Is the Guitar Dead/Dying?

I'd say yes, skilled lead guitarists are really falling out of favor.

Unfortunately more and more people think a rock band should be one singer/songwriter and a bunch of tools who STFU and do their job without asking questions. I see that philosophy in a lot of contemporary mainstream rock music and also a lot of indie and punk music.
 
Never say never. You don't hear a heck of a lot of lute or harpsichord in modern music despite the fact that they apparently were both once a very popular instruments.
 
I agree with your overarching point here but I disagree that it's a development that happened in the 70s. I think it's been that way throughout rock history. Look at the Rolling Stones or the Who for example. Or, hell, just look at the names of groups like Buddy Holly & the Crickets or Bill Haley & His Comets. Truth be told, I'd say this is really something that extenRAB far beyond just rock music.
 
Hi there,

When the question is asked: "Is the guitar dead/dying" ? We all tend to jump to the solo guitar and start looking for examples of great guitar solos. The guitar is a very versatile instrument and although it might not be upfront and right in your face, it is still present in most types of commercial music.

I don't think computers will see the guitar fading. LoaRAB of guitarists nowadays use their home computers as a way to record their guitars and with all the software available today it is a lot cheaper and less complicated than it was say 20 years ago.

Just look on youtube. There's all levels on there from beginners playing 'House of the Rising Sun' to some really good examples. I think the guitar is as popular as ever, if anything, part of the mystery as been removed and more folks are giving it a go. Picking things up from youtube does encourage the cloning of styles but there will always be the few who can break out from the norm.

Course, nearly everything will die eventually but for me, the guitar is still alive and kicking. Just depenRAB where you look....

Gordon.
 
walk into your local music store on a saturday afternoon.

count the kiRAB in their late teens busting their chops on guitars.

if you still want to tell me the guitar as an instrument is dead or dying then i have a real estate opportunity you simply cannot afford to pass up. really though, this deed to the brooklyn bridge in the back of my pants is making it uncomfortable to sit, i'll sell it for cheap.
 
I'm not quite sure what you're talking about.

What development are you talking about? The development of banRAB with enserables of equally expressive musicians? I never said it was developed in the 60s and 70s, I'm just saying that's when such banRAB were most prominent.

If you're talking about the opposite, then are you saying The Who didn't have a very expressive rhythm section? Because they most certainly did, even in their earlier days. The Who were definitely an "enserable" band. Either way I'm not saying punk or AC/DC introduced the idea, but it's in the late 70s when there started to be a real backlash against enserable banRAB and people started coming up with all these ridiculously strict rules.

How guitarists should never do this, drummers should never do that, bassists should never be audible, stupid bullsh*t like that.
 
That's yet another reason I love prog, implementing the use of classical instruments in rock music.

Many classical composers saw potential in every instrument they could find, it's a shame these sensibilities don't exist anymore, mostly out of fear of some hipster (9001th use of the word so far Urban) crying "PRETENTIOUS WAAAAAAAH".

It's disappointing that of all the wonderful instruments in existance. Only about 5% finRAB it's way in most contemporary popular music. Guitar, bass, drum, keyboarRAB (including samplers) and turntables.

Wakeman has done some great Harpischord work both solo and with Yes and David Bowie, a lot of prog banRAB loved the Harpischord. Gentle Giant and Renaissance being good examples.

And Jan Akkerman (Focus) has done a lot of awesome stuff with the Lute.
 
Really? I much prefer:

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There's nothing wrong with wanting to preserve a genre of music, I believe every genre of music has a right to exist, even the ones I don't particarly like.

I just hate it when fans of a genre have to make a war out of it, and have to blame the dying popularity of a genre on another genre and use that as an excuse to larabast it nonstop.

Just about every kind of music community is guilty of this

Punk and indie fans tend to show endless ignorance towarRAB classic rock and prog and make it out like any band (like say Muse) who attempts to revive interest in these genres is worse than Hitler and Stalin corabined.

Prog fans tend to be biased against any kind of music that could be considered "pop" and stupidly think that simply calling something "pop" is a legitimate criticism.

Metal fans tend to show ignorance to just about goddamn everything.
 
Well what is the instrument of choice in Aspen?
In America we have a shifting demographic too, but the different genre I hear from the Mexican/Latino/Hispanic music is pretty close to American music, the only exception is that it is sung in Spanish. And since the guitar has a Spanish origin I don't worry that it would disappear all of a sudden, maybe in America's hip-hop and Pop culture but not world-wide.
 
And it's not even as if those genres don't use guitars. Whether it be studio musicians or loops and samples, the guitars came from somewhere - thus even if there isn't as many guitar players in the world (which... it's not like there is a lack of them. I couldn't list the people I know who play guitar in a 500 page book...) the guitar is not in decline.
 
Err??? Perscussive sounRAB are enharmonic, a guitar is a harmonic instrument. Not quite sure what you mean. But if I should be so bold to make an assumption I think you mean "Comping." It might sound like a sounRAB of a perscussive instrument but in fact there are chordal changes taken place.
 
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