Flat-Lining Guitar Requires Emergency Treatment
Up until the 1950s, the guitar was primarily an instrument of accompaniment: it was too quiet to be much more.
Improvements in sound recording technology, along with the electrification of the guitar, both gave the instrument a new voice: and it spoke to a generation.
Guitar-playing techniques evolved, the social and economic landscape shifted, music changed radically, and in the 1960s Rock was born.
Three decades passed, in which an explosion of different musical styles emerged one after the other, each with an electric guitar (both 6 string and bass) driving its melodies and rhythms.
In the 1980s, advances in electronically synthesized sound production meshed with growing wealth, and increased personal liberty.
The opportunity to create push-button music became accessible to the layman, and today, turntable rigs; drum machines and sampler synthesizers drive "rap" style songs.
Little has changed the direction of music in the past 30 years.
It has become less sophisticated and bland.
For the electric guitar, there has been a counterpart evolutionary twist.
It has been following a downward path towards extinction, perhaps following a similar route that led the once popular Accordion and Ukulele to become relics of the past.
That's your opinion you may say.
No I reply - it's a fact.
Last summer, the Times and Guardian newspapers both published articles quoting the Spanish National Research Council's findings following a study of songs released between 1955 and 2010.
This concluded that the trends of the past 50 years were: the restriction of pitch transitions and diminished diversity of note combinations, the homogenisation of the timbral palette, and growing loudness levels.
"Pitch transitions" refers to the way notes are used - the difference between one melody and another.
Melodies and chord structures are becoming less rich, and more similar.
"Timbral palette" refers to the sounds of the instruments.
For example, a trumpet's brassy sound its "timbre", and is very different to the sound of an electric piano.
Songs are utilising a much smaller variety of sounds than in the past, leading to a more monochromatic vibe.
Finally, by turning up the volume during recording, songs now play back louder, making older and more softly played music appear out of date by comparison.
Supporting evidence for the declining role of the electric guitar in modern music can be found else where.
Guitar Planet magazine summarise "the state of guitar music" by reflecting on the UK's 100 top selling singles in 2010.
The facts reported were that three tracks came courtesy of guitar bands, one of which was a 1981 track ("Don't Stop Believing" by Journey).
The 2010 album charts told the same story, with five guitar bands making the Top 100, of whom two were aging Rockers - Bon Jovi and AC/DC.
Elsewhere, evidence points to the big American electric guitar manufacturers struggling to hold on to their market shares in a tight economy.
Sales are down, with buying trends moving away from high-end electrics, and favouring cheap imported acoustic guitars.
This shift is also born-out by music sales, where there are growing numbers of guitar strumming female artistes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong this gender drift, but it neatly illustrates the guitar's return to its pre 1950 roots - as an instrument of accompaniment.
In a pre-Christmas offering, the Telegraph pondered the BBC Sound of 2013 annual poll of predictions for the coming year, and commented on there being a music scene full of talent, yet bereft of new ideas, with no dominant trends.
The article went on to observe that by far the most crowded category of contenders were guitar bands, despite their almost complete absence of impact on the past couple of years' sales charts.
The report acknowledged a tangible desire within the music industry to see the return of some noisy, tribal rock (i.
e.
the need to ignite electric guitar sales), but speculated whether music fans might feel the same way? In my humble opinion, the changed attitudes that surfaced in the early 1980 were the beginning of the end.
Music entered a new age - the anti renaissance.
Intellectual effort was applied to the generation of sounds, the visuals of performance, the cult of celebrity, and its profitability as a business.
The magic and craftsmanship of great composition, and sensitive performances were lost, and inventiveness became limited to looping borrowed sounds.
In an effort to move with the times, guitar playing became more technical, and guitar solos were judged by players' speed and dexterity, rather than their capability to tug at heartstrings.
In many ways, guitar solos came to echo popular song lyrics, where an onslaught of words battered, rather than caressed the listener.
I don't know if things will change.
I cannot foresee what events might catalyse a new and exciting genre.
All I know is that a new musical direction is long overdue, and without such an occurrence, music, and especially the electric guitar, is on a slippery slope to ruin.
For my part, all I can do (as a guitar teacher) is encourage the next wave of guitarists to get back to the music.
To do this, they need to understand how it works, because it is this fundamental understanding that allowed the pioneers of rock to create something enduring, and very special.
Improvements in sound recording technology, along with the electrification of the guitar, both gave the instrument a new voice: and it spoke to a generation.
Guitar-playing techniques evolved, the social and economic landscape shifted, music changed radically, and in the 1960s Rock was born.
Three decades passed, in which an explosion of different musical styles emerged one after the other, each with an electric guitar (both 6 string and bass) driving its melodies and rhythms.
In the 1980s, advances in electronically synthesized sound production meshed with growing wealth, and increased personal liberty.
The opportunity to create push-button music became accessible to the layman, and today, turntable rigs; drum machines and sampler synthesizers drive "rap" style songs.
Little has changed the direction of music in the past 30 years.
It has become less sophisticated and bland.
For the electric guitar, there has been a counterpart evolutionary twist.
It has been following a downward path towards extinction, perhaps following a similar route that led the once popular Accordion and Ukulele to become relics of the past.
That's your opinion you may say.
No I reply - it's a fact.
Last summer, the Times and Guardian newspapers both published articles quoting the Spanish National Research Council's findings following a study of songs released between 1955 and 2010.
This concluded that the trends of the past 50 years were: the restriction of pitch transitions and diminished diversity of note combinations, the homogenisation of the timbral palette, and growing loudness levels.
"Pitch transitions" refers to the way notes are used - the difference between one melody and another.
Melodies and chord structures are becoming less rich, and more similar.
"Timbral palette" refers to the sounds of the instruments.
For example, a trumpet's brassy sound its "timbre", and is very different to the sound of an electric piano.
Songs are utilising a much smaller variety of sounds than in the past, leading to a more monochromatic vibe.
Finally, by turning up the volume during recording, songs now play back louder, making older and more softly played music appear out of date by comparison.
Supporting evidence for the declining role of the electric guitar in modern music can be found else where.
Guitar Planet magazine summarise "the state of guitar music" by reflecting on the UK's 100 top selling singles in 2010.
The facts reported were that three tracks came courtesy of guitar bands, one of which was a 1981 track ("Don't Stop Believing" by Journey).
The 2010 album charts told the same story, with five guitar bands making the Top 100, of whom two were aging Rockers - Bon Jovi and AC/DC.
Elsewhere, evidence points to the big American electric guitar manufacturers struggling to hold on to their market shares in a tight economy.
Sales are down, with buying trends moving away from high-end electrics, and favouring cheap imported acoustic guitars.
This shift is also born-out by music sales, where there are growing numbers of guitar strumming female artistes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong this gender drift, but it neatly illustrates the guitar's return to its pre 1950 roots - as an instrument of accompaniment.
In a pre-Christmas offering, the Telegraph pondered the BBC Sound of 2013 annual poll of predictions for the coming year, and commented on there being a music scene full of talent, yet bereft of new ideas, with no dominant trends.
The article went on to observe that by far the most crowded category of contenders were guitar bands, despite their almost complete absence of impact on the past couple of years' sales charts.
The report acknowledged a tangible desire within the music industry to see the return of some noisy, tribal rock (i.
e.
the need to ignite electric guitar sales), but speculated whether music fans might feel the same way? In my humble opinion, the changed attitudes that surfaced in the early 1980 were the beginning of the end.
Music entered a new age - the anti renaissance.
Intellectual effort was applied to the generation of sounds, the visuals of performance, the cult of celebrity, and its profitability as a business.
The magic and craftsmanship of great composition, and sensitive performances were lost, and inventiveness became limited to looping borrowed sounds.
In an effort to move with the times, guitar playing became more technical, and guitar solos were judged by players' speed and dexterity, rather than their capability to tug at heartstrings.
In many ways, guitar solos came to echo popular song lyrics, where an onslaught of words battered, rather than caressed the listener.
I don't know if things will change.
I cannot foresee what events might catalyse a new and exciting genre.
All I know is that a new musical direction is long overdue, and without such an occurrence, music, and especially the electric guitar, is on a slippery slope to ruin.
For my part, all I can do (as a guitar teacher) is encourage the next wave of guitarists to get back to the music.
To do this, they need to understand how it works, because it is this fundamental understanding that allowed the pioneers of rock to create something enduring, and very special.