Electric guitar mature, not dying

Debate has been raging since last year about whether the electric guitar is dying.

As a musician with a long history of playing rock, this is a serious issue to me and, according to the Washington Post article that started the debate a year ago, it should matter to you.

That article was cleverly headlined, “Why my guitar gently weeps — the slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care.”

The writer, Geoff Edgers, is a national arts reporter for the Post who was wetting his first diapers when I was 20. That makes him 48 now.

His piece that seemed to be sounding a death knell for the instrument that, more than any other, defined the music that galvanized generations of pop music fans since Elvis Presley, who became a mega-star when I was a first-grader.

Edgers never stated directly why you should care, but he makes it plain the fading of the electric guitar’s starring role is a turning point in pop culture history.

Being 20 years younger than I am, Edgers is in a great position to notice a transition that I am probably less willing to acknowledge. He would have been coming of age about the time the keyboard synthesizer was edging out the guitar as the most-heard instrument backing rock and pop singers.

The post-Edgers writers say the guitar is not dying, but acknowledge perception of the instrument is changing.

The guitar, apparently, is no longer the symbol of flamboyant, strutting late-adolescent manhood that it had been since the days of Elvis.

Edgers cites many sources as he pointed out that while there are more guitar makers out there than ever before, the day of the guitar hero is gone.

Guitar sales are down. Guitar sellers are either deep in debt or facing bankruptcy, Edgers noted.

Other writers say that’s due as much to marketing missteps as to the apparently declining appeal of their product.

On the other hand, these writers noted, guitar sales are still strong, but the demographics of guitar buying are changing.

It should be comforting to the #metoo movement to note that girls are buying more guitars than boys these days. The main reason is Taylor Swift, the young country and pop superstar who writes her own stuff and looks great playing and singing it.

If that means the guitar’s association with testosterone and degradation of women is gone, that’s good news.

The guitar can now become the musical instrument that Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana have played gloriously without the theatrics.

It has finally grown up.

In marketing terms, the electric guitar has gone from “growth stage” to “maturity.” It still has a strong, steady place in music, even without its star quality.

Talented kids are going to find glory in guitar music and strive to emulate the masters as musicians, not definers of culture.

If guitar makers and sellers adjust to this new world, they will continue to thrive and guitars will continue to sell.

Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at:

stevenmhansen

@plateautel.net