The last time I went to a NAMM show was when Van Halen only had one LP and most of the hip people had the Rod Stewart haircut. Well the Stewart haircut was still there, but an older person was underneath it.

For most NAMM shows the various vendors would have something made special just for the show. A one off or tricked out product. There was very little of that at this show. There were a good number of boutique items with some very high price tags. ($6,000 and up )

In my walk about I discovered that to keep retail cost down most products are made overseas. Most of the instruments I sampled played well. I can see a bright and strong future for the aftermarket, since most players will upgrade some part of the instrument they feel is lacking.

Appears everybody is obsessed with picks. Many variations on the plectrum and as always, there were plenty of unknown musicians of all styles playing equal to or better than the music you listen to on your radio or computer.

Two guitar trends were common in the next generation arena: 1. Make your guitar not sound like a guitar and   2.  Why use an amp? When software and a laptop can do it for you.  Which leads me to make a prediction concerning how some musicians will play gigs in the future.

The average person/fan of music goes home after work, boots up their computer if they even bothered to turn it off, opens up a nightclub or concert website, selects a menu for available singles or buddies at the site so people can go on a date or meet up with friends, the music playing in the background is top notch. And there you go - via the internet - people are socially interacting without leaving home or having to purchase a dinner or concert ticket.  I know some of you are tingling with eager anticipation for this day, or you’re already doing this while playing your favorite interactive game over the internet.

So how does the musician fit into this? Well some bar and concert hall owners as well as some of the public, prefer live music over a DJ or radio playing. So the bar or concert site will advertise as a live music site. Musicians from all over the planet audition for the band via the Internet. The World Wide Web musicians earning a slot in the band(s) login each day during their time slot since this is a twenty four seven gig and perform from the comfort of their bedroom with their music software instrument. The band never physically gets together to shake hands, rehearse, eat together, or drive to the venue. Most likely they are not even on the same continent or even speak the same language.  Of course by this time connection speeds are no challenge, everybody will have cameras and microphones on their computers so all can see and talk to each other and can interact as if at a real venue. This is a good thing for you smokers out there since you won’t have to go outside for your fix. Oops most likely you can’t go outside due to the greenhouse effect or nuclear winter and nonsmokers have passed a law to make the tobacco plant extinct. Don’t worry, I have complete confidence that mankind will replace it with something else.

Of course guitarist will never stop looking for that perfect pick and live music will not disappear. There will always be people gathering together and performing on real instruments and amps and a portion of the public will want to listen to these performers.  Just look at the vintage auto crowd. There are still some Model T cars driving about.