Is this the end of the Rock Guitar

**Lobomov** · 03-21-2018, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff

The top-grossing tour of 2017 was U2, 3rd Metallica, and 5th Guns and Roses. Dead and Company came in at 22. All groups, it might be pointed out, which have signature guitar models.

Groups of my generation ... nostalgia sells, but for how long

**wmachine** · 03-21-2018, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Lobomov

Groups of my generation ... nostalgia sells, but for how long

Obviously until we die. Which is not only fine, it makes sense. (Forever is highly overrated).

**Hep To The Jive** · 03-21-2018, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

There are a whole bunch of terrific young guitar players in pretty much every genre right now. They just aren't having many hit songs on the radio. That doesn't mean that they aren't making a whole lot of great music. And some of them are having some real success. It's just that success is now measured in new and different ways than we're used to.

The little problem is there are no movements on a global level anymore. Rock was always a social movement as much as music. Greasers, hippies, punks, metalheads, newwavers, that was more than music, it was a fashion statement, tribal behavior, the whole aesthetics. It was also on a global level, it was like a game that the world played, or rather the youth of the world.

It was like that when I was in school, and it was FUN! Being a rocker was exciting and dangerous, you can hear on the news creepy old men telling you how bad it's for the youth, the youth is corrupted! Haha, THAT's Rocknroll!

Today- nothing. Hip-hop, EDM maybe, but it's not the same for me. And I work with kids, I ask them, they say it's nothing like that.

So yeah, plenty of talent playing guitar. On a technical level it's probably as good as it ever was and better, but... the world doesn't play a game of rocknroll anymore.

I still believe it might change, I'm still that kid.

**christianm77** · 03-21-2018, 02:15 PM

People are studying rock guitar at university now.

It’s no longer a sketchy youth activity. The Sex Pistols are on the Trinity rock and pop graded syllabus.

**jameslovestal** · 03-21-2018, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive

The little problem is there are no movements on a global level anymore. Rock was always a social movement as much as music. Greasers, hippies, punks, metalheads, newwavers, that was more than music, it was a fashion statement, tribal behavior, the whole aesthetics. It was also on a global level, it was like a game that the world played, or rather the youth of the world.

It was like that when I was in school, and it was FUN! Being a rocker was exciting and dangerous, you can hear on the news creepy old men telling you how bad it's for the youth, the youth is corrupted! Haha, THAT's Rocknroll!

Today- nothing. Hip-hop, EDM maybe, but it's not the same for me. And I work with kids, I ask them, they say it's nothing like that.

So yeah, plenty of talent playing guitar. On a technical level it's probably as good as it ever was and better, but... the world doesn't play a game of rocknroll anymore.

I still believe it might change, I'm still that kid.

I highly doubt Rock and Roll will again be the 'pop' music of a generation like it was during the 60s \ 70s (well before Disco made an impact). Note that big-band was the pop music for a decade or so. I.e. most generations come up with a genre of music that is the most popular.

But today, I don't see any one genre being dominant. While Hip-hop and rap might be the most popular, country, rock and roll and bubble-gum type pop (E.g. Katy Perry), each have a lot of listener. To me that is a good thing (except that jazz is the least listened to music!).

**Kirk Garrett** · 03-21-2018, 03:26 PM

The 20th Century was a playground for the arts and for artists. Everything was new, everything was to be discovered as cultures collided and science exploded. Novelty was paramount, and most enterprises enjoyed their adolescent, pubescent “rock and roll” moment.

It can’t last forever. The world is small and round once we’ve opened up all the colorful, newly discovered packages. Guitars are not alone in having lost their initial big bang novelty.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**TedBPhx** · 03-21-2018, 04:27 PM

I love E D M
EDM will never die
We built this city on EDM
he he

**Skip Ellis** · 03-21-2018, 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by Lobomov

I still think that the clarinet is going to make a big comeback

I was thinking accordian, but, then what do I know - I'm a pedal steel player.

**christianm77** · 03-21-2018, 06:26 PM

been a long time since i edm

**Cunamara** · 03-21-2018, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by christianm77

Then I got into the jazz guys and that didn’t seem like the same thing at all as shred. Virtuosity sure, but never for the sake of it, and not much in the way of big hair, apart from Metheny, or tight trousers.

Why jazz isn't popular- played by too many bald guys.

If we got some guitarists with cool hair playing bebop, then the hotties would be digging it- and more players would be into it because everybody wants to impress hotties (note this is non gender-specific. It works both ways.). It'd be a growth spiral instead of a death spiral!

Wait... a growth spiral in hair is a cowlick. Never mind.

Seriously, though: if the ukulele can make a comeback, and it has, then the guitar certainly can!

**citizenk74** · 03-21-2018, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Why jazz isn't popular- played by too many bald guys.

If we got some guitarists with cool hair playing bebop, then the hotties would be digging it- and more players would be into it because everybody wants to impress hotties (note this is non gender-specific. It works both ways.). It'd be a growth spiral instead of a death spiral!

Wait... a growth spiral in hair is a cowlick. Never mind.

Seriously, though: if the ukulele can make a comeback, and it has, then the guitar certainly can!

Jazz Hats.

**Jim Soloway** · 03-21-2018, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive

The little problem is there are no movements on a global level anymore. Rock was always a social movement as much as music. Greasers, hippies, punks, metalheads, newwavers, that was more than music, it was a fashion statement, tribal behavior, the whole aesthetics. It was also on a global level, it was like a game that the world played, or rather the youth of the world.

It was like that when I was in school, and it was FUN! Being a rocker was exciting and dangerous, you can hear on the news creepy old men telling you how bad it's for the youth, the youth is corrupted! Haha, THAT's Rocknroll!

Today- nothing. Hip-hop, EDM maybe, but it's not the same for me. And I work with kids, I ask them, they say it's nothing like that.

So yeah, plenty of talent playing guitar. On a technical level it's probably as good as it ever was and better, but... the world doesn't play a game of rocknroll anymore.

I still believe it might change, I'm still that kid.

You may well be right about all of that (although I believe that many these kids today excel at more than a technical level). It's not a social movement but noen of that has anything to do with the quality of the music. There is a whole lot of great music being made all over the world right now and a lot of it is being made on guitar.

**DRS** · 03-25-2018, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by christianm77

People are studying rock guitar at university now.

It’s no longer a sketchy youth activity. The Sex Pistols are on the Trinity rock and pop graded syllabus.

Usually, when an art is embraced by some form of academia, it's no longer a social force. Set in aspic. Mounted on pins.
It's no longer pissing off those in power.
What is? Apparently hip hop.
But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it still. Many people still paint in the Impressionistic style. Just don't try and mount a major exhibition.

**Thumpalumpacus** · 03-25-2018, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Seriously, though: if the ukulele can make a comeback, and it has, then the guitar certainly can!

Without even a Tiny Tim bump!

Mass-marketed rock is certainily on the wane, but at the local level, it still lives. My 20-year-old son hips me to stuff that, while I don't care for it myself, certainly channels the greats of the past from Jimi and Zep to AC/DC, Slayer, Metallica, and beyond. It's sad to go into a big-box music store and see the action happening in the pro-audio department, sure. But it's out there, and alive.

I guess rock is like a virus, it may blow up into an epidemic, then retreat into reservoirs, only to perhaps grow virulent again?

I know I've done my part. My son stills listens to Sabbath, Cream, Rush, and Metallica, alongside his favorite rap and electronica. Now if I could only persuade him of the genius of Wes ...

**rhoadsscholar** · 03-26-2018, 10:46 PM

Just saw Davy knowles. He is 31 now but my son and I saw him when he was still in high school with his band back door slam. More artists like this might just save rock guitar. Shot this with my iPhone.

**ptchristopher3** · 03-26-2018, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by jameslovestal

I highly doubt Rock and Roll will again be the 'pop' music of a generation like it was during the 60s \ 70s (well before Disco made an impact). Note that big-band was the pop music for a decade or so. I.e. most generations come up with a genre of music that is the most popular.

But today, I don't see any one genre being dominant. While Hip-hop and rap might be the most popular, country, rock and roll and bubble-gum type pop (E.g. Katy Perry), each have a lot of listener. To me that is a good thing (except that jazz is the least listened to music!).

At my oldest daughter’s high school graduation a student band played the band Boston’s song “Long Time”.

Simple arithmetic said that this would have been like my 1976 high school graduation having a student band play Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”, which would have been absurd.

It is long past time for Rock to die. It was my idiotic I-IV-V power trio past. It is sad to think that it is any kid’s present music. Move on, turn the page, make somehting new and exciting. I am ready to hear it.

In my opinion.

**Zigracer** · 03-26-2018, 11:21 PM

“Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein.” Dick Rowe, Decca Records.

Maybe Mr. Rowe knew it would take 54 years. Hahahahaha

**Thumpalumpacus** · 03-27-2018, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by ptchristopher3

At my oldest daughter’s high school graduation a student band played the band Boston’s song “Long Time”.

Simple arithmetic said that this would have been like my 1976 high school graduation having a student band play Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”, which would have been absurd.

It is long past time for Rock to die. It was my idiotic I-IV-V power trio past. It is sad to think that it is any kid’s present music. Move on, turn the page, make somehting new and exciting. I am ready to hear it.

In my opinion.

There's been plenty of great rock released since Boston, and much of it not I-IV-V.

Rock won't die, it'll simply continue its incorporation into the cultural language. Hell, classical was well well past its peak when guys like Blackmore, Rhoads, and Malmsteen wove it into their music. Rock, too, will resonate down the years.

Jazz is longer in the tooth than rock, but who here wants to see it gone? Not I.

**Klatu** · 03-28-2018, 11:34 AM

I'm a high school teacher, and when I look around at what my students are listening to, it seems to break down according to race and ethnicity. Most of the students at my school are hispanic and black, and they gravitate heavily towards hip hop. The majority of white students also listen to hip hop, although there is a significant number of them who listen to rock and country music.

I've noticed that those who listen to rock tend towards classic rock that was written and released prior to 2000. Those who follow country music tend towards more contemporary releases. However, I want to stipulate that the "country music" which my students listen to bears little resemblance to the country music of Hank Williams and the bluegrass players. In fact, it sounds more like mainstream pop rock with a southern twang.

Remove the southern accents and cowboy hats from many contemporary country acts and it seems to me you'd have straight rock music.