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Just watched your video on activemelody.com entitled Are Guitar Players in Decline? This is a very intriguing interrogative and I’m glad you presented the question to our activemelody.com community. You know our website’s demographics better than any of us. I would assume (really a W.A.G.) that our demographics will remain, at least for the foreseeable future, middle-aged to older folks (mostly guys), many of whom started playing as teens or younger adults. As you may already know, Brian, I am a certified, card-carrying “old guy” who is 30 years older than you. Many of your online entourage probably started playing guitar because a friend or family member introduced them to it and made playing look fun and interesting. That’s what happened in my case. My uncle was a guitarist. He showed me how to play my first “cowboy chords” when I was in elementary school – and I was hooked! I have a nine-year-old granddaughter. I’d love to be her guitar mentor, but she cannot tear herself away from playing games on her iPad. The greatest Christmas gift I EVER received was when, as a teenager, my uncle, grandmother, etc. gave me a 1957 Fender Strat; my granddaughter wants the newest (4th generation) iPad Pro for Christmas! Times have changed – drastically. There are so many things to distract kids nowadays; they seem to have neither the time nor patience to learn a musical instrument.
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Hey Charlie. Haven’t seen the video yet but I will have a look. Understand completely what you are saying. There’s a lot of distractions now for youngsters, mainly electronic. I think the best thing is to play guitar as much as you can when your 9 year old granddaughter is around. Hopefully that will lead to questions, pique her interest and eventually lead to wanting to learn. I’ve been a guitar player forever but definitely neglected it while having a family and my two kids (17 & 22 now) don’t play! Although I think I’ve been a good dad I didn’t play a lot of guitar while they were growing up and I should have made the time. Good luck Charlie, maybe even start with a Uke as a present, easier on the fingers and a great transition to our chosen instrument. All the best!
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There’s a whole field of science called “music psychology”, which includes several scholarly journals, and is taught at many universities. The hard truth is, very few people understand or even care about music at all. For most people, it’s just a means to drown out the internal chatter in their brains. Kids today use their devices to do that, so music is even less relevant to them.
A few years ago, there was an article in New Scientist which summarized some of the latest findings in music psychology. You can make a list of many reasons why people listen to music, but they all boil down to about 5 different reasons:
1) Some people listen to “background music” – the stuff they play in offices – to help them chill out and focus on their tasks. It’s a distraction from boredom. Like people who walk down the sidewalk with ear buds in as they stream Spotify.
2) Some people listen to a style of music because they want to identify themselves with others who listen to it. Country music fans want to be modern day cowboys. Rap music fans want to be in the gangsta culture. Jazz music fans want to be among the intellectuals.
3) Some people choose music that is very repetitive and predictable, like club music and trance, so they can become immersed in it and move their bodies in time with it.
4) Some people choose music that is highly variable, and has surprising twists and turns = unpredictable. Brain stimulation. Often found in classical and jazz.
5) Some people listen to change their mood. Make them feel calmer, make them feel happier, make them feel more excited, whatever.Sunjamr Steve
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