The guitar and the keyboard are by the far the most dominant melodic musical instruments in modern music. Yes, drums and bass are the backbone of music, but we’re talking about melody and harmony here. The reason for the incredible popularity is the versatility of each of those instruments. This versatility comes from the huge variety of sounds each of these instruments can produce. This allows the instruments to be suitable for just about any type of music. If a specific type of sound and tone is needed for a given piece of music, either instrument can adapt and make it happen. While the keyboard relies solely on digital technology to achieve this, the guitar can achieve its vast array of sounds from both analog and digital technology. Not to mention, the guitar as such is analog in the way it works since it relies on magnetic fields and real vibration to project sound.

While most keyboards include all the sounds available inboard, in an internal memory, a guitar relies on external equipment for almost all the sound effects. These sounds are usually the responsibility of effects pedals or rack-mounted effects units. Either way, the possibilities are endless. The same way you can add more sounds to the internal memory of a keyboard, you can add more effects pedals to your guitar pedal board or more sound effects files to your digital rack effects system. Very few instruments offer this kind of flexibility. For that reason is easy to see why the guitar and keyboard still reign supreme as the most widely use melodic instruments. It also doesn’t seem that’s going to be changing very soon.

Most guitarists and keyboardists inherently begin learning their instrument for it’s basic sound. However, it doesn’t take long for them to become hooked on experimenting with different sounds. Oftentimes, when a musician falls into a practice rut or becomes bored, a simple bit of experimentation with new sounds and effects is enough to make things interesting and fun again. But stretching the budget a bit, more sounds can be added to either instrument over time. Additionally, the combination of these new sounds and the layering of various effects will literally results in endless possibilities. Change any one thing, and the tone can change completely. It’s impossible to ever be forced to stop experimenting with sounds when your instrument of choice is the guitar or the keyboard.