In the early 2000s, as the frenzy over grunge and alternative music subsided, it seemed that listeners had grown weary of electric guitars. Long-haired guys with overly serious expressions offering audiences ever more derivative music were met with ever more criticism.
Rock music has always been centered on guitars. By the 1980s, there was such an abundance of guitar-based recordings that new generations of pop musicians were constantly seeking non-guitar means of expression.
At the same time, a somewhat unhealthy idolatry developed around guitar-driven rock. Some European and American music journalists, along with your everyday music enthusiasts, began to believe that rock music was the main branch of popular music and that it approached high art.
Consequently, pop music without guitars, powerful drums, and bass was often labeled by rock fans as artificial, overly commercialized, deliberately simplistic, and even foolish. The seriousness of these critics reached such high proportions that in 1981, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Pete Wylie (known as the leader of the band Wah!) coined the term "rockism."
The word doesn't have a universally accepted definition, but many agree that "rockism" refers to an unjustified demand for pop music to be authentic, sincere, and profound. It’s an idolization of old rock legends and the archetypal image of the underground hero, an aggressive attitude toward mainstream music that isn't rock and towards pop artists from non-rock genres, and an unexpected, almost religious-sense of traditionalism, one of whose attributes is the electric guitar.
An important factor contributing to the strong association between guitars and pop and rock music was their relative affordability compared to other instruments for beginner musicians. For example, synthesizers before 1980 cost exorbitant amounts and were not accessible to the general public.
The first blow to the popularity of guitars came from the MIDI revolution, which began in 1983 with the reveal of the standard, and the subsequent reduction in the price of synthesizers. In the same year, Yamaha released the digital instrument DX7, priced at just around $2,000. This was comparable to the price of an analog Minimoog and even less than half the cost of the Roland Jupiter-8, which retailed for $5,000.
By the late 1980s, fully functional digital synthesizers were selling for around $1,500 to $2,500. Yamaha took things further and created the famous PSR series (with built-in auto-accompaniment features), which sold from $400-$600 (PSR-47) to as little as $200 (PSR-6). Beginners, including rappers and pop artists, quickly realized that by using these affordable PSR instruments together with hardware sequencers, drum machines, small mixing consoles, and tape recorders, they could produce decent demo recordings.
On relatively advanced devices like the Yamaha SY55 or Roland D50, it was even possible to record a full single or album. Meanwhile, finding them for sale typically cost a consumer around $1,500.
In the 1980s, synths nearly matched electric guitars in price, and global pop music shifted strongly toward synthetic sounds. Even bands known for their analog sound, such as Nazareth and Deep Purple, experimented with digital synthesizers—though, as time would tell, not very successfully.
The global sound of pop music during that era became, by today's standards, saccharine and plastic, but the masses loved it. It seemed that everything related to guitars was stagnating and becoming "poppy" alongside the music industry.
But then came the wild '90s, and the guitar sound returned—even more brutal, unkempt, dirty, and "natural" than it had been in the 1960s and 1970s. Bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, and others positioned themselves against the mainstream and within just a few years... became mainstream themselves.
This new wave of guitar music, however, lasted less than a decade. Many genres of pop music by the 1990s were already managing quite well without guitars. Rap, which had become a worldwide phenomenon by then, started introducing a new image of the underground hero—one who couldn't play any musical instruments at all. Techno and rave culture emerged. And by the 2000s, many people simply wondered, "Electric guitars? What electric guitars?"
In the 2000s and 2010s, digital recording technologies, particularly the VST standard, experienced rapid growth. By the mid-2010s, the initial capital required to enter music production had plummeted significantly. Home studios began dotting the entire globe. A phenomenon of indie artists emerged—those who were not signed to labels (and had no intention of doing so) and instead released their own recordings independently.
By 2020, aspiring musicians had access to hundreds, even thousands, of virtual synthesizers and software instruments built on high-quality samples, and starter packs of music software could be obtained for free.
Music is now drawn using a mouse on a computer screen. Today’s music producer can lack even basic piano skills and yet still create convincing pop tracks. It seemed as though the electric guitar had been relegated to a dusty corner in the attic, buried away.
However, after the years and years of stagnation, the electric guitar market surprisingly began to grow again in 2020. And it appears that the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for this resurgence. With many people confined to their homes during lockdowns, an unexpected surge in interest in learning to play the guitar occurred.
For instance, Fender reported a whopping 92% increase in online sales in 2020. Guitars priced under $500 sold especially well. The overall guitar market was valued at $2.7 billion in 2020, with electric guitars making up a significant portion of that figure.
Even after the pandemic ended, the market did not shrink as many expected, but continued to expand. As people emerged from their homes, there was a sharp rise in demand for concerts and festivals. At the same time, the share of musical hobbies did not decrease.
Global guitar manufacturers are fueling demand by introducing innovations into guitar-making, including placing greater emphasis on instrument design. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly purchasing guitars online, a trend that appeals to more and more people.
Additionally, due to improved manufacturing quality at Asian factories, very respectable guitars have become available for prices ranging from about $350 to $800, which has greatly democratized the market.
Yet none of these factors fully explains the enduring appeal of what might be called "guitar fever." After all, the most popular genres in today's pop music landscape are EDM, rap, and dance-infused pop.
This makes the ongoing popularity of guitars somewhat enigmatic. Perhaps it can be explained from two perspectives: cultural-humanistic and scientific.
Music journalists and introspective guitarists, through their collective intellectual efforts, have developed a certain cultural understanding of the phenomenon. Here’s why they feel the guitar is beloved:
Certainly, these factors shed some light on the remarkable resilience of the electric guitar's popularity—albeit from just a humanistic and psychological perspective.
But that’s not the only way to look at it. We can also view it from a scientific perspective. Research suggests that guitarists experience certain unique sensations when playing music, and over time, thanks to practice, they become... smarter.
First and foremost, playing the guitar is enjoyable. Scientific research indicates that playing an instrument activates brain mechanisms associated with pleasure and reward. Specifically, the brain releases more dopamine—a hormone and neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of anticipation and enjoyment derived from future activities (such as sex or eating delicious food).
The brain releases dopamine both during periods of anticipating emotional peaks in the music being listened to or performed, and during those peaks themselves. Scientists hypothesize that this is precisely why music holds such enduring value in human society.
Both listeners and performers derive chemical pleasure from interacting with music. Not only does dopamine participate in rewarding the brain for engaging in musical activities, but the entire dopaminergic reward pathway is involved. This evolutionarily ancient system has motivated thousands of generations of humans to persevere and survive in any situation.
Second, playing the guitar enhances the brain's neuroplasticity and cognitive abilities. Recent experiments have debunked the widespread myth that creative activity primarily engages the right hemisphere of the brain.
For example, in 2020, scientists conducted high-density electroencephalograms on 32 jazz guitarists while they improvised over backing tracks. Some of the musicians were highly experienced, while others were novices.
The guitarists were asked to be as creative as possible during their solos. Their improvisations were recorded and then analyzed by four experts (other experienced jazz guitarists and instructors).
According to the experts, the novices demonstrated poorer creativity. Interestingly, during their improvisational sessions, it was found that their right hemispheres were predominantly active.
On the other hand, experienced guitarists with excellent improvisational skills engaged several regions of both the right and left hemispheres. It turned out that years of playing music increases connectivity between different parts of the brain.
Another study, conducted by researchers from Osaka University in Japan and the University of San Diego in 2019, examined the brain activity of 14 guitarists during improvisation. The group included both highly skilled, experienced instrumentalists and amateur players.
The musicians were first asked to play simple, familiar scales, and changes in their brain activity were measured. Then, they were instructed to improvise, and specially arranged EEG readings were taken, enhanced by machine learning algorithms to improve data readability.
The study revealed that multiple areas of both hemispheres of the brain were engaged in the creative process of improvisation among each experienced guitarist, allowing them to perform incredibly complex tasks in real-time.
To put it in layman's terms, the musicians were almost simultaneously:
Scientists observed a high concentration of internal attention among the guitarists, coupled with the coordination of complex actions underlying sequential planning.
It was noted that advanced guitarists didn't plan every single action, but rather partially released control over execution and entered a kind of "flow state."
In short, improvising for an experienced musician is quite complex, and for such creative activity to be possible, the brain must be more connected and trained than a non-musician or a beginner’s brain would be.
Some studies have shown that regular guitar playing (as well as other complex musical instruments) can enhance various skills, including typing proficiency, hand-eye coordination, shape memory, native language proficiency, and logical thinking.
Long-term musical practice also develops visual and spatial memory, planning and decision-making skills, auditory memory, pattern recognition, reaction time to external stimuli, and the ability to rapidly switch focus.
Look, we’re not coming right out and saying to an audience of musically-inclined people that guitarists and other instrumentalists are universally smarter than non-musicians. We’re just saying that they do possess certain cognitive advantages cultivated over years of practice. Make of that what you will.
Additionally, it has also been discovered that consistent musical engagement slows down brain aging, reducing the likelihood of dementia.
Finally, music-making, particularly playing the guitar, aids in effective rehabilitation for stroke patients. Some studies have even indicated that musical therapy helps complete novices recover from traumatic brain injuries. While the second study doesn't specifically mention the guitar (piano and drums were used), the principle remains the same: it is the act of making music that is beneficial.
Incidentally, many music journalists’ belief that playing the guitar (or rather, music therapy, which can involve playing instruments) helps with depression and stress, is not far from the truth. Music therapy indeed alleviates symptoms of depression when administered alongside primary treatment.
Several studies have confirmed that "music intervention" (a term commonly used in the scientific community) has moderate to strong positive effects on the psychological states of stressed individuals. It also has mild to moderate impacts on physiological indicators, such as lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormone levels in the blood.
It appears that playing the guitar provides people with numerous psycho-physiological benefits, even if they aren't fully aware of them. Yet, many musicians do seem to intuitively feel something profound. Although the phenomenon of how music influences brain development and health hasn't been thoroughly studied, we have an explanation for why so many people hold such affection for the guitar, especially the electric guitar.
The only thing real blemish on this idyllic picture is the "rockism" of some guitar enthusiasts, which sometimes devolves into unhealthy cultural traditionalism. Rock music, especially centered around the electric guitar, is undoubtedly cool! But it's also not the be-all and end-all of popular musical arts. Rock music and the guitarism associated with it are hugely important components of human culture, but turning it into an idol and fiercely defending it from any criticism is an irrational and ethically questionable tendency.
We love the electric guitar. Let's continue to love it – it deserves it. But let's not dip into fanaticism. In no sphere of human endeavor does fanaticism ever lead to good. Just chill out and enjoy the music.
