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We need our guitar heroes, thank God for Mona and Lisa
I always love the melodic guitar sounds from Chuck Berry, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin to AC/DC and so many more. I think that melodic instrumental sound, that is so good and soothing to the soul goes back to Bach and his harpsichord/keyboard training books “The Well Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2”. These melodic keyboard pieces would sound just as good on a modern guitar. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were legendary musicians par excellence in their day, just as Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix were on the guitar. They were the musician heroes of the day.
But I find modern pop music has increasingly moved away from those wonderful guitar sounds of the 60s and 70s.
We need our guitar heroes, thank god for Mona and LisaFrom a Washington Post article, 2018:
“There are more makers now than ever before in the history of the instrument, but the market is not growing,” Gruhn says in a voice that flutters between a groan and a grumble. “I’m not all doomsday, but this — this is not sustainable.”
The numbers back him up. In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million. The two biggest companies, Gibson and Fender, are in debt, and a third, PRS Guitars, had to cut staff and expand production of cheaper guitars. In April, Moody’s downgraded Guitar Center, the largest chain retailer, as it faces $1.6 billion in debt. And at Sweetwater.com, the online retailer, a brand-new, interest-free Fender can be had for as little as $8 a month.
What worries Gruhn is not simply that profits are down. That happens in business. He’s concerned by the “why” behind the sales decline. When he opened his store 46 years ago, everyone wanted to be a guitar god, inspired by the men who roamed the concert stage, including Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Jimmy Page. Now those boomers are retiring, downsizing and adjusting to fixed incomes. They’re looking to shed, not add to, their collections, and the younger generation isn’t stepping in to replace them.
Gruhn knows why.
“What we need is guitar heroes,” he says.
In an Interview with Paul McCartney:
The ’60s brought a wave of white blues — Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards — as well as the theatrics of the guitar-smashing Pete Townshend and the sonic revolutionary Hendrix.McCartney saw Hendrix play at the Bag O’Nails club in London in 1967. He thinks back on those days fondly and, in his sets today, picks up a left-handed Les Paul to jam through Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.”
“The electric guitar was new and fascinatingly exciting in a period before Jimi and immediately after,” the former Beatle says wistfully in a recent interview. “So you got loads of great players emulating guys like B.B. King and Buddy Guy, and you had a few generations there.”
He pauses.
“Now, it’s more electronic music and kids listen differently,” McCartney says. “They don’t have guitar heroes like you and I did.”
This sounds so good! We need more of this back.
https://youtu.be/Uq0aeEYLkIE -
45 Replies
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And this
https://youtu.be/Rf8ZXZrBO4M -
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and this
https://youtu.be/iPzUcGPAtR0 -
Such beautiful guitar sounds!
https://youtu.be/hqOOREt89ok-
The guitar playing on In It For Love is so good and love the guitar riffs and the rhtyrm playing by MOna is spot on. Can’t forget about the lovely voices on this song
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Some wonderful guitar sounds from Rubber Soul, with MLT magic
https://vimeo.com/339420909 -
..and this
https://youtu.be/K-UMztW_3oI -
True Guitar Heroes!!!
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From the ‘60s to the New Millennium, the Mania is Back: The MonaLisa Twins Serve it Up with Style and Grace!
https://guitargirlmag.com/interviews/from-the-60s-to-the-new-millennium-the-mania-is-back-the-monalisa-twins-serve-it-up-with-style-and-grace/
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You don’t have to convince me we need guitar heroes Jung. As I type this Van Halen in playing on the radio, very apt.
That Washington Post article is out of date now I reckon though. Guitar sales took off with the Covid lockdowns. I certainly did my share in boosting them!
Gibson are tracking well now under new leadership. Fender and PRS also selling heaps.
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What’s really incredible is on top of the masterful guitar work, Mona and Lisa can sing oh so great. I think it’s rare to find singers who can sing at the level Mona and Lisa can, and do the instrumentation so masterfully too. I know this post is about guitar work, but I get goosebumps whenever I listen to this. Such beautiful and emotion gripping singing while at the same time guitar work that is so amazing, grips you from both sides. It’s so exhilarating!
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Darryl, that’s good news the major guitar makers are bouncing back, hope the music bounces back too with more inspired musicianship like what Mona and Lisa do. It was sad when we lost another guitar legend last year with the passing of Eddie Van Halen. One of the great pillars of the guitar world indeed.
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It’s moreover a matter of having this generation below ourselves and even younger generation down from millennial to produce the next wave of Guitar Heroes, Thankfully, MLT has refreshed that notion, got it started in right direction… now to gave other musicians in their age bracket and below to have keen interest in guitars to rev up the interest in how vital a guitar is in the creation of music.. Right now, the “New Country” scene, is still much in keeping with guitars in tge songs just have fusu0ions of rock, etc intertwining with it… Just my thoughts on this.
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Hi Jacki, good point. In country, the acoustic guitar is very much the mainstay instrument, and perhaps it’s still keeping the market healthy for the guitar makers.
In modern POP/Rock music, I’ve seen some videos by Rick Beato and David Bennett that show if you look at the pop charts today, it’s getting more rare to see guitar parts, or any competent instrumentation of any sort in favour of electronically synthesized music.
I think if you take away the musicianship, the music suffers. If John Lennon and Paul McCartney never actually ever played an instrument or ever sang, would their music they wrote have been so expressive and moving? I highly doubt it. Perhaps other more experienced musicians can chime in.
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