If you’re curious about guitar player demographics and who exactly is learning the guitar these days, you’ve come to the right post!
Is the guitar market male-dominated?
Many people think the guitar market is a male-dominated industry.
But according to research done by Fender surveying over 20,000 guitar players in the US and the UK, about half of new guitar players are women!
This is interesting news.
And it makes sense in light of female guitarists like Taylor Swift playing the guitar for millions, many of which are women who aspire to be like her in some way.
However, even after Swift’s music has strayed from guitar ballads into synthetic pop, women continue to represent 50% of new guitarists.
So it seems this demographic breakdown is here to stay.
Diving Deeper into Guitar Player Demographics
Both African American and Hispanic players are a large portion of new guitarists.
In fact, Fender found that 1/4 of beginners are Hispanic.
And almost 1/5th of aspirational players are African American.
And apparently, these market segments are growing too!
New guitarists are looking for self-improvement opportunities.
Fender’s research revealed a lot of interesting information about the types of people picking up the guitar today.
One of those tidbits is how almost 3/4 of new guitarists are starting to play for self-improvement.
In other words, guitarists these days have a focus on achievement.
But guitarists goals differ somewhat depending on their location as we’ll see in the following section.
US and UK Differences in Poll Responses
Fender’s polling included responses from both US and UK residents.
So how did their responses differ?
For starters, the split of UK responders who reported playing privately as their preferred playing environment as opposed to publicly (for friends and family) was 50/50.
However, 68% of US responders reported playing publicly (for friends and family) as their preferred playing environment.
Furthermore, US and UK responders had different preferences for the types of music they wanted to play.
For instance, UK responders reported wanting to play more blues and reggae.
Meanwhile, guitarists in the US reported wanting to play more country and rock.
Guitar Player Demographics: Conclusion
I hope this article has helped shed light on guitar player demographics and who’s playing the instrument today.
And if you have more questions about guitar industry data in general, be sure to check out:
Guitar Industry Statistics to Know About in 2023
Lastly, if you have other guitar-related questions feel free to leave a message in the comments below!
