Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

It's been a really rough decade for the electric guitar. Sales of new instruments have dropped by a third, from 1.5 million globally to around just 1 million.

Why?

Well, generations brought up on electronics are opting out of creating music with traditional instruments like the guitar.

Instead, they use laptops and iPads and gears like Ableton Live and any number of programmable keyboard devices.

Most guitars today are being bought and sold by older

players, and there are fewer and fewer of them each year. And all of this has hurt manufacturers

like Gibson, who filed for bankruptcy in 2018. It's hurt music stores, both big and small. It's

hurt music teachers who have fewer students. And this whole thing sounds pretty dire, right?

Well, maybe.

But there is one bright spot.

There has been a steady rise in the number of young women taking up the electric guitar.

According to Fender, women now make up at least 50% of all beginner guitar players in North America and the UK.

In Southeast Asia, that number is more like 70%.

Now, that's interesting, given that it wasn't all that long ago, that it was accepted fact

that a girl could not play an electric guitar.

Well, maybe they could play it, but certainly not as good as a guy,

right? That attitude abounded through the 70s and 80s. But today, happily, that is no longer the

case. The intimidation factor is gone. Women are marching right into male-dominated music stores

and buying guitars. Some take traditional lessons, but others are using online tutorials

so they can avoid any hassles and harassment.

And the result of all this is that we are seeing more female guitar heroes.

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