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Gibson and Fender are like the companies that sell exercise equipment: lots of people buy one with the best of intentions, and three to six months later it's co

Gibson and Fender are like the companies that sell exercise equipment: lots of people buy one with the best of intentions, and three to six months later it's collecting dust in the basement. It's not hard to see why. Playing music is hard. The ratio of effort to reward is just terrible. I totally understand why people quit.

cr0sh 9y ago
> It's not hard to see why. Playing music is hard. The ratio of effort to reward is just terrible. I totally understand why people quit. Several years ago I worked for Fender on their in-house web development team in the marketing department; it was hell during the holiday turnaround, but there were good times, too. I was one of the few people there who didn't play an instrument. For myself, while I have always wanted to try to play a guitar (who hasn't, right?) - even with an employee discount I couldn't justify yet another expensive hobby (I already have too many expensive hobbies as it is). You are spot on in saying "playing music is hard" and that the "ratio of effort to reward" is terrible. From what I understand, you throw playing an electric on top of that, and you are only going to have the most dedicated of people willing to keep it up after a few weeks. Electric guitars are hella-hard on the hands and fingers; I learned quite a lot about guitars and electrics in particular during my time there. I never knew, for instance, that there were so many particulars about the instruments, that could have a great effect on whether you liked to play it or not (like the radius and width of the fretboard (?), for instance); that some of these parts were something you needed to take into account before you purchased a guitar, which is why online purchasing is something that people only did after they went to a store to try out the real instruments (in a way, Fender's online offerings were undercutting their dealer network, but there wasn't any way around that - Fender didn't want that to happen, but that's the way the the market worked). Then you have the hardness of the strings on the fingers; you literally better be willing to bleed to learn to play an electric. Your hands will turn into claws as you have to build up your finger "muscles" - and there's also the pain of having to really stretch your hand around and apart. Everything I learned about learning made me think "this is something that could really put a damper on my career as a software developer"; it really wasn't for the faint-hearted. I was let go after a couple of years in a downsizing, with a small severance package; not too long after I had moved on to another employer, Fender had decided to move their headquarters from Arizona back to California, to be closer to one of their main production facilities from what I understand. I wish them luck, but they were already grousing about getting new players, especially younger ones, when I was there. I wish them luck, because even though I know I'm not likely to ever pick a guitar up and play it (and man, did I choose to lose the opportunity of a lifetime to learn the instrument while working for them), I still love to watch people play the instrument, and listen to the wonderful sounds it can make, in all its variations (oh, and don't get me started on the interesting sound of an electric mandolin!). I'd hate to see all of that disappear...
- sowpati 9y ago
  I'm sorry I couldn't understand from your comment, are you saying an electric is harder on your fingers as compared to an acoustic? If that's what you meant, I must disagree, and please read the full comment. Else, it's my misunderstanding of your comment, and I shall delete my reply. Electric guitar's strings are far more easier on your fingers compared to a steel-stringed acoustic (not comparing classical guitars with nylon strings). Just about everything is easier to play on an electric, starting with barre chords to slides to bends. Maybe one reason for more blistering fingers on an electric is because people are more likely to do stuff like slides and bends in solos whereas many people use an acoustic just for chords. But I assure you, if you attempt to do the same stuff on an acoustic, it's going to be far more taxing on your fingers.
  - xtracto 9y ago
    Correct, I have been playing both electric and acoustic guitar for 25 years and what you say reflects my experience. Playing acoustic guitar is more difficult, requires more strength in the fingers and will give you calluses on the first months of playing.
  - kazinator 9y ago
    I put .010 - .046 on acoustics. Problem solved.
- rsfern 9y ago
  You should try lighter gauge strings on your electric, and maybe lower the action (the distance between the strings and the frets). I generally find electric guitars much easier on my fingers than acoustics.

cr0sh 9y ago

> It's not hard to see why. Playing music is hard. The ratio of effort to reward is just terrible. I totally understand why people quit. Several years ago I worked for Fender on their in-house web development team in the marketing department; it was hell during the holiday turnaround, but there were good times, too. I was one of the few people there who didn't play an instrument. For myself, while I have always wanted to try to play a guitar (who hasn't, right?) - even with an employee discount I couldn't justify yet another expensive hobby (I already have too many expensive hobbies as it is). You are spot on in saying "playing music is hard" and that the "ratio of effort to reward" is terrible. From what I understand, you throw playing an electric on top of that, and you are only going to have the most dedicated of people willing to keep it up after a few weeks. Electric guitars are hella-hard on the hands and fingers; I learned quite a lot about guitars and electrics in particular during my time there. I never knew, for instance, that there were so many particulars about the instruments, that could have a great effect on whether you liked to play it or not (like the radius and width of the fretboard (?), for instance); that some of these parts were something you needed to take into account before you purchased a guitar, which is why online purchasing is something that people only did after they went to a store to try out the real instruments (in a way, Fender's online offerings were undercutting their dealer network, but there wasn't any way around that - Fender didn't want that to happen, but that's the way the the market worked). Then you have the hardness of the strings on the fingers; you literally better be willing to bleed to learn to play an electric. Your hands will turn into claws as you have to build up your finger "muscles" - and there's also the pain of having to really stretch your hand around and apart. Everything I learned about learning made me think "this is something that could really put a damper on my career as a software developer"; it really wasn't for the faint-hearted. I was let go after a couple of years in a downsizing, with a small severance package; not too long after I had moved on to another employer, Fender had decided to move their headquarters from Arizona back to California, to be closer to one of their main production facilities from what I understand. I wish them luck, but they were already grousing about getting new players, especially younger ones, when I was there. I wish them luck, because even though I know I'm not likely to ever pick a guitar up and play it (and man, did I choose to lose the opportunity of a lifetime to learn the instrument while working for them), I still love to watch people play the instrument, and listen to the wonderful sounds it can make, in all its variations (oh, and don't get me started on the interesting sound of an electric mandolin!). I'd hate to see all of that disappear...

sowpati 9y ago
I'm sorry I couldn't understand from your comment, are you saying an electric is harder on your fingers as compared to an acoustic? If that's what you meant, I must disagree, and please read the full comment. Else, it's my misunderstanding of your comment, and I shall delete my reply. Electric guitar's strings are far more easier on your fingers compared to a steel-stringed acoustic (not comparing classical guitars with nylon strings). Just about everything is easier to play on an electric, starting with barre chords to slides to bends. Maybe one reason for more blistering fingers on an electric is because people are more likely to do stuff like slides and bends in solos whereas many people use an acoustic just for chords. But I assure you, if you attempt to do the same stuff on an acoustic, it's going to be far more taxing on your fingers.
- xtracto 9y ago
  Correct, I have been playing both electric and acoustic guitar for 25 years and what you say reflects my experience. Playing acoustic guitar is more difficult, requires more strength in the fingers and will give you calluses on the first months of playing.
- kazinator 9y ago
  I put .010 - .046 on acoustics. Problem solved.
rsfern 9y ago
You should try lighter gauge strings on your electric, and maybe lower the action (the distance between the strings and the frets). I generally find electric guitars much easier on my fingers than acoustics.