Sales of Guitar Starter Packs are seriously down

guitars4you

Had a visit on Friday from an area manager of a major distributor - got talking about trade, etc and the beginners starter pack market came up - He quoted they are down by 75% over the last 5 previous years - Larger stores and chains that would buy 200 or 100 packs are buying 50 or 25 - independents who purchased 10 are buying 2/3/4

ditto for the 1/2 3/4 and 4/4 classical packs and even the acoustic/dreadnought starter packs are down

He did admit that non branded lines via E-bay/Amazon have had an impact - but this market is seriously down on previous years and youngsters just don't have the same interest as before

darthed1981

That's a shame but to be expected in a climate where guitar based music is not the focus of the charts.

Actually I've been asked once or twice for recommendations for a beginner and I tend to recommend a basic squier or epi guitar to taste and a Blackstar Core 10, rather than a starter pack.

bodhi

Well, we do seem to live in an age of pretty much instant gratification, which doesn't really apply that much to learning how to play guitar.  So it wouldn't surprise me at all if the younger generation(s) generally couldn't be bothered.

To clarify, I wouldn't be surprised if the times we live in, where instant gratification appears to me to be more prevalent than ever before, has a detrimental effect (theoretically and very generally speaking) on activities such as playing guitar, which requires a lot of commitment and effort, and where you really can't realistically expect quick results.  That's not to say that I think the world is worse than it's ever been, or that I think that young people are lazy, or that I want to sneer at anyone.  I'm also not saying that I think this is in fact the state of the world we live in.  I'm saying that it wouldn't come as a surprise to me if the above is the case.  Please note:  If.

I'm not sure what young people listen to nowadays.  Are there any young guitar heroes out there to inspire them?

xRandomreg

only emerging guitar heroes are in the more niche metal genres.
Guys like Misha Mansoor, Mark Holcomb, Tosin Abassi and I'm sure a few others.
But really not artists with mass market appeal so not really there for your average teenager

I have been running rock bands at a Girls School for the last 5 years and the young girls want to play one direction songs or Taylor swift and the older girls want to play panic at the disco, Imagine dragons etc. Not really "guitar driven" stuff

I try to get them doing more "rock" based stuff but they don't have the familiarity with the content so it has fizzled out now - a great shame

AlexC

We had a thread about a month ago about 'young guitar heroes' and the lack of and then came up with about a hundred. People are not sheep. Individuals will find the music they want to find. And it's easier now than ever. I was a teen in the 80s and detested the chart synth pop stuff. I listened to what I wanted to listen to, whether it was Dylan or Deep Purple or Bowie of Kate Bush. People will always play the guitar just as they have done since it's existed in this form for about 400 years. And part of me thinks 'good.' Means that those of us that can play are in even more of a minority and are, therefore, more 'interesting' as music makers and performers.
If someone thinks it's a choice between learning an instrument or playing on an Xbox1 then they were never going to learn an instrument anyway.

Legionreturns

Personally I think that's because the lower priced guitars now available are good enough that the packs are no longer seen as the best way in. For the money you can buy a perfectly playable guitar and an amp that'll grow with you like a Katana50 or Core. 

Quite a few people have asked me in the last year and very few of them have bought packs. Most have bought an Epiphone, a little amp and a looper. 

longshins

I’m a full time guitar teacher working in schools for a music service. Busier than ever. Music as a subject however is dying due to budget cuts and academy status schools choosing to drop it.

ICBM

guitars4you said:

Had a visit on Friday from an area manager of a major distributor - got talking about trade, etc and the beginners starter pack market came up - He quoted they are down by 75% over the last 5 previous years - Larger stores and chains that would buy 200 or 100 packs are buying 50 or 25 - independents who purchased 10 are buying 2/3/4

ditto for the 1/2 3/4 and 4/4 classical packs and even the acoustic/dreadnought starter packs are down

He did admit that non branded lines via E-bay/Amazon have had an impact - but this market is seriously down on previous years and youngsters just don't have the same interest as before

I would guess that it's more a reflection that the sort of buyers who want a 'starter pack' are getting this sort of thing on Amazon, where the sellers are buying them direct from China, and the realisation among shop buyers that a 'starter pack' is usually a combination of sub-standard parts, and you can do far better buy buying separates for only slightly more money. So I could see shops not selling starter packs at all.

I think this was actually true in the distant past as well - a 'starter pack' was something you bought from a mail-order catalogue, shops didn't stock them as such.

Phil_aka_Pip

Guitar popularity goes in cycles. I think it is dependent on what's in the charts, and whatever is the content of the most popular mass meeja (films, tv etc)

@Legionreturns has a point. I don't remember ever recommending a starter pack but I certainly told parents what instruments or amplifiers would deliver value for money.

I always viewed starter packs as cheap shite that would soon disappoint. The guitars in them often required more to be spent on them to make them playable than the price of the starter pack.

Wolfetone

bodhi said:

Well, we do seem to live in an age of pretty much instant gratification, which doesn't really apply that much to learning how to play guitar.  So it wouldn't surprise me at all if the younger generation(s) generally couldn't be bothered.

I'm not sure what young people listen to nowadays.  Are there any young guitar heroes out there to inspire them?

My daughter is getting to grips with acoustic guitar and working her way through the Beatles song book.   She's a bit of an outcast when it comes to relating to her peers inasmuch that she's really artsy, good singer, competitive swimmer, into archery etc. She says that most of the girls in her class are into becoming famous and doing their nails and makeup.....

...not many potential guitar players in amongst that lot.

aord43

As for young guitar heroes I think there are a few, Ed Sheeran springs to mind but I bet there are loads.

richardhomer

I was surprised to see both acoustic and electric starter packs in a couple of larger HMV stores I’ve visited recently. They weren’t by a brand I recognised - I assume they important them direct from China.

Legionreturns

EBay is also awash with shitty "starter" guitars for £50 ish including an "amp". I am willing to bet that anyone trying to learn on one of those will be put off for life

UnclePsychosis

The kind of music I like has pretty much never  had mainstream airplay.

And yet I found it. 

Jazz still lives, flamenco still lives, classical music still lives. Guitar-based rock will live, it just won't be the biggest show in town any more. I'm fine with that. "underground" music is often where the most interesting things happen anyway. 

clarkefan

I remember seeing starter packs start appearing in shops, I didn't get the idea then, moreso now with all the choice around these days.  

It's weird to me that any decline in sales of these packs would be seen as a reflection on the interest kids have or don't have in playing.  I've always associated those packs with "cheap crap", it wouldn't occur to me to buy one for a child, or anyone else I liked.

DougCoda

Starter pack sales have been down for years with us, lots more people buying acoustics as their first guitar or buying different guitars and amps, making their own starter kit up.
Plus we see a lot of terrible quality very cheap guitars bought off eBay/amazon coming in to be setup as they're unplayable... some the worst coming from a UK retailer who brand their own imports. When you add the cost of a setup and putting them right the guitars are rather expensive. 

Sporky

bodhi said:

Well, we do seem to live in an age of pretty much instant gratification

People have been saying that for hundreds of years.

bodhi

Sporky said:

bodhi said:

Well, we do seem to live in an age of pretty much instant gratification

People have been saying that for hundreds of years.

Got any examples?

Sassafras

I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a starter pack. You end up with a great big empty box and nowhere to store it. You can't throw it out because you inevitably have to return the guitar and amp to where you bought it from.

Bridgehouse

bodhi said:

Sporky said:

bodhi said:

Well, we do seem to live in an age of pretty much instant gratification

People have been saying that for hundreds of years.

Got any examples?

Yeah - you said it

Sporky

Well, instant gratification has existed as long as sentience.

Seems a reasonable bet that people have been complaining about it pretty much since the dawn of language.