Now I know why I remained single until age 33: because my parents had me take piano lessons instead of guitar lessons.

Two studies show that a guy is more attractive to women if he’s carrying a guitar. In a French study, a handsome guy approached 300 women (age 18-22), said “I think you’re pretty,” and asked for her phone number. In one-third of the encounters, he carried a guitar case; in another third, he carried a sports bag; and in the other third, he carried nothing. He got the phone number 31% of the time when carrying the guitar case, but only 9% with the sports bag and 14% when empty-handed.

That study was in France. In the other, from Israel, 100 single female college students received a Facebook friend request from a guy, along with the guy’s photo. In half of the requests, the photo showed him strumming a guitar. In the other half, it was just his mugshot. The guitar-photo request had 14 positive responses, while the guitar-less request had just 5 responses.

The Israeli study was duplicated, but this time the friend requests came from a woman to men. The presence of a guitar made no difference.

I really think they should try it with a guy sitting at a piano. I mean, THAT is sexy, isn’t it? Please tell me it is.