It’s 2025, and the guitar is more popular than ever. Industry stats are through the roof. Vintage models are traded for the price of small houses; celebrity guitars live encased behind glass like religious artifacts. Millions of people buy guitars every year, hoping, dreaming, longing.
But what are we really buying—a piece of wood and wire? A ticket to magic? Or just another excuse to avoid what we truly seek? A fine example is the relic guitars - produced to look like they had a life, I can only think about one other thing that is produced in the same way: Clothes with holes in them so it looks like they are used, worn. Its all an illusion, a look. Would anybody buy a relic appartment?, a relic kitchen? Or pay extra for a pre-scrathed car?
For me, a guitar is a tool. An ordinary thing, like a hammer. Hammers, though, don’t get worshipped, collected, and displayed except by the most eccentric among us. So what exactly are we doing, piling up guitars far beyond our productive needs? Building museums, shrines, or perhaps, hoping for a relic to grant us grace?
Facts:
- 2.5-3 million guitars sold every year
- $9+ billion industry
- “Relic” guitars and celebrity models at record highs
- Post-pandemic: more collecting, less playing
(Source: Statista, Music Trades, Financial Times)
When Buying Isn’t Enough: The Real Turning Point
Your Instagram feed is filled with vintage treasures and impossible “holy grails.” And yes, I love beautiful instruments. But after decades on this road, I know the most important question isn't, What's the next guitar to buy? It's, What will I do with the one in my hands?
It is consumer culture. Predictable and addiction to bying stuff.
So the guitar and the guitarist has gone totally "off-piste" online during the years. Guitar forums create lists of the best guitar players: worshipping the gods by ranking them. On youtube people are talking about playing guitar, analyzing guitar solos or react to reactions of other reacting.... etc. But none of them really play music.
I was always more interested in transforming myself with "what I call Music". I would betray all musicians that I love by trying to just imitate them. Surely, In the beginning you need to imitate to learn the basics yes! But the hard part is to transform that into something personal. To make poetry out of the alphabet - To stop dreaming and be present in the world. Right now and right here using what you have.
From the very beginning of my carrer my mission was always to make crazy commitment to create something that demanded everything from me.
This is my Manzer Guitar Collection. All unique instruments made in hand by a person that I actually met and admire: Linda Manzer!
My Symphonic Work & the WTF Journey: "The Shape of Sound" 24 guitar solo Variations
In 2018, I was comissioned to write a symphonic concerto for acoustic guitar and symphony orchestra. A big leap: 45 minutes of music—all from scratch. I have been composing since my childhood but this was a new level of storytelling! Because it is one thing to compose a "catchy melody" or to write a song to improvise on. I needed to go deep to write this 45 min. long manuscript. For months, I was consumed—writing, erasing, losing sleep, chasing ideas that vanished at sunrise. It was thrilling. It was terrifying and wonderfull. And I started to notice a pattern in when the ideas would come to me!
And when the moment finally came to perform it in Moscow —with almost no rehearsal, complex rhythms, orchestral chaos, and cameras rolling—it felt like the whole thing could collapse on live television. But it actually came together. I’d crossed into new territory. The process changed me; I found a new level of discipline, play, and trust.
Detail from first movement of my 2018 guitar concerto "På Herrens Mark"
Riding that wave, I began writing my “WTF” and “OMG” solo guitar variations: intense solo pieces that forced me to shatter habits, stretch technique, and surprise myself every day. It was for learning, for staying alive as an artist. And many ideas were rejected—if a passage didn’t make me stop and say “WTF!” it went into the bin. Over two years, that process became THE SHAPE OF SOUND: a two-hour tour through the wildest corners of my creativity. It all came from doing the work, getting uncomfortable, letting go of needing to look cool or be perfect. Just listening..... on SO many levels. I still study these compositions every single day. It will take me decades to master this music.
You Talk the Talk - But do you Walk the Walk?
Some players become gear monks: collecters of gear—isolated, endlessly rehearsing, drowning in possibilities. Others become missionaries, always on stage, desperate for feedback. Collecting selfies, collecting awards. Creating the illusion of "I made it!".
You can play the game an maybee conqour the world. But to conquer yourself and find a real voice is much more difficult. You cannot buy that! Its a long trip to develop real ideas, devel—and listen. And that is the reason why we worship those who found their way. Put them on lists, analyse their sound and tell stories about them.
I took inspiration from the south indian tradition of clasical music where I heard this quote many times: "It takes a lifetime of study and then you might become original after 50 years". Think about it: a lot of good stuff really takes a long time + experience.
I never understood the hurry to "arrive there". Or the idea that you need more stuff to do so.
The Real Treasure: The Long, Unsellable Journey
The reason I wrote a symphonic work and the 24 variations was only to impress myself - It was to find out what’s possible—for me, but maybe for you too. What matters is the life long journey, the self-discovery, and the community of fellow travelers (strummers, monks, and missionaries alike) who are brave enough to keep listening : asking, "WTF is going on—and what's next?" And this is not what they tell you in advertising, in music schools or on youtube.... They sell you a dream - and you gotta be a sleep to truly believe in dreams. The real reason for this is that the journey is unsellable - who has this kinda commitment and time to invest in this modern busy world? It is both risky and dangerous. And there are sooo many distractions! You need imagination - its the most valueble thing here in life. You need imagination because there are so many gaps/ holes / mysteries that you need to fill out yourself! That is your purpose.
Want to Explore my solo guitar Music?
If any of this speaks to you—if you want to challenge yourself, or simply hear “The Shape of Sound” (sheet music & tabs) in my shop:
👉 THE SHAPE OF SOUND – Music for One Guitar (Sheetmusic & Tabs)
Try it, play it, or just visit my YouTube channel where I posted some of the 24 variations.
In Summary: Drop the Comparison—Pick Up the Challenge and safe money!
You don’t have to be a collector, a critic, or a hermit to be a musician. You just need courage, curiosity, and a willingness to get a little lost.
Let’s celebrate the journey—confusing, joyful, awkward, beautiful. Let’s play not just to impress, but to express, and to discover what music can do for us (and maybe, just maybe, for others).
Because at the end of the day, we’re all just sitting in our rooms, sometimes strumming, sometimes staring, wondering: WTF is going on?
And that’s where the magic begins.