I agree. I imagine anyone who picks up an instrument, about 90 percent abandon it within the first year. I also would be almost anyone who picks up learning to code, abandons it within the first year.
Learning to play an instrument is hard and like anything else that is hard, you need to put in the work to reap the rewards.
"The industry's challenge—or opportunity—is getting people to commit for life," said Andy Mooney, Fender's chief executive officer. "A pretty big milestone for someone adopting any form of instrument is getting them through the first song."
Goal: Get players through first song.
Solution: Package with each guitar a mini songbook written in guitar tablature, not sheet music, containing a small collection of classic, canonical three-chord songs demographically targeted towards age of buyers. It could be a page or two front and back. Something physical they can take out of the packaging in the middle of the floor and start working through right there. Include a link to youtube videos of instructors playing them, but really it's about the piece of paper they can look at right there and go.
Solution: Package with each guitar a mini songbook written in guitar tablature, not sheet music, containing a small collection of classic, canonical three-chord songs demographically targeted towards age of buyers.
I've been playing guitar for over 40 years. I've bought plenty in my day, along with mandolins, a banjo, and a few other instruments. Not a single one included anything but a truss rod wrench. Not a "getting started" guide, nothing. The instrument industry relies upon others to make the new purchase accessible, which will hopefully result in repeat business. And that's just asinine. Nearly 70 years in business and it has never occurred to anyone to include some bootstrapping documentation so that your new customer enjoys their purchase even more? You're hoping the stoner salesperson at the music store fixes them up with suitable material instead of just taking the commission and calling it a day?
Partner with an online lessons company. Put a little pamphlet in there as suggested by parent. "Here's four chords that will get you through a lot of rock songs." Something other than a truss rod wrench and a hardy "good luck".
EDIT: oh, and for fsck's sake, do whatever you need to do to make sure that guitars are properly setup before they ever see a customer's hands. Guitars aren't quite as bad, but I've purchased some used low-end mandolins recently that I gather the owner bought online, meaning it was shipped from China and the original box was not opened until it showed up on someone's doorstep. One of them I would describe as unplayable as it was. Strings were a mile high; I'll bet I cut half the nut down. Another one was better quality and playable as-is, for small values of "playable". An hour or so cutting the nut down, setting the bridge, etc., and it turned out to be a nice little player. But a beginner with no callouses on their fingers wouldn't last long on either of those mandolins as they were sold. It's like trying to do Couch-to-5K with lead weights on your ankles.
I've been playing guitar for over 40 years. I've bought plenty in my day, along with mandolins, a banjo, and a few other instruments. Not a single one included anything but a truss rod wrench.
Seems almost insane in hindsight, doesn't it?
oh, and for fsck's sake, do whatever you need to do to make sure that guitars are properly setup before they ever see a customer's hands.
Good point. To this end, a link to a free cross-platform guitar tuner app would get a beginner 99% of the way there after unboxing.
Instructions:
Before playing for the first time and learning a song on the included song-sheet, make sure it is properly tuned. Go to freefenderguitartuner.com to download our free guitar tuning app to your phone, or find one you like better in your phone's app store.
(Then app walks you through turning the tuner heads to the proper note).
I understand you have something to contribute, but sending multiple links to your own products comes off as really self-promoting. Try engaging in the discussion about the article. Do you agree with it? How does the article make you feel? How does your solution attack the problems described by the article?
I do agree, the guitar industry is in crisis mode since their main customers (older men) are dying off, literally.
How does the article make me feel? Makes me feel super excited to the nth degree! As the article states, it's a pretty big milestone to play your first coherent song, but in most people, they never get there and quit. We have a low entry, high ceiling instrument that gets you playing right away. We are trying to disaggregate almost every part of the guitar, but when you actually play it, you can play the entire song from day 1, check out the video if you haven't!
That is a terrible solution (not in a vacuum, just to the stated problem).
The problem was stated by an OEM selling traditional guitars, who needed their new customers to learn their first song so they purchase again in the future.
This is a non-scaling, costly solution that does a worse job of tackling the problem. The goal is to sell more Fender Stratocasters, not have your customers buy a non-guitar from somebody else. Maybe a good solution for a different problem, but not for the problem we're addressing here.
What if I told you there was a more rewarding way from day one?
In the article: "The industry's challenge—or opportunity—is getting people to commit for life," said Andy Mooney, Fender's chief executive officer. "A pretty big milestone for someone adopting any form of instrument is getting them through the first song."
Learning to play an instrument is hard and like anything else that is hard, you need to put in the work to reap the rewards.