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Nothing is more obvious in the world of guitars than the variety not only of the instruments themselves, but what they’re used to produce. Rock makes many a huge income, but jazz, classical, folk and a dozen hybrid styles continue to do well.

In fact thanks to the Internet and lower production costs, music that in decades past couldn’t get a hearing can now attract an audience large enough to support anyone.

The instruments have evolved just as the sound has. Starting around the post-WWII years, especially as electronics came into use, guitars branched out. A classical guitar evolved into a wired-acoustic.

The solid body Fender, coupled with an amp, boosted volume and changed the sound. The Gibson, whether Les Paul style or just a square-shouldered dreadnought, reached the pinnacle of the luthier’s art.

Computerized equipment got folded in. Midi, software and a range of add-ons coupled with purely electric or amplified acoustics gave a musician an infinite range of forms of expression. That same equipment helped many to become better musicians by making it easier to learn scales and improve technique.

Today, it’s possible to create music that would have been literally impossible 50 years ago. At the same time, forms that had gone out of favor have been revived.

Jazz has seen a comeback from a niche market to a major component of the scene. Folk, which had faded to a big extent by the late 1980s, came softly roaring back to its present vaunted position.

Even Swing, long dead except for a few diehard spots like the Roseland ballroom in New York, has come back. Though rarely the centerpiece, most swing bands of the 1940s and 1950s had at least one guitarist in the band.

But with all the changes – in instrument design and materials, amplification and computerization – some basics still remain. Learning to play guitar still requires months of daily practice. Mastering it still takes years.

No one has yet accelerated human development, particularly in learning new skills. The road to fame and fortune, or just good technique, still takes extended effort.

Learning scales is much the same, if aided today by computer software. Developing speed requires training the same muscles used a hundred, or even a thousand, years ago. Training the ear, both to recognize and reproduce, takes the same kind of concentration it always had.

We have Jurado, Gibson, Fender and a long line of others less well known to thank for modern instruments. We have Segovia, Clapton and many others to thank for showing the world how to play them.

But with all the variety that now is the world of guitar, some things haven’t changed. It’s still all about the music.