Sales of Guitar Starter Packs are seriously down

bodhi

You may have confused an observation with a complaint.

I would be interested to know within what context people would have been saying that for hundreds of years.

Sporky

Do you think instant gratification is new?

bbill335

I don't think people who are looking for starter packs are gonna make the journey to a specialist shop when they can get them from eBay, Amazon, Argos... It'd be interesting to see if total sales of those packs are down everywhere, considering their relative cost is probably at an all-time low.

Legionreturns

Sporky said:

Do you think instant gratification is new?

I don't think I've ever minded waiting for instant gratification. Sometimes for years.

guitars4you

I think the £200 based starter packs by Squier, Encore and Yamaha are fine for what they are - granted you can go with separates and spend £250/300 - but a decent brand at £200 and such packs are okay - better than some of the crap that was for sale to beginners 20/30 years ago - And it is the sale of such packs that are seriously down from 5 years ago - I agree that some starter packs, often unbranded as such and often not sold via guitar stores are pretty poor - I don't even like to service some of them, as and when I have to, as one problem follows another 

Also it does work out cheaper to buy the pack as such for £200 , than the same guitar/amp + goodies  to be sold separately 

JerkMoans

Once she'd learned a couple of chords on an acoustic I hauled my daughter down Denmark Street, went into every single shop, and got them to pull virtually every left handed guitar they had out so she could try different necks and bodies.  Any clown that said 'teach her right handed' got one of Paddington's Hard Stares.  Ended up coming away with an Epiphone SG and a wee Marshall combo that she then played the hell out of for years.  Happy memories

Not a starter kit, and I suppose having a Dad that takes an interest makes a bit of a difference, but there are kids still interested in this stuff.  Even if she does want to play Taylor Swift, she also does a mean Joan Jett.  I do fear for music in schools, though...

57Deluxe

Just sold a 3/4 s/h acoustic to a family where Mum and Dad have got so into them all learning the guitar together that they both gone out and bought new Pacificas and one Yamaha THR5 and small Vox amp - for themselves! They will also be buying the two boys electrics and amps at Xmas. Amazon and Andertons have a win win - much more than if it had been one 1x starter pack and the used acoustic...

Funkfingers

guitars4you said:

independents who purchased 10 are buying 2/3/4

This accurately reflects what has happened at my local Fender dealership. He simply has not needed to restock to the old level.

The flip side is that, whist electric guitar starter package deal sales are down, ukulele sales are way up. The £200 - 250 that might have previously been spent on an unashamedly "beginner" electric guitar outfit lands a seriously tasteful uke. 

TheOtherDennis

My view is that it's down to the type of music that's in the charts - it's not really guitar based because even though viewing figures are seriously down, it's still all about the X Factor/BGT sort of thing, and the singer is the hero, not the guitarist.

It goes in cycles, it'll come back, like it did in the late 80s/early 90s after the electronica boom.

TheOtherDennis

bodhi said:

You may have confused an observation with a complaint.

I would be interested to know within what context people would have been saying that for hundreds of years.

Can't comment on the hundreds of years thing, but there's a line in an Elvis Costello song from the 80s that goes "So help her if you can, cos she don't seem to have the attention span." (The Other Side of Summer)

So people have certainly been saying it for at least 30 years, and I'm fairly sure my father used to complain about me and my brothers and sisters having no attention span, back in the 60s and 70s, too.

bodhi

Sporky said:

Do you think instant gratification is new?

We're not going to make any progress on this one, so let's not bother.

It wasn't a complaint.

I said "if", making a "reasonable bet" that a culture of you know what perhaps isn't conducive to an activity which requires quite a commitment in terms of time and effort vs. how quickly you can reasonably expect decent results, depending on your definition of "decent".

Or whatever.

Sporky

I just think it was a lazy comment based on a stereotype and confirmation bias.

There are, as there have long been, people of all ages who are lazy and don't want to put effort into developing skills. There are, as there have long been, people who want to learn and are willing to put the effort in. And there are people, as there have long been, who want to act like the world is worse than it's ever been before.

Sneering at others certainly isn't going to make the world better.

Grangousier

As someone who started on a handmedown Woolworths guitar in the late 70s (though the guitar must have been mid-60s), I suspect the quality of terrible guitars is probably much higher these days than it was then. Do wish I hadn't got rid of that 5w valve practise amp, though. 

Lestratcaster

As a private guitar tutor I've noticed a rapid decline in lesson enquiries, and that reflects the lack of guitar based bands in the charts, most music these days is dance pop or piano based ballads. As more kids are listening to music on smartphones or laptops guitars don't sound great through speakers on those devices. As a result my numbers have suffered with less people interested in learning to pick up the instrument. We desperately need a new guitar hero or based band to encourage more people to play.

bodhi

Sporky said:

I just think it was a lazy comment based on a stereotype and confirmation bias.

There are, as there have long been, people of all ages who are lazy and don't want to put effort into developing skills. There are, as there have long been, people who want to learn and are willing to put the effort in. And there are people, as there have long been, who want to act like the world is worse than it's ever been before.

Sneering at others certainly isn't going to make the world better.

I didn't actually say or intend to imply any of that, and certainly didn't sneer at anyone.  I can see how you could perhaps interpret it as such, but which would actually be akin to the stereotyping you speak of, and equally "lazy".

I think we should stop now.  You're welcome to send me a PM and we could perhaps clarify our differences that way.  I have a low interest in public forum spats.

I'll amend my first post to perhaps make more clear what I was trying to say.

JerkMoans

Grangousier said:

As someone who started on a handmedown Woolworths guitar in the late 70s (though the guitar must have been mid-60s), I suspect the quality of terrible guitars is probably much higher these days than it was then. Do wish I hadn't got rid of that 5w valve practise amp, though. 

I’ve met you, and refuse to believe you are old enough for this to be possible  

Sporky

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.

Just quoting this before you retcon it.

You'll note that you accuse "the younger generations" as a whole of lacking stick-to-it-iveness. If that's not a lazy stereotype then I don't know what is!

rossi

Lets face did us oldies want to listen to Harry Fuckwit and his Palm Court orchestra ,often the only crap on radio .I figure not ,though we often had an eclectic  record pile .We wanted the latest  chart stuff to learn and play and then progress .We then moved on and upwards and some of these kids will do the same .At the local jazz club I attend we have a whole bunch of college kids who play and sing jazz like maestros .Amy Winehouse has been an inspiration to some ,male and female , but I expect they listened to chart stuff when younger .Guitars may have  peaked but music and talent havnt  but it may not be in our direction or even one direction .

Bridgehouse

Do Bass starter packs come with a personality bypass and a cream that makes you unattractive to women?

richardhomer

Bridgehouse said:

Do Bass starter packs come with a personality bypass and a cream that makes you unattractive to women?

My guitar starter pack came with those....