Posted on 06/22/2017 4:29:03 PM PDT by Drew68
The convention couldn’t sound less rock-and-roll — the National Association of Music Merchants Show. But when the doors open at the Anaheim Convention Center, people stream in to scour rows of Fenders, Les Pauls and the oddball, custom-built creations such as the 5-foot-4-inch mermaid guitar crafted of 15 kinds of wood.
Standing in the center of the biggest, six-string candy store in the United States, you can almost believe all is well within the guitar world.
Except if, like George Gruhn, you know better. The 71-year-old Nashville dealer has sold guitars to Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift. Walking through NAMM with Gruhn is like shadowing Bill Belichick at the NFL Scouting Combine. There is great love for the product and great skepticism. What others might see as a boom — the seemingly endless line of dealers showcasing instruments — Gruhn sees as two trains on a collision course.
“There are more makers now than ever before in the history of the instrument, but the market is not growing,” Gruhn says in a voice that flutters between a groan and a grumble. “I’m not all doomsday, but this — this is not sustainable.”
The numbers back him up. In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million. The two biggest companies, Gibson and Fender, are in debt, and a third, PRS Guitars, had to cut staff and expand production of cheaper guitars. In April, Moody’s downgraded Guitar Center, the largest chain retailer, as it faces $1.6 billion in debt. And at Sweetwater.com, the online retailer, a brand-new, interest-free Fender can be had for as little as $8 a month.
What worries Gruhn is not simply that profits are down. That happens in business.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wow. Roger McGuinn is giving lessons on YouTube. Cool!
I read the whole thread. Your post nails it.
Check out radioparadise.com noiseman. There is a lot of great music being created today and radioparadise plays it along with all the great music you grew up with. Added bonus, it’s commercial free.
I have no problem with today's shallowness and irritating foulmouth noise...
So long as I'm not forced to listen to it.
Specially in commercials.
I always thought it was hysterical that the guy with very little facial hair is the one named Frank Beard. LOL.
Ouch, snooze you lose.
I don’t have a particular link handy, but if you search YouTube for “Phil Keaggy Salvation Army Band Wheaton”, you’ll find various recordings of his song, Salvation Army Band, performed live at Wheaton College. It’s phenomenal. You could also search for his recorded track, “The Further Adventures Of...”, which is just an entirely improvisational session with only himself and a drummer. It is really incredible.
About what I thought, thanks.
By the way, “The Further Adventures Of...” is over 12 minutes long, so give it some time, as it starts slow and builds to awesomeness by the middle to end of the track.
Lego model building is going pretty good.
It is to the point if you want to do big custom designs of your own there are websites you can order the pieces you need to do the project.
Commercial radio gave up on rock and roll (old or new). White people are supposed to pay for it (digital) or stream it (ihateradio) via ClearChannel.
“new expanding markets” of “urban” (black) hip hop, “latin” tejano/regaton with Spanglish announcers (and spanish ads), and top 40 girly disco+dubstep+RadioDisney3.0 replaced it. Oh and hick hop/bruh country.
Nothing for adults. Nothing with guitar riffs.
The suits told those alerting them to The Beatles in 1961-62 that “the guitar group sound is out”. Better to stick with poster idols like Bobby Darin, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Bobby Bobby.
The suits pushed hair metal and rap from 1987-1992. Then the independents broke through (in part because MTV was still showing videos then and desperately needed something ‘new’ to grab the viewers).
Is music “relevant” anymore? or is it just background noise? What was the last “movement” in music (not political, but cultural/fashion/whatever)?
The Ventures remain popular in Japan, they became big before the Beatles and led to a surge in guitar sales.
The Beatles + the Stones + the rest of the British Invasion saw an explosion of garage bands in America as kids/guys dropped out of the car club scene and tried to get girls by playing a guitar. Some even became famous from it.
As an aside, those millions of old guitars that were made means that there are also millions of used guitars on the market. Sometimes it’s now cheaper to buy a new guitar rather than a pricey “vintage” guitar but there are also “collectors” buying new guitars that they will never play.
The ‘lectronic crowd isn’t so much about musicians as it is geeks who want to make music without learning about composition or remembering how to play what they’ve composed. Slap it together in the computer and bam it’s done.
Watch this clip to see someone boast of it:
The Making Of “Black Beatles” With Mike Will Made-It | Deconstructed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jp4I9shmrE
And this exposes the fraud of brah country “hits” (constructed from the same robot formula)
Sir Mashalot: Mind-Blowing SIX Song Country Mashup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o
Just the other days I was thinking about assembling a collection of the music years; the good old days, I mean from LPs, CD albums, and tapes.
How can you hum or whistle to a jungle jumble of noise?
Also, if you want to hear the absolute quintessential Keaggy on acoustic guitar, look up his album “The Master and the Musician.” It’s a classic, and just transports you to another place.
I bought my first real electric guitar in ‘68 - a new Les Paul Deluxe.
I still play it, but my go-to guitars these days are a Fender Strat VG (discontinued, but so many sounds with the built in synth, detuning, 12 string, etc.) and a Gibson SG (green with gold trim, it’s simply beautiful - it called to me from the web sites).
I don’t play out much these days, but it’s sure fun!
In my last 3 piece band I counted over a dozen microprocessor signal processors. The state of the art is amazing. Guitar synths that actually work, vocal harmonizers in real time, inexpensive mixing boards, cheap lighting.
I think the kids will continue the art of guitar playing. It’s such a versatile polyphonic instrument. But I think the manufacturer’s offerings are way over the top. I recently picked up a Strat print catalog with over a hundred pages in it. No wonder they’re worried about demand, it’s a buyer’s market.
I still can’t figure out who would buy a “pre-stressed” guitar...?
Any of it inspiring tens of thousands to pick up guitars?
Depending upon condition and originality, together those two could fetch $20-23K.
I’ll give you $100 for each, sight unseen. Freep Mail me if you are interested. ;-)
The articles on record album sales only care about "new" item sales too. 90+ years of records that can be played on contemporary equipment and few stores that ONLY sell new records (no used inventory).
424,865 sold 12" records via ebay in the past 30 days (out of 1.05million listed)
209,091 sold 7" records via ebay in the past 30 days (out of 524k listed) (US listings)
And 15,850 sold electric guitars (not including bass) in the last 30 days and 6,316 acoustic guitars)
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