The fretlight guitar topic may soon be moot. Is it me or does the guitar seem to be waning in popularity? It is no longer king of the instruments. Synthesizers are the 'in' instrument at present. I'll go to Billboard's website and listen to the 'hot 100' from time to time and guitars are not that prevalent. And it seems increasingly so. Everything is a fad and the guitar really started coming into its own in the 50s and I had to have one. But is the fad over and is the synthesizer here to stay for a while? Technology being the instrument you really need to learn. The guitar relegated to a backseat?
You, of course, can go to the 'rock' and 'country' section and guitar is still king but they are not the big sellers, pop is (Rap type music is listed as pop now). Not to offend anyone, and I played country for years in clubs, but I've always said that 'country' is always 20 years behind pop and rock music. So, with time, will rock and country start leaning toward the synthesizer? It seems to me to be headed that way.
I think it's part of the instant gratification thing. I don't think the guitar will leave us. But it used to be considered the portable instrument. In the early '60's, if you wanted music at a party, you pretty much had the guitar or 45's. 45's were a problem, some of my friends carried theirs to parties in small suitcases.
Then guitar allowed for 4 or 5 people to make music and we got together and sang.
I cannot speak for the 70's, I was totally out of touch. The late 60's brought transistor radios, I bought one for $100 bucks. But no good for a party.
Now everyone has earphones and my youngest kids share tunes by passing one earphone to someone, my daughter and her friend sit on the couch, one ear each to the music.
A guitar by comparison is HUGE, and I think the e music and mp3 players the size of a small biscuit are eroding the popularity of all instruments.
I learned to play a horn (tenorhorn, bombardino) at the age of 52. It took only 3 months and a few hours a day. Everyone should learn more instruments, and languages.
I didn't learn the guitar because I'm a non-conformist, and my girlfriend (who was from Switzerland) played the guitar. She was so good I didn't do anything but listen.
My short answer then is all instruments are suffering due to mp3 players and downloads and techno music. We need more instrumentalists, but I don't know who's going to make them when this generation of non players have children. Unless they make your ring a theremin and your ear rings speakers.
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So, with time, will rock and country start leaning toward the synthesizer?
As far as country goes, I think the answer would definitely be no. Guitar will always be king. Country fans don't want to hear a fiddle or guitar solo on a synth. Piano will always be a part of country though.
I don't keep up with current rock bands so I really don't know the trends, but I'd be surprised if the dominant instrument became the synth.
There's something about the sound of the six string that'll keep it around for a long time to come. Too early for the R.I.P.
the lines between genre are no longer clearly defined in my opinion. lady antebellum is supposed to be 'new country' but, to my ear, it sounds suspiciously like 80s rock with some resonator guitar thrown in. blues, rock, and country seem to be melding into one genre while retaining their respective music categories in the charts which only tends to skew the sales figures. the song 'temporary home' (carrie underwood) probably qualifies as 'country' because its a tear-jerker but it sounds like 80s rock to me.
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The fretlight guitar topic may soon be moot. Is it me or does the guitar seem to be waning in popularity? It is no longer king of the instruments. Synthesizers are the 'in' instrument at present. I'll go to Billboard's website and listen to the 'hot 100' from time to time and guitars are not that prevalent. And it seems increasingly so. Everything is a fad and the guitar really started coming into its own in the 50s and I had to have one. But is the fad over and is the synthesizer here to stay for a while? Technology being the instrument you really need to learn. The guitar relegated to a backseat?
No!
Later,
Don, I agree on the genres you mention. It has all evolved (or evolving into the same things). I use FL Studio as my DAW and will go into the forums and listen to the songs they post. All instrumentals. I call it electronica but they have 1500 different names for each song and it's 'still rock and roll to me.' The emphasis on all the songs it seems is the kick drum, the lead instrument. All songs seem to start with the kick. The sounds are different, and what they focus on, but when you get down to it nothing is different. No new chords. The riffs are no different, it just sounds different.
I've been listening to pop music the last few days (not rap pop). For all the difference in sounds (not that much really), to me, it is the same. It is melodic, nice chords and vocals. So for me music has not changed all that much over the years but the instrumentation has. And a lot of it I like. Lot of it I don't. But I felt the same in the 60s.
Charlie, the death of guitar was announced in the 1980's with New Wave music.
Still around 20 years later. Synths that sounded like synths and not like sampled instruments were nearly dead for a good 10-15 years during that time frame. Electronica music resurrected the playing around with filters and arpeggios and what not that was missing for quite awhile.
The popularity and content of various genres will forever evolve. Don't be surprised to see ye olde guitare become a dominant instrument in hip hop one day. Wouldn't surprise me one bit. In fact, the classical guitar, not played flamenco style of course, was nearly ubiquitous in R&B 5-10 years ago.
Horns were missing from rock and pop for decades, then in the 90's the ska music popularized by bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones made them cool again for awhile with some folks that didn't 'get them' before.
Worry not, guitars will be around for the rest of your and my lifetime; maybe not in the same flavor as we know them today, but they are far too easy to have around and noodle upon to see them disappear anytime soon.
Listen to some metalcore just to see where guitar has gone in the past 10 years - an incredibly popular genre, just not on the radio since music doesn't need radio to be popular any longer. Take a short jaunt over to YouTube and listen to some 'War of Ages', 'The Devil Wears Prada', etc. Try to ignore the guttural growling if you can and you'll see a new type of mastery of the electric guitar that, while doesn't suit my taste, will ensure the sales of guitars and amps and amp simulation and so forth for years to come.
Other oddball guitar developments that I happen to enjoy:
Charlie Hunter (plays all kinds of weird combo bass / guitar things)
www.charliehunter.com (go to his media page, then navigate to the .mp3 section for 3 CDs worth of free live gig jazz music featuring Charlie
Zander Zon (reminds me of a mix between Mark Egan and Stanley Clarke) Buy his CD at CDBaby - very relaxing
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ZanderZon-Scott
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I use FL Studio as my DAW and will go into the forums and listen to the songs they post. All instrumentals. I call it electronica but they have 1500 different names for each song and it's 'still rock and roll to me.' The emphasis on all the songs it seems is the kick drum, the lead instrument. All songs seem to start with the kick. The sounds are different, and what they focus on, but when you get down to it nothing is different. No new chords. The riffs are no different, it just sounds different.
I've been listening to pop music the last few days (not rap pop). For all the difference in sounds (not that much really), to me, it is the same. It is melodic, nice chords and vocals. So for me music has not changed all that much over the years but the instrumentation has. And a lot of it I like. Lot of it I don't. But I felt the same in the 60s.
Every music making software has its strengths and weaknesses. What you are describing is probably largely due to the fact that FLStudios strength is in looping synths... so that's what you tend to hear in that forum.
I've noticed, by studying the history of Western Popular Musics going back at least a few hundred years, that these things are generational in nature.
Thomas Jefferson shopped for harpsichords for his friends when visiting the "old country".
Once ubiquitous and therefore affordable, try finding and purchasing a Harpsichord today...
Apparently we mortals are built in such a fashion that at a certain point a certain younger generation declares war on things that the older generation holds dear.
Not to worry, however, as these things also appear to be very cyclical in nature -- the old adage that our children don't want to learn to play the xxxx like we do, but our grandchildren or perhaps great-grandchildren will rediscover that instrument with a vengeance.
The guitar has become rather ubiquitous within our generation, to the point where one might easily make the case that it is also now superfluous. A stroll through any musical instrument store worth its salt should easily prove that at this time, the sheer numbers of guitars hanging on the walls is proof of a fad among consumers and fads just don't last a long time.
But during the Swing Era, the horns were the premier offering in music stores, with only a certain few guitars hanging on the walls. I remember the end of that era, during the late fifties, early sixties or so and maybe beyond, when there weren't a whole lot of choices for the person looking for a new guitar. There were only a handful of companies making guitars, zero inexpensive imports, there was no CAD/CAM manufacturing that insured identical great feeling necks and a "good" guitar cost fquite a bit more money on average than today. Then came the popularity of a younger generation and now we literally have a "glut" of instruments on the market.
My grandsons would rather "play" one of those video game "guitars" all day, the interest in actually learning to play said song on a real guitar being nonexistant.
They'll survive as their own generation, though.
The one sure thing I've learned in this life is that there will always be change.
We are designed such that we don't seem to like change all that much, likely a survival instinct IMO, but I have no proofs on that one. Just an intuition.
What I do know is manufacturing.
And I could easily draw a comparison to other boom markets, such as the CB radio boom of the 70s and compare it to the Guitar Boom of today that apparently has reached its apex and will be replaced with something else.
The good news for the true guitar aficionados (rather than the maddening crowd of wannabes that such always creates) is that there are going to be more and more great values to be had in the guitar market, both used and new, because of this.
Enjoy,
--Mac
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A stroll through any musical instrument store worth its salt should easily prove that at this time, the sheer numbers of guitars hanging on the walls is proof of a fad among consumers and fads just don't last a long time.
???
How does an activity that has been going on for close to 60 years qualify? Fads by definition tend to die out in weeks or months. A duration of years or decades indicates a trend.
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. . . there are going to be more and more great values to be had in the guitar market, both used and new, because of this.
You can pay as little as $150, or as much as 2 kilobucks for an off-the-shelf Stratocaster--more for a Custom Shop variant. That both ends of the spectrum are being served by the market again militates against a fad. This is evolution, not degeneration.
I think we see the germ of something in the iPod and associated musical apps that indicates a new trend, but IMO it's going to be a lo-ong time before they or another musical instrument replace the guitar in popularity.
Perhaps I am missing something in your basic premises.
*ducks*
R.
We've only seen these larger numbers of available guitars, lots of imports, etc. for about a decade.
Tomato, Tomahto, it is a boom and booms have a tendency to fade out.
--Mac
If you take the instrument in it’s most basic form, ……… the acoustic guitar. (And the only way to actually judge an instrument, is if it can be played acoustically.) If it can't be played acoustically, it's a "device", not an instrument.
It’s the ONLY instrument that you can take anywhere, without amplification or effects, and play something that actually sounds like a band, in the style of blues, classical, country, rock, pop, jazz, folk, bluegrass, alternative rock, alternative country, ………….. and the list goes on.
It’ll still be around after all of us are long gone. Whether any us like it or not, the guitar is the “King” of the instruments, especially if you take into account portability and what people want to hear. If you dismiss portability, piano gets the top spot.
Sorry to say it, but after guitar and piano, all other instruments have a "supporting" role. They aren't the "primary" instruments people want to hear.
EL Toro poo poo.
Define a band. You can't.
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We've only seen these larger numbers of available guitars, lots of imports, etc. for about a decade. Tomato, Tomahto, it is a boom and booms have a tendency to fade out. -Mac
I don't get where you're coming from. I beg to differ. This "boom," as you have now redefined it, has lasted for decades. What is going on today is the extension of a long-term trend supported by market numbers. No fad. Questionable boom, which I associate with a relatively short five- to ten-year trend such as in the stock market, real estate, or the Gold Rush.
In the '60s we were flooded with cheap experiments from Italy, Sweden, and most especially Japan (loss leaders which were price supported by Japan, Inc.). In the '70s Japan began to come with reasonably priced copies and original models. Today an Ibanez Steve Vai model sells for $1700 and the low-end gear comes from Mexico, Korea, and China. Lots of it.
I attribute this to the continued popularity of the instrument along with population growth. Synths abound, but pop music is still dominated by the guitar. My son has a quality Fender-made Squier Strat because his father played a Strat copy. I expect the interest to continue within the family, and for one of my grandchildren to get my Alvarez-Yairi D-41 copy (after proving themselves on a series of less-expensive axes). This is being repeated all over the world, and doesn't include new buyers, of whom there are plenty.
But can I get a couple of pounds of whatever you're smoking? 
R.
John,
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EL Toro poo poo.
Define a band. You can't.
First let me point out I said "sounds like a band". There aren't many instruments that can be played solo and sang along with too at the same time and have a full sound, ..... except piano and guitar. There are a few exceptions, but not that many.
One person with a guitar can play and sing and belt out their version of "Danny Boy", to "La Grange" to "All Of Me" and get the listeners into it. It "sounds like a band."
The fact that Mac referred to harpsichords as part of his reasoning leads me to believe that he is thinking in terms of cycles that span longer periods than, say, a short term commercial trend like the Hula hoop or slinky.
Its pretty hard to refute that all things are cyclical. The only point left unanswered is how long the current cycle has left. Could be generations, could be mere years.
I don't think guitars will vanish in our lifetime, but I bet they won't be the most commonly played instrument in popular music 100 years from now.
Guitars, around for about 10 seconds on the scale of instruments.
Saying the guitar is the band and the band is music and music is the guitar is faulty logic.
The Lute is here to stay. The flute? The what? Bagpipes, ah. Button accordion? Wait I can sing and play an accordion. Want a little one or a big one? It has no amp so it's not a device. And you can only have 6 notes at once on a guitar, a WAY freaking better band waits in a properly played accordion.
What we have here is a failure to understand music appreciation, and think in any kind of historic and global sense.
And being obnoxious about your thoughts of 'horn's' and calling them something to throw rocks at is the height of musical ethnocentricity. Maybe in your shack, but the one guy and his guitar and then calling it the penultimate is beyond weird. A good trio beats a guitar player and his voice hands down in my world.
Heck my family was so religious that guitars were BANNED when I was less than 15. And my parents church would NEVER have tolerated one, until a few years ago when they saw the light. The unplugged type at first. Now they've just fallen into total sin. They even allow bass guitars.
There is no point to this, except you want to feel you, and your instrument are #1. Well go play in a dark corner and sing, and as long as the rest of the educated world does not have to buy it, be delusional. Wow you can pick ban political arguments, tell me I can't disparage bluegrass, ban religious arguments, and move right on a start another. Next thing and anyone who wears a belt and not suspenders is a moron.
Sounds like a band. To who? Just remember you are the cultural minority. To someone in the rainforest, what's a band? To someone from Siberia? Take Japan 40 years ago. They have some instruments I bet you've never seen. Guitar? India had some bang on stringed instruments, and still do. Great playing. Not on your scale though.
Face it the guitar, as you know it, is a modern instrument, been around for only a few years. I have to think about American history, but even when it comes to wax cylinder recordings, I can't really think of any guitar history.
I think when you said guitar when you posted you meant the harp. Or the lute. Even then it's not a band. Band isn't a word you can use, because it means something different to different cultures. I play in a brass band, but you say it's not a band. Odd, the guy who runs it teaches music appreciation at the local university.
Of course he wouldn't know a band if he tripped over it. Cause the guitar is a band and a band makes music and music is the guitar and guitars and a voice are a band. Wow.
I don't care for your definition, in case you didn't notice.
Oh and THE Band, well that's mostly a few local boys from around here did some music. Mostly yer 'lectric stuff.
The electronics revolution hits everything. The guitar has existed in some form or another for longer than anyone has yet suggested in this thread. The lute comes to mind but I believe it has been shown to actually be a development along a divergent line from an even earlier common ancestor.
Whatever point in time you want to point to and say "There was the first true guitar" It's still gonna be at least a thousand years ago and probably more. Some interesting reading here:
http://www.guyguitars.com/eng/handbook/BriefHistory.htmlNot exactly a flash in the pan is it? But as I said, The electronics revolution hits everything. Do I see the guitar disappearing? No, but I do see it changing still more.
That said, I hope that true acoustic instruments never disappear. I for one do not want electronics to completely take over, that way lies loss of creativity for all but the technophiles. I know musicians who can't tell you where to turn a computer on but can play their favoured instrument fit to make you laugh or cry at their whim. That's the creativity I want to see live, and it doesn't need fancy, schmancy electronics to do it.
Next point, keyboards. (No flames please, this is my opinion
) A fantastic array of effects and voices, but I've still never heard one with a piano voice to rival even the humblest upright when it comes to the fullness of overtones and sympathetic string vibration etc. that you get from this relatively humble machine. That's not to say that there aren't some really good sounding synth's out there but there's just something about a real, acoustic piano...
As for me, I play brass - can barely manage a one finger tune on a keyboard and can just about tell you which end to strum a guitar... But I can play my 'bone tolerably well.
So, back to the question, are guitars on their way out? I don't think so, but with current rates of change we may be hard pressed to recognise them in 50 or a hundred years...
John,
I’ve removed my offending “ethnocentric” horn comment, especially since it was said “tongue in cheek” in the first place, but that doesn’t always translate well onto the printed page.
As far as me trying to make my instrument out to be #1, the subject of the thread is guitars and whether they’re on their way out. I didn’t realize that talking about the subject at hand was off limits. I chose to learn to play the guitar because I love the sound of it, not because I thought it would make me #1. That doesn’t mean I love all guitar music because I don’t. A lot of it sounds like nothing but noise and I can’t get to the “mute” button fast enough to suit me.
You still don’t “get” my band comment, but you said:
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A good trio beats a guitar player and his voice hands down in my world.
We have total agreement on that. I never said one guy with a guitar was the “penultimate”. I like hearing several different instruments together, all with sounds and voices of their own. My point was that if I could only hear one instrument, and portability was a factor, the guitar would be my choice.
If you remove portability from the equation, then I think Lawrie said it best when he talked about:
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the fullness of overtones and sympathetic string vibration etc. that you get from this relatively humble machine. ........ there's just something about a real, acoustic piano...
I wish I could play piano, but it cramps my hands too much so I had to give it up early on. I admire those who can play it.
In regards to your comments of “shack”, “the rest of the educated world”, “delusional”, “beyond weird”, “obnoxious” and the best one:
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Next thing and anyone who wears a belt and not suspenders is a moron.
I can only say that I hope those statements made you feel better John. LOL.
Take care and I hope your recovery stays on the upward trend.
Larry King email me the suspenders thing.
Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century?
--Mac
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Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century?
--Mac
I would assume Les Paul.
Charlie Christan
What did I win?
"Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century? "
Would that be Elvis Paresly?
Lawrie,
Thanks for the link on "The Brief History of the Guitar". Great article. It's been bookmarked for future reference.
The replies to my question are revealing things about the posters, but nobody has won so far.
Let's keep it going...
--Mac
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Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century?
I can't participate in this portion because Mac called me this morning and this topic came up as we talked, so I know the answer. I'll have to say that he has some very compelling reasons for his choice.
I hope Mac has time to go into detail when the answer is revealed because I found it to be very interesting and informative.
So are the choices so far.
Rickenbacher did it first ... before they changed the spelling even.
I was going to say Roy Clark sure sold a lot of guitars; he could keep up with the banjo guy on HeeHaw!
To guess at Mac's question...
Duane Eddy?
Chuck Berry?
These are perhaps the two first "guitar gods" of the rock and roll era. Better guitarists came after, but these two symbolized the rock revolution and separated the kids music from their parent's music.
And yes, I think the guitar is diminishing in popularity. But I don't think it is going away.
The saxophone's popularity faded when guitar effects enabled them to do many of the things that sax players could do but guitarists couldn't.
My parent's generation had the trumpet and clarinet as the lead instrument of choice with the trombone a close third.
The synth is on top of the heap now.
Fortunately, I play to a baby-boomer audience, so I can still play lots of guitar and sax -- and I bring a wind synthesizer to the gig as well. I actually leave the keyboard home and sequence the keyboard parts on my backing tracks. As essential as the synthesizer is, the guitar, sax, and wind synth have more stage appeal than the keyboard does.
Just my 2 cents (for whatever that's worth)
Notes
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Lawrie,
Thanks for the link on "The Brief History of the Guitar". Great article. It's been bookmarked for future reference.
My pleasure mate.
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Leo Fender
i'm with lee on that'n
so many design innovations and a signature sound.
Just got a catalogue in the mail from a local music store.
It has 23 synths of various kinds from pretty much kiddies toys to some reasonably serious kit. It also has 48 guitars, 12 drum kits, innumerable guitar pedals, 2 violins, 2 flutes, 2 trumpets, 3 saxs, 2 clarinets, 2 recorders, some other percussion, a few microphones and headphones, and lots of amps.
I think the guitars have it...
While I do see an increase in synths over time, I don't see a decline in guitars. I think the synths are additional to, not replacement for, guitars.
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Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century?
--Mac
A lot of people blame it on rharv, but I really think it was me.
Later,
*Local* music store!??
I can say I notice what you decribed in most 'online music store' catalogues. Local store; not so much.
Kinda surprised. The 12 drum kits would take quite a bit of room.
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*Local* music store!??
I can say I notice what you decribed in most 'online music store' catalogues. Local store; not so much.
Kinda surprised. The 12 drum kits would take quite a bit of room.
T'was their catalogue - they don't have that many kits on the floor, though they do have guitars hanging from every possible space. They don't have many synths on the floor either. Many of the kits were electronic too, so maybe they don't count (ducks for cover 
).
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Can anyone name the person who is singlehandedly responsible for making the guitar so popular in the 20th Century?
--Mac
Trick question.
Every single person who has picked one up and smiled at the result.
I'm going to guess "outside of the box" and take into account ALL of the 20th century.
How about Django Reinhardt?
Nobody's gotten near the mark yet...
Seems to me that guitar has been popularized many times during the 20th century, as evidenced by the excellent answers people are coming up with. Each genre has its guitar hero who recreated the rules and rekindled interest in the instrument
Mac, I'm looking forward to hearing the answer to your question.
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Andres Segovia?
And the winner is -- marvjonesi !
While there have been plenty of good answers, each one depiciting someone who certainly has helped popularize the guitar for the most part, it was Andre Segovia, the violinist turned self-taught guitarist who hit the woodshed quite literally and transcribed Bach and other composers for guitar and then "took it to the world" on a self-proclaimed one-man mission to put the guitar into the realm of all the other instruments then thought to be "legitimate".
He brought the quiet little guitar to worldwide attention and that was the beginning of the market demand.
--Mac
I had the great privilege of seeing Segovia at the De Anza College (Cupertino, CA) Auditorium around 1970. A man, a guitar, a room with 2500 people--and no microphone. Perfect.
R.
Donkey chain, Mr. Mac. I want to thank the Academy, my mother, and God, for this award.
Yo, marvjonesi, I'm really happy for you and I'm going to let you finish, but I've just got to say that Jimi Hendrix was the best guitarist of all time!
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Yo, marvjonesi, I'm really happy for you and I'm going to let you finish, but I've just got to say that Jimi Hendrix was the best guitarist of all time!
Bla-ha!