Philly Fun With Guitars
Guitars Gone Wild (Just for fun!)
While we are all trying to navigate through quarantine and ultimately getting back to real life, we just want to have a little fun and explore the fun and crazy world of guitars. There are no guitar heroes anymore. Current chart sensations don’t stand on stage with guitars around their neck the way some of our guitar heroes did. Yet guitar factories are still humming.
The NAMM show, a collection of music store operators, music professionals, and tens of thousands of fans, where guitars of every color and imaginable shape were on display. The goal for many guitar makers: to either get older folks to spring out more money to add even more guitars to their collection or better yet, get tomorrow’s generation excited to start playing.
At NAMM, which attracts 150,000 people, we saw guitars that were filled with water, a model that resembled a mirror with strings, and a model with multiple holes in the back, for sound purposes. For the person who has everything, there’s a $530,000 gold-studded Fender Stratocaster for sale.
The challenge is to realize the baby boomer audience that has fueled the guitar industry for so many years only has a couple of decades left, in some cases only a few more years. They’re beginning to die off, and guitar makers have to reach new audiences. The good news? Young music fans are re-discovering guitar heroes through services like Spotify and Apple Music. They’re listening to Van Halen and Guns N’ Roses, bands with guitars at the front and center.
Streaming sends people to see classic rock banks in concert, and when young people see guitar heroes on stage, they want to run out and start learning how to play. They look to the stage for cues about what kind of guitar to buy. And there’s always YouTube where rock and roll never dies: Tom Petty is still standing on stage with his red Rickenbacker, Prince is making his guitar weep on his tan Fender Telecaster and Steely Dan still had Walter Becker playing his tasty riffs live on “Josie” and other hits.
The market is flooded with cheap knockoff guitars, which helps stores like Walmart sell inexpensive models. For the serious fan, many brands have moved to selling guitars endorsed by their heroes. Meanwhile, the $530,000 Fender will sell simply because it’s unique. And those new water-filled guitars? Well they look great but water is heavy. Not sure you want to be sporting that puppy around your neck.
All in all, guitars are a great way to express your unique talent. Not only with sound but also in how they look. And there are some fun, great looking guitars out there. Have fun with your music, not only with sound but with aesthetics too. Looking to get in on the guitar playing game? Take guitar lessons in Philadelphia and be on your way to being the rock God you always wanted to be.