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Post subject: High mortality rate among guitarists?
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:32 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I'm new to music within the past month and a half. Part of my learning has been to check out a stack of "Guitar Player" magazines from the library. They read like a long-running obituary page. It seems like half the people mentioned in it are referred to as "the late .....", or "Joe Famous (1966-1988)" It's really uncanny. There was one feature article on 100 excellent but not currently well known guitarists and it was amazing to see how high a percentage of them were dead before age 60.

Is there something inherent to being a professional musician that makes it more dangerous than coal mining or bush piloting?

It sounds like a frivolous question, but I really would like to know if there are extraordinary occupational hazards with this profession.

Hopefully this phenomenon doesn't translate to hobbyists, or I'll be selling my guitar TODAY.


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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:37 am
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Somehow I dont think that playing guitar is what killed them...


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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:42 am
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Oh yes, that's true, except for a couple that I believe died of electrocution in the course of dealing with electronic instruments. But whatever the ultimate causes, there seems to be a correlation.


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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:55 am
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Famous Musicians are human too. Some of them died in Helicopter/airplane/car/motorcycle crashes, some from natural causes, some from drug use, some from being shot, some from suicide, etc. Being a famous musician only made their deaths more notable, the average Human dies from these things daily.

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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:21 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I'm still skeptical. I know several fields of endeavor pretty intimately and I've never seen anything quite like this, except for mathematicians, who very commonly peak early in life and then leave the profession (but continue to live long happy lives doing something else for a living.)


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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:30 am
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Personally I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to keep playing my guitar and enjoying my life.

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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:41 am
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:shock: Drugs, alcohol and massive intoxication are bad for you leading to death by the drugs and accidents and violence? I can't believe it. :shock:

Music isn't the problem. For longevity, check out BB King who isn't exactly a marathon runner, EC who tamed the demons that could have killed him young, Al Dimeola, Lindsey Buckingham who is getting better with age - tamed the 70s stuff, playing more live and reducing production to let his musicianship shine through, Knopfler, Buddy Guy, Trower etc.

Look at all the crazy stuff these guys have done, and they're still around. Amazing. The music must be keeping them alive

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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:46 am
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You are reading waaay too much into this one. Compare the 100 "famous guitarists" to the hundreds of thousands of all levels of guitarists in the world. The high percentage that you are seeing is mainly because they WERE famous - and along with the money and fame comes all kinds of things that are not always good. It would be a shame to not do something that was your hearts passion because you base it on some magazine article. :shock:

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Post subject: Re: High mortality rate among guitarists?
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:12 am
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RudyH wrote:
I'm new to music within the past month and a half. Part of my learning has been to check out a stack of "Guitar Player" magazines from the library. They read like a long-running obituary page. It seems like half the people mentioned in it are referred to as "the late .....", or "Joe Famous (1966-1988)" It's really uncanny. There was one feature article on 100 excellent but not currently well known guitarists and it was amazing to see how high a percentage of them were dead before age 60.

Is there something inherent to being a professional musician that makes it more dangerous than coal mining or bush piloting?

It sounds like a frivolous question, but I really would like to know if there are extraordinary occupational hazards with this profession.

Hopefully this phenomenon doesn't translate to hobbyists, or I'll be selling my guitar TODAY.


Yes, maybe you should sell your guitar. We wouldn't want you to die early from playing guitar as you are implying. :o :?:


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Post subject: Re: High mortality rate among guitarists?
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:15 am
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secretsoundz wrote:
RudyH wrote:
I'm new to music within the past month and a half. Part of my learning has been to check out a stack of "Guitar Player" magazines from the library. They read like a long-running obituary page. It seems like half the people mentioned in it are referred to as "the late .....", or "Joe Famous (1966-1988)" It's really uncanny. There was one feature article on 100 excellent but not currently well known guitarists and it was amazing to see how high a percentage of them were dead before age 60.

Is there something inherent to being a professional musician that makes it more dangerous than coal mining or bush piloting?

It sounds like a frivolous question, but I really would like to know if there are extraordinary occupational hazards with this profession.

Hopefully this phenomenon doesn't translate to hobbyists, or I'll be selling my guitar TODAY.


Yes, maybe you should sell your guitar. We wouldn't want you to die early from playing guitar as you are implying. :o :?:



Maybe he should just give them away so that money he makes off selling them doesn't influence some bad behavior that could prove to be fatal.

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Post subject: Re: High mortality rate among guitarists?
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:19 am
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CAFeathers wrote:
secretsoundz wrote:
RudyH wrote:
I'm new to music within the past month and a half. Part of my learning has been to check out a stack of "Guitar Player" magazines from the library. They read like a long-running obituary page. It seems like half the people mentioned in it are referred to as "the late .....", or "Joe Famous (1966-1988)" It's really uncanny. There was one feature article on 100 excellent but not currently well known guitarists and it was amazing to see how high a percentage of them were dead before age 60.

Is there something inherent to being a professional musician that makes it more dangerous than coal mining or bush piloting?

It sounds like a frivolous question, but I really would like to know if there are extraordinary occupational hazards with this profession.

Hopefully this phenomenon doesn't translate to hobbyists, or I'll be selling my guitar TODAY.


Yes, maybe you should sell your guitar. We wouldn't want you to die early from playing guitar as you are implying. :o :?:



Maybe he should just give them away so that money he makes off selling them doesn't influence some bad behavior that could prove to be fatal.


True! Maybe the good karma from giving his guitar away will help him live a longer life. After selling/giving away the guitar it might be good idea for him to lock himself in a padded room where he can guarantee a long, safe life away from the deadly influence of guitar playing! :P


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Post subject: Re: High mortality rate among guitarists?
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:22 am
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secretsoundz wrote:
CAFeathers wrote:
secretsoundz wrote:
RudyH wrote:
I'm new to music within the past month and a half. Part of my learning has been to check out a stack of "Guitar Player" magazines from the library. They read like a long-running obituary page. It seems like half the people mentioned in it are referred to as "the late .....", or "Joe Famous (1966-1988)" It's really uncanny. There was one feature article on 100 excellent but not currently well known guitarists and it was amazing to see how high a percentage of them were dead before age 60.

Is there something inherent to being a professional musician that makes it more dangerous than coal mining or bush piloting?

It sounds like a frivolous question, but I really would like to know if there are extraordinary occupational hazards with this profession.

Hopefully this phenomenon doesn't translate to hobbyists, or I'll be selling my guitar TODAY.


Yes, maybe you should sell your guitar. We wouldn't want you to die early from playing guitar as you are implying. :o :?:



Maybe he should just give them away so that money he makes off selling them doesn't influence some bad behavior that could prove to be fatal.


True! Maybe the good karma from giving his guitar away will help him live a longer life. After selling/giving away the guitar it might be good idea for him to lock himself in a padded room where he can guarantee a long, safe life away from the deadly influence of guitar playing! :P



A truly excellent idea.

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:28 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I see where the poster is comin' from.

But I know one thing, being that I play guitar, I'm never gonna fly (never have). History has taught me that musicians should stay the hell out of the air.

Also, if your a musician, watch yourself very carefully as you go through your 27th year, that's a tough one. :?

I'm superstitious, that's why I take this stuff seriously.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:55 am
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Uh oh. I really didn't mean to open this can of worms. I was really just curious from an academic point of view.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 11:25 am
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Eh, don't worry about it Rudy... But, if you start posting a ton of polls,
or random/strange posts - then you'll get 'flamed' to death... :wink:

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