John Mellencamp once said, “Forget all about that macho s**t and learn how to play guitar. No matter what curveballs or changes life throws at us, there is one constant we can all agree on — we love the guitar.
National Guitar Month was founded in 1987. It was a collaboration between the Guitar & Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). History tells us the first guitar was born in Spain in the 15th century. Since then, we have had a love affair with strings ever since.
I’m really lucky. For over thirty years, I’ve had the honor of interviewing my guitar heroes. We have spoken of tones, solos, influences, frets, and no frets. But sometimes a simple question really cuts through. Why do we love the guitar so much?
I asked the master Joe Satriani in a recent interview, and he summed it up pretty well.
“Well, I’m still fascinated by the fact that you touch it, it vibrates in your hand and you feel it in your fingertips,” said Satriani. “When you’re holding on to the guitar, whether it’s an acoustic or an electric, it vibrates against your body. This vibration is a connection to the music. That’s really personal.”
Satriani attempted to compare the experience to those of other instruments. All still important, but nothing like the feel a guitar gives you.
“When you think about it, a piano, it just kind of sits in one place. You don’t hug it, and don’t embrace it. You just put your fingers on it, but you don’t touch the strings,” Satriani explained. “Stringed instruments are unique because they only make a sound if you touch it. You really do stimulate this thing. And in turn, it stimulates you.”
He continued to explain what he feels separates the experience of playing guitar among the rest. Not only on a physical level, but also ticking the human senses across the spectrum.
“It helps you to express yourself in a way that other instruments maybe don’t in the same way. In the same physical way, it’s intellectual, visceral, spiritual, and emotional,” said Satriani. “It’s got all the components to stimulate us that way. So it can be very personal or it can help you be an extrovert if that’s what you want.”
Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder remembered getting started on the instrument at a very young age.
“When I started playing music, I was 10 years old. Living in destitute poverty on a dirt road in the deep south from Gainesville, Florida. We didn’t really have two dimes to rub together,” explained Felder. “There was no internet or iPhones and nothing to do. I felt madly in love with music, got a guitar and started teaching myself.”
Those early beginnings have resulted in music that transcends generations. Music that created memories standing the test of time.
“Before there were Grammys, before there were rock stars, except for maybe Elvis or something like that. But I didn’t go into music for any other reason other than just being madly obsessed and in love with playing music. That’s what’s driven me for the last 70 years. All the ups and downs, it doesn’t matter,” said Felder.
I also spoke with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, who is one of the most incredible and influential players of the last 30 years. Bumblefoot’s out-of-this-world solo work has always mesmerized me. He’s played for several bands over his career including Guns N’ Roses, Sons Of Apollo, Art Of Anarchy, and Whom Gods Destroy. He is an innovator who is in a league of his own.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
Terrie Carr – It’s 30 years since your debut album. But you’ve been playing over 50.
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – I’ve been playing for over 50 years. I started in 1975 when I was five years old and the Kiss Alive album came out. I heard that album and thought that’s what I wanted to do. So, I started trying to figure out a way to make that happen, but I didn’t know guitar.
Just to be part of that team that makes sound, that makes people feel the way this stuff is making me feel. That was it. I started writing songs and was very into Carl Sagan type stuff. Planet, space, astronomy and cosmology and all that stuff.
I had a very inquisitive mind as a child. I was a smart kid, progressively getting dumber with age. So, I would write songs about planets and things that a six-year-old was interested in. The songs were better then than they are now. I wrote catchy songs. There were some good songs.
TC – A lot of people call that debut record, which was very organic and raw, a masterpiece. People wanted it back, and it went out of print for a while. Everyone was asking where is was. How do you get a deal on Shrapnel Records? Especially being this guy who is into planets, guitars, and not doing what people in the 90s were doing.
Because the mid-to-late 1990s was an odd time in music. You had grunge kind of peaking and alterna-pop was big, but on its way out. The nu metal movement was just beginning. Yet, there you are. Intergalactic planetary guitar-playing Bumblefoot.
RT – My path was always to just be in a rock band. That’s what I loved. All the classic rock that we all grew up on, we all loved. So that was the plan.
It really started in 1989. That was the first legit thing, when I got in a Guitar Magazine. I got a write up, and it was a column on unknown guitar players called Spotlight Column in Guitar Player Magazine in August 1989.
Jeff Healey was on the cover, and the person writing the article was Mike Varney, the owner of Shrapnel Records.
Bumblefoot’s journey has been nothing short of magnificent. He is a master player, band member, philanthropist, teacher, and entrepreneur.
To learn about his life through the strings, how he got his name, and hear one of his first performances at six years old, check out my full Carr Stereo Podcast interview. He even attempted to give me a guitar lesson.
Also, check out an incredible performance he gave me of Simon In Space from his 2025 release Bumblefoot Returns. A brilliant collection that features guest collaborations with Steve Vai, Brian May, and more.
Guitar sales saw a massive increase in the years following the COVID pandemic, with a 60% jump in 2020 and 2021. Even though things have leveled off in 2026, sales continue to remain healthy as content creators — both young and old — bring their passion and talents to the internet instead of just their bedrooms.
Grab a guitar this month, noodle away, and unleash your inner rock star.
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