Here's what the folks on the Jazz Guitar Forum have to say about about this topic .
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guitar-amps-gizmos/66340-end-rock-guitar.html

Millenials killed Guitar Center.

Seems like bullshit scapegoating to me. Sure the top billboard artists aren't guitar-oriented but that's been the case for a long time. Take a look at the Coachella lineup and there's still a bunch of guitar bands headlining. The problem is nobody wants to buy them from guitar center.

And they must know that. They sell equipment for other music too.

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:03:12

To play an instrument is hard. To do it well and reach some kind of fulfillment out of it, is incredibly hard. To reach beyond that still, will cost insane dedication, talent and good standing circumstance, and you're not promised anything. It has always been like that, and I don't see it changing.

Acutely generalizing here - just less people with balls (not discluding any gender), and the readiness to make the sacrifice. Understandably so, in this not very rewarding endeavor, as far as Millennials have been programmed to think. OTH, the coolness factor will rise as the popularity falls, it's a magic wheel.

A great part of the industrialized culture is about making things easier. That's the trend, so a couple hundred years later EDM is eating everything. Seen, the mistake is applying it where it shouldn't. They start selling samplers and such, DJ's press play and get paid millions, everybody's smartphone makes cute autotuned sounds and life's good and easy with company-government approved media.

There was a peak, with all music stuff - and now that peak is behind.
So what, true novelty is a rare occurrence in this world. Rock'n'roll has a real chance to become rebellious once again, but it must die some more first.

Last edited: Mar 21, 2018 17:51:23

Ariel wrote:

To play an instrument is hard. To do it well and reach some kind of fulfillment out of it, is incredibly hard. To reach beyond that still, will cost insane dedication, talent and good standing circumstance, and you're not promised anything. It has always been like that, and I don't see it changing.

Acutely generalizing here - just less people with balls (not discluding any gender), and the readiness to make the sacrifice. Understandably so, in this not very rewarding endeavor, as far as Millennials have been programmed to think.

A great part of the industrialized culture is about making things easier. That's the trend, so a couple hundred years later EDM is eating everything. Seen, the mistake is applying it where it shouldn't. They start selling samplers and such, DJ's press play and get paid millions, everybody's smartphone makes cute autotuned sounds and life's good and easy with company-government approved media.
So what, true novelty is a rare occurrence in this world. Rock'n'roll has a true chance to become rebellious once again, but it must die some more first.

Yeah, Ariel, your notes are purdy much my assessment as well of the apparent and unfortunate sundown on the guitar. Indeed, if a millennial can hit a few buttons and make EDM, why take the time to learn the guitar - it's only gonna play your parent's music and your friends dig your EDM much more.

I like to think that all it will take is a period where the guitar is uncool before it becomes cool again - as we have seen with other pop-culture entities. However, those revisits are most often short lived. And the 'making things easier trend' you mention we've seen before. It's how we got here. I mean, it takes a lot less time to achieve a friend-impressing degree of proficiency playing rock than it does to achieve the same level of proficiency playing jazz. The jazz-age parents of us baby-boomers thought the same of rock and roll as we do of EDM - to them, rock was too simplistic and repetitive. I don't want to ponder what will be easier to create than EDM.

"Hello Girls!"

Last edited: Mar 21, 2018 18:06:22

I remember going to a guitar center a few months back to look for a new amp. Right away i saw a fender super sonic 22 on sale for 600 bucks on sale. i sat down and Played it for a few minutes and was sold. i made a down payment and came back 2 weeks later to Pick it up. when i took it home right away i started hearing a noise coming from the back like some kind of static or something that was not there when i played it in the store. i took it back and explained the problem to the guy working and he plugged it in and noticed it. he took a look in the back and explained it was the output Transformer. i returned it and got my money back.

I'm Jake G and I approve this message

Some time ago, we had a thread about Guitar Centers finances. I seem to remember that if it went down, it would take Fender and Gibson with it. That's a lot of jobs!

I for one will just "shut up and play my guitar"....

Salud!

Mark

Millennials or not, the musical instrument market is always in flux. Guitar Center doesn't sell only guitars. They sell the hardware and software for electronic music as well. Many of you are displaying an embarrassing generational bias. Low new usership, to use business speak, is not really the problem. But it is a convenient way to pass the blame.

Be it guitars and pedals or analog synth modules, I'm impressed at how esoteric some of the boutique equipment is that Guitar Center carries. There are many exceptions but generally speaking, they represent the majority of musical instrument related products.

They're a terrible company. They're also the last resort, and in some markets, only resort for many of us. As well they dominate the online and catalog sales end of musical instrument retail.

There's nothing really surprising or unique about the on going financial situation at GC. It's a publicly held company that needs to show increasing dividends for it's investors. They have saturated the market at every level. Although they would have us believe otherwise, the problem isn't that enough new users aren't entering the market. Rather the market is completely saturated at every price point. The used market is a buyers market and new equipment is being sold at razor thin margins. The company is unable to adapt to market changes because it is too large. The company is operating in a market where in many ways nothing new needs to be produced.

Theoretically GC could have a near monopoly on the industry and show increasing annual returns, but it would be dependant on an unrealistic rate of new users.

The Vicissitones
Diesel Marine
The Rasputones

There were two GCs in my area in a busy shopping area in New Jersey. One was bad; the other just terrible. They got merged last summer to a more stripped down store. GC was a great source of used equipment 15-20 years ago. I actually scored a restorable Mosrite, Mesa Boogie and Peavey bass heads, speaker cabinets, Gretsch guitars, etc. at bargain to decent prices.

Now, I don't even buy strings there. Another local chain has a continuous "buy 2 get the 3rd set free" sale on strings.
On the occasions I now visit GC, it's the same high and low priced firewood that's been languishing for months or even years. In contrast, local music stores near me have more, better, and continuously changing inventory. Sometimes, smaller is better.
J Mo'