JMguitars
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1549284,00.html
The long night of computerised techno music and disc-mixing seems to be over, as more bands turn back to the instrument of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. The electric guitar, at lower volume than its heyday a couple of decades ago, is "back with a vengeance", say those who deal in the business.
But there is a new facet to the boom. More than ever, girls and young women are taking up the guitar, giving rise to the current surge of girl bands and performers modelled not on Eric Clapton but more probably the crown princess of punk pop, Avril Lavigne.
The guitar business in Britain is closely monitored by Paul McManus, chief executive of the Music Industry Association (a bass guitarist, favourite player: Chris Squire of Yes). "The guitar is once again the weapon of mass choice," he says proudly. "The figures speak for themselves. Last year, the British spent £105m on guitars in UK shops, as compared to £30m ten years ago. It's a dramatic recovery."
"And then, of course," Mr McManus adds, "there are the girls. Guitar shops are not just a lot of long-haired lads playing Stairway to Heaven - there is a revolution of girl bands out there, and girls in guitar shops. And, of course, Daisy Rock guitars. The guitar hasn't changed shape much for years, and along comes something brand new and shocking in its appeal. Jimmy Page bought his daughter one, and Robert Smith of the Cure bought one for himself."
One of the fastest growing companies in California, Daisy Rock was founded by Tish Ciravolo, a former bass guitar player in one of the few girl bands of the 80s - with a business degree. The idea flashed when she and her daughter drew a daisy-shaped guitar "while crayoning one day" in 1999.
The following year, Ms Ciravolo launched her first series of guitars - lighter, with specially narrow necks for smaller hands, in colours such as Peppermint Pink and Awesome Blue. There was a Butterfly Series, a Pixie Acoustic Series and a Heartbreaker Series. Now there's a Rock Candy Series. The brand has doubled its turnover annually. Daisy Rock's partner, Alfred Publishing, has released Girl Guitar Method books one and two.
"When I started five years ago," Ms Ciravolo says, "there were very few girl bands around. There was discrimination right across the industry, we were treated badly in clubs". Girls were also held back, she says, by the sheer weight and size of guitars.
"Then, girls playing guitars became a tool across the media: Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday and so on. But long before Avril Lavigne was on television there was an underground waiting out there. When we set up the company I would get 500 emails a day from girls asking, 'How do I get a guitar? How do I join a band?'
"What I wanted to do was not only design a guitar for a girl to play, but to change the consciousness - make the sight of a girl playing a guitar as natural as that of girl playing a flute. And, apart from just designing guitars that girls could play, I believed a guitar should be fun - I wanted them to be girlie - I wanted girls aged eight to 11 to say, 'Wow - I want to play!'
"We are just the beginning. The tip of the iceberg; you watch MTV in 10 years' time. And when Jimmy Page gets up and says he has bought one for his daughter and it is one of the best guitars he's ever seen, we must be doing something right."
Not that the electric guitar ever really went away. "We've always thought guitars are cool," insists Owen Bailey, deputy editor of Guitarist magazine, based in Bath. "And we stood up for them during the hard times. Now, more and more young people are seeing their heroes with guitars in their hands - Razorlight and all those Live Aid newbies; there are more guitar bands in all genres, quite apart from the 100 types of heavy metal, which never went away."
The boom is good news for guitar manufacturers, notably the famous Fender brand. "The guitar is back with a vengeance," says Tony Munns, marketing director for Fender in Europe. "I think that, having gone through the Game Boy, PlayStation era, most kids are looking for the next challenge. Plus a lot of them were raised on rock and roll, so what they are doing pleases their parents. And there are the girls - not just singing and leaving it to the boys to play, but playing themselves." Mr Munns is coy about figures, and says simply: "It's a good time for every guitar manufacturer."
"The guitar business is extremely healthy, while the record industry is suffering," says Ray Miller (favourite guitarist: Eric Clapton), sales director for Sound Control, Britain's biggest musical instrument store chain. "It started with the Stone Roses, Oasis, Radiohead - about 10 years ago. It's hard to talk figures, but I would say guitars are now 25% of our market, at least 10% up on back then."
For those for whom guitars are a deeply held passion, the heart of the retail business is those little specialist shops, shrines to the instrument, walls lined with lovingly hewn guitars, air full of the sound of people experimenting. Places such as Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton Wick, Middlesex.
"I think it's happened because playing the guitar is just more organic, more fundamental, than the instant gratification of computer games and computer music," says Mr Chandler (favourite guitarists: Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck). "Plus the fact that kids are listening to their parents' music. A boy's just walked out of here with his dad, who must be 50, and the kid was here for hours playing Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan."
"Then, there's the simple fact that if you're a teenager playing a guitar you're more likely to get a girlfriend than if you don't. Does it work the other way round with the girls on guitar? I don't know why all that has happened, I'd better ask my 15-year-old daughter, she's learning to play."
The long night of computerised techno music and disc-mixing seems to be over, as more bands turn back to the instrument of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. The electric guitar, at lower volume than its heyday a couple of decades ago, is "back with a vengeance", say those who deal in the business.
But there is a new facet to the boom. More than ever, girls and young women are taking up the guitar, giving rise to the current surge of girl bands and performers modelled not on Eric Clapton but more probably the crown princess of punk pop, Avril Lavigne.
The guitar business in Britain is closely monitored by Paul McManus, chief executive of the Music Industry Association (a bass guitarist, favourite player: Chris Squire of Yes). "The guitar is once again the weapon of mass choice," he says proudly. "The figures speak for themselves. Last year, the British spent £105m on guitars in UK shops, as compared to £30m ten years ago. It's a dramatic recovery."
"And then, of course," Mr McManus adds, "there are the girls. Guitar shops are not just a lot of long-haired lads playing Stairway to Heaven - there is a revolution of girl bands out there, and girls in guitar shops. And, of course, Daisy Rock guitars. The guitar hasn't changed shape much for years, and along comes something brand new and shocking in its appeal. Jimmy Page bought his daughter one, and Robert Smith of the Cure bought one for himself."
One of the fastest growing companies in California, Daisy Rock was founded by Tish Ciravolo, a former bass guitar player in one of the few girl bands of the 80s - with a business degree. The idea flashed when she and her daughter drew a daisy-shaped guitar "while crayoning one day" in 1999.
The following year, Ms Ciravolo launched her first series of guitars - lighter, with specially narrow necks for smaller hands, in colours such as Peppermint Pink and Awesome Blue. There was a Butterfly Series, a Pixie Acoustic Series and a Heartbreaker Series. Now there's a Rock Candy Series. The brand has doubled its turnover annually. Daisy Rock's partner, Alfred Publishing, has released Girl Guitar Method books one and two.
"When I started five years ago," Ms Ciravolo says, "there were very few girl bands around. There was discrimination right across the industry, we were treated badly in clubs". Girls were also held back, she says, by the sheer weight and size of guitars.
"Then, girls playing guitars became a tool across the media: Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday and so on. But long before Avril Lavigne was on television there was an underground waiting out there. When we set up the company I would get 500 emails a day from girls asking, 'How do I get a guitar? How do I join a band?'
"What I wanted to do was not only design a guitar for a girl to play, but to change the consciousness - make the sight of a girl playing a guitar as natural as that of girl playing a flute. And, apart from just designing guitars that girls could play, I believed a guitar should be fun - I wanted them to be girlie - I wanted girls aged eight to 11 to say, 'Wow - I want to play!'
"We are just the beginning. The tip of the iceberg; you watch MTV in 10 years' time. And when Jimmy Page gets up and says he has bought one for his daughter and it is one of the best guitars he's ever seen, we must be doing something right."
Not that the electric guitar ever really went away. "We've always thought guitars are cool," insists Owen Bailey, deputy editor of Guitarist magazine, based in Bath. "And we stood up for them during the hard times. Now, more and more young people are seeing their heroes with guitars in their hands - Razorlight and all those Live Aid newbies; there are more guitar bands in all genres, quite apart from the 100 types of heavy metal, which never went away."
The boom is good news for guitar manufacturers, notably the famous Fender brand. "The guitar is back with a vengeance," says Tony Munns, marketing director for Fender in Europe. "I think that, having gone through the Game Boy, PlayStation era, most kids are looking for the next challenge. Plus a lot of them were raised on rock and roll, so what they are doing pleases their parents. And there are the girls - not just singing and leaving it to the boys to play, but playing themselves." Mr Munns is coy about figures, and says simply: "It's a good time for every guitar manufacturer."
"The guitar business is extremely healthy, while the record industry is suffering," says Ray Miller (favourite guitarist: Eric Clapton), sales director for Sound Control, Britain's biggest musical instrument store chain. "It started with the Stone Roses, Oasis, Radiohead - about 10 years ago. It's hard to talk figures, but I would say guitars are now 25% of our market, at least 10% up on back then."
For those for whom guitars are a deeply held passion, the heart of the retail business is those little specialist shops, shrines to the instrument, walls lined with lovingly hewn guitars, air full of the sound of people experimenting. Places such as Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton Wick, Middlesex.
"I think it's happened because playing the guitar is just more organic, more fundamental, than the instant gratification of computer games and computer music," says Mr Chandler (favourite guitarists: Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck). "Plus the fact that kids are listening to their parents' music. A boy's just walked out of here with his dad, who must be 50, and the kid was here for hours playing Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan."
"Then, there's the simple fact that if you're a teenager playing a guitar you're more likely to get a girlfriend than if you don't. Does it work the other way round with the girls on guitar? I don't know why all that has happened, I'd better ask my 15-year-old daughter, she's learning to play."
