Half of beginner guitarists are female

mgaw

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/17/half-of-beginner-guitarists-in-us-and-uk-are-female-survey-says

beed84

I'm yet to come to terms with them playing football and driving cars, so I'm not sure how I feel about this.

ESBlonde

It seems that women have been given the vote too! :-0

The thing about young women playing is that they seem not to be competative about it and just view it as a way to accompany a song rather than enhance thier image in some way, they also don't fret about changes of key or arrangements in the way some blokes do.

I recently contemplated joining a charity singing group who wanted a guitarist but had to decline because of workload in the end. When I looked into it they were mainly young women and most of them could play the guitar and keys and percussion and bass. They just wanted not to be up front about it like a bloke might, indeed thier history of guitar playes were otherwise all male.

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

Heartfeltdawn

ESBlonde said:

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

Why is it better?  

JezWynd

Heartfeltdawn said:

ESBlonde said:

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

Why is it better?  

'Cos they're playing guitars (and it's a guitar forum).

usedtobe

Where will it all end, that’s what I want to know..

dafuzz

The article / studies don't address the possibility that may have always been the case, and that girls / women simply don't progress beyond 'beginner' stage

Heartfeltdawn

JezWynd said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

ESBlonde said:

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

Why is it better?  

'Cos they're playing guitars (and it's a guitar forum).

It appeared to me that the original comment was in the vein of 'laptop producers aren't proper musicians'. They're as much musicians as any number of bedroom pedal enthusiasts on this forum. 

Heartfeltdawn

dafuzz said:

The article / studies don't address the possibility that may have always been the case, and that girls / women simply don't progress beyond 'beginner' stage

And that using percentage alone is pretty weak. It's possible that the number of new guitarist females is no higher than 10 years ago but the percentage is up because of dropping numbers of new male guitarists, suggesting an overall trend of dropping numbers... 

munckee

ESBlonde said:

It seems that women have been given the vote too! :-0

The thing about young women playing is that they seem not to be competative about it and just view it as a way to accompany a song rather than enhance thier image in some way, they also don't fret about changes of key or arrangements in the way some blokes do.

I recently contemplated joining a charity singing group who wanted a guitarist but had to decline because of workload in the end. When I looked into it they were mainly young women and most of them could play the guitar and keys and percussion and bass. They just wanted not to be up front about it like a bloke might, indeed thier history of guitar playes were otherwise all male.

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

I remember Kim Deal saying the same in that a lot of her famous bass lines came about by trying to just play as simply as possibly which chaps sometimes struggled to understand.

crunchman

Heartfeltdawn said:

dafuzz said:

The article / studies don't address the possibility that may have always been the case, and that girls / women simply don't progress beyond 'beginner' stage

And that using percentage alone is pretty weak. It's possible that the number of new guitarist females is no higher than 10 years ago but the percentage is up because of dropping numbers of new male guitarists, suggesting an overall trend of dropping numbers... 

That Guardian article links to another article that suggests that is not the case:

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/guitar-industry-is-growing-report-finds

ESBlonde

munckee said:

ESBlonde said:

It seems that women have been given the vote too! :-0

The thing about young women playing is that they seem not to be competative about it and just view it as a way to accompany a song rather than enhance thier image in some way, they also don't fret about changes of key or arrangements in the way some blokes do.

I recently contemplated joining a charity singing group who wanted a guitarist but had to decline because of workload in the end. When I looked into it they were mainly young women and most of them could play the guitar and keys and percussion and bass. They just wanted not to be up front about it like a bloke might, indeed thier history of guitar playes were otherwise all male.

The rise of acoustic guitars in the wake of the singer song writers is to be welcomed, it's certainly better than the lap top 'producer' DJ brigade. The fact that women feel able to be a part of it is great and should be welcomed.

I remember Kim Deal saying the same in that a lot of her famous bass lines came about by trying to just play as simply as possibly which chaps sometimes struggled to understand.

Could also be said of Carol Kay I guess, although sometimes the bass lines were a bit more intricate (certainly for the time). Beach boys pet sounds is a lot of Carol. She was a pretty mean guitar player first, but got more work by playing bass.

FX_Munkee

ESBlonde said:

It seems that women have been given the vote too! :-0

The thing about young women playing is that they seem not to be competative about it and just view it as a way to accompany a song rather than enhance thier image in some way, they also don't fret about changes of key or arrangements in the way some blokes do.

Still struggling with this bit....

Schnozz

I sure hope that dads, boyfriends and husbands are paying for them - Those bastards are always trying to abscond from their duty.

ronnyb

usedtobe said:

Where will it all end, that’s what I want to know..

They'll be playing rugby next.

Heartfeltdawn

crunchman said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

dafuzz said:

The article / studies don't address the possibility that may have always been the case, and that girls / women simply don't progress beyond 'beginner' stage

And that using percentage alone is pretty weak. It's possible that the number of new guitarist females is no higher than 10 years ago but the percentage is up because of dropping numbers of new male guitarists, suggesting an overall trend of dropping numbers... 

That Guardian article links to another article that suggests that is not the case:

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/guitar-industry-is-growing-report-finds

Going off the IBIS report from that link:

https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/specialized-market-research-reports/consumer-goods-services/leisure-product-manufacturing/acoustic-electric-guitar-manufacturing.html

The GP and IBIS report focus only on the guitar manufacturing industry. Growth of 1.4% there doesn't necessarily mean an equivalent growth in the number of players. You could still have the same number of players, they're just spending more money. 

Now this Rolling Stone article:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/guitars-are-getting-more-popular-so-why-do-we-think-theyre-dying-630446/

"In a consumer survey across North America three years ago, Fender found that 50 percent of new guitarists today are women. The company has since sought relationships with female artists and highlighted women in marketing campaigns. It also decided to focus on more on the future than the past, launching several new guitar lines and making them customizable to score points with millennials, who favor the ability to personalize designs. “We are going after younger consumers. We decided, when I joined, that we needed to pick up the pace of product innovation, to abandon names of the past and invest in names of the future,” Mooney says."

So that does suggest the appeal of guitars to each principal gender is pretty consistent over the last few years. 

TTony

beed84 said:

I'm yet to come to terms with them playing football and driving cars,

Impressive multi-tasking though.

littlegreenman

TTony said:

beed84 said:

I'm yet to come to terms with them playing football and driving cars,

Impressive multi-tasking though.

Pffft, blokes have been doing that for ages!