Old Rockers

Seems like there are already lots of rockers here at MRC.  Well, rest assured you are not alone.  Check out this article: The fantasy rocks on.  It appeared in this week’s Pacific Northwest Magazine.  Here’s an excerpt:

THERE SHE SITS, leaning against the bed, beckoning me to caress her supple neck and curvy body.

She’s foreign and high-strung, for sure, but I can’t resist her classic beauty, twangy accent and bright personality.

She is a Fender Telecaster, and, thanks to her, I’m part of a global phenomenon.

I’m a baby boomer who has taken up guitar-playing in midlife. In Japan, they’ve got a term for us middle-aged rockers: “Oyaji.” Geezers. Here in the states, we’re called important — at least to the guitar industry, if no one else.

Guitar sales in the U.S. have tripled in the past decade, from 1.1 million in 1995 to 3.3 million in 2004, according to Brian Majeski, editor of Music Trades magazine, which has tracked instrument sales for more than a century.

While no definitive demographic data exists on who’s buying those guitars, Majeski says anecdotal evidence suggests we’re key. Andy Aldrich, owner of American Music in Fremont, calls graying guitarists the “bedrock” of his business.

We’re the generation that made the guitar an icon, and now we have an itch — as well as the scratch — to stop strumming tennis rackets and pick up the real things.

It goes on to talk about the intimidation of guitar stores among other things.

5 Responses to “Old Rockers”

  1. Of course, I’ve played for 40 years (off & on). Just last week I visited with a business associate of mine, who is considering retirement. He told me he had just purchased his first guitar, as it was always something he wanted to try. I found a good website for him, that teaches you how to tune a guitar & some basic chord structures. Funny you found this article, jek.

  2. I am thinking of picking up the Bass, ( No comments from the peanut gallery MR, Jek) Any good teaching tools/websites anybody know of?

  3. After “Picking it up“, just what do you intend to do with it?….. Sorry, J.J., but you even requested activation of the “Peanut Gallery”……..

  4. I Know I Know, Sometimes you (Meaning me) just walk straight into them. After picking it up I was planning to either learn how to play it or hit certain persons about the head and shoulders repeatedly, Whichever works the best.

  5. I just now found the time to read the complete article, and it’s an eye-opener in that I’d never thought about all those people that were into music but had never actually learned to play an instrument…. Since I’ve been playing off and on since my teens, I just can’t imagine not having a guitar sitting around on stand-by, ready to be picked-up and played even if it’s just for a few minutes at any given time….. I keep mine that way because if I had to get the guitar, take it out of the case, get the amp, tune-up, and hook everything up, I’d probably be out of the mood by then….. Great article, Jek….. Thanks…..

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