guitar magazines

Depends what sort of information your looking for.

Personally when I was shopping for guitar magazines (I don't soo much anymore) I would mainly look at each magazine to see if there were any articles by some of my favourite players.

Hiya,

I subscribe to Total Guitar. It doesn't have a Classical section any more, but every now and then I feel a need to play the blues, or a rock classic, and TG has a couple of good bits most issues.

Guitar Techniques used to be good - but the Editor changed a few years back and it's not quite the same. In fact, last year I was chatting to the guy who used to write their Classical column and he said that he left when the new Editor joined cos it suddenly wasn't such a great place. I haven't bought GT for over a year now.

Best,

A :-)

After being impressed with their Beatles issue and the lessons and articles, I just started a subscription to Guitar Player.

This is a good mag. http://www.guitaronemagazine.com/

1 year subscription / 12 issues and 12 CDs ($24.95 to us, $39.95 to canada, $54.95 to foreign addresses)
2 year subscription / 24 issues and 24 CDs ($44.95 to us, $74.95 to canada, $104.95 to foreign addresses)

After being impressed with their Beatles issue

Which one?

I thought that a fairly lame marketing gimmick... four different covers (one for each Beatle), with four different song transcriptions, depending on which cover you bought. The pitch is to 'collect them all', but at $5.99 per copy, I think I'll pass - that's an awful lot to ask for one additional song! They would have been better off doing an 'extra' edition, which they seem to do a lot (Blues Masters, How to Jam, etc.)

In spite of the bad marketing strategies, the magazine has improved a lot - I used to subscribe to it in the 80s, but the quality went downhill. Now I find I've bought it three months of the last four, so I'll probably subscribe again.

I think it's a great question. I subscribed to numerous magazines when I got back into playing last year. Most have great introductory prices that double or triple on renewal, so I'm probably going to cut out a few. Here is my impression of the mags I subscribed to:

Guitar One: Covers the gamut of rock and blues/rock music. Interesting lessons on occasion and decent transcriptions, including one Strum It (acoustic) song per issue. Will renew.

Guitar Player: Best articles and good technique/lesson articles. Only one very good transciption per issue. Will renew.

Guitar World: Too metal-related for my taste. Good transciptions if you like this type of music. Do I really need another issue of a guitar mag with Zakk Wylde or Dimebag Darrel on the cover? Will not renew.

Guitar World Acoustic: Can be a little hit or miss, but overall I like it. Really focuses on the acoustic side of mainstream rock. Good transcriptions and has the E-Z Play chord charts if you just want to strum a familiar tune without too much effort. Only comes out 6 or 8 times a year. Will renew.

Acoustic Guitar: Really focuses on true acoustic artists for the most part. Good transcriptions of one or two songs in each issue. Frankly, I don't know most of the artists or songs, but I like the mag, even though it's a little heavy on ads (but not the typical ads you see in other mags). Will renew.

Well, I guess on second thought I'll probably only drop Guitar World for now. Hope that helps.

I currently subscribe to Guitar One. For me the lessons with the cd's are exactly what I need at the moment. I occasionally grab Guitar World and Guitar World Acoustic off the rack if they have something song wise I'm interested in.

GP is generally good for my needs. I start a new sub every year because it's the cheapest way to buy (renewal is more expensive).

The mags I enjoy the most are British publications: Guitarist and Guitar Techniques. These are expensive in the US (about US $15/issue at Borders, = year of GP!), but come with combo audio/multimedia CDs for the lessons and equipment reviews. I pick these up if a particular issue looks interesting -- most do.

Guitar is another British mag that I get occasionally, but it's a lot like GP. In fact I wonder if they are owned by the same parent, as the articles are often similar. Guitar's equipment reviews feature stuff more available in Europe -- e.g., Fretking, JJ, Crafter, Vintage. I find it more interesting than always seeing US reviews of Fender, Ibanez and Gibson, though these are covered as well.

Vintage Guitar is good if one is into equipment histories and reviews (new stuff, too). Its artist articles seem aimed to appeal to older (40+) rock/blues and country players, usually featuring great players in surf, country, rockabilly, classic rock and blues, that sometimes only those with eclectic tastes would recognize. Definitely not an "image" rag.

-Greg

I subscribe to Guitar Player and I'm thinking about subscribing to Guitar One since they started including a CD with every issue. I agree with Jim_V on Guitar World, I'm sure Dimebag's a great guy but I'm not willing to pay good money to read about him.

Do any of these mags give "honest" reviews of guitars and gear? We used to get GP, and while there were many excellent interviews, but seldom was heard a discouraging word in any of their reviews. Also, they only reviewed expensive gear. BassPlayer was about the same. We dropped both.

Compared to the computer and gaming mags that do side-by-side comparisons with both pros and cons, the music mags are not dependable.

-Laz

Do any of these mags give "honest" reviews of guitars and gear? We used to get GP, and while there were many excellent interviews, but seldom was heard a discouraging word in any of their reviews. Also, they only reviewed expensive gear. BassPlayer was about the same. We dropped both.

Compared to the computer and gaming mags that do side-by-side comparisons with both pros and cons, the music mags are not dependable.

-Laz

I tend to believe the Brit mag (e.g., Guitarist) reviews, as they seem to provide a good balance of pros and cons and ratings in quality, features, sound and performance. Side-by-side comparo articles (bunch of LP types or Teles + clones) appear every so often, as well.

'Course, maybe I'm just fooled by the accent.

I subscribe to GuitarWorld and I think its a great magazine. It has six accurate transcriptions every month and some great articles. I dont think its always just metal based, only in a couple of issues.

After being impressed with their Beatles issue

Which one?

I thought that a fairly lame marketing gimmick... four different covers (one for each Beatle), with four different song transcriptions, depending on which cover you bought. The pitch is to 'collect them all', but at $5.99 per copy, I think I'll pass - that's an awful lot to ask for one additional song! They would have been better off doing an 'extra' edition, which they seem to do a lot (Blues Masters, How to Jam, etc.)

In spite of the bad marketing strategies, the magazine has improved a lot - I used to subscribe to it in the 80s, but the quality went downhill. Now I find I've bought it three months of the last four, so I'll probably subscribe again.

Actually the only one in the store, but fortunately it was the Lennon issue!

I subscribe to GuitarWorld and I think its a great magazine. It has six accurate transcriptions every month and some great articles. I dont think its always just metal based, only in a couple of issues.

Maybe it's just recent issues (I've only been a subscriber for about a year), but the issues in late 2003 and 2004 had the following covers:

August 2003 -- Metallica
September -- Couldn't find it
October -- Nirvana
November -- Velvet Revolver
December -- Korn, Hatebred and 10 Metal Bands
January -- Couldn't find it
February -- Zakk Wylde and Dimebag Darrell
March -- 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time, with Dimebag Darrell on the cover
April -- Page & Perry
May -- The White Stripes
June -- Metallica
July -- Zakk Wylde
August -- Edward Van Halen
Sept -- Ozzfest/Judas Priest
Oct -- Trey Anastasio (Phish)

I guess I would not consider Nirvana, Page (didn't he "invent" metal?) and Perry, The White Stripes and Phish to be heavy metal or even metal but the rest are pretty much in that vein IMHO. Also, the mix of song transcriptions is heavily tilted toward metal and hard rock. Nothing wrong with that but not my favorite. So 9 out of 13 have metal cover stories. You be the judge.