I grew up in conjoined towns. It was two towns side by side. I was in the smaller town and went to the smaller school. We had another elementary school in the bigger town about 5-10 minutes away...
I grew up in conjoined towns. It was two towns side by side. I was in the smaller town and went to the smaller school. We had another elementary school in the bigger town about 5-10 minutes away by car.
The smaller school had a terrible staff, and the school itself put us behind. The other school had the opportunity to take a math class ahead so in high school you could be one math class ahead and take other classes that required them earlier meaning you could move up to other classes like college level stuff.
The other school also had a band program starting in the 7th grade because to take band in high school you had to have two years previous experience.
The school I went to didn't let us take that math class and we didn't have a band program so no one could be in the high school band.
But we did have a music class we took each year, and I always kind of ignored what we were taught, but when I look back they actually taught us the basics. They taught us the notes and their counts and all this basic stuff that built up. But they didn't do a good job of it. They gave us the information, but didn't explain how to use it or put it into actual use on an instrument or anything. And it never went beyond what the notes were, how to read the egbdf and face scales and what a treble clef was.
I have an old Squier bass, and a Schecter Omen-6 guitar. I still play them both, but I'm not especially good with either. I think there's a factor this article completely fails to mention: unless...
I have an old Squier bass, and a Schecter Omen-6 guitar. I still play them both, but I'm not especially good with either.
I think there's a factor this article completely fails to mention: unless you're outrageously lucky and can get a record company's backing or are attractive and personable enough to get hundreds or thousands of random strangers on the internet to pledge to your Patreon account, you can't make a living as a musician in the US.
Also, we keep cutting funds for arts and music education in the public schools, so where are kids who are artsy or musical don't get the validation that comes with knowing that art and music are important enough to be taught at school.
Finally, the electric guitar has been basically a white dude's instrument since around 1990 or so. Sure, you had Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, and the band Living Colour. You had funk acts like Parliament and Funkadelic. But all of that was in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Black rock musicians don't get promotion these days, if any still exist.
That's not true. You definitely do need to be lucky to make a living as a rock star. But making a living as a musician, while not easy, is definitely possible if you put in the work. I play with...
I think there's a factor this article completely fails to mention: unless you're outrageously lucky and can get a record company's backing or are attractive and personable enough to get hundreds or thousands of random strangers on the internet to pledge to your Patreon account, you can't make a living as a musician in the US.
That's not true. You definitely do need to be lucky to make a living as a rock star. But making a living as a musician, while not easy, is definitely possible if you put in the work. I play with plenty of people who do it. Here's how:
Live performance - local concerts as leader or sideman, touring as sideman with major or minor artists, theater pit bands (local or touring), classical orchestras, weddings, private parties, etc.
Composing and arranging - big bands, theater, TV/radio commercial jingles, podcast scores
teaching - full-time teaching jobs or private lessons
I'm sure there are other ways that I'm forgetting. But my point should be clear: there are plenty of ways to make a living as a musician that don't involve getting a record deal or a million youtube followers, even though those options are never discussed in these articles about "the music industry."
It would have been nice if somebody had bothered to tell me this when I was 17 and ready to give up on music because I had no idea how to make a living at it and figured I needed to do something...
But making a living as a musician, while not easy, is definitely possible if you put in the work. I play with plenty of people who do it. Here's how:
It would have been nice if somebody had bothered to tell me this when I was 17 and ready to give up on music because I had no idea how to make a living at it and figured I needed to do something "practical" to earn money.
I bought my first guitar at 14, from a friend's brother who happened to be selling it. I had a few extra bucks from cleaning up my father's bar, and after having Led Zeppelin songs drilled into my...
I bought my first guitar at 14, from a friend's brother who happened to be selling it. I had a few extra bucks from cleaning up my father's bar, and after having Led Zeppelin songs drilled into my head non-stop by another friend, I wanted to learn. And I did. I took lessons for about a year, but towards the end I sort of realized my teacher wasn't that good, neither at playing the guitar nor teaching it, so I quit. Maybe he just wasn't playing "my style" of music; I still don't know.
Spent years trying to get better, playing in a small band with the aforementioned Zeppelin fan on drums; played a few tiny gigs and entertained mostly young girls, who showed approval that we found...particularly interesting, for reasons most teenage males can appreciate. That just reinforced my love for the instrument (girls! I hadn't even considered that advantage!) and led to a lifelong journey to get better, to play more, to master as much as I could.
I agree with the article regarding the why of the decline of the electric guitar: there are no guitar heroes anymore, or at least not mainstream players. Youtube is full of superb young musicians, so the talent certainly hasn't dried up. I grew up with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix (he was gone by the time I was playing, but his music was still regularly played on mainstream radio), and later Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton, of course. I don't see guitar players given that level of hero status anymore, and thus young players aren't inspired to pick the instrument up in the first place.
Now, I'm 50 and rather lazy about the instrument. In the corner of my bedroom stands no less than four guitars, with another hanging above on the wall. There are another three or four in various closets. There's quite a bit of value there, yet I look at them and just feel uninspired. A quality of age, I suppose, but I do miss the instrument and try to "force" myself to play, which is never a recipe for good playing. I really wish I could recapture that feeling of playing with others, performing your best (rough) version of some song you love, that feeling of camaraderie and mutual flow of music. It's a fantastic thing that most people will never experience, and that's a shame.
I definitely think this is a trend worth writing about, and it's true, but I'm not a fan of framing it as the "death of the guitar." The article mostly focuses on the perspective of these massive...
I definitely think this is a trend worth writing about, and it's true, but I'm not a fan of framing it as the "death of the guitar." The article mostly focuses on the perspective of these massive guitar companies that are feeling threatened by a waning market. Culturally, it's not like the instrument is entirely abandoned. If you've been on college campuses recently, there's still plenty of bands made up of the standard roles of guitarist, bassist, drummer, etc. Even popular musicians like Post Malone will break out guitars at live performances. In hip hop, jazz guitar specifically is very prevalent. It's not as "edgy" to play anymore, but it's still an important tool in music and even looked on as cool to play. With the internet today there's also a lot more subcultures alive and well where it's the main feature like metal, punk, indie rock, acoustic pop, etc. I don't think the guitar is going extinct by any means as the article seems to imply. Nevertheless, guitar businesses will probably need to restructure a lot in the coming years.
They've removed music education from school curriculum - what were they expecting?
I grew up in conjoined towns. It was two towns side by side. I was in the smaller town and went to the smaller school. We had another elementary school in the bigger town about 5-10 minutes away by car.
The smaller school had a terrible staff, and the school itself put us behind. The other school had the opportunity to take a math class ahead so in high school you could be one math class ahead and take other classes that required them earlier meaning you could move up to other classes like college level stuff.
The other school also had a band program starting in the 7th grade because to take band in high school you had to have two years previous experience.
The school I went to didn't let us take that math class and we didn't have a band program so no one could be in the high school band.
But we did have a music class we took each year, and I always kind of ignored what we were taught, but when I look back they actually taught us the basics. They taught us the notes and their counts and all this basic stuff that built up. But they didn't do a good job of it. They gave us the information, but didn't explain how to use it or put it into actual use on an instrument or anything. And it never went beyond what the notes were, how to read the egbdf and face scales and what a treble clef was.
I have an old Squier bass, and a Schecter Omen-6 guitar. I still play them both, but I'm not especially good with either.
I think there's a factor this article completely fails to mention: unless you're outrageously lucky and can get a record company's backing or are attractive and personable enough to get hundreds or thousands of random strangers on the internet to pledge to your Patreon account, you can't make a living as a musician in the US.
Also, we keep cutting funds for arts and music education in the public schools, so where are kids who are artsy or musical don't get the validation that comes with knowing that art and music are important enough to be taught at school.
Finally, the electric guitar has been basically a white dude's instrument since around 1990 or so. Sure, you had Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, and the band Living Colour. You had funk acts like Parliament and Funkadelic. But all of that was in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Black rock musicians don't get promotion these days, if any still exist.
That's not true. You definitely do need to be lucky to make a living as a rock star. But making a living as a musician, while not easy, is definitely possible if you put in the work. I play with plenty of people who do it. Here's how:
I'm sure there are other ways that I'm forgetting. But my point should be clear: there are plenty of ways to make a living as a musician that don't involve getting a record deal or a million youtube followers, even though those options are never discussed in these articles about "the music industry."
It would have been nice if somebody had bothered to tell me this when I was 17 and ready to give up on music because I had no idea how to make a living at it and figured I needed to do something "practical" to earn money.
I bought my first guitar at 14, from a friend's brother who happened to be selling it. I had a few extra bucks from cleaning up my father's bar, and after having Led Zeppelin songs drilled into my head non-stop by another friend, I wanted to learn. And I did. I took lessons for about a year, but towards the end I sort of realized my teacher wasn't that good, neither at playing the guitar nor teaching it, so I quit. Maybe he just wasn't playing "my style" of music; I still don't know.
Spent years trying to get better, playing in a small band with the aforementioned Zeppelin fan on drums; played a few tiny gigs and entertained mostly young girls, who showed approval that we found...particularly interesting, for reasons most teenage males can appreciate. That just reinforced my love for the instrument (girls! I hadn't even considered that advantage!) and led to a lifelong journey to get better, to play more, to master as much as I could.
I agree with the article regarding the why of the decline of the electric guitar: there are no guitar heroes anymore, or at least not mainstream players. Youtube is full of superb young musicians, so the talent certainly hasn't dried up. I grew up with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix (he was gone by the time I was playing, but his music was still regularly played on mainstream radio), and later Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton, of course. I don't see guitar players given that level of hero status anymore, and thus young players aren't inspired to pick the instrument up in the first place.
Now, I'm 50 and rather lazy about the instrument. In the corner of my bedroom stands no less than four guitars, with another hanging above on the wall. There are another three or four in various closets. There's quite a bit of value there, yet I look at them and just feel uninspired. A quality of age, I suppose, but I do miss the instrument and try to "force" myself to play, which is never a recipe for good playing. I really wish I could recapture that feeling of playing with others, performing your best (rough) version of some song you love, that feeling of camaraderie and mutual flow of music. It's a fantastic thing that most people will never experience, and that's a shame.
I definitely think this is a trend worth writing about, and it's true, but I'm not a fan of framing it as the "death of the guitar." The article mostly focuses on the perspective of these massive guitar companies that are feeling threatened by a waning market. Culturally, it's not like the instrument is entirely abandoned. If you've been on college campuses recently, there's still plenty of bands made up of the standard roles of guitarist, bassist, drummer, etc. Even popular musicians like Post Malone will break out guitars at live performances. In hip hop, jazz guitar specifically is very prevalent. It's not as "edgy" to play anymore, but it's still an important tool in music and even looked on as cool to play. With the internet today there's also a lot more subcultures alive and well where it's the main feature like metal, punk, indie rock, acoustic pop, etc. I don't think the guitar is going extinct by any means as the article seems to imply. Nevertheless, guitar businesses will probably need to restructure a lot in the coming years.