Why Do Kids Want To Play the Guitar

Why Do Kids Want To Play the Guitar

Today's Youth: Playing the guitar
A recent trend that seems to be prevalent in the youth of our society today is the desire to play an instrument. I am a musician and want to help explain from other's experience as well as my own why playing an instrument is so popular among teens today. My father and other friends of his generation suggest that instrument playing has always been popular, but it's popularity seems to have increased dramatically over the past 25 years. Testaments such as these compelled me to search for the answer to this increasing trend of playing an instrument.

One reason, and probably the most prominent one, is the longing to live the life of the music icons that are admired. Programming, such as music videos, feeds our imaginations about the musicians' lavish lifestyle. An example of feeding our imaginations to a better lifestyle would be to examine music videos that contain live footage of concerts with a large mount of fans in attendance. A fairly mainstream hardcore act like Korn, for instance, contains footage in their video from a concert that displays literally thousands of fans in attendance. Musician hopefuls see the mass attention and want very badly to be appreciated in the same way. In addition to this, interviews on television stations like MTV relay opinions of the band over national television that many people might be able to identify with. Teenagers may place themselves in the "same boat" as these musicians and again gain imaginary aspirations of being a famous musician though identifications of similarity like opinions and musical influences. Young adults often associate the musicians life being one of carefree status that contain many rewards, such as being above the law and being able to have your opinions supported by fans. Young adults, in order to accomplish these aspirations, purchase an instrument and then begin practicing for a dream that will never come true.

Another reason that instrument playing has become more popular is due to the fact that...

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