe "why kids aren't playing the electric guitar anymore" is part of a much bigger question. It is also, perhaps, just symptomatic of a natural evolution of music.
Yes I think you're spot on, the price of guitars is not the problem because the kids making serious electronic music spend hundreds/thousands of dollars in electronic equipment. It's just that the guitar rock formula is not 'cool' anymore, it's the music of their parents for the a lot of them. These instruments do not reflect the times we're living now surrounded by technology and connectivity. And when I talk with them, they never miss the occasion to tell me how limited is the sound of guitars compared to what they can achieve with the machines
Its not so much the money. It's what happened in the mid 90's with the introduction of grunge music like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in chains, etc. These bands wear good, but they opened the doors to a bunch of newer bands that do not put guitar work at the very front of their music. A lot of these songs don't even have a guitar solo. They destroyed music. It's no longer about the music anymore. It's pop music.
I don't agree with your assessment of the economic factors, for a couple of reasons. I am 67 - baby boomer, Beatles era old white guy. I started off playing violin, then drums, then eventually guitar. I spent many hours hanging around in music stores, trying to figure out what to save my paper route dollars for. From the sixties on, through perhaps the eighties, decent musical instruments were far LESS affordable that they are now. In the sixties, there were two kinds of guitars available in my local music stores (or from catalogues): (1) total shit, and (2) expensive. I would have sold a kidney to get ahold of, say, a Squier that now sells for under $300 (here in Canada). A guitar at that price in 1965 (adjusted to 1965 dollars) would have been virtually unplayable crap. I know - I owned a couple of them. In contrast, a Squier, or Epiphone, or even a Chinese knock-off from Amazon is likely to be pretty playable. There are two obvious reasons for this: low labour costs outside of US and Canada, and automation: CNC etc. The second ground upon which I disagree has to do with generational habits. I grew up in largely white college towns in the midwestern US. My father was an academic. While we were not rich, we were certainly comfortable and secure. I consider my upbringing to have been "privileged". We prospered. Although there has been a growing gap between rich and poor in the US, and to some extent here in Canada, most of the families that I know today give their children - especially adolescents - access to much more spending power than I had as a kid. A few years ago I decided to relocate to the burbs. While shopping for a house to purchase, I viewed many properties in "family neighbourhoods". I do not recall seeing even one garage that was used for the car. Garages were always jam-packed with toys, recreational stuff, etc. Again, I am not crying poor here. I did not go through the Depression. But all of the musical instrument purchases that I made, from the age of 13 and on, were made from the proceeds of my after school jobs - paper routes, shovelling snow from driveways, mowing lawns, etc. Families I know today don't do it that way. My daughter, who has kids 10 and 8, agrees that her contemporaries our quite out of control when it comes to spending on their kids. She actually sticks to her guns when it comes to this. She sets limits on gift spending, and totally refuses to purchase elaborate stuff that will end up ignored, discarded or donated. So I don't believe that affordability plays a significant role in the decline of interest in guitars. Of course, it does play a role for families on the margin, but that's not really the thing. It boils down to a change in popular culture. When I was 13 I detested the pop music that predated rock: crooners, the Rat Pack guys like Sinatra and Dean Martin. I just did not resonate for my generation. The same thing is likely true of modern adolescents. To conclude, there are exceptions to the "guitar music is dead" thing. I have two nieces - both around 20 years old - who love guitar music. One is a talented violinist and singer. She recently posted a video of herself singing a Joan Baez song, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. My heart swelled!
My main point was not that guitars need to be more affordable, that's only part of it. Kids need to think guitars are cool again. You think they're cool and I think they're cool, but kids today see guitars as the sort of things that only old people think are cool.
@@HighlineGuitars Yes, I agree on that. I don't think there is a solution to this. Popular culture takes its own course. I (and many other people) worry about the insularity of modern western culture. Even when I was a kid, I noticed that some families had a musical culture that really encouraged kids. Although we lived in the midwest, I spent some time in the southern states. I got to know some families through church. It was fairly common there for a whole bunch of family members to play instruments, and to sing - they learned to sing harmony in parallel thirds from about the age of one or two. This was NOT true in my northern white Protestant family. In my family, it was standard piano or violin lessons or nothing, and for pete's sake don't wiggle your hips! If you have watched the series Tremé you can observe what a deep musical tradition (brass instruments) can do to encourage kids. Marching bands, drum lines, etc. In the US, black church choirs are a powerful, powerful force to encourage musicality. Or maybe that's changed too.... In contrast, these days kids insulate themselves with their earbuds and a cell phone. They may share enthusiasm their with contemporaries, but music is and electronic thing, not a wider community thing. Since WWII western culture - and commercial marketing - have made great efforts to create youth and adolescent subcultures that hold older generations in contempt. My grandfather died in 1972. He fought in WWI. He often used to tell me that, in his day "there were no teenagers". I did not understand this, and thought it was absurd. I now understand what he meant. Prior to WWII, people generally went from childhood to adulthood at about 15 years of age. Of course they were seen as "young adults", but not as a completely separate social class "teenagers". So, although age has likely always resulted in differences in attitude and taste, the ephemeral, transitory nature of modern youth culture is probably not going to go away soon.
Of anyone within my reach of my inner circle expresses the slightest interest in music, I get them what they want. I've given more guitars away than I can count. It doesn't stop there either. PA stuff...drums...amps...whatever...
I myself am a kid and Id like to say every kid plays guitar the days are gone when you played guitar to be unique and different I know about thirty kids in my year alone that play guitar
Wage stagnation is what you’re getting at. Not only are we butdened with more expensive purchases, but living expenses are 10-20 times higher as compared to wage than they were 40-50 years ago. As to the point of culture and that popular music is not being performed on real instruments: the average IQ of the world is decreasing, and in every doveloped western country as well. To appreciate good music, you’ve go to be at least so intelligent. Fewer and fewer people pass that threshold and so it’s unlikely that subtle, creative music will be appreciated at all.
@@mcmagnum people really lose it when you start to talk about IQ. snowflakes... unless that's not your problem with my synopsis. Make your point clear, coward!
Cameron Smith i agree that people can be smart in all sorts of ways. However, if that’s your opinion of IQ, i wonder why you think anyone bothers with IQ tests and studying correlations between IQ and life factors, etc... IQ correlates strongly with all sorts of things: read the Vox article titled: IQ, explained in 9 charts. would that make it a useful/statistically predictive metric?
They have things to pay off, but decent quality guitars were never cheaper than today. The entry in guitar playing with a decent guitar should make it more attractive. Personally, I think it's not that there aren't great players they want to be, the "play the guitar = get the chicks" mentality isn't alive anymore. When was the last time musicians wrecked a place or where in the news with a truckload of woman? Most guitar players are male, and the process to get together has changed. There often is no "youth hangout" of some sort where people get together and form a band. A lot is happening online, and in extreme cases people have month long "relationships" only by constantly texting before they meet, or they just swipe on their app, later exchange nudes and hook up the next day. The youth is getting less social "in real life", the option of taking your time to respond via text is prefered to listening to one's voice or seeing each other. Being someone/having skill is shown by followers/numbers of "friends" to some degree. But I think it will come back. At some point the youth will rebel against all the information and gizmo's they're bombarded with and go back. Maybe some new accessible guitar style has to come out, like grunge in the 90s. In the last few years the rock/metal genre came back. Maybe it just needs a few bigger than life guitar slingers with the rock'n'roll lifestyle. One last thing...maybe the youth is starting to worry about big problems coming towards them on a global scale and in their downtime, they just want an easy fix like games or watching tv series. You're absolutely right about the composing of music, there is too much emulation cause it's easy to get information on other players.
I think that kids have more college debt because the general public is devesting for college funding - so tuition carries more of the load. btw - any thought that starts with "the problem with kids today' is probably underinformed.
Видеоклипы
I work with a lot of kids.
Everything said in this video is absolutely true!
This is what Rob Halford thinks about smartphones: ruclips.net/video/tJxHPeqgrJc/видео.html
Everything said in this video is not only accurate but also the way it will be for long time if not forever 🕺
@@pattayapimp - I dunno, there’s always backlash. Things go one way then swing back the other way.
Return musical training as a priority to the school system. Teach kids music young and let them learn to appreciate it as art. They will find their own way back to the guitar. Learning a musical instrument is proven to build success in academics. It is a shame to let band and orchestra classes be stripped of funding.
You nailed it!
Guitars are more affordable now than they have ever been - $60 can buy something way more usable than it would 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Financial pressure isn't the issue - what's "cool" is. Fashion changes. All hope isn't lost - I'm sure i'm not the only one but my kid likes some non guitar stuff but is still guitar crazy and i'll do everything I can to keep ot that way! Guitars are here to stay....
My youngest is 13 - I was asked to teach her how to play a Passenger hit in 3 days. I even have a 24 fret 3/4 Ibanez - the first problem was getting her off her phone. The next ... It would mean cutting fingernails. Then getting the attention span ... Ashamedly I gave up and left her to use a keyboard.
To be fair as a teenager I was into synths big time. 1980s - everyone was. So I buy into fashion concept.
It is also a cultural thing. I leave my children to learn what they want - don't force them. Some other parents insist their children learn piano, violin, clarinet etc etc.
Interesting video. I agree with you pretty much all the way. Exept for learning how to play an instrument. Back in the days it was not that easy to learn how to play music. I remember I had had to buy a monthly magazine to learn licks and techniques. Nowadays RUclips is such an awesome resource. You can learn whatever tune or technique that you want. And it's way beyond music. You can learn anything. For free.
I know an internet access is not really free but kids will subscribe one anyway for email, socials... So basically learn from RUclips won't cost anymore.
I've learn a lot from you on how to make guitar (thanks a lot for this) and it didn't cost me anything.
Cheap guitars are everywhere, so that's not it. It's a fashion thing. Digital music is what's in right now, but that trend will probably change. Hard to say how long it will take, but we did have a similar wave in the eighties. At some point people will get fed up with that.
RUclips has changed our way of learning ... I call it Google with moving pictures :-). We are evolving back to cave drawings where stories are how information is handed down - rather than spending the time to structure and generate grammars for expressing and recording information.
The culture is "tell me" or "show me" - instantly - don't explain the breadth just a sound bite. And yet inspite of all these resources I think youngsters are getting less capable of developing critical thinking and problem solving because you can JFGI. The irony being how many folks ask for info ... As one person put it "imagine my surprise when I Googled JFGI".
All this to say even with these resources and cheap ok guitars it still takes 10000 hours of practice - coordinated undistracted effort to learn anything to expertise level and these darned phones are preventing that time. Hell I spend hours YT plus full time job plus music practice and performance in church plus ... - but in my youth I learnt expertise in a few areas and tech reinvents itself every 30 years so same old stuff coming around with a different name. Plus you don't need as much sleep as you get older. I can make the time.
Unless guitar can give instant gratification it's unlikely to complete against phones. At least that's how I see it. Rant over.
Really think You have great thoughts on this dilemma, Thank You
You make some really great points
I'm happy I started playing guitar at 11 that was 10 years ago. Always best to start off young. I never quit and still play guitar to this day.
Here's another issue involving cell phones. I'm 67 now. My father loved music. When I was very young I listened to Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Liszt, Wagner, etc. on a Radio Shack stereo. As my father prospered he moved to AR and Pioneer. By the time I was in high school and all through community college I was listening to all the above plus Joseph Zawinul, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, and Steely Dan on a Klipsch-Macintosh system. Chris, regardless of the level of music kids may listen to, they are listening primarily on cell phones. They have no idea how music of any complexity should actually sound. They have never heard any. You are also correct about current music trends. It's not always bad stuff musically but there are no idea heros backing it up.
Why would they? In the 90s, everyone played guitar, cus there was the grunge movement. Obviously things were gonna tail off after that. If you look at the really big bands right now, they're all either from the 80s or 90s or early 2000's. There hasn't been an album like Nevermind, that opens the floodgates for a whole bunch of bands to get signed or to get noticed. Festivals are still being headlined by Foo Fighters, Metallica, etc. And while both have inspired people to play guitar, the people they inspired have so far failed to pass the torch. Also...health and sefety, and licensing laws have made it much harder to find those little local gigs where you go with half the kids from your school, and realise that if you played guitar, you could be onstage, at the center of attention.
Very well put thats exactly what i say about the matter! Also I am class of 2020 and 90% of kids are ignorant to all aspects of music in every way. its sickening that im going to be 50 years old one day and the culture of music will be lost because my generation would rather make tiktoks then create intellectual property or learn a craft. :(
And also, internet ruined everything.
I agree with your thoughts, but I remember when I was in high school back in the early 60's being captivated by the Beatles being a simple group that went onstage with basic amps and guitars and made music that you could imagine yourself playing..... it was the start of the "garage band' and I was all in! I got a cheap Sears electric guitar and taught myself how to play and was in several rock, blues and jazz bands through high school and college. I think the current state of pop/rap music is missing the example of "do it yourself" basics and is far too overproduced and focused on superficial personality as the ultimate goal.
@Cameron Smith facts
I think the comments posted are very true. But the whole attitude in the music industry and the types of music being born these days as you alluded to is so much different than it was in the 70's and 80's. There was such a diversity of music and great players.
Quite frankly I think most of the music today has no soul and it sounds so much alike. Listening to music was an investment, albums, cassette tapes. Everything today is just about free. Who wants to make music to give it away.
Bad music has existed as long as music itself has existed, making such sweeping judgements about "today's music" is more telling of your own close mindedness than anything else. There was plenty of soulless factory made music in the 70s and 80s. It's funny how you complain about the accessibility of music nowadays but it's that same money-driven mindset that kills the soul in music
A lot of great points. Its interesting to see some of the up and coming pop stars using the acoustic guitar in the studio as a writing tool or for reference.
At the end of the day, the song will be recorded with all electronic instruments.
Perhaps getting kids to want to learn to sing, could spark an interest in guitar as an accompanying instrument.
I appreciate your perspective and bringing up this subject. Kids will do what they like. I think the bigger "but to crack" is how do we get kids liking guitar music and how do we create more opportunities for kids to play music in a band environment. Guitars are better than ever and cheaper than ever so cost of entry isnt an issue. A beginer guitar and amp used is easily under $300. A new phone can be around $1000. If I want something bad enough, I'm beg, borrow, and just my hump to get what we want and my kids are the same. Get them to want it badly enough and they will make it happen.
This is a really thoughtful conversation and it's super great to read equally thoughtful comments and opinions below. I think I would put the cost of guitars lower down the list of barriers to why kids are not playing guitars. Some kids have far more discretionary funds than I recall as a teenager. I think that there are some other social drivers that have a greater impact; 1. Kid's time is very scheduled now. Unlike the boomer generation, they have more events and more options that means they don't have down time to be creative. Kids are never bored. 2 Everything is competing with screen time. I watched my son play 7-hours of Playstation in one sitting. It was heartbreaking so when he showed interest in music, I was happy to invest in a good guitar. 4. With the transition to digital distribution of music, kids are listening to a lot of music but, it's in single downloads, etc. There isn't the need to listen to a whole album. When my daughter is playing music in the car, she never listens to a song the entire way through. 4. One of your listeners called out the defunding of music programs. I agree with the comment below that music programs helped kids in many ways.
What we need is a couple of good movies that feature young prodigies playing guitar. Archery sales blew up after the Hunger Games movie featured the heroin using a bow in the movie.
The music has shifted but, it shifted for the boomers too. Coming out of great guitar decades of the 50s, 60s, and 70s and the music shifted to disco and electronic pop in the mid-70's and 80s.
Just some thoughts
Its too painful on the fingers for people trying to learn so they abandon the effort.
Great video, and i agree with your points. I've played almost 20 years I'm 29 born in early 1990. I currently have a 6 string Schecter $400 a 7 string ltd $400 and a ibanez acoustic $300 an my amp is a marshall DSL100HR $749 which I got a great deal on from Sweetwater cause of a misprint. I've had more expensive gear but it always succumbed to bills needing to be paid. Point being, I'm a good player who plays everyday and sees playing guitar as hugely important in my life but I still can't afford a fender tele or strat or les paul. I do all the work on my guitars and turn them into a much nicer guitar then they started out as (fret level, electronics change, pickup change, new nuts and bridges, tuners etc. Completly upgrade them one part at a time when I can afford it). But each time I want a new guitar I have to buy guitars that are marketed towards beginners which drive me crazy and often are b stock or open box. I've played too long and consider myself a good enough player so i think I should be able to afford a quality guitar that i can be proud of that can be taken seriously. Anyways I'm very grateful for the instruments I have but I'd love to have at least one name brand QUALITY guitar that's a solid well made instrument like a telecaster that I can modify with a bigsby. My point with all this again is that so many times my friends and I who can play very well are playing on beginner or intermiadiate instruments cause we can't afford a guitar that matches our skill level. I'm sure I'll eventually get a chance to get a nice guitar like I got my amp with my tax return but even then I had more important bills but I knew that was my one chance so I bought the amp and ate oatmeal for a couple weeks lol, worth it btw. A little light at the end of this tunnel is sites like zzounds which I've used a few times and will certainly use again. If anyone reading this isn't familiar they have a no credit check no interest buisness model for anything on their site. The payments at first without credit check will be 4 as in you'll pay your first payment and a 3.95 fee which is a processing fee and that's the only bit extra you pay and then for the next 3 months you pay a 3rd of what's left on the balance or more if you want to pay it off early. So you make a payment when you order plus the 3.95 processing fee and they send it to you immediatly. Then each month you make a payment until it paid off. I've always paid my stuff off early but I hear they are very flexible If you think your going to be behind on a payment as long as you call ahead of time to let them know. If it wasn't for the fact I haven't been working much for the last year for a medical reason that will last about 1 more year then I'd use them to get that tele I mentioned earlier. So there is ways for those of us who have too many financial responsibilities to get the gear that would match our skill level but it shouldn't be this difficult. Not to mention we should be saving for retirement but people my age for the most part are hardly making it by as it is. Putting away money is a fantasy for most of us. Don't get me started on healthcare.....uh....now I'm rambling.
I came into this expecting "kids have no respect for good music", but a lot of this is right on point. I bought my first guitar, a mid tier RG series Ibanez, in high school at age 17 in 2007. I still have and play that guitar. The only other guitar I've ever had that I bought myself is a Squire Telecaster that I bought last year. Coming out of college I didn't land a career type job. Now I just have a bunch of debt. I'd love to have a collection of guitars, but the guitar I have works (even if I need to rewire it), making everything beyond that pure luxury with no practicality. I'm not going from no guitar to jam with my friends if I pick up something new, I'm just going to one more thing to make my shared living spaces messy. Ain't got the space, ain't got the money.
I do, however, feel like the main guess at why people aren't playing guitar more these days is a bit off base. I see a lot of people in their 20s on stage playing guitar. The problem isn't that there are no bands, the problem is that they can't make a living off it. It is very much the money element, from my standpoint, and not the popularity element. Music earns a pittance, it's not treated like a job, it's just one more piece in my generations never ending list of side hustles. Everyone I grew up with that plays in local bands now gets up in the morning and goes to work at something else. The obscenely talented kids from Jazz band? One stocks shelves and the other does audio work for a church. My best friend and one of the other guys from the group of guitar kids? One's a mechanic the other works retail. Me? Perpetual contract job and stretching funds to make ends meet.
All of us have college degrees, none of us have careers and there's no where to move upwards to. Our jobs aren't going to move us upwards, and the money in the music world is so concentrated in marketing and trend chasing that it's not getting down to a wider array of different artists. I see that more as an affect of economic system. There's less money in music, because the music itself was commodified and as soon as it became commodified it became a way to not just make a living, but a way to make a profit. And then the bottom line becomes profit, and the money is only distributed to people who can turn a profit. Long enough at that and you end up homogenizing stuff, because one thing is always going to be more profitable. Focus on profits and you choke the less profitable out by forcing the artists out, limiting their exposure, or forcing listeners to chose what they listen to if they want it. In the 90s, we got the last one, today we have the first two, but it's all the same problem. If we lived in an economic system that provided people more freedom to live more diverse lives, and required less worrying about efficiency, more people would choose to play guitar.
Kids gravitate toward electronic music because it's accessible via means that are more efficient. Need a computer to do school work? Cool, you have something that can also make music. Got enough cash for a cheap mic? Cool, you can add vocals to that. Making music doesn't work out or you lose interest? That's fine, you still have a computer to use for years. That efficiency creates the popularity, because there's more of that music than the rest, and because there's more of it, and more people listening to it as a result, it becomes the thing that is most profitable and becomes the thing people to aspire to make as a result. It's not even about the price of the guitar. Squires are dirt cheap. If you wanted to learn guitar, a couple video games skipped over or a shopping trip passed up and you have one with a practice amp. It's really that commodification of our lives, that need to be efficient. The guitar is not efficient, in time or form.
I play my electric guitar outside sometimes, i live in a community. I bring my microcube amp outside and my guitar and i play it. Lots of the kids always want to try it out and want to learn how to play. Hopefully me playing will inspire them to pick one up somewhere down the road I’m already trying to get them into rock and it’s been working pretty good.
Very cool!
I agree with many that cost is not the issue. There are thousands and thousands of new and used guitars (and amps) all around the world with a price to suit EVERY budget. Price and choice have never, ever been better. Not to mention the myriad of online media about gear and what to buy, how to play etc. To me the biggest issue is definitely the cool factor. Rap has taken over and they just need a computer, a voice and some lyrics. Why take up playing an instrument that a) isn't "cool" and b) is too bloody hard to learn! This is the 'click' generation - click and you get - no need to work hard at something as optional as playing a guitar for recreation. Learning the guitar takes passion and most of us players have been driven by a band or an artist we idolised and we worked hard to learn a few chords to experience the buzz. What we need is a rock n roll revolution! We can't leave it all up to the Metal genre to keep guitars alive. Without Metal, where would the guitar world be???
I watch some of the reaction videos the younger generation is posting on RUclips when classic videos are recommended to them.
When the total amazement look in their eyes is so blatant, it gives me hope that the art of actually playing an instrument may not be totally lost. The glimmer of hope that they might want to do as they've seen and heard, is what will keep it alive.
It is a satisfaction thing. Most humans will continue an activity that provides satisfaction, and the easier the activity is to get that satisfaction results in wanting to do that activity. Guitar, like many musical instruments including digital ones, requires time and learning to become satisfying.
I think it will honestly rely on a combination of parental and peer influence to continue to grow the guitar industry. Some areas have schools that allow for a "show and tell day" or "learning fair". This may offer an opportunity for local guitarists and guitar builders to come out and play. I remember playing in front of a group of 3rd graders, and afterwards I had at least 5 of them asking how to get a guitar and learn. Do that at an open event and you might be able to talk the parents into getting lessons and building a new generation of guitarists.
i disagree. i've been playing guitar for a month now and it gives more satisfaction than whatever, most people my age play videogames all day, i play guitar all day. I LOVE IT.
I think you are partially correct. There are so many other factors to consider. I think everyone will agree that developing the skills required to be able to play in a professional environment takes years of practice, lots of mentorship, lessons ect. and a bit of luck so its a huge commitment and cost. Most every kid that purchases a music instrument really wants to aspire to a be great (rockstar) so to speak but............
Secondly, we have no stepping stones available anymore. I speak as a working musician that has played a bit more than 4000 live gigs. When I was young, I could sit it with other bands for a few songs and that provided me with some very valuable experience. I would love to be able to give that
Hey Chris,
I'm seeing more of this type of question and concern in the past year or so "Why are kids not interested in electric guitar?", and " How do we get kids involved with electric guitar?"
You touched on a big point with kids of the last 20 years...too many alternate entertainment choices are available. Between all the cable channels, streaming services, RUclips, Twitch, Twitter, Snapchat, PC games, phone games, console games, portable console games...there are too many "stimulating and easy" entertainment choices available that require little to no skills, but require the same level of funds to procure as to outfit a practice rig.
I will say that in my area there are guitar specific and rock band specific curriculum in the Jr. High/High schools, and I am involved with them. Some of the kids are amazingly talented shred-beasts and aside from their vocal pitch being higher than the original singer, can cover songs with a high degree of proficiency. While this may not be the norm, it is encouraging.
With the music industry moving away from musicians and more toward samples, loops, and canned production methods via DAW plug-ins, the making of "music" is a few clicks/keystrokes to something that sounds appealing. Learning an instrument and the 10,000 hours to mastery becomes unappealing in comparison.
How to sell more guitars? Good question.
Idols and icons...the "guitar heros"...would certainly help, as would reasonable pricing from major label manufacturers. The higher prices should be reserved for the Luthier as these are hand-crafted Bespoke instruments. The guitar may also need to undergo an electronics nd materials update/upgrade to incorporate composite materials to reduce/eliminate damage and warping, and electronics for more of the tonal/sonic manipulations, or to allow for direct headphone connection for practice (no amp needed). This is very possible with modeling systems no larger or more complex than an old iPhone and AD/DA box.
Just my thoughts on the topic.
I wish there were video responses like in the past... anyway great video, as a guitar teacher myself, I agree with most of this. I may do mine, in spanish for the latin american market.
I really love this video. I'm 25, and started playing when I was 14, so 11 years ago. What was huge 11 years ago that caused a reasonably sized resurgence in youth guitar playing? Guitar Hero. A video game. In my opinion, the solution lies less inside new music featuring The electric guitar (though I agree that it needs to happen regardless), and moreso in coming up with a universal medium to show kids how *fun* playing guitar can be.
I reckon there will be a resurgence eventually I can see it beginning to happen here in Ireland and parts of Europe, especially Scandinavia and Germany where Metal is very popular. The introduction of reasonably playable guitars are extremely popular and the likes of Thomann are getting bigger and bigger. When i was learning in Dublin in the 80s there were 2 shops now there are at least 6. Most have opened up in the last 5 years so all may be not lost.
100% spot on!
OK, here's my take on this subject. Guitar magazines, shows, etc all seem to imply you need a PRS, a Vintage Strat or Gibson to be a good player or to stand out in the crowd. I too build guitars, but it's more of a hobby than a business. When a company like those mentioned whip out thousands on a CNC a week, and charge way too much, where is the market? Not with kids. And actually, how many semi pro or pro players are going out there and buying the latest and greatest when a really well setup lower priced guitar will fill the bill. You can play a five thousand custom guitar, in concert in front of thousands, do you really think that fan knows what your playing or for that matter, can even hear the music with all the noise. I read in Premier Guitar where a well know player's favorite, on stage ax is a Fender Squire. Yes, he has a good guitar tech, but. So I'll build my own style bodies, buy necks on Amazon, buy decent pickups, bone nut, other good parts. I don't buy the tone wood bull, all my bodies are $20.00 Alder blanks, I don't need the latest pedal, I use a Fender reverb amp many years old, get the picture. I think the big name guitar factories are killing the sales themselves. Guess we're from the same old school.
we could lower prices of guitar, even make lessons free but you cant put a price on motivation and kids have no motivation to pick up an instrument.. its just the truth.. its a cultural thing.
The problem is that there is no App for people so that they can instantly play guitar..."it's too hard"
Hey Chris,
My name is Mike owner of Black diamond custom guitar shop and I liked your video, and it’s something I’ve thought about a lot myself,
I agree with you that it needs to be addressed somehow if we can why younger people aren’t picking up traditional instruments as much.
I think a lot of the comments are good that people have posted,
I also think that younger bands such as Greta van fleet in their early 20s making what I think is really good music and using traditional band instruments guitar, bass & drums etc. will possibly Spark younger musicians to want to pick up an instrument and learn to play like we all did.
Just my 2-cents👍🎸
Speaking of Greta van fleet, this is what kids need to see and learn: ruclips.net/video/09r98guvvqU/видео.html That's what it should take to be cool, popular, and attract members of the opposite sex. Not social media and video games.
Well it's pretty easy to figure out... think back at why you picked up the guitar and got into them. Your heroes were playing them in the music they played and you listened to. He hit it right on the head with the digital music part of it. None of the music kids are listening to have real instruments anymore, and the only real instruments they hear are on their dad's classic rock stations. Only way to fix this issue is having a complete cleanse on the music industry and starting over, and we all know how likely that is.
Kids these days with little to no musical knowledge can quickly install a few pieces of inexpensive software (or pirate them) and start making music in minutes with a few clicks of the mouse. Software like fruity loops lets them make "beats" like their favorite rappers and then they just go and post those on soundcloud and have an opportunity to get noticed by a few people and may even are able to sell a few of these to other inspiring musicians who want to focus on vocals rather than music making.
I don't think it's a expense issue these kids are having, I think it's a instant gratification issue rather. They want to be good immediately and don't want to put in the time and effort learning a real instrument when they can crank out a full song in a few hours after clicking their mice and tapping a few keys on their keyboard.
Another thing worth mention is how music is almost not taught in schools anymore. I teach guitar at two schools and there is almost no music class any more. When I was in school music was an every week class. Now its a fortnightly class every 6 months and its more performing arts
As a kid who plays gutiar I think being exposed to music has alot to do with it. I go to a school where we all play orchestral instraments and i have noticed that when i started to share with my friends what i have done on gutiar they get super excited and want to play. Schools and parents need to have more musical opportunities for the kids because playing sompthing like a violin can change the way you look at music. Violin was not som0thing I was looking forward to but it made me interested in music and now I play the electric gutiar and the violin.
@DurdyClaude I have heard of rocksmith it looks super fun
In my experience, the best way to get kids to do something is to tell them not to do it!. I went to high school in the late 80s and there were maybe 5 people I knew that played guitar. People tend to fantasize about the days of yore. 2020 saw record sales of guitars for the big manufacturers. Yes some was due to the pandemic but not all of it. My 6 year old daughter is surrounded by guitars, ukuleles, pianos and has little interest in playing any of them. She loves music though and even likes guitar based music. One of her favorite songs is Crazy Train. All I can do is keep her exposed to music, take her to live shows and hope it sparks something at some point. Schools will never get kids interested in guitar. They never have.
It's important to understand who the big manufacturers sell most of their guitars too. It's not you and me (the consumers), it's the retailers (the customers). And what the retailers can't sell is either returned or written off.
@@HighlineGuitars True. At my local Guitar Center they barely have any guitars to sell and are constantly pestering people to sell back their used gear. I know GC had the bankruptcy thing but I've heard the same about other stores. To your point in the video, much of the boom has been driven by middle aged men who got a stimulus check that roughly covered the cost of a nice guitar. Not exactly sustainable.
Great subject and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Frank Ocean, Tyler The Creator, or even going back to Tupac or Biggie, some of the more respected artists in the hip-hop genre usually includes a guitar track that plays a significant role (regardless of it being sampled or not). The more popular but transient artists that you might be speaking of most often do not. Even if 'rock' music may never be as popular as it once was, and hip-hop continues to be, if kids are exposed to decent music (created by true artists with respect to music and not for popularity), then naturally, I think, the guitar would be sought out because it almost always complements any genre of music.
The ukulele business is booming at every price point.
Ugh. Great sustain, those Ukes. Flowing, sensitive, melodic. LOL
Because hipsters love the ukelele
There has never been a better time to buy inexpensive, decent guitars than now. I can remember buying an inexpensive Squire Strat for ~$130 in 1970. Using one of the inflation calculators that works out to ~$850 today. A guitar of similar quality can be had for about $100 or less now. The same can be said about inexpensive, modeling amps for
The rush of Earbuds for listening to music has caused a shift in music to what earbuds can reproduce accurately/well which is voice and drum kits. Guess what kinds of music kids are most interested in .. vocals and beats. Added to the kids want to spend $300 to $1,000 on phones plus the monthly service fees and there is no cash to buy guitars even if they somehow listen to music with guitar playing in it. The other factor is inexpensive guitars -- kids are used to video games where the intro level is super easy and level ten is hard but guitar companies flipped that around so the hardest to play guitars are the ones kids start on and the easiest to play are the level ten custom shop models.
I'm a hobby guitarist, but as a career i manage social work so i meet a lot of kids, hear about their problems indirectly thru the small talk at work. And i would say that we have never been in a time where conformity, obedience, appearences and not rocking the boat has been more important than now. Who's going to rebel or be a rock or punk musician when you can render yourself unemployable for the rest of your life, when a few few corporations ruled by a few few people decide everyones future.
I do think that the contemporary culture of the day is a reflection of the society that produce it, and we do have dark, scared and frankly mostly stupid times. Eventually it will change, it always does.
And until then i'll be in the basement, playing my old worn planks.
There are a lot of factors involved money is certainly a factor. I think people in general seek out instant gratification. You're not instantly gratified playing a musical instrument. It is a lifetime of playing achieve that satisfaction that someone can get instantly with an electronic device such as a video game, the computer and the like. I don't think you will see the guitar Heroes that we once saw when we were kids sadly ever again. But all we can do is encourage kids to take an instrument up whether it be guitar, bass, drums, keys or even orchestral instruments. Encourage your kids to take part in music programs. There might still be hope but that is our only hope. Just my humble opinion.
A lot of kids around me think playing music with instruments is novel. They're aren't interested. It's also a lot of work to learn how to play an instrument well, so that is a turn off to them. On the flip-side, I teach a band of 11 year old girls that play well together, and listen to all kinds of music, esp Rock. It's very far and few between though. Great video.
Do you suppose jazz trumpet players and saxophone players had similar thoughts 40-50 years ago?
I grew up in Cincinnati, OH. Before the Beatles, the main instrument for kids was the accordion. 5 or 6 of my grade school friends had them and were really good. Absolutely true! After the Beatles, all accordion sellers were gone. Time marches on.
There a some huge issues with most articles and stories regarding this subject. One of the first issues, is that most of these stories they interview places like Norms Rare Guitars and listen to them complain how sales are dwindling. First off no mere mortal can really afford to buy from Norm's so right off they story is skewed. Let's face it, to by a new quality guitar is expensive. Kids are buying guitars and amps but it's now the used market like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. They are used but they are a lot more affordable. Kids are playing, more than the older generations want to realize. There is also a lot of music out there that is both acoustic guitar and or electric guitar. The other thing besides high new guitar prices is that we have killed music and arts in a lot of schools. So that early bug isn't there like it was. After my rambling it comes down to this, kids are playing but they are buying things used. There still is a lot of guitar/electric guitar music out there to drive kids. It's not all rap/hip hop and samples that the older generations like to think. There is also an amazing amount of free education out there to learn. It's happening it's just the "olds" aren't seeing it.
I also find what you say is very true. I also think there's a couple of other things at work here to. One. The new music technology. Now with modern tech you don't have to spend years studying guitar and music theory and you don't have to hire or pay or put up a band. You can be a band of one. You just buy a midi and setup the music type you want and the software will make you sound like a full band. I've seen a pop music or hip-hop band come out on stage with 20 dancers, a lead singer or rapper and no band. No instruments at all. Just a guy with a laptop and a bunch of music software and that's all they need to do a complete show. Technology has changed a we do thing and that includes music. Me, I stink at guitar, but I love to practice and feel the instrument in my hand and hear the sounds that my fingers produce. But, young musician's see that as " old school."
I feel price is not the issue at all. I am one of those young kids you talk about early in the video who are playing today at a young age. I'm 18 now and picked up an electric for the first time when I was 10 and it cost my father around 250 for the crappy starter guitar and small amp. I learned how to play 100 percent for free without taking any lessons or paying for online courses, all I needed was RUclips and other online guitar communities. It has to do more with social aspects. I am often the only kid in a classroom that can play guitar or even enjoy rock n roll, metal etc. I am often not praised or looked up at for my ability to play due to guitar being such a niche hobby nowadays. Also once you become a teenager time becomes a big issue with all the pressures of getting into college. AP courses, standardized testings, scholarship competition, work, college itself. All this takes up so much time I can barely play myself for an hour a day let alone imagine what it would be like picking up the guitar for the first time at this age. 250 dollars is not hard for a teen with a job to get but getting that 3 hours a day or more like I had at 10 is almost impossible on top of the fact there is little pop culture influence telling you to learn. Overall I do not regret learning guitar for it is my favorite past time and a high passion of mine as I'm in a local band with people similar to me writing music with a dream I can drop all these modern college pressures and play for a living.
Tom Morello recently expressed similar sentiments, and he's right. There are lots of good, cheap guitars and parts and the money is there to buy them, but it's being spent on gadgets instead. Instant gratification and "multi-tasking" have made making long term commitments almost foreign to many kids and their parents. Not to mention the fact that even "simple" music of today is quite difficult compared to a few generations ago, which can be very daunting to new players, as well. Thankfully, a little inspiration goes a long way. One or two good guitar heroes can be enough to spark a renewed interest, but I don't think it will be in the traditional Blues/Rock/Jazz/Country genres. The guitar companies, festivals and other outlets like RUclips would also be wise to broaden their appeal outside the typical guitar show shredder dude. More variety across the board probably wouldn't hurt and is a cheap and easy way for the companies to broaden their customer base.
Kids today are too busy with their noses in their cellphones. There's always been costs associated with playing, but kids just want to do what everyone else is doing. Their parents could buy them a $350 Gretsch Electromatic, but they have to have the new iphone. I've offered to teach my nieces how to play, but they had zero interest.
It also doesn't help that every hit song is written by the same two guys, and nobody actually performs. When you pick up the new issue of Rolling Stone and they call the Black Eyed Peas, who don't play instruments, the hottest "band" in the country, then it's not hard to see where the problem is.
You hit the nail on the head. Is it cool? Will it attract the Girls. It used to and being in a band in general was about as cool as being the star high school quarterback.
For me anecdotally, There is just so much more in the way of music due to electronic music which in itself has many different styles. Not counting top 40. Many people think the electronic music you hear on the radio is pretty much the only sound you can make. Because of this it's why people think electronic music isn't real music because it sounds too digital and robotic whereas good electronic musicians can make purely electronic music sound emotive.
I spent a while learning guitar, and while it was fun in itself, over time I became addicted to electronic music creation. Also experimental electronic music. Because of midi and such I felt like it was easier to get my ideas out there very quickly due to the insane control you have over audio. Whereas with really any acoustic instruments, it takes a few years before you are competent enough to come up with decent music, and you have to join a band really to create fully fledged rock music. Otherwise you will have to also learn bass guitar, drums, and cowbell.
In addition electronic music you create each part in the song/track and it stays the way you made it.
I started with trying to learn guitar, and I did slowly get better. But after I started making electronic music, not a month later I was making full tracks on a DAW, making melodies, chord progressions, drums, pads, leads, bass, etc.
It was so much more fun than the guitar so I tried to force doing both at once but over time I just lost interest in learning it.
I watched some vids on the subject. Everyone seems to ignore the fact that children/younger people today lack a long attention span. Entertainment today is basically swiping on your phone searching for something "thrilling". Swiping. Changing constantly. Never focusing on a subject. It is even the same with books as chance to escape the everyday life. Go to a library and ask how much is "the clientele" reduced nowdays. The new way of life has focusing on the back burner. Guitar is something that needs focus, needs practice. And it is outdated because it is really hard especially in the beginning to have great results. Persistence is not
something preferred in this day and age.
Couldn't agree more. There are far too many entertainment options and distractions now. In simpler times, we had more time on our hands, we heard mainly guitar music and we were motivated to learn it. If kids are not listening to guitar based music, why would they want to learn guitar? Guitar playing on many older songs was relatively easy to learn, once basic skills had been grasped, so it was easier to achieve satisfaction. The market became swamped with wannabe guitar bands, reducing the opportunities to get pub gigs and climb the ladder to wider recognition.
There's always going to be a healthy demand for guitars but maybe it has peeked and it is now sliding down the other side of blueberry hill? Maybe a retro craze for routes music will re-ignite it? It's not that important in the scheme of things, because there are far more worrying aspects in our societies right now.
Rocksmith works actually pretty good pulling people to play guitar.
But what we really would need is similar opensource software (cause ubisoft and DRM bad)
I think the death of guitar driven music was partly caused by the 1996 telecoms act that deregulated media ownership and consolidated radio broadcasting into the hands of 2 or 3 companies and took regionalism completely out of the equation. I think that killed the local band to regional band to national band pipeline that got kids out to live shows they could actually afford and inspired them to pick up guitars in the first place. The other big component is the new marketplace for music, having big tech companies like youtube and music streaming services making most of the money off of music and paying pennies to artists and smaller record labels. I am almost 40 now and started playing guitar because of Green Day and I was prime age for the punk resurgence of the mid-90s. Bands on an indie label like Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph could make a very good living selling 100,000 records in 1999, even without radio attention, but Napster killed that, and even though streaming services killed music piracy, the money never returned to the smaller labels that acted as a rock and roll farm system for the major labels, and these massive media conglomerates are very risk averse and aren't interested in developing new talent.
Boy, you really nailed it.
How many guitars have been manufactured since say 1955? I think there are plenty guitars out there!
What about the piano? Once everywhere - now you can't even give 'em away. Let the youth enjoy making music on their laptops - some of them may even do something great...
It's so true!!!! It's so sad!!!!
And don't forget...the guitar🎸 (& all instruments) have to compete against the all-mighty video games, which often occupie more of their time than schoolwork (yes, really), & for which they put allot of their money into as well...
I agree with you on this with the new technology and how this new generation of kids are playing a musical instrument is no longer their cup of tea even with the myriads of way of learning in the web, plus I sea them doesnt have the patience to sit down and learn something much tedious as a musical instrument. They’d rather burn their hours paluing on consoles. I reckon by another decade guitar player will be a dime a dozen.
My kiddo plays trumpet in school for a couple years now. He’s got a natural music ability. He does all the advance and technical stuff with very little to no work and practice. I’ve tried teaching him guitars.
His response, it’s too much work, isn’t their an app for this. 😐
There are more apps for that than for any other instrument. Hell...maybe more than all other instruments combined
I can say this, most luthiers don't even do raffling or do charitable events for guitar builds. If some luthier does that, they can get their sales back up. You have to give something to make something.
i have good faith it'il come back tho
Very good points. I'll add another. The school system dropped music programs in the 90s-2000s! No interest in music = none of the small amount of people who used to switch from Band instruments to Guitar/Bass/Drums/Keys just don't exist! it all starts somewhere, and right now, it's the musically inclined parents influencing new musicians (Greta Van Fleet) or they just become pop singers...the few that even get seen. (sounds like the pre-Rock and Roll times...what comes around...)
So sad but so true...
Totally agree. However, I am not sure that making the guitars cheaper would help… I’ve been playing for almost 50 years. My first guitar was cheap and… unplayable. When I turned 16, I invested all my savings in a quality instrument and it made a HUGE difference on my ability to improve. Nowadays, you can quite easily get a used Epiphone Les Paul Special II for $100 and it is a very decent guitar. It is absolutely true that, more and more, kids are seeing the electric guitar as a “geriatric” musical instrument but I believe this is exacerbated by the fact that there are probably too many guitars on the market for the number of potential musicians. The used guitar market is flooded with instruments (many of which are coming from Asia and/or are fake copies of guitars from reputable brands) that are getting increasingly harder to sell. Globalization is largely responsible for this situation. People should be encouraged to “buy from their local luthier” instead of buying “big brand” instruments that are made abroad simply to maximize profit…
Technology, budget, mainstream music industry greed, axis of awesome, repetitive feeding of this crap music through most radio stations who play the same top 20 - 100 songs all day long.
The few good guitar teachers online who try to do good and spread knowledge for a few bucks and get copyright strikes for playing a chord or chord progression or even humming a melody in a very small section of their videos by the devil WMG and co. and the music industry political lobbying towards tougher copyright laws so they can squeeze every last penny out of content creators work.
Music's become pure rough business and there goes the fun of it.
They are playing Guitar Hero. Actually, as a teacher I see kids these days throwing all of their time and energy into their phones and entertainment rather than spend the time to learn a skill.
IMHO point has to be researched at the start of the chain..
Music no longer sells, expecially the PLAYED one..
those that are still on the biggest stages now, are only bands that are followed from whom were kids and young guys in the 70's 80's and 90's: US!
I'm 42 and remeber that in high school, most of us used to play an instrument at that time, since our idols were the long haired guys banging on the stage..
actual idols for the kids instead are the pure reflection of modern life, where you always search for a shortcut to the "glory" even if you have no talent or skill AT ALL.. and so Music is made with samples and a laptop and a cool "bad guy" attitude.. or even worse, when music is confused with
the DJ job..
I think kids are just more interested in computer related activities now than playing a pastime instrument. It comes down to attention span. If it takes months to get satisfaction from an activity you can pretty much nix it from a kids interest these days. Everything is fast and immediate. A cheap guitar still requires months to learn a decent tune. Its not a way for kids to socialize anymore either. People used to start bands to share common interests. Now there are multiple online forums/games to satisfy this
The big problem with youths today is they have no musicianship in modern music, it is corporate driven formulas for music. We had great musicians to follow and emulate. I.E led Zeppelin, Rush, Allman brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie wonder, SRV, etc.
Fact is higher education costs are out of control. The median income that used to support the ability to pay for higher education is gone.
I‘d like to add one or twp major reasons why kids won‘t learn to play guitar (mainly any instrument) anymore.
The e-guitar doesn‘t play a role in most of the mainstream music anymore. The time of guitar heroes is over. Most of modern (programmed) music does not need guitar sounds at all.
Of course there are guys like ed sheeran who kind of pushes the instrument - which is a big deal for martin as an endorser - but 90% of the rest is silence. Shortly: no need to learn the instrument any more...
Second: YT has made a big change of mind and social behaviour.
I have been a guitar and bass teacher for 20years. I realized that kids dont have the endurance any more. They start out passionate but as soon as it gets to hard work and practise they quit. Its easier to watch, to consume, than to learn. This is the downside of worldwide „free“ information via YT.
If YT decided to push it they could move the industry into new heights.., imho.
The major guitar manufacturers have missed to jump the train, as well as the major record labels missed to cope with social media, streaming and self-publishing possibilities of artists.
people in general don't play instruments anymore
Probably because guitars are overpriced and the guitar golden age is gone, the music now a days is so different than in the 70\80\90s that doesn't attract kids to get into it, also kids today want instant gratification, they want to grab a guitar and be able to shred right away, or they give up so only the ones that really like will succeed for being patient.
I completly agree with most of your points, im not a kid but i'm only 22, and i bought my first guitar (acoustic) about 6 years ago by a drunk man for 30 bucks and it was the start of my journey and in the beginnings i felt really bad because weeks trying to play something and i couldn't do anything yet until i finally played something that was a theme from a videogame and that made me fell happy, by that time i started to know the fi fingerboard , where each sound is at and things like that, i just now like 3 months ago got money to buy a eletric one and finding a good guitar for less than 100€ was a challenge, i ended up buying a Kit and assemble it myself because it was cheaper, and youtube was not much help because most youtube channels are either guys from the 80s that say gibson and fender are the only good guitars and the rest is garbage and kinda overwhelm the new players with all the technical details that we don't understand and it's a hard huge drawback, i say it, the guitar industry is overpriced to the bare bone, i see you working in your vids and tou even do the pickups by hand and i can totally see why a guitar like that can be expensive, it's hand made and you put a lot of care into it, now big brands that make their guitars on china with cheaper copper alloy in the pickups and "chinesium" metal in the slugs, and all kind of outsourced materials they charge 100, 200 bucks for those parts, they sell them 10x or 20x more expensive than the original manufacturing price just because it says "gibson" or "fender" and that outsourcing problem has been increasing in the industry, all they do in quality control and branding, and the guitars can reach the price of a car, all the work is made by machines so there is no excuse to sell them so expensive and that drives everyone away, i saw a screw selling for 3$, a small metal plate for 20$, thats ridiculous, people see that guitar is a very expensive hobby and back off to do something else and kids don't have the money for that, and playing guitar is a skill that takes time and kids nowadays just give up if they can't do it immediately
I think that the point of interest shifted, I call the new generation the "Screen generation", all they do is waste time behind one screen or another. Today you can actually buy a very descent used guitar for $300 and that goes for any guitar related equipment as well,
it's way more affordable now. when I was a kid it was unheard of. but back in the day the fire was much bigger,
The interest is a totally different issue, it's a social issue.
You nailed it
I think Ubisoft did it right to help get more interest and make it fun to learn guitar with their game Rocksmith. Problem is not many kids know about it and they were really bad with their naming of it since it's called Rocksmith 2014 Remastered (now) and kids will look at it thinking it's an old outdated game. It combines real guitar with the Guitar Hero type gameplay.
Children should not have any money issues for guitars.
Firefly, Solo and all over Amazon.
I do see your point about the psychological side of seeing someone older performing Vs younger.
Your other point is also relevant about what is on display on stage.
Shredding and the crap called Rapping has a negative influence on music making. Both styles infer violence when the Guitar playing in the 40s through the 70s was a clever method of making and adorning music.
The problem is that today's children do have money problems because there is so much more competition for what they have in their wallets compared to children 30 years ago.
I see your point.
It's probably bad judgment on their part.
Skipping the purchase of a Guitar that could be an investment towards their educational and financial future vs buying an iPod nano, which is worthless for furthering their future in music.
Kids will learn to play guitar only if they have the inner desire and motivation to do so. You either have that or you don't. Also.....most parents would happily buy their kids a guitar so price is not an issue. There are just too many other fun things to do where you get immediate gratification......an instrument takes time to get to a level where you're going to start enjoying it. Most kids these days just don't have the patience to get to that level.
Things go in cycles. Guitars will come around again. Also you can buy an Epiphone for $100!
I see young people playing in rock bands. But they aren’t as common as in our day.
At the same time it’s easier to make and record your own songs. I wish we had this technology back when I started!
The truth is videos like these. Yeh your right on saying " games,phones, blah blah. The likes of youtube and interweb has broadened their interests beyond having something to do. Me as a parent am guilty of allowing video games in my child's life. I have and play guitars all over the house and he still ain't interested haha. It's how we encourage said kids to play an instrument or console....,...,..
Tech and the Internet as a whole have made young people expect instant gratification, which we all know is not associated with mastering an instrument. Rocksmith is a fantastic, fast learning tool,, but the developer Ubisoft is in it only to rake in as much cash on DLC as they can. I understand a business has to make money, but it limits how quickly you learn to a weekly investment. If something like that were free, I think many more would take advantage of it.
It became popular to play guitar in North America and Europe when the popular musicians of the day played guitar. Kids truly started learning guitar en masse when they saw Elvis, Chuck Berry and all those great early pop sensations who played guitar. That first wave inspired the next wave, likes of Hendrix, Page, Clapton. This second wave inspired the third and final wave; Slash, Steve Tyler, jack black, the edge and all the alternative and punk scene guys of the 80s and 90s. Name me one chart topping band in the past 20 years who has an up front guitarist....name me a chart topping "recording artist" in the past 20 years who even knows how to play an instrument at a high level. I'm not talking modern day chart toppers in specific genres like jazz or country, I'm talking chart topping youth oriented music. There are none. In an age where mumble wrappers are the new musical heroes there is zero attention paid to learning and perfecting musical ability let alone learning an instrument. Its up to us guitar playing moms and dads to turn our kids on to the guitar and vast library which makes the instrument great. Depending on the momentum of society to lead our children to great music is a thing of the past.
A new punk movement might be the answer. It's violently aggressive, the equipment is generally lower-end, less expensive stuff, and the music is not as technically demanding. And not a lot of time spent learning scales, arpeggios and music theory. Strap it on, plug it in, turn it up and start banging on it and see where it goes.
One of the driving forces that made me want to become a bass guitarist was the chance of playing in front of thousands of people in a band. Granted only 1/10% ever make it to the levels of Iron Maiden and Metallica (which we will never see again). That was very appealing to my 13 year old self in the late 80s. Being in a band was one of the best things I ever experienced, but I never "made it." I didn't live in LA, San Fran, or New York where the scenes were all over the place.
MTV and radio are basically dead these days. In fact MTV is Empty TV zero calorie content (screw you Viacom) and radio is so corporate controlled that you will always hear the same crap repeated over and over. There's no real motivation anymore for kids to aspire to be the rock star. So why pick up a guitar?
Another reason I feel is that over saturation of untalented bands and musicians killed off any hopes of getting known. Pay to play (which started way back in the early 80s and to the extent in the late 70s) made the motivation for kids to want to play. Begging friends to buy tickets just to get a gig is horrible, and that's on top of club owners not paying a band or artist even if they were promised.
One other side is technology and the "cool factor." Applications like Studio One and Pro (Slow) Tools gave EVERYONE the chance to create music, but it doesn't breed talent. In fact there's a lot of terrible music from people that lack the skills to record, mix, and master their music. In the music world the learning curve is a lot higher than say learning how to shoot an NPC (non playable character) in a game, or sending a text or using social media over a smartphone. Digital music like electronica is atrocious to my years, because samples and pressing a key on a keyboard isn't that complicated. Having to create shapes with your hands which create the chords for guitar is far more challenging.
Another thing that has killed it off are competition shows like American Idol or America's Got Talent. Go back to the 80s with Star Search and you can see what I mean. Kids obsess about going of these shows with the weak hope of making it (I would not want a 6 year contract with Simon no matter how desperate I was). Then if these kids don't make it "my life is over" and they are 17.
A lot of kids want to play guitar, but most don't want to put in the time it really take to become skilled. In fact most crafts and trades are suffering growth due to this phenomenon. Parents are not showing their kids what is possible and would rather be the kids best friend.
I've seen the growth, the height, and the fall of guitar players. In another generation or two we may not have any new guitar players that is truly memorable (like The Beatles, Elvis, The Temptations and so on). These prodigies we see now might just give up on the instrument when they reach adulthood. Their fame on RUclips won't be a thing at that point
30 years ago I picked up the bass guitar because I wanted to have the career in a band like my heroes. I lived, breathed, ate, and slept this passion for many years. Even though I've been a musician 41 years and (as I mentioned) 30 has been bass, I'm driven to play, but I doubt I'll ever see my name in lights. Ego never drove me, but passion did. Those are the kids we need to see pick up the instrument. The ones who will have that deep passion, but it's a dwindling proposition, but maybe there is a chance guitar heroes will once again reign.
Kids at North Korea seems to like to play them guitars.
Interesting video, the historical trend I've seen during my lifetime is that Baby Boomers used the guitar as an inclusive, "people's instrument", much like early rock 'n roll was. Then, Generation X flipped it, and it became about exclusive indie bands, with secret shows and other nonsense (in my opinion). Who wants to be a part of that? Thank you.
All because mumble rap gen has infected mainstream
Expensive to be a kid?, he'll, it's expensive to just live anymore!
It's done on purpose to keep us slaves working away at shit instead of being creative and enjoying life.
@@fartymctits5701 yup
expensive if you are trying to keep up with others...certain car, certain phone, certain restaurants, certain guitar, certain vacation spots, going to certain college, having certain house. If you dare not to conform, it opens many possibilities in many areas. i have a cell phone yes, but it was under $200 and I've had it years, my car is 17 years old and still runs great so need to change, eat out - but not all the time and relatively inexpensively....and of the 10+ guitars I own, never spent more than $400 on one. It's about choices and not letting society set priorities for you, you set them for yourself. Too many people are PC conformists and don't think and act for themselves but instead try too much to get others notice and approval.
It's an interesting discussion, but one which seems to presuppose that music ought to be made using traditional instruments, that require "playing" with skills aquired through practice. One of your arguments is that if instruments were more affordable, more youngsters might take up the guitar. But why does there really need to be a market for people/companies making electric guitars? If young people are already making music through their iPhones and tablets, why should the instrument itself interest them? It's just a vehicle, a means to an end. Perhaps there is nothing inherently noble about playing an instrument. Perhaps the noble persuit is more truly the creation of music. Perhaps the electric guitar, along with a plethora of other instruments, has had its day. I am a guitar player of 48 years, and an amateur luthier so I am aware I am cutting my own throat with these remarks, but then I never started playing or making guitars in order to make a living out of it. I believe "why kids aren't playing the electric guitar anymore" is part of a much bigger question. It is also, perhaps, just symptomatic of a natural evolution of music.
Yes I think you're spot on, the price of guitars is not the problem because the kids making serious electronic music spend hundreds/thousands of dollars in electronic equipment. It's just that the guitar rock formula is not 'cool' anymore, it's the music of their parents for the a lot of them. These instruments do not reflect the times we're living now surrounded by technology and connectivity. And when I talk with them, they never miss the occasion to tell me how limited is the sound of guitars compared to what they can achieve with the machines
Its not so much the money. It's what happened in the mid 90's with the introduction of grunge music like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in chains, etc. These bands wear good, but they opened the doors to a bunch of newer bands that do not put guitar work at the very front of their music. A lot of these songs don't even have a guitar solo. They destroyed music. It's no longer about the music anymore. It's pop music.
Because of marshmallow
I don't agree with your assessment of the economic factors, for a couple of reasons.
I am 67 - baby boomer, Beatles era old white guy. I started off playing violin, then drums, then eventually guitar.
I spent many hours hanging around in music stores, trying to figure out what to save my paper route dollars for. From the sixties on, through perhaps the eighties, decent musical instruments were far LESS affordable that they are now. In the sixties, there were two kinds of guitars available in my local music stores (or from catalogues): (1) total shit, and (2) expensive. I would have sold a kidney to get ahold of, say, a Squier that now sells for under $300 (here in Canada). A guitar at that price in 1965 (adjusted to 1965 dollars) would have been virtually unplayable crap. I know - I owned a couple of them. In contrast, a Squier, or Epiphone, or even a Chinese knock-off from Amazon is likely to be pretty playable.
There are two obvious reasons for this: low labour costs outside of US and Canada, and automation: CNC etc.
The second ground upon which I disagree has to do with generational habits. I grew up in largely white college towns in the midwestern US. My father was an academic. While we were not rich, we were certainly comfortable and secure. I consider my upbringing to have been "privileged". We prospered.
Although there has been a growing gap between rich and poor in the US, and to some extent here in Canada, most of the families that I know today give their children - especially adolescents - access to much more spending power than I had as a kid. A few years ago I decided to relocate to the burbs. While shopping for a house to purchase, I viewed many properties in "family neighbourhoods". I do not recall seeing even one garage that was used for the car. Garages were always jam-packed with toys, recreational stuff, etc.
Again, I am not crying poor here. I did not go through the Depression. But all of the musical instrument purchases that I made, from the age of 13 and on, were made from the proceeds of my after school jobs - paper routes, shovelling snow from driveways, mowing lawns, etc. Families I know today don't do it that way. My daughter, who has kids 10 and 8, agrees that her contemporaries our quite out of control when it comes to spending on their kids. She actually sticks to her guns when it comes to this. She sets limits on gift spending, and totally refuses to purchase elaborate stuff that will end up ignored, discarded or donated.
So I don't believe that affordability plays a significant role in the decline of interest in guitars. Of course, it does play a role for families on the margin, but that's not really the thing.
It boils down to a change in popular culture. When I was 13 I detested the pop music that predated rock: crooners, the Rat Pack guys like Sinatra and Dean Martin. I just did not resonate for my generation. The same thing is likely true of modern adolescents.
To conclude, there are exceptions to the "guitar music is dead" thing. I have two nieces - both around 20 years old - who love guitar music. One is a talented violinist and singer. She recently posted a video of herself singing a Joan Baez song, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. My heart swelled!
My main point was not that guitars need to be more affordable, that's only part of it. Kids need to think guitars are cool again. You think they're cool and I think they're cool, but kids today see guitars as the sort of things that only old people think are cool.
@@HighlineGuitars Yes, I agree on that. I don't think there is a solution to this. Popular culture takes its own course.
I (and many other people) worry about the insularity of modern western culture. Even when I was a kid, I noticed that some families had a musical culture that really encouraged kids. Although we lived in the midwest, I spent some time in the southern states. I got to know some families through church. It was fairly common there for a whole bunch of family members to play instruments, and to sing - they learned to sing harmony in parallel thirds from about the age of one or two. This was NOT true in my northern white Protestant family. In my family, it was standard piano or violin lessons or nothing, and for pete's sake don't wiggle your hips!
If you have watched the series Tremé you can observe what a deep musical tradition (brass instruments) can do to encourage kids. Marching bands, drum lines, etc. In the US, black church choirs are a powerful, powerful force to encourage musicality. Or maybe that's changed too....
In contrast, these days kids insulate themselves with their earbuds and a cell phone. They may share enthusiasm their with contemporaries, but music is and electronic thing, not a wider community thing.
Since WWII western culture - and commercial marketing - have made great efforts to create youth and adolescent subcultures that hold older generations in contempt. My grandfather died in 1972. He fought in WWI. He often used to tell me that, in his day "there were no teenagers". I did not understand this, and thought it was absurd. I now understand what he meant. Prior to WWII, people generally went from childhood to adulthood at about 15 years of age. Of course they were seen as "young adults", but not as a completely separate social class "teenagers".
So, although age has likely always resulted in differences in attitude and taste, the ephemeral, transitory nature of modern youth culture is probably not going to go away soon.
Of anyone within my reach of my inner circle expresses the slightest interest in music, I get them what they want. I've given more guitars away than I can count. It doesn't stop there either. PA stuff...drums...amps...whatever...
damn i wish i was in your inner circle
its ok synyh sales are up
I myself am a kid and Id like to say every kid plays guitar the days are gone when you played guitar to be unique and different I know about thirty kids in my year alone that play guitar
I'm also a kid. I didn't get the point of your comment at all...
K there
The kids are playing Ukuleles check out Instagram !!!!!!))) Good Video!!!))🎸🎸🎸👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😊
It’s because MTV plays crap and radio plays crap!
True
Wage stagnation is what you’re getting at. Not only are we butdened with more expensive purchases, but living expenses are 10-20 times higher as compared to wage than they were 40-50 years ago.
As to the point of culture and that popular music is not being performed on real instruments: the average IQ of the world is decreasing, and in every doveloped western country as well. To appreciate good music, you’ve go to be at least so intelligent. Fewer and fewer people pass that threshold and so it’s unlikely that subtle, creative music will be appreciated at all.
@@mcmagnum people really lose it when you start to talk about IQ. snowflakes... unless that's not your problem with my synopsis. Make your point clear, coward!
@Cameron Smith IQ is dropping, there's no doubt about that, you can research it for yourself. It's mainstream information at this point.
@@mcmagnum not an argument. I quit drinking because I was addicted to it.
@@mcmagnum cool thanks for the criticism!
Cameron Smith i agree that people can be smart in all sorts of ways. However, if that’s your opinion of IQ, i wonder why you think anyone bothers with IQ tests and studying correlations between IQ and life factors, etc... IQ correlates strongly with all sorts of things: read the Vox article titled: IQ, explained in 9 charts. would that make it a useful/statistically predictive metric?
They have things to pay off, but decent quality guitars were never cheaper than today. The entry in guitar playing with a decent guitar should make it more attractive. Personally, I think it's not that there aren't great players they want to be, the "play the guitar = get the chicks" mentality isn't alive anymore. When was the last time musicians wrecked a place or where in the news with a truckload of woman? Most guitar players are male, and the process to get together has changed. There often is no "youth hangout" of some sort where people get together and form a band. A lot is happening online, and in extreme cases people have month long "relationships" only by constantly texting before they meet, or they just swipe on their app, later exchange nudes and hook up the next day. The youth is getting less social "in real life", the option of taking your time to respond via text is prefered to listening to one's voice or seeing each other. Being someone/having skill is shown by followers/numbers of "friends" to some degree. But I think it will come back. At some point the youth will rebel against all the information and gizmo's they're bombarded with and go back. Maybe some new accessible guitar style has to come out, like grunge in the 90s. In the last few years the rock/metal genre came back. Maybe it just needs a few bigger than life guitar slingers with the rock'n'roll lifestyle. One last thing...maybe the youth is starting to worry about big problems coming towards them on a global scale and in their downtime, they just want an easy fix like games or watching tv series. You're absolutely right about the composing of music, there is too much emulation cause it's easy to get information on other players.
I think that kids have more college debt because the general public is devesting for college funding - so tuition carries more of the load. btw - any thought that starts with "the problem with kids today' is probably underinformed.
We need more innovation not technical skill.
"What do you need a guitar for? you can just play it on the computer."
That's sad for those of use who learned on an actual instrument, but the up and coming generations won't care. I wonder what will make them sad?