Rock guitar is dead. Rock and Roll is dead.
 

I made a good living playing guitar. Started playing the instrument circa 1976 and - due to growing tired of living on the road - gave it up about the time I turned forty.

To make what could be a very long story short, no-one plays guitar anymore. There are no famous guitar players. The last big rock star guitar player I can think of is Slash - and his peak hit almost twenty years ago.

Before Slash, we had the Reverend Billy G, Brian Setser, Stevie Ray,

Jack White? Love the guy. Equal to EVH, SRV, JH, JP (Jimmy Page) or JP (Joe Perry)? Not even in the same league. Buddy Guy, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, Muddy Watters, Bo Diddley... Its all undone. Finished.

My father introduced me to Brownie McGhee when I was 15 years old. I played with Liberty Silver's band when I was 16. That was in 1979. Had a great career for the next twenty years, and a lot of fun for ten more till I finally just said "fuck it".

I won't waste your time (anymore than I already have) explaining what brought this on, but if you're lamenting what tubes have done to our business - take a moment to lament the death of rock guitar. Without rock guitar there is no rock and roll.

There may be keepers of the flame still fighting the good fight, but their good work is irrelevant. Rock and roll is now a niche. It breaks my heart to say this, but its an irrelevant niche. A nice base of ravenous fans that generate enough capital to influence no-one.

Rock guitar is dead. Rock and roll is dead. And it ain't coming back. I don't give a shit how fast your Youtube speed-weenie buddy can play Eruption with his teeth. That "song" is thirty years old. What can they do to change what's happening today? Nothing.

Rock guitar is dead. All that is left is glorious memories.

nice read, i know that, really bad and said

You got stuck in the what was, and blame your failures on those who evolve beyond your current capacity and capabilities. Just like those who complain about there not being money left in porn, because they cant make a sale on their Sblog.

i know. thank god. i like the black guys with stylishly elegant gold chains and really baggy pants talking in rhymes with the computer music backing them better. fuck rock guitar, bass players, drummers, vocalists - more black guys talking in rhymes is what I say!

As a lifelong guitar player and occasional professional, I would say that I don't mind it being a small niche, it needs time to regroup and purify as the world gets stupider.

Rock and roll was supposed to be the music of freedom for people who thought for themselves, alot of idiots ruined it with their mullets and fishnet tank tops and power ballads.

The players who stick with it will get their share of respect when the pendulum swings back.

Amen to that...

it just takes one special talent with the right combo of good songs and that special "something" that attracts the masses and this can change instantly. Kinda like Eddie did with VH during the disco days.

would love to see it happen.

That said there are plenty of great players doing great things and with some great music. it's simply not as mainstream these days as in the past.

yeah, everythings been done...or has it? no.. but the thing is you won't like whatever comes next. you'll label it as noise (as i would too most likely) but the thing is, there is some kid out there hearing jimi hendrix for the first time and blowing his mind, there is someone who is trying something different with the guitar, even if everyone around him hates it, hes out there doing it. rock n roll will never die. you may not like it, but its still here and just because its not like you remember in the 'good ole days' doesn't mean its dead.

Sadly enough, rock music isn't about guitar players anymore. There are some definitely some good guitarists out there, but they're not stars. The same goes for drumming. When's the last time you even noticed the drumming in a rock song?

Is anyone even making rock music anymore? Fucking sad I have to listen to the oldies station to hear good music.

There's tons of great rock out there. You just have to know where to look -- definitely NOT the mainstream radio.

I agree.

Everyone thinks that what was popular when they were a kid think that it was the "best time" and everything since then is crap. What we fail to notice is that a new generation has come up behind us and does things differently, and likes different things.

We can all agree that "music today is crap". Yet the younger generations still love it, still buy it up, and life goes on.

The music industry operates a lot like the fashion industry.

There are a few corporate type people that sit at their desks and decide which direction
the industry heads and it's always determined by how much money it will make them.

The one thing in our favor is we no longer need to rely on the corporate types to become a star. Someone can post a video of themselves on youtube and become a star based on public popularity which the corporate types can't ignore.

However, they still decide which direction the music industry goes and lately that hasn't been a good thing.

Well I can sit here today and still listen to the Rock n Roll of the 70s that I grew up on and think it's the best music.

The kids of today will grow up, move on and someday look back at the music they listened to and think, WTF was I thinking :upsidedow

Yes indeed there was no real deal rock song last 20 years.

You have a valid point.

Rock is dying almost dead. Think of the last real rock guitarist, Slash is the only one I can think if too.

It's a sad era for good rock :(

No love here for Joe Satriani.... :disgust

Things go in circles. Guitars will become fashionable again when everybody is bored with electronic music.

Fifty-Two Years Ago They Said This
 

..and they were right!





Twelve years later:



And in Japan last year:



And yet again in Japan: The 50 Kaitenz:



And in 2010:



Better not say some silly shit like that around my Dad! He's taller than I am and a Rock''Roller since at the age of six he first heard Buddy Holly on the radio! You don't want him getting out his Corvette and coming your way!

Sally.

:321GFY

Lots of love for Satriani,Vai,Eric Johnson,Steve Morse and a long list of others. But Garce is right, These guys are all carrying ARP cards these days and there isn't a single new name I can come up with either since Slash.

If your looking for bands to replace some of the greatest music bands in history it is going to take people with a lot of talent. This is why so many past bands keep touring they know that the new rock is garbage.

Currently the power is in the media they decide whats going to break mainstream to the public's ears. Look what happened in pop music, Madonna faded out and Lady Gaga picked up in her footsteps. I find myself listening to internet radio more these days...they play stuff that is good and not what is popular at the moment.

The next great rock guitarist I bet will come from England, the music scene their keeps moving and evolving at a quicker pace. I brought some business clients from England to a club in NYC...and they said the DJ's in the UK were playing the same tracks 6 months ago.

adapt or die.

Um.. clearly you have your ready tuned to a lousy station. The guitar, especially electric guitars, is alive and well, and doing a might fine job of kicking Rap "Music" and Pop "Music"'s ass. Forget FM - buy yourself an XM or Sirrus radio and tune in to OCTANE or any of the other 5 Rock/Metal stations. You'll find out that Real Musicians are alive and well and bloody entertaining. Go buy yourself a Rob Zombie ticket while you're at it - you'll love it.

The new music today sucks ass! I prey and hope for something new and better!

Idiots there are plenty of new guitarist better than slash but they aren't on your top 40 radio. Go hang out with some college kids or go buy some of the new bands out. They aren't making hits anymore & most are lucky to go gold. Music isnt the same anymore and most people that buy CDs don't really care for the guitar solo anymore. Its about the melody and the song being catchy as far as selling records go. Just like porn you can have the best looking conent but if you can't sell if you will not have success.

i guess you could say rock music that was directly influenced from the old blues musicians may be dead, or dying but thats only because the bands of today are influenced by the guys who were influenced by those guys. Its all diluted and there are so many sub-genres out there.

I thought it was funny and incredibly awesome how the reissue of Exile on Main Street, which was originally released 40 years ago, debuted on number 1 on the album charts a few months back. :p

Another thing to remember is, in general, current culture abhors the "hero" or "rock star".

We are not children anymore who can believe that people on album covers are not just ordinary folk who have problems like everyone else.

Elvis, Hendrix, Morrison and Lennon did rock and roll a huge favor by checking out before we got sick of their crap, seeing people like Ozzy become old and decrepit self-parodies is not helping.

BRILLIANT post mate. Being in the music biz for twenty years I totally hear ya, and feel your pain. I "got out" around 1999 or so. I could see the writing on the wall, what with all this American Idol, Backstreet Boys Lady Gaga bullshit.

THIS is exactly why I primarily listen to music created between the years 1965 - 1985. Sad, on many levels. Glad you posted about this.

There hasn't been consistently good music since the 90s, rock or otherwise. There's maybe a handful of bands/groups that started after the 90s that were good, and some of those involve people from bands in the 90s, so those don't count. If I have to hear another emo "rock" song that commercials these days are riddled with, I'm going to barf. D'oh, commercial. *barf*

If you believe Slash was the last great guitarist, then you are way out of touch with music. He had one good album, lol. Kirk Hammett of Metallica inspired way more new guitarists than Slash ever did, before he went all pentatonic at least. The guitar solo had its heyday and the only difference now is that 12 year old boys aren't dreaming of playing lightning fast guitar solos to impress the chicks. The guitar is alive and well. It has just become older, wiser and more humble.

To me the major change is simply how the music industry works. It wasn't that long ago that a record label would sign an act and they would back them for a while. They would develop them and let them find themselves artistically. If this meant they had to put out 2-3 records and do a lot of touring before they found their stride, so be it. They signed less acts, looked for the really talented musicians and worked with them to develop real art.

These days it is very much a product. They sign a lot more acts, get them out as fast as possible and hope that a few of them get a hit song. The industry has changed so much that it is less about the personalities and more about getting a song on a hit movie soundtrack or making a video that will get a lot of views. They want to sell a lot of singles downloads and not worry so much about making a good record. Hell, there are a lot of acts these days that never even record a full album, they just put out a few singles here and there and if those do well they go back and make a full album. The music labels are no longer in the art business, they is in the product business and the quality shows.

As for rock and guitar players, I mostly agree. Music goes in cycles and right now we are in one that is lacking good guitarists and real influential rock bands. I can't say that I hear every band out there, so there are probably some good rock bands out there that just haven't gotten the exposure they deserve, but in this day and age if you don't have a hit song right away, it is going to be very hard to get your stuff heard by a large audience and make any kind of real career for yourself.

Nice... another boomer rant celebrating their own tasteless genre of music.

I started playing in 1990. Here's a revelation. Metal guitar is dead, death metal guitar is dead, black metal guitar is dead, blues guitar is dead (unless you count obese white guys that can't play)... jazz guitar is dead... jazz-rock fusion is dead... flamenco guitar is dead, baroque guitar is dead, the lute is dead, etc

They have their day and that is it.

But what you are really touching on, is how corporate savages have completely destroyed the ability for real artists to make a living making real music and not a product.

Rock has changed, get over it. Will happen to all types of music.

/thread

Exactly true. But wrong on this point:


Even under 40's today admit and acknowledge that music today SUCKS COCK, BALLS and ASS (one of my favorite progressive rock metal bands: Cock, Balls & Ass, or CBA). More under 40's buy "classic" rock of the type you just derided than over 40's do (probably because we all own them already). Most under 40's I've met have just as many (if not more) classic rock CDs in ther collections/on their iPods than music from their own generation.

Sorry "kid", but guitarists today can not only not play faster but cannot play at the level of the guitarists mentioned by the OP. Shit, "kids today" don't even TRY to play like Page or Clapton. They do the bare minimum required to make a song/money, that's it. Be a master at the craft of musicianship? Fuck that shit, let's play X Box and Twitter about our meaningless, boring lives! "I just ate lunch today..." Jesus Christ already.

That's YOUR generation: slackers, whiners, lazy, disinterested, disassociated, distracted snots.

Just sayin'.

PS: I'm not a Boomer, either. :D

All this says is how completely out of touch you are.

Adam Jones
Jonsi Birgisson
Matt Bellamy
Tom Morello
Jerry Cantrell

etc.

Hell, even John Mayer is a beast on the guitar.

Jack White is a little badass, too.

John Frusciante?

trash talking bums - you want more of those? (c)rap kills your brain and makes ya aggressive :2 cents: fuck you :thumbsup rappers have ZERO skills! :mad:

IMO one of the great guitarist of his era.

Agree completely.

Yeah, because a group of guys trying to appear and sound like women is that much more inspiring, right?

When you say "music today" you are citing the bullshit on TV and radio. Like your hopelessly boring bullshit of decades past is better than the hopelessly boring, unmusical bullshit of today. Your entire sphere of musical knowledge revolves completely around commercial music. Best of luck trying to argue your way out of that corner without making me laugh.

Really shows how completely and fully ignorant to the guitar, guitar theory, and the whole summation of music you are.

I know you'll get on your high-horse about Hendrix next but I'm not saying any popular acts from today are any better than the masturbatory boomer noisemakers from the past.

Thats the hilarious part about this banter. No mention of the truly great guitarists past/present from America or the ones of the world stage who have struggled endlessly in America for decades. Just a retarded comparison of shitty over-hyped rock guitarists to the shitty corporate machine of today.

Same shit machine, different calendar year. Same old boomers trying to hilariously convince the world that their hero's of yore are better than present day "guitar hero's" without even knowing what a real guitarist or even music sounds like.

Probably why legendary, once in a century type guitarists like Paco De Lucia would rather tend to their garden than play music anymore.




Then I guess we belong to the same generation unless you are collecting SS checks. You sure sound like a typical ignorant, idiotic boomer when it comes to music.

As long as playing rock guitar in a band = instant pussy rock will live on :)

I stopped listening to "bands" years ago. A few guys playing instruments just sounds so lame.

When I go back and listen to some rock songs I crack up because they sound so simple now. Music has progressed and natural instruments sound played out. I'm not saying it's right, but music has moved on and my tastes have changed as well.

did ya have too many GE food meals? :helpme when have there been ROCKERS acting like women?! RAPPERS are the ones moving like buttfucked squirrels with their "pointing here and there" gestures! plus, their only seed is HATRED - or did ya ever hear about a metal or rocker guy killing another artist? NO! basta! blacks invented music and they KILLED it :warning i can even pinpoint WHEN it happened: SALT & PEPAs "pump up the jam" - after that crap noise release ALL went down the drain ... heck, there is not ONE (c)rapper that can SING!

Uh

I can show you MANY "metal" bands wearing makeup, wearing nail polish, and even having dyed hair.

I'm assuming you also missed the entire 80s?

.... Interpol.

Whippersnapper.