IMO, the guitar has gone the way of the clarinet, and will not come back from it. It’s played out. Some various forms of retro music may survive, but as a vibrant source of anything new? Ain’t gonna happen. All things come to an end at some point.
So what’s the “future”?
(U2 was never expository of anything exceptional on the guitar, BTW.)
I will also say this to Bono. Don’t listen for music trends by paying attention to what your children are listening to.
Rich, spoiled kids tend not to have their pulse on any real “rage” music.
Joe Bonamassa much?
Was watching a documentary on the history of the electric guitar on Netflix recently. Guitar virtuosity is going to be a very rare thing in the future.
I was also struck by the huge investment by today’s musicians in guitars made in the 50’s. I was vaguely aware of this, but I thought it was merely an urge to collect. Apparently these old instruments have very rich tonal qualities not reproduced since.