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If overall electric guitar sales have more or less flatlined while the average number owned has increased, that means that the rise in the average number may be mostly responsible for the sales - ie existing players adding to their collections rather than new players buying more than one. That the growth is in acoustics tends to indicate this is true as well.
I certainly don't think electric guitar is going to die any time soon, but I wouldn't bank on their being a growing or even steady market for it once the classic-rock generation has gone. You've only got to listen to mainstream commercial music now to realise that guitar is not the main driving force in popular music and culture that it once was - although it's certainly still there.
I'm also well aware that he's the CEO of a multinational musical instrument manufacturer and I'm just a small-time amp repairer . It's very likely that he's thought about all this too - the question is, would he admit in an interview like this that he's aware there is a potential problem ahead for their existing marketing strategy, and they're going to need to think hard about a way around it...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
At least now I have some kind of direction for these feelings !
Ah well,........ back to rehab again.
LOL.
Of course Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler are greats who use their thumb, It wasn't a go at fingerstyle (Seriously, that wasn't obvious?) I meant the pose he striking for that god-awful photo.
Wait, are you saying that Gibson guy is in a band?
If the electric guitar market is static and there's an increasing number of makers then each has a smaller share of the pie, so that seems to be the challenge for Fender.
Successful instruments don't really die out completely ( you can still buy saxophones, pianos, clarinets, trumpets, banjos, harpsichords,etc) although they tend to get more specialised. I'd guess that in 100 years you could still buy something that looks like a strat - on the shelf next to the tubas and penny whistles.
I'm not particularly convinced that the ukulele is the gateway drug that he thinks, otherwise all of us he did recorder at school would now be tooting a clarinet each evening.
not many schools will fund the purchase of an electric guitar and subsequent band rehearsals.
Ps. Not very many harpsichords sold these days.
When I was at school the Music Dept. had that view and only classical acoustic guitars were taken seriously. I got the point that they wanted to teach classical but it always wound me up, especially in the 80's when the electric guitar was so big, that they held that view.
Is it still like that now?
(I've got it in my head that you're a Teacher.........I might be wrong, apologies if I am.)
Leo Fender? He couldn't play after all.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
contactemea@fender.com
My two oldest boys both went to lessons through the later part of primary school, the younger of the two drifted into sports but the older boy stuck with it. We saw plenty of kids who dropped it in a short space of time.
He's 14 now and rips, gets lessons at school and is going through his Hendrix phase, its fucking awesome to see him develop and I encourage it as much as possible.
The one advantage kids who are picking up the guitar have now is instant 24/7 access to pretty much what ever they want to learn on youtube. When I was growing up in Australia the only access to knowledge I had was 30 minutes a week with the local guitar teacher and an relatively expensive Nirvana chord book!
Anyhow just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. Off to learn a new Taylor Swift song now.......
I we did a brisk trade in classical instrument rentals throughout August and Sept, you could rent anything except Electric guitars and basses or Drums, owners decision not mine, the local pvt school had a dedicated electric teacher, but by far the classical market dominated.
The Lectric guitar is pretty much viewed as an equal to acoustic in school, the issue is its not just the guitar you have to buy/carry to rehearsals but an amp too, cost wise a basic electric and an amp is roughly equivalent to a beginner clarinet, flute or trumpet, it's tbh more perceived as some you need to upgrade to after a classical by most parents I've delt with in the shop.
Modern writers now have far greater challenges to write stuff. The easy has been written, so what do you write or play that's new/different? It's gonna be more complex, have strange rhythms and odd keys/chord combinations. You know ... the stuff that makes it harder to learn.
Isn't it about learning to walk with the old stuff, finding one's own style, before running at warp speed with the modern?
* PS - love The Yardbirds' version