Guitar Man

I was photographing those buildings in Sea Cliff, and when I turned around, I saw this man approaching, with a guitar over his shoulder. I was interested, because the guitar was not in a case, and I never saw anyone carry a guitar like that. So I did a couple of shots from the side, but the background was distracting, so I fell in step behind him and started shooting. He and the guitar stood out better against the background as seen from this angle. Why WOULD anyone carry a guitar like this?