Posted on 02/02/2026 6:16:47 AM PST by LouAvul
I browse various classifieds and see more and more ads for people selling their guitars. And the same guitars seem to languish on the market.
With the evolution of techno music, Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young guitar licks don't seem to be instant crowd pleasers/chick magnets like the old days.
Or, am I just out of touch?
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I love to play guitar 🎸
unfortunately I’m not that good
Grrrr 😠
Many guitars were purchased during COVID-era economy shutdown and “home-jailing”.
Nobody is learning and playing instruments. It’s disastrous. The music industry loves this. Higher margins. Lower costs. AI created music thru button pushers along with a lip synching auto-tune pretty face.
I’m old and out of touch, but from my perspective, there isn’t a lot of music being made these days. I saw a recap of the grammy awards on the morning news, most of what I saw was garbage.
If so, good. I prefer an orchestra.
It’s true that synths were a big thing in the 80s, but plenty of popular song still used guitar. Then grunge and other styles grew in popularity in the 90s and there was no question that guitars were important. But I feel like “hits” for the past 20 years or so have made almost no use of guitar. Not like they used to. For me, the “hits” of today are intended to be mindless, rhythmic background music that no one actively listens to. A lot of it is borderline A Capella with no significant music of any kind. It’s got a beat and an auto-tuned voice. There is nothing interesting to latch on to, but it serves as a sort of soundtrack while people surf social media in a mindless way.
My elementary school in the 60’s and 70’s required learning an instrument. I played the Viola.
pianos are even worse. Almost no children (at least not Chinese or Korean ones) learn to play any longer
My mother had a 1912 Brambach baby grand in her house, in fine condition, and it was impossible to sell. Every dealer we went to (and there aren’t many) said “there is no market anymore.”
It was almost impossible to even given away.
The Langley Sisters and family.....
So, you're an ELO fan. Love their music!
I can only speak for myself, but whether it be rock, jazz, rhythm and blues, progressive, or classical, the guitar is still very much in the mix.
One factor, if you follow current pop music, is that the use of the solo by any instrument is disappearing in favor of rap so they can “cross market.”
No shortage of interest in my world. But I think it’s cyclical to some degree. And when you see guitars languish for sale on line it’s usually because people think their guitars are worth more that they think they are. And the ones that are worth the high asking price are out of reach for a lot of people. I have a Les Paul Traditional posted for 7 weeks for $1700 and no takers so far. Had trade offers, but no cash. And it’s worth every bit of 1700. I can wait as I don’t have to sell.
Yup! You’re right. During the Covid scam, every little girl wanted a uke so she could be the next Tater Swuft. Some of the slower ones thought they’d make great politicians and political rioters. The worst symptom of the Kung Flu is that females got very, very angry and ended up so stupid that they all thought they would make great Congress varmints, Governors, mayors or even the President of the United States.
True. I live in a college town. My gym is mostly populated by college students. The ‘music’ played is not to my mind music at all. No melody, no joy, no nothing. Just unpleasant vocals over some kind of thumpy backdrop of noise.
Hmmmmmm! No arenas, but our band did play 54 gigs last year and we’re booking up for this year pretty well. The sad thing is, I didn’t realize just how rich I was in high school in the mid 60’s. Inflation never laid a finger on paying bar bands. 🤔. Still $100-150 per member plus tips. Which range from $8 each to $92 each. Oh, I’ll be 79 this year and I still enjoy it.
I read this elsewhere and I think it is probably true.
Learning music is hard and for some reason most seven year-old children don't want to practice, practice, practice. And that is what it takes to get good.
For a youngster to learn to play an instrument, it usually requires adult commitment. Children today are lucky if parents insist they learn to read and write.
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