I browse various classifieds and see more and more ads for people selling their guitars. And with the evolution of techno music, Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young guitar licks doesn't seem to be mainstream (as in, everybody wants to do it).

Am I just out of touch or is the above the trend?

I’ve read several articles that said guitar sales went up during Covid but have steadily dropped since. It’s cyclical, some years there’s less interest, then it picks back up again.
I doubt we’ll ever see much of an increase in the future though. There are the reasons you mentioned and kids don’t have the patience and dedication these days to learn something that can take time to see results, and it can be physically uncomfortable in the beginning.
There are so many distractions that offer instant gratification, and with the ability of AI to compose guitar parts for you, people are going to think, what’s the point of learning?
Unless one day there’s a backlash against the distractions, hopefully so.

Sad to say but taking the instrument playing out of music seems to eliminate skills essential for songwriting as I have known it. So I guess AI and electronics can make everybody a top tier musician.

It seems to be way down amongst younger generations. There are too many screens to distract them, and kids just don't have the discipline to work at something over time. Everybody expects instant results. Kids today are the second generation of this digital world.

Covid was very good for a few industries. Bicycles and guitars in this area. All the guitar shops are hurting bad, and the premier mom & pop in the state went out of business.

I can't speak to how many people are playing, or taking up playing. I suspect it may not be as bad as it one might think, as YouTube may be helping to inspire and teach various instruments. Certainly it won't be like it was in a 60s, 70s and 80s when there was so much less alternative interests competing for attention.

Regarding the guitars for sale, I think that's just the glut from C19 stimulus funds and maybe a sign of a weakening job market. For people that prefer to buy toys vs. save for a rainy day (perhaps a majority of people, and perhaps musicians more than most), then they must sell toys when it rains.

A lot of the guitars I see on marketplace and Craigslist are either extremely cheap, beginner guitars, or overpriced vintage guitars. Mostly the beginner guitars though. So it could mean they are upgrading, or giving up the hobby.

I don't know how it can take much patience to learn these days. You can just go to Songsterr or Youtube and learn anything. Then it's just a matter of practicing. When I was learning, it was press play, pause, rewind, play, pause, rewind for hours and hours, and even then it was hard to know if I had it right.

I would agree that guitar playing is on the decline. Most of the guitars I've built or sold the last few years have been to people who are actively playing gigs or have played as a hobby for many years. I did sell probably 4 or 5 guitars in the past few months to parents who are buying for their kids to learn to play, so there is still hope.
When I look at the market, I'm not seeing prices or sales low enough to buy anything. Most prices are staying high and inventory is sitting for a long time before selling. This is made worse by big companies producing inferior products overseas while raising prices at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:
Sad to say but taking the instrument playing out of music seems to eliminate skills essential for songwriting as I have known it. So I guess AI and electronics can make everybody a top tier musician.

In recent years, there has been really no new guitar heroes to influence fans to take up the guitar, rock music as we once knew it back in past decades has been neutered, taking a far back seat to media driven personalities. The days of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, etc. ruling the charts and concert circuit, driving guitar sales through the roof, are gone.

My son has a electric guitar I gave him when he was a child and he knows the basics, but doesn't play it often. But he recently commented that none of his large network of friends and work colleagues play guitar, let alone own one. It is strange because when I was young, and throughout my adult life, I always knew of someone else who played.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

My son has a electric guitar I gave him when he was a child and he knows the basics, but doesn't play it often. But he recently commented that none of his large network of friends and work colleagues play guitar, let alone own one. It is strange because when I was young, and throughout my adult life, I always knew of someone else who played.

Huh. Right now off the top of my head I can name 3 millennial coworkers who play guitar, one also sings. A fourth who I know at least works at it, but I haven’t heard him. And yet another who plays bass and piano.

Maybe they come in clusters.

quote:

Originally posted by SigJacket:
Huh. Right now off the top of my head I can name 3 millennial coworkers who play guitar, one also sings. A fourth who I know at least works at it, but I haven’t heard him. And yet another who plays bass and piano.

Maybe they come in clusters.

My son is in his 20s, same with all of his friends and most of his co-worker friends.

Since most music these days is fully written, composed, and recorded digitally these days, why bother to learn the guitar. A person with a computer can have an entire orchestra's worth of instrumental sound at their disposal, all put together in perfect pitch and timing with software. They can even sing themselves with perfect pitch. Not saying it's better, just saying that's what's probably happening.

I have constant guilt for practicing too little. I only played for about an hour on Fri. But I played every second of four hours at band practice on Sat. I'm still recovering from a nasty blood blister on my left middle finger top pad. But I should be good to go tomorrow when Mrs. Lee goes to the office and I work from home. I recently got a Soldano SLO-100 and I'm still trying to dial it in. I always play it at full tilt when home alone. It's glorious. If you know, you know.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
It seems to be way down amongst younger generations. There are too many screens to distract them, and kids just don't have the discipline to work at something over time. Everybody expects instant results. Kids today are the second generation of this digital world.

Covid was very good for a few industries. Bicycles and guitars in this area. All the guitar shops are hurting bad, and the premier mom & pop in the state went out of business.

You nailed it fly. Proper DJ’ing (not being a button pusher or laptop jockey), guitar playing, drum playing, any musical instrument, takes thousands of hours of practice and discipline. You truly have to love it because your fingers will bleed. And that’s if you have a natural inclination or gift towards it. DJ’ing is very difficult, if you are using vinyl and doing everything by hand. BPM’s/beat matching, transitions, phrasing, quite a long list. But kids today do everything on a laptop and that’s not the same thing.

And it’s one thing to not have a guitarist to look up to. It’s way worse than that. Inthluencers are the thing today. No skill at anything. Younger folk are on their 6” pacifier 24/7 and looking up to and following people that have no skill at much of anything. There was a poll I read where more than 57% of people in that generation wanted to be an inthluencer. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/1...ut-its-constant.html

So quality actors, musicians, painters, any form of art, is going downhill fast. It’s so bad that the Fox Studio lot in Hollyweird, is so down, they are renting their stages, etc, to inthluencers/social media personalities to film there. Rather than it going unused they rent it to the idiots.

Sad that the younger generations are falling into the gaming/influencers/social media crap…..
My son is an exception….thankfully! I bought him his first guitar when he was 15 or 16….told him the first year will suck but then it will get fun…stick with it kid! He did….hes 22 now and plays daily and has since his first guitar….I also play and his skills have surpassed mine which is awesome. A few years ago, out of the blue…he said to me “thank you” with no explanation. I asked “for what” and he stated he wanted to say thank you for getting him involved with the guitar because he’s having a blast with it! Proud dad moment!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I don't know how it can take much patience to learn these days. You can just go to Songsterr or Youtube and learn anything. Then it's just a matter of practicing. When I was learning, it was press play, pause, rewind, play, pause, rewind for hours and hours, and even then it was hard to know if I had it right.

Well, you are a youngster! With me it was turn the 33 1/3 rpm record player to 16 rpm and pick up the needle to play it over an over again to learn something. Even then you didn't always get it right. I remember coming up with the chords and lead for "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks. I was sure it was in the key of F# and that's what we played it in. I found out many years later that it was really in the key of F but that they had sped the tape up a half a step. Oh well, it still sounded good!

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I don't know how it can take much patience to learn these days. You can just go to Songsterr or Youtube and learn anything. Then it's just a matter of practicing. When I was learning, it was press play, pause, rewind, play, pause, rewind for hours and hours, and even then it was hard to know if I had it right.

Well, you are a youngster! With me it was turn the 33 1/3 rpm record player to 16 rpm and pick up the needle to play it over an over again to learn something. Even then you didn't always get it right. I remember coming up with the chords and lead for "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks. I was sure it was in the key of F# and that's what we played it in. I found out many years later that it was really in the key of F but that they had sped the tape up a half a step. Oh well, it still sounded good!

I did plenty of that too, but only because I hadn't gotten my first boom box yet. I remember running down to the pharmacy every month to see which songs were transcribed in the latest guitar magazines. They were never perfect, but were usually pretty close. Think about some of that crazy old VH stuff. There was no video of the live shows back then. If you didn't have a seat up close, there simply was no way to figure some of that stuff out. Now it's all been dissected to the Nth degree. But back then it was still a big mystery.

My son has learned to play, and he’s pretty good. Aside from what I’ve taught him, all of his learning comes from YouTube. I’ve tried to teach him how to read tablature, I mean c’mon it’s not like reading sheet music, but he has no interest. He doesn’t see the value in anything but online learning. It’s frustrating but at least he’s playing the guitar.

I played in high school but never got any good. Couldn't dedicate enough time to play.

I bought a Les paul standard 60 between Christmas and New Year's. Been using yousician on my tablet to relearn.