General

I've been playing for years. Back when I was in HS and in college I played in bands. Hard rock & metal. I'm a pretty good guitarist. I want to add from personal experience, you need to be able to play "popular" songs of a genre the chic you are interested likes and can relate too for it to get you points. Example; I can play "Black Magic Woman by Santana or, "Sunshine of your Love" by Cream, or "Whole Lotta Love" by Zeppelin or "Angie" by the Stones perfectly just to name a few. I recall one instance, not the only instance, I was dating this girl and she was into Country. I like some Country songs but I don't know any. Not my genre of music. "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon is the closest I get to Country. My guitar abilities didn't get me any points and if anything it losses me points and this is the reason why. As a musician you can't really play music of a genre you don't have in you. It just doesn't flow! So me playing something like "Layla" by Derek & The Dominos or "Sweet Leaf" by Ozzy just gets under her skin. Just like another girl I dated that liked hip-hop. I recall get home from work and walking into my house and hearing that stuff and feeling like I wanted to rip my entire sound system out of the cabinet and through it into the pool! Being a guitarist will win you points if you both like the same basic genre of music. If she likes 50cent and you play Metallica she will find excuses to be out of the house when you are practicing/playing. That's okay because you don't belong together! This is 30 + years of experience~

Stomachstretcher said it perfectly. I've played guitar for most of my life and spent a semester studying at Musician's Institute in LA. My entire time out there the only gigs available were around the local coffee shops and bars. The "popular" music has turned to hip-hop so that is the only genre offering jobs. My buddy actually got the best gig available doing a simple guitar lick on a hip hop artists album. It was like $7,000 every time he went into the studio. So to sum it up: if you can rap in LA the chicks will flock to you. If you're a guitarist, there's maybe a groupie or two in it for you.