Research for Documentary.

There are many reasons why the guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. It’s portable, inexpensive to own and easy to play – at least in the early stages. It’s also massively versatile and above all – cool. Few would deny this.No matter what age, guitar remains the symbol of cool, hip – whatever new adjective strikes you.

It’s musical potential is virtually unlimited since it’s capable of playing chords, notes and everything in between. It also dominates country, bluegrass, rock, pop, folk, blues etc. Even in the jazz and classical field, guitar continues to make inroads into territory formerly controlled by more traditional instruments.The guitar is the instrument of choice for song writers and performers in all musical idioms. It can be strummed, finger picked or played with a combination of all of these techniques and more.From very simple beginnings, the guitar can grow into an instrument of tremendous subtlety, sophistication and complexity. But only if you want it to. Like a faithful pet, it never complains and lets you decide how far you want to go with it. For many. the relationship they have with their guitar is longer lasting and deeper than any relationship they’ve ever had with a person.


There is always a new place to go with the guitar. The jazz guitar often offers the next plateau for players that have been involved with rock, pop, blues for many years but are looking for something more. That something more could be more advanced chords, scales and techniques than are typically available in contemporary music. Certainly, it was the instrument’s unlimited potential that drew me to it and kept me involved in it and with it for my entire career.The guitar spans a huge range of musical styles from rock to country to flamenco music. Though each of these musical idioms use the it prominently, they all use the same instrument to create wildly different sounds. Though the guitar has been around since the 1500s, it has undergone several big transformations during its history. The development of the electric guitar is an obvious mutation and has had a huge effect on its popularity.

Guitar sales have doubled in the last four years and some research has shown that more children under the age of 11 are playing the guitar than any other instrument. In fact, in Britain, it may be the instrument of choice for more than 50% of all males that play an instrument (and 17% of all females).Here are a just a few of the reasons that guitar playing is so popular all over the world.


Guitar playing is typically relaxing for the player.

Guitar music is equally relaxing and enjoyable for the listener.

Many people begin to play in order to join a band. This is an ideal way to make friends and expand one’s social circle.

Guitar playing is ideal for campouts, singalongs or for entertainment at a wide variety of functions.

Guitar playing improves hand-eye coordination and motor skills in general.

Guitar playing can also help you gain other skills such as reading music and listening skills. Most people don’t realize how many skills can be learned by playing the guitar – you would be surprised. MIA chief executive Paul McManus said: “The popularity of the guitar in the UK is clearly going from strength to strength.” The MIA figures are based on government statistics for UK guitar for UK guitar imports. The MIA is the UK trade association for the musical products industry.Guitar Center, MTV Games (Rock Band) and Activision (Guitar Hero) have collaborated on a national survey of 7,000 respondents to see how the players of Rock Band and Guitar Hero felt about playing an actual guitar.

Here are some of the interesting findings in the study:

67% of Guitar Hero and Rock Band users who do not currently play an instrument say they are likely to start playing one in the next two years

72% of musicians that play Guitar Hero or Rock Band report using their own instruments more frequently

80% of Guitar Hero and Rock Band users would like to receive an instrument as a holiday gift this year The last one might have been a bit of a loaded question from Guitar Center in the survey, but nonetheless this is definitely encouraging news for Guitar Center and other music retailers. Guitar Center reported spikes in sales of entry-level guitars in the last quarter of 2007 by 20.7% and in the first quarter of 2008 by 26.9%.

Many think games like Guitar Hero are making us lazy, giving us the instant satisfaction of a fake guitar rather then actually learning how to play it ourselves, but it seems quite the opposite is true, and more people are playing guitar more now then ever. Do you play the guitar? If so, what drew you to playing? And if you haven’t, is there any particular reason why?
































Sources


http://www.chuckandersonjazzguitar.com/wordpress/why-learn-the-guitar/
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/2014/Les-Paul-Studio-en.aspx
http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eg_sig_series14.php?series_id=19&area_id=3&year=2014&cat_id=1
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/412ce-sltd
http://www.fender.com/en-GB/guitars/stratocaster/american-deluxe-stratocaster-hss-rosewood-fingerboard-black/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Fighters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC/DC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sheeran
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zUlt7Q71_ssC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=guitar+in+youth+culture&source=bl&ots=4GK-3RQa1n&sig=rG_aMwBGMBpWiPPS-DtWgkabrDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g_8mU4H3IcG2hQe57ICgDA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false





Its musical applications are seemingly infinite. It can be used to play melodies, to play chords, to be a solo instrument in its own right or to support vocalists or other instrumentalists. The guitar can be used within classical music or more ‘popular’ styles, ranging from rock and roll to country, blues and jazz. In addition, it can be played in numerous ways. Whether plucked, strummed, finger picked or tapped, different sounds can be achieved which suit different styles or moods of music. Although it is relatively simple to play at the early stages, easily picked up by youngsters or beginners, it can become a highly complex and sophisticated musical tool capable of becoming as advanced as the player desires.

Moreover, the guitar is relatively inexpensive. For people looking for their own musical expressions, the guitar can provide an ideal opportunity to develop skill with an instrument for a comparatively low financial input. Particularly when many people take to instruments during their childhood, this is an obvious advantage. Guitars are often given as gifts, being valuable and precious but not extortionately priced. Of course, expensive guitars are available for the more advanced player – but entry level instruments are very reasonable.

The portability is another key factor. Whereas prior to the guitar, the main accompaniment for vocalists and parties was the piano, this was not easily transported between locations. The guitar offers the same level of musical support, with chords and rhythm provided as easily as melodic elements, but in a much smaller package. The guitar could be taken to parties, gatherings or simply to friend’s houses; it could also be taken to church events to support singers there, or to concerts and performances. Combined with the level of cost effectiveness in comparison to the piano, it is rather easy to see the appeal.

Finally, the guitar has an undeniable desirability. Youngsters taking up musical instruments to impress the opposite sex see the guitar as a status symbol. Their favourite musicians and bands play the guitar widely: being able to imitate performances of their well known songs is an easy way to start conversation and to make friends. Music is a social activity, and because the guitar is so affordable and easy to transport it has become the favourite amongst wide swathes of the population.

http://www.rebeccavandiver.com/why-is-the-guitar-so-popular/

For my primary research I asked all the people I know the question that I'm using in this documentary to see what they thought and a got the same response from all of them which was the fact that the guitar is a very easy thing to just pick up and play and the fact that it's very popular in the music industry. I also sent out a questionnaire to people I know for them to fill in which had questions on it about what kind of documentary they would feel interest them and why. We then worked with this information to come with the style of documentary that we will use when we film.

We also thought that if we got Sean to feature in this documentary then that would show that the age range of guitarist is varied and it'snot just teenagers who play it. Hopefully the target audience of this documentary would be young people as I think that more young people should take up an instrument, maybe not the guitar but just something because otherwise in the future all music is just going to be made on a computer and it'll all sound the same which is why i think there should be more TV shows/documentaries no music and the reason I'm making one.

There are a lot of documentaries aired on the TV in a single day. About 30% of everything that is show during a day which doesn't air any special events is a documentary as it may be part of a series or it might be there as something iconic happened on that day. Because documentaries are such a big part of the average TV schedule that this would fit in well in during the day. Also quite a lot of the documentaries are shown in the evenings as this is when the most people are watching TV. This is when i would air our 3 Minute Wonder because this is when we're most likely to get the most views. On Channel 4 there are about 7 documentaries programs a day so there will be quite a large audience for documentaries.