It’s a great time to play guitar
It’s a terrible time for the recording industry. Album sales sag more and more every year. High gas prices and a sluggish economy have made touring tough. Every time you pick up a magazine or get online, there are doom and gloom stories about the dire state of music. It seems like a lot of music folks are looking back fondly on how it was a decade ago.
Not us guitarists. A decade ago? The airwaves were dominated by slick pop. The only guitar based music that was getting any attention was bombastic and uninspired. But today we are enjoying a heyday. Guitar Hero has spawned a whole new generation of guitar enthusiasts. While most songs on the video game circuit are of the “classic rock” genre, there is a hip new guitar aesthetic spearheaded by one Jack White.
The Raconteurs. Kings of Leon. Fleet Foxes. Cold War Kids. They all sound refreshingly new and old at the same time. Bands like Buckcherry and Airbourne are doing a cool retro thing. Metal has been exploding over the last couple years, and it’s been great to see faith based bands at the forefront. Even the new U2, from what I’ve heard, seems to be tapping into a trashy hip thing again. Guitars are at the forefront of all of these bands.
If it’s a great time for guitar, it’s an even better time to START playing guitar. I didn’t realize it before I started playing guitar, but there are tons of great online learning resources. Most of them are free. With modeling technology, gear is cheap and sounds great. For a couple hundred bucks you can get tones that are pretty close to those that used to cost thousands and thousands of dollars.
Not to mention that it’s fun.
Don’t let the magazines or the music industry people fool you. It’s a great time to play guitar.
So come on, join the action. If you’re new to guitars, don’t fret (ha!). That’s why this blog is here. And if there’s something that’s not here, by all means ask!
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