What percent of guitar/amp/gear sales are for "metal" vs. other genres?

[Matt08642]

Curious since I always get annoyed by all the "fender vs. gibson" threads. To me they're kind of irrelevant. At least in the metal sphere (virtuoso instrumental guitar, 80's metal/hair/thrash, prog, neo, djent, death, etc), ESP/Ibanez seem to dominate, with other traditional "metal" contenders being Jackson, Schecter, Dean, BC Rich, Kiesel, Musicman, even Agile and Legator, and the majority of boutiques are all metal-oriented, Strandberg, Solar, ormsby, aristides, mayones, skerveson, Caparison, etc.

I'd say there's probably tons of boutique builders out there who do a lot more than metal oriented stuff. Even Frank Falbo was mostly an acoustic builder as far as I know prior to the Abasi thing. There are builders that specialize in non-metal guitars in addition to Metal-oriented like Suhr as well.

Sure Yngwie plays a fender, but you gotta have his violin vibrato fingers to make it work, and the rhythm on it is pretty flubby.

Can't say rhythm playing on a Strat with humbuckers is inherently any flubbier sounding than other guitars with the same scale length and string gauge.

And Mustaine just switched to Gibson, but I'm sure that's a money thing.

But it still seems that Fender, Gibson, PRS seem to still dominates sales, I'd assume most of this goes to Pop/Session musicians, country, blues, etc.

So I just wondered how big a chunk of the overall guitar market "metal" represents.

Same would go for amps, with fender/vox/vintage marshall dominating over the more metal offerings

I'd say people go with the "Big names" since they're time-tested and reliable. You can walk in to any music store and get a Strat or LP. The "Metal" brands often don't just do metal stuff like Ibanez and ESP, they offer tons of traditional gear.

 

[DiezelMonster]

I work for a large retailer in Canada, During Gibson month that we have in April, about 6 years ago I sold $100,000.00 worth of JUST Les Pauls. not including any of the other models Gibson makes.

We sell a lot of metal guitars here at this location but that's because I do all the ordering. But we sell more Strats than metal guitars combined.

 

[StevenC]

Hammett has been known to play Gibson's live. He has a crazy expensive one too. Either way I think metal is a relatively small %

I have a feeling it's the one with more people shooting way above their ability and buying lots of CS stuff though

Hammet has multiple Greenie clones for touring. This thread is funny.

Hammett apparently has twelve 58-60 Standards now.

 

[nickgray]

But it still seems that Fender, Gibson, PRS seem to still dominates sales, I'd assume most of this goes to Pop/Session musicians, country, blues, etc.

I think the overwhelming majority of sales go to beginners who never go past the beginning stage.

As for which genres, I think it would directly reflect the popularity of said genres. Metal is probably in a better position because it's harder to get into, so if you manage to end up as a metal fan, it probably means that metal is pretty important to you, so you're more likely to pick up an instrument.

Curious since I always get annoyed by all the "fender vs. gibson" threads. To me they're kind of irrelevant.

Honestly, I'd rather read Fender vs Gibson as opposed to some boutique Bernie Ormsby Junior 10 string monstrosity with Bear Fish pickups.

 

[Crungy]

I think you'd have to do your own research by talking to people like @DiezelMonster and whoever would want to break down the info for you. Otherwise it's such a broad and slightly murky topic.... You can play any style of music on any guitar.

 

[tian]

Also there are very large subgenres of players that are easily overlooked to those on the outside. Without lurking around TGP I would have never have guessed how many "worship" guitar players there are performing at their local churches. At this point if someone told me there's more of them then metal players, I wouldn't even doubt it.

Pretty sure most of them aren't doing the Ghost thing and praising Satan every week.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Also there are very large subgenres of players that are easily overlooked to those on the outside. Without lurking around TGP I would have never have guessed how many "worship" guitar players there are performing at their local churches. At this point if someone told me there's more of them then metal players, I wouldn't even doubt it.

Pretty sure most of them aren't doing the Ghost thing and praising Satan every week.

This always surprised reading reviews on GC, MF, Sweetwater etc. Seems like every other review starts with "I use this for my worship band." A TON of gear is used in churches.

 

[JediMasterThrash]

Yeah, definitely ESP etc. make plenty of guitars not metal-oriented, which is why I always wondered how they ranked against fender/gibson for overall sales.

I wonder how much fender/gibson sales are because you want to buy what you see on TV/some other key band, vs. independent research into what guitar would suit you best. Positive feedback loop, Same as any metallica-inspired band getting ESPS and mesa boogies, or a Vai-insipried musician buying a Jem.

I mean you can get strat and LP-like guitars from esp/ibanez/schecter etc. And for beginner to mid-range models, probably comparable quality/price ratio (or even better in some cases).

It's like top-10 billboard hits. Is it a top-10 hit because people choose to listen to the top-hits, i.e. the positive feedback loop, versus independently choosing their favorite song from 100 recently released singles?

I mean the general aesthetics are personal preference, if you like those looks buy it. But other things like humbuckers vs. singles, type of trem/fixed bridge, fret scalloping, access cutaway, body contour, neck U shape, scale length, neck angle from body, placement of strap nuts, etc. It can take years of playing several guitars to really figure out what's best for you.

 

[Giest]

Seems like the most popular guitar genre these days is some kind of corpo-jazz shit. It all sounds like if you had a guitarist write the music for a herpes medication commercial or something. Tim Henson is good at it, but it's time to stop imo.

As far as metal though, vastly in the minority gear wise.

 

[Protestheriphery]

If by "metal" you mean, "guys playing djent in their basement," probably a lot

if by "metal" you mean "actively gigging/recording bands," probably not a lot

I'm sure part of it comes down to availability. A touring musician can either cart their boutique amp head everywhere with them or use what's available which is probably Orange/Marshall/Fender. Also if your shit breaks you want it to be something you can replace with (relative) ease. The odds of replacing a recent production LP are a lot better than your super custom triple scale 18 string purple flame heart skervesen djentstick.

This is how I imagine the fanbase for Ibanez, Schecter, Jackson, etc. Imagine some touring guy, or session hipster (or hired gun for a major pop act) rocking a faded burl flame top, fanned fret spectacle, to get the job done. That person possibly wouldn't get too far. "Metal" setups dont exactly fit in with the mainstream vibe or image.

 

[tian]

*shrug* I think people just play the guitars they want to play and it's not that deep. Metal musicians always seem to argue that "normies" don't listen to metal or play metal-focused instruments because they don't know any better. Some people just like strats.

And has there ever been a pop act that has undercut their success because of the guitar they were playing? Even John Mayer who has a signature strat played a bright pink Jackson recently for a decent amount of time and pretty sure no one really cared other than a general curiosity. Don't think anyone was arguing he was the worse for it.

Pretty sure it's only metal heads that question the legitimacy of an artist because of the gear they use lmao. "No way they're going to get decent tone without *insert flavor of the month custom guitar here* loaded with *pickups that an artist will change their mind about in three months* and it definitely needs *laundry list of specific yet arbitrary specs*."

 

[mastapimp]

But it still seems that Fender, Gibson, PRS seem to still dominates sales, I'd assume most of this goes to Pop/Session musicians, country, blues, etc.

I think most sales go to hobbyists/collectors that rarely play outside of their homes. I know a ton of people through the gym and work that play and buy guitars, but only a handful are gigging musicians. I have nearly 30 guitars and I haven't performed in public since early college 20 years ago. If you wanna get an idea of what's out there, look at the local used marketplaces like craigslist or facebook. You'll be hard pressed to find many strictly metal guitars.

 

[JediMasterThrash]

I'm not really sure why 14-string fanned fret djent has become the definition of "metal". Maybe for youtube personalities. But I've got about 400 albums on my metal top 400, and i don't think any of them use more than 7 strings, none fanned fret, and none djent.

I'd say even less than 2% probably use 7-string guitars.

Metal is amazingly diverse. I don't know if you've ever seen a map of metal music, but it covers a lot of sonic ground.

I'd say I personally hate about 3/4ths of metal music genres, yet I'm passionate about the ones I love.
Everything from classic zeppelin/rainbow/deep purple and AOR journey/def leppard/shy to modern cookie-monster vocal djent machines could be considered metal.

People who only know metal as "metallica" or death-metal often question if any of my music is actually metal when they hear it. Surprisingly diverse, and musically rich and complex.
There's a reason you have youtube vocal coaches in awe at metal singers, classical composers like the daily doug, jazz artists like Adam Neely, Productionists like Rick Beato, all taking metal seriously. Not since the renaissance do you have such composition of varied instrument orchestration, time signatures, chord progression, and vocalists who actually sing without autotune.

I'm talking Angra, Symphony X, Tobias Sammet (Avantasia, Edguy), Pagan's Mind, Serenity, (early) Dream theater, Fates Warning, Kamelot, Nightwish, Iron Maiden, Vinnie Moore, Vai. Not cookie monster djent, not math-metal, not endless prog for the sake of prog (late dream theater) and not avenged sevenfold.

Once you've played this stuff, you can't go back to playing 12-bar blues and I-V-VI-IV pop.

 

[mongey]

I'm not really sure why 14-string fanned fret djent has become the definition of "metal". Maybe for youtube personalities. But I've got about 400 albums on my metal top 400, and i don't think any of them use more than 7 strings, none fanned fret, and none djent.

I'd say even less than 2% probably use 7-string guitars.

Metal is amazingly diverse. I don't know if you've ever seen a map of metal music, but it covers a lot of sonic ground.

I'd say I personally hate about 3/4ths of metal music genres, yet I'm passionate about the ones I love.
Everything from classic zeppelin/rainbow/deep purple and AOR journey/def leppard/shy to modern cookie-monster vocal djent machines could be considered metal.

People who only know metal as "metallica" or death-metal often question if any of my music is actually metal when they hear it. Surprisingly diverse, and musically rich and complex.
There's a reason you have youtube vocal coaches in awe at metal singers, classical composers like the daily doug, jazz artists like Adam Neely, Productionists like Rick Beato, all taking metal seriously. Not since the renaissance do you have such composition of varied instrument orchestration, time signatures, chord progression, and vocalists who actually sing without autotune.

I'm talking Angra, Symphony X, Tobias Sammet (Avantasia, Edguy), Pagan's Mind, Serenity, (early) Dream theater, Fates Warning, Kamelot, Nightwish, Iron Maiden, Vinnie Moore, Vai. Not cookie monster djent, not math-metal, not endless prog for the sake of prog (late dream theater) and not avenged sevenfold.

Once you've played this stuff, you can't go back to playing 12-bar blues and I-V-VI-IV pop.

View attachment 110801

Different conversation but i Don’t think metal is anywhere near as divese as it likes to hold itself. You are talking subtleties across most of these mini genres that only someone really Into It would pick up on.

There was even a comment on this thread about certain guitars not looking metal. So to play a genre it needs fulfill a specific look , Doesn’t scream diverse to me.

 

[Dr. Caligari]

There's a reason you have youtube vocal coaches in awe at metal singers, classical composers like the daily doug, jazz artists like Adam Neely, Productionists like Rick Beato, all taking metal seriously. Not since the renaissance do you have such composition of varied instrument orchestration, time signatures, chord progression, and vocalists who actually sing without autotune.

Maybe you should calm down. These youtubers don't want to alienate their viewers. Their income depends in part on metal fans who are desperate to get their music taste validated by some sort of authority. The youtubers understand that they get more viewers by saying something is good than by saying it's bad. That doesn't mean that they actually like metal, or even really understand it.

Btw that map you posted has folk music, christian rock, hip hop etc. etc. on it. Guess it looks more impressive that way?

And you diss I-V-vi-IV but modern metal is littered with that crap. Usually accompanied by the most pedestrian melody you could imagine.

I'm just saying... Metal sucks just as bad as every other genre out there. Don't think that metal is somehow superior to other genres because it isn't.

 

[The Mirror]

Don't have the numbers at hand, but I heard somewhere that the Matt Heafy LP is the best sold Epiphone at the moment.

So there you go scattering all your assumptions in the wind. A LP is one of the best selling metal guitars at the moment.

 

[Demiurge]

Not since the renaissance do you have such composition of varied instrument orchestration, time signatures, chord progression, and vocalists who actually sing without autotune.

Oh dear fucking god kid, we're drifting into the djent-is-the-next-bebop territory. Metal can be cool and fun and there can be some amazing performances, but I'd argue that it's this type of hyperbole that makes metal seem like the music of aggrieved music snobs to the world which makes it tougher to be respected. Metal can also be extra, bombastic, and cheesy, too, and while the same can be said of a lot of genres, metal seldom gets a pass on it when people take it too seriously.

 

[budda]

I bet steel panther outsells animals as leaders.

 

[tian]

Not since the renaissance do you have such composition of varied instrument orchestration, time signatures, chord progression, and vocalists who actually sing without autotune.

...

Once you've played this stuff, you can't go back to playing 12-bar blues and I-V-VI-IV pop.

My dude.... you like metal, that's cool and the Youtube algorithm is doing a solid job feeding you the videos you want to see but it's a weird to roll into a seven string focused guitar forum where heavy music definitely dominates the conversation to say that seven string guitars are irrelevant and try to explain the genre to us.

And do you ~really~ believe that current metal is the pinnacle of music since the Renaissance? Are you spending time between listening to those 400 metal albums dissecting five centuries of concertos, jazz, folk, electronic, pop, etc...

Also there's literally a thread right now about a guitarist leaving metal for a pop gig. There's usually a gnashing of teeth from some when a technically proficient guitarist, bassist or drummer takes a pop gig, but hey, some of them like being able to pay their bills, buy $2.5 million mansions... or they just like the music.

 

[JediMasterThrash]

Different conversation but i Don’t think metal is anywhere near as divese as it likes to hold itself. You are talking subtleties across most of these mini genres that only someone really Into It would pick up on.

Nothing subtle about the diversity. Look at Rhapsody - Forest of Unicorns, folk music with flutes. Or Kamelot - Sailorman's Hymm, folk ballad, or D.C. Cooper - Until the End, almost-pop-ish, or VInnie Moore - Never Been To Barcelona, acoustic spanish-guitar, or Polyphia - Playing God.

And you diss I-V-vi-IV but modern metal is littered with that crap. Usually accompanied by the most pedestrian melody you could imagine.

No defense of "modern" metal here. Like I said, I dislike 3/4ths of metal.

Oh dear fucking god kid, we're drifting into the djent-is-the-next-bebop territory

Back to what I've been saying over and over again, I'm not talking about djent, djent is just one of many sub-genres, and I don't even like any djent.

I bet steel panther outsells animals as leaders.

Popularity and sales rarely follow quality. I personally prefer Crazy Lixx, never got into Steel Panther.

And do you ~really~ believe that current metal is the pinnacle of music since the Renaissance? Are you spending time between listening to those 400 metal albums dissecting five centuries of concertos, jazz, folk, electronic, pop, etc...

Compared to Jazz, pop, and Folk yes. I like modern classical composers, I have many in my collection. Sue me for liking something hummable, but I love something like John Williams Superman score, Jerry Goldsmith's Rambo II score, James Horner Star Trek II score, Vince DiCola's Rocky IV/Transformers score.

Electronic is a different genra. I've gotten into some Retro-Wave. But a lot is either atmospheric, or like math-metal on synths. I also enjoy late 80's/early 90's R&B, and 80's pop, back before autotune and grid-tracking destroyed music. And a huge early michael jackson fan. Michael Jackson's Bad and Iron Maiden's PowerSlave are my top two albums of all time.