Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

Came across this story tonight. Apparently changes in musical tastes among the younger generations has translated to significantly lower guitar sales, which has been the bread butter of musical instrument dealers for years. If GC is feeling the pinch, I'd bet that other big retailers are as well.

The young don't want electric guitars these days. They want their own recording set-up, which isn't that hard for them to do these days.

The Times They Are A-Changing, as one famous guitar singer/songwriter once sang.

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

Could be good for those of us who'd love to buy those instruments but can't pay their outrageous prices, if it forces them to lower them...

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

I would love to pick up quality instruments at fire sale prices

Where do I sign up.....

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

I think what's happening here is kind of a circular firing squad deal. They carry precious little in stock of amps and such. And what guitars they have are models no one wants. In their 'pro audio' department try asking for a MOTU 828 audio interface or anything from Avid. They don't have it and won't carry it in the store because their manager won't allow it. Now I have a feeling this is not on the local manager's level but comes from corporate.

How do I know or why do I write this? Because it happened to me late last year at the local GC. Needed some stuff so I drove over to Pennsy to a location I'd shopped at before. Virtually no Marshall tube amps, none of the newer Telecasters with the belly cut and precious little in audio interfaces. Plenty of guitar strings and straps and music books and videos though. Drum section - a couple of e-kits and sticks. Talked to one of the salespeople who clued me into what happened. I then asked if a long-time store manager I knew quite well still worked there and was told he left because of being pressured from higher-up.

The morale of the whole store was sad to say the least.

I wonder where their online presence (Musician's Friend) comes in on all this?

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

The quote from the article that most caught my attention was this one:

“With kids these days, it’s all about instant gratification. No one wants to take six months or a year to learn. They don’t want to do the work.”

I am not around any teenagers so I can't speak from experience, but my general impression is they are so glued to their smartphones/tablets, not wanting to miss out on someone's text or social media post that they don't have the attention span to really dig into the guitar. As for taking six months to a year to learn how to play the guitar, I guess I am a slow learner as I didn't really get good at the guitar until I was in my 40's, despite getting my first electric (Montgomery Wards 3/4 size Strat copy) at age 13 and taking a couple of classes in college.

That being said, in the last 10 years I have only bought 1 new guitar (Epiphone Les Paul ) and gave 1 away to a friend (Les Paul copy I bought in the 1970's) and sold a Fender Jazz Bass.

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

Not to denigrate other musicians but guitar has to be one of the most difficult instruments to play well (emphasis on the 'well' part). Co-ordination of two hands and finger dexterity takes a lot of time to get together. And it requires the will to practice day after day after day.

When I started I took a year of lessons but I also woodshedded like crazy because I wanted to get good enough to play in public. You see the high school I was going to had guitar masses on Fridays for the whole school and I wanted to be a part of that. That was the genesis of a germ that's stuck with me since then (1966). And I still; have that guitar - Gibson small body acoustic B25; it gets played regularly despite having a crack in one of the internal braces.

Kids today just don't have the work ethic to earn anything. Then again it's not just teens either. I see a lot around Christmas time here on the DUC with newbies looking for help that just can't be bothered to read the manual or get into the workings of their computers. Like I say - this ain't Guitar Band - put in the work and you'll be rewarded.

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

Not just that, but they also don't care about the instrument and the music, plain and simple.

My daughter is 17. Every guy at her school wants to "make music". Always been that way right? Well...when I was 17, every guy wanted to be in a band, every guy (most at least) was into punk, metal, rock, etc... You know, the kind of music where you can actually hear, and apppreciate guitar. What do they want in 2018? They're not into "music", they're into money, easy money. They're into hiphop, trap, etc. They think they're already famous because they put their "songs" and videos on youtube and they get likes. They're not interested in playing an instrument, they're interested in putting 3 loops together in Garageband, and "singing" their poetry with maximum pitch correction cause of course none of them can stay in tune in the first place. That's what the young mens around her are into. Pretty sad.

Few are those interested in different genres...They're most likely the rejects no one talk to, you know the weird goths, emos, or whatever they're called.

I've tried to keep my daughter's tastes open, but she'll never admit to her friends that she listens to, and actually likes Muse, Pink Floyd, Arch Enemy, Supertramp, Depeche Mode, classical, even some black metal, Moby, EDM, etc etc..... Old or new doesn't matter, but something musically interesting. I'm really not the type of person who think everything was better "back then", there were great artists yesterday, there are great artists today, and there will be great artists tomorrow, but teens only care about one thing today: doing music without making music.

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

As a pianist, I couldn't agree more. I bought a guitar a couple of years ago simply because I always wanted to play. I don't have any expectation, other than just having fun and being able to play in a relatively decent way ;) ...Boy... I thought well, I'm already used to play with two hands, can't be that hard... Nope!! It is!!! :D I'll need a few more weeks before I can cover for Kirk Hammett should he have a flu.:p

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

Hahaha [emoji23]

Re: Guitar Center nearly $1bil in Debt...
 

It's what those two hands do different on each instrument as you're finding out. But it's doable. A little more backstory: I originally wanted to play guitar but because at the time Elvis was huge the family didn't want me to get into THAT kind of music so they forced the accordion on me. Talk about a dorky instrument but I digress. But eventually I migrated over to piano as well - getting used to a different way of using the left hand :eek:

It was that passion for guitar that fed me when I actually got my first one. And I haven't looked back somewhat to my wife's chagrin with all the guitars I have.

Something I'd heard about quite often is that playing along with recorded music can help one's playing. I do that a lot with drums which I've gotten back into after 30+ years not being behind the kit. For me it's trying to play along with Neil Peart ;) I'm not going to say I'll never be like him as that would be self-defeating. When I say something like that my wife reminds me that he does this every day and what if he tried soldering surface mount parts (which is one of my specialties). Listening to American blues is what helped Eric Clapton to hone his sound.

That last sentence brings up something I do - whenever I have some Clapton on the cd or dvd player usually out comes one of my guitars and I play along. Sometimes I'll play the same lines he plays or I'll riff off of them. Helps thicken the old brain synapses.