Why is guitar music becoming less popular? (or The Joy Of Electric Guitar)

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  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,978
    brianlux said:
    Tim Simmons said:
    brianlux said:
    Tim Simmons said:
    I think it’s as simple as it’s sound being around for 80+ years. It’s been mined really well. Beats and synths are still more new and there’s a lot of room to explore there. That being said, I think there’s still plenty of electric guitar out there, it’s just not sounding like it would have in classic rock.
    Could not the same be said of piano or saxophone, yet even longer?  I don't think an instrument can ever be mined fully as long as people remain individuals.  There are individual subtleties in playing an instrument  that are as endless as there are people who take the time to develop their ability to play well and expressively. 

    And I think that may be what is lacking in today's music- not as many younger players have the patience or are willing to take the time to develop their craft.  Technology and commercial influences have created an atmosphere where music (and many other things) are created quickly and discarded just as quickly.  This doesn't mean there aren't some fine young players- there are- but they are fewer and farther in between than there were in last 100 plus years going back to blues and jazz players and up through rock and fusion.
    I'm not saying that these instruments went away, they have just been used in different capacities as musical styles evolved. The styles that the electric guitar popularized just got stale. Maybe because the innovation in terms of playing kinda ran the gamut, or maybe its just people are always gonna flock to the new more interesting style of music. Because listeners get bored and something else is gonna come along to up the game. 

    I mean these still great guitar centric bands. But maybe the guitar isn't the forefront of the sound. I think if guitar music is to keep going, its gotta learn to be integrated with other instruments. 


    Or maybe I just don't understand what you are asking. 

    Sorry Tim, I'll try to clarify:

    It's not so much that I expect each generation to listen only to older music and not want to create something different.  I guess I could have made the thread question more broad and ask, "Why is all older music less appreciated ("appreciated" is a WAY more useful work there than "popular") by younger listeners?  Why do younger listeners not get excited about the massively emotional feel of delta blues from the 30's and on?  Why is not the explosive amazing sounds of bebop, post bop, modern, and Avant-Garde jazz and so forth not appreciated by more younger listeners?

    But I chose to focus on electric guitar because of the way that instrument and the equipment used with it was further developed and hugely advanced in my life time.  Before Jimi Hendrix and the like there was plinky plink surf music (which I loved and still do), and after, there was a sonic hugeness that broke the fabric of the then current universe of music.  Charlie Parker did exactly the same thing with bebop and John Coltrane after him with the Avante-Garde.  And the innovations today?  Computer programs that create sounds.  Inventive?  Yes.  Soulful, tactile, visceral?  I dare say, hardly.  

    Ah.

    I just think every generation wants its own thing that sound new. 
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    tempo_n_groove said:
    brianlux said:
    Tim Simmons said:
    I think it’s as simple as it’s sound being around for 80+ years. It’s been mined really well. Beats and synths are still more new and there’s a lot of room to explore there. That being said, I think there’s still plenty of electric guitar out there, it’s just not sounding like it would have in classic rock.
    Could not the same be said of piano or saxophone, yet even longer?  I don't think an instrument can ever be mined fully as long as people remain individuals.  There are individual subtleties in playing an instrument  that are as endless as there are people who take the time to develop their ability to play well and expressively. 

    And I think that may be what is lacking in today's music- not as many younger players have the patience or are willing to take the time to develop their craft.  Technology and commercial influences have created an atmosphere where music (and many other things) are created quickly and discarded just as quickly.  This doesn't mean there aren't some fine young players- there are- but they are fewer and farther in between than there were in last 100 plus years going back to blues and jazz players and up through rock and fusion.
    I used to play sax and it's a boring instrument just like the damn bagpipes.

    It takes a lot for me to enjoy a good sax player and to me there aren't many.

    What flies for a "sax solo" is very boring to me but people just eat that shit up.

    So here is the problem with rock music in general today, there is too much of it out there and it's more difficult to get noticed in a sea full of music.

    At one time you had a Music Television station to watch and discover bands.  You had magazines that you could read up on.  Now everything is on websites that you most likely click right on by.

    One of the more consistent places to find new music is NPR stations like KEXP or WFUV but even they play shit that somehow passes for music.

    Pop rock is today's country music.  
    "I used to play sax and it's a boring instrument just like the damn bagpipes." 
    This made me laugh out loud!

    "At one time you had a Music Television station to watch and discover bands.  You had magazines that you could read up on.  Now everything is on websites that you most likely click right on by."
    The days of great music journalism are currently all but dead.  Early Rolling Stone was great reading.  Musician magazine, which ran from 1976 to 1999 was great, especially in the 80's.  The only one I still read is Jack Rabid's excellent The Big Takeover.

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • rgambs
    rgambs Posts: 13,576
    30 years of the same three songs by Def Leopard, ACDC, and Guns n Roses on loop at rock radio stations will do that!
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • josevolution
    josevolution Posts: 31,824
    Friday & Saturday night checking out The Raconteurs no fluff at their shows ! Guitar driven music at it’s best ..
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    rgambs said:
    30 years of the same three songs by Def Leopard, ACDC, and Guns n Roses on loop at rock radio stations will do that!
    LOL, for sure. 

    Kind of sad when you consider the other thousands of great songs they could be playing. Back in the day, KSAN out of San Francisco did exactly that- played lots and lots of great music- especially the Abe "Voco" Kesh show starting at midnight.  Good times!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    josevolution said:
    Friday & Saturday night checking out The Raconteurs no fluff at their shows ! Guitar driven music at it’s best ..
    Good stuff, enjoy!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,635
    rgambs said:
    30 years of the same three songs by Def Leopard, ACDC, and Guns n Roses on loop at rock radio stations will do that!
    Who listens to radio anymore besides college radio anyways?
  • rgambs
    rgambs Posts: 13,576
    tempo_n_groove said:
    rgambs said:
    30 years of the same three songs by Def Leopard, ACDC, and Guns n Roses on loop at rock radio stations will do that!
    Who listens to radio anymore besides college radio anyways?
    More people than you think.
    Besides, it was the 20-30 years of it before radio took a backseat that did people in.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    tempo_n_groove said:
    rgambs said:
    30 years of the same three songs by Def Leopard, ACDC, and Guns n Roses on loop at rock radio stations will do that!
    Who listens to radio anymore besides college radio anyways?
    My wife does.  She listens to the classical music station when she drives (not my idea of driving music, haha!)  Other than that though, I honestly can't think of anyone I know who does. 

    College radio used to be the best!  I do miss that (nothing up our way).
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • mookeywrench
    mookeywrench Posts: 6,081
    brianlux said:
    mookeywrench said:
    With only 49 notes available on guitar.. i think the appropriate question is how did guitar driven music remain popular for 80 years?
    12 notes, 4 octaves, = 49?  Must be a "devil's note" in there somewhere.  LOL
    Open E
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,675
    mookeywrench said:
    brianlux said:
    mookeywrench said:
    With only 49 notes available on guitar.. i think the appropriate question is how did guitar driven music remain popular for 80 years?
    12 notes, 4 octaves, = 49?  Must be a "devil's note" in there somewhere.  LOL
    Open E
    Not sure what you mean?  In standard tuning there is also an open A,D,G, and B. 
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

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