Theres never been a better time to be a guitar player

CaseOfAce

DuploLicks said:

Has there been a better time to be a performing guitarist though? There seems to be less bands,
less venues, less interest in music generally. 

Are we just a bunch of old codgers enjoying the change but the following generations will be sparse thanks to a cultural blandness 

Where I am and the scene my function / pub band operate in I've certainly noticed the gigs aren't as available as they once were.
Over supply of acts all doing pretty much the same thing and the solo / duo with backing tracks brigade (performing for a lot less) have taken a sizeable bite out of the market.

Stuckfast

It's a great time to buy good guitars and amps and effects at affordable prices. I don't know if that means it's a great time to be a guitarist. I think it's harder for someone new to find their own voice as a player, because it's all been done before.

Offset

Completely agree with the OP.  I did relatively better than some of my contemporaries - a Jedson Strat (shit, but playable) with an HH IC100 head and a 2x12 cab was my first setup.  When I think of the Zentas/Hondos/Avons that some of my mates had, played thourgh really appalling amps, I did reasonably well.

The stuff available these days to young players and those starting out is just awesome.

Kurtis

Join a band?

No thanks, I'm more into collecting cheap 50 yo guitars. 

DuploLicks

scrumhalf said:

But I think that there's too much choice. There are more presets than anyone could use, more pedals and tone-tweakers than your imagination can sensibly find a use for. 

This is something I found starting out with effects. Everything I heard was about no-need for pedals just buy a Katana or a multi-effects platform (GT1 for me) and you’re good to go. 

What I quickly found is I hadn’t a clue what effect did what and how it worked with the others then if I wanted to really get to grips with it I had to sit with a laptop trying to change variables. 

So, yes the Katana can do it all for those who have built up the knowledge of what they need & like but for beginners as scrumhalf said, it’s too much choice

Lestratcaster

Some of the starter/budget gear is better than it was 25 odd years ago when I first started playing. I had to make do with a Squier Affinity Starter pack for £195 back in £1998 (still got the guitar though). With digital stuff its getting more and more closer to the real amp, with so many different devices.

With the internet and YouTube learning songs is easily accessible though as a teacher many people can't get on with it and seek lessons anyway.

There's also less demand for the instrument (well, in my area anyway) as people are gravitating towards piano or ukulele now. Or the ones who do want to learn don't actually want to pay for any lessons.

Bands are still out there gigging but its been tough cos of something we 3 years ago called Covid. Alot of the venues I used to play at have shut down, and I'm seeing more solo artist type acts.

The price of new gear has gone up so I'm thankful I got most of mine back when it was alright, even guitar strings used to be like £4.99 about 15 years ago. Now its doubled.

CaseOfAce

Kurtis said:

Join a band?

No thanks, I'm more into collecting cheap 50 yo guitars. 

OilCityPickups

I bang on about it, but Finland is more or less my second home. Helsinki or Tampere or any one of the larger towns/cities today has the sort of music scene we had in the seventies ... venues all over the place, new bands everywhere. Town councils have a totally different attitude to music ... they see it as 'essential art' that needs space to flourish in. Even small bands doing original material tend to tour - of course the fuckwits who gave us Brexshit have seen to making that more difficult for our UK musicians to do that - but at least we can drown our sorrows in pints of wine.  

I suppose the issue is ... there has never been a better time to be a guitarist, but it's coincided with the country going to ratshit :-) 

Musicwolf

Lestratcaster said:

Bands are still out there gigging but its been tough cos of something we 3 years ago called Covid. Alot of the venues I used to play at have shut down, and I'm seeing more solo artist type acts.

I think that Covid acted as an accelerant, but the course was already firmly set. 

Big tours, festivals and even smaller live venues still seem to be surviving, but pubs are in serious decline and have been since before Covid.  The youth of today drink less and eat out more.  My 19-year-old son is an occasional drinker and seldom goes to the pub with his mates or his girlfriend.  He does, however, eat out a lot and attends gigs and comedy events.  He may not yet represent the majority, but he does reflect the growing trend.

As for the rise of the solo act,  this is really no different to the loss of manufacturing jobs due to automation.  Solo acts or a DJ cost less and take up less room.  A12 months ago, my band went from a 5 piece down to a 3 piece plus backing tracks.  The bookings increased whilst the share per band member went up significantly, however, we're still losing out to duos and solo acts as we're more expensive.  The tech means that I can record the backing at home (we're different in that sense as most solo acts just buy their tracks off the shelf), load it all onto a laptop and set up in a corner.  The same laptop / software also sequences the lights, runs the digital mixer and switches my Helix.  When I started out in the 80's we were very excited, well the keyboard player was, about linking two keyboards together via midi.  We could have only dreamed about what we have today.

Funkfingers

Musicwolf said:

My 19-year-old son … attends gigs and comedy events.

Comedy is supposedly the new Rock 'n' Roll. The problem is that one can not dance to it.*

* Unless you count Mark Steel, playing a bit of piano, after the interval, during his 2023 tour. 

PeterHall

Although the business model is horrible for musician,Spotify gives you access to just about any style of music. My subscription is by far the best ten quid I spend a month.

I wouldn't have been introduced to Ariel Posen,Chris Buck and a host of Americana artists.

Kurtis

Yeah, I think music, how it's consumed and made, is evolving along with society.
The old school smokey dive bar is dying out. 
Although not entirely, there's one not two minutes walk from where I live that has live music at least 2/3 times a week seems to have rode the storm. On the face of it at least it doesn't seem to have changed at all since I frequented it in the 90s, and well before that I imagine!

OK you have to smoke outside now. 

OilCityPickups

Kurtis said:

Yeah, I think music, how it's consumed and made, is evolving along with society.
The old school smokey dive bar is dying out. 
Although not entirely, there's one not two minutes walk from where I live that has live music at least 2/3 times a week seems to have rode the storm. On the face of it at least it doesn't seem to have changed at all since I frequented it in the 90s, and well before that I imagine!

OK you have to smoke outside now. 

This doesn't explain why other European countries still seem to be hanging on to their live music scene and we don't. 
I do have a few theories on that mind ... 

Kurtis

I've not really been out pubbing and clubbing for years tbh. I only really know about that place because I walk past it a lot.


Never been to Finland either for that matter. 

OilCityPickups

Kurtis said:

I've not really been out pubbing and clubbing for years tbh. I only really know about that place because I walk past it a lot.


Never been to Finland either for that matter. 

I travel around Europe a fair amount ... it puzzles me that it's easier to go see a punk or metal band etc on the spur of the moment, on a Saturday night in Warsaw or Talinn (or even ultra conservative Graz in Austria!) than it is in London. 

Kurtis

It will probably come to them eventually. 

Philly_Q

Funkfingers said:

Musicwolf said:

My 19-year-old son … attends gigs and comedy events.

Comedy is supposedly the new Rock 'n' Roll. The problem is that one can not dance to it.

I can't dance to rock 'n' roll either.  Nor do I wish to.

Kurtis

Punk is so 1990s 

Shrews

Do more beginners progress to intermediate and beyond because of all this better gear, information, opportunities etc, or is that progression is still of a similar level?

dindude

Indeed. And you forgot all the free content available for us guitar nerds, people love to moan about content they don’t have to watch! Back when I were a lad (not quite the 70’s but close), a Led Zep documentary over the Xmas hols at 1:00 in the morning was a treat!