Do any of you still buy Guitarist?

Sambostar

I have a load of back catalogue from the early 90's, but these days I save my money for Razzle as it's a more interesting read.

GuitarMonkey

I wish I could still get IM&RW 

JDE

I used to buy (I think) Guitar magazine - it had the newspaper-esque bit at the back with all the ads for Flying Pig and all that. That will give you a rough indication of the last time I bought a guitar mag. I'd rather read forums or the odd blog and hit up YouTube for reviews, tbh. The interviews don't especially interest me - most of the players I like aren't in the mainstream mags. I don't give a shit what, for example - not a slight on him, he just seems to be a UK mag staple - Mark Tremonti thinks about his latest record. For what I want, the net has killed most physical publications, which is sad, but true. When it occurred to me that I was buying The Times every day for the crossword and Sudoku, I thought it just wasn't worth it.

That said, I buy Just Jazz Guitar when the UK gets a new issue. Good lessons and nice interviews. The editing is pretty slapdash, but it's not a textbook, so it doesn't bother me.

meltedbuzzbox

Loobs said:

I stopped long ago. I just picked it up in WH Smith and flicked through. Didn't get excited by it. 

try the top shelf?

richardhomer

GuitarMonkey;229650" said:

I wish I could still get IM&RW 

That and Beat Instrumental were the bench-marks for me.

Jaycee

I subscribed for a year then stopped.  started to go around in circles.
 

xSkarloey

@JDE

Flying Pig! That takes me back.

I do think it a shame that the guitar mags don't do more original interviews.
There are fewer now, whereas way back when every month there'd be a series of i/vws conducted by Neville Marten et al.

asimmd

Beat Instrumental was great,as for Guitarist,haven't bought it for a long time. It's gone full circle now and it's just more of the same every issue,same old same old,and quite boring.

dean2371

Just cancelled my subscription.

Guitar Techniques I find interesting

thumpingrug

I have  it on subscription.  Nearly cancelled a few months back, but thought Id give the new chap a chance.  This months edition might be my last.

richardhomer

In truth, I think Guitarist has functioned as a fairly shameless GAS promoter for at least 20 years.

Issues of Guitar Player from the early '80s probably represent the zenith of guitar journalism for me. George Gruhn talking about the vintage market, Tommy Tedesco telling you about his latest session (and how much he earned!), Tom Wheeler was editor, long-form, intelligently researched interviews with everyone from Billy Gibbons to Emily Remler. Reviews were a tiny part of the magazine.

I was exposed to names I'd never heard of by GP (Ry Cooder, Lowell George, Roy Buchanan, Arlen Roth, Alan Holdsworth, Wes Montgomery, the list goes on). It was a true education in all things guitar.

These days it's thinner in terms of pagination, narrower in the range of artists it covers and shallower in its journalistic depth.... A real shame.

guitarcookie1

Whatever happened to 'Guitar for the Practising Musician'?

Loads of full song transcriptions, with lyrics each month. I've a bunch of these in my music file.

Loobs

Guitar Player indeed did some fantastic interviews way back when.

suspiciousminds

Very rarely buy guitarist (although i bought the issue recently about the lpj).
Subscibed to total guitar for ages - really loved it when it first came out as it featured a lot of the rock/indie music i was into but cancelled when they changed the steer.
Cant stick it these days as its gone all heavy with long haired bearded tattoed nobbers.
Quite like guitar and bass player though.

Jeztone

I occasionally buy, but I think they've been way behind the curve of late in terms of articles. Also they tend to have their favourites who get interviewed again & again. I love Thin Lizzy, but I'm pretty sure I could recite the last few Scott Gorham interviews word for word from memory.

monquixote

Let me illustrate why I don't buy Guitarist any more.

Here is an excerpt of a review of an SG with a list price of £1,399 from Guitarist:

"Gibson's production consistency still falls a little short of most other premium USA-made brands - the finish, for example, is noticeably mottled, yet that in itself adds to a slightly vintage, less modern-precision vibe. And although Gibson is now, on certain models, putting its fret ends over the fingerboard-edge binding, here, it's old school: the plastic still forms the fret end, with plenty of potential for a gap to open up and for your top string to slip into it.

Gibson uses the Plek machine set-up, too, yet the frets here are hardly mirror shiny; there was a little buzz on the higher top-string positions also, and the rosewood 'board looks dry and pale in colour."

So here is a guitar £1.4k guitar that has several basic faults that you wouldn't find on a £200 VIntage VS6 and costs more than an S2 series PRS and what score do they give it?

Two stars?

Maybe be generous and give it 2.5?

Nope the standard Guitarist four stars. 

Total bollocks.

Jez6345789

I think all hobbyist magazines have been in a vacuum since the internet came to town. Few magazines have found a way to monetise against the fremium model of internet content. Since the loss of the demo disk, I tried twice to access the online content by tapping in the 63rd word on page 11. Once you have done that a few times you get a bit pissed off so never see the demo's these days. Do they still do that. 

Also they tend to work on artists who are doing the rounds promoting their new product. 

All that said online mags and videozines can be pretty ropey as well. 

Skipped

Back in the day there was Beat Instrumental.
And then one day.........
A drummer called Richard Desmond (yes - Seriously. Him.) started a brand new mag called International Musician. On the front cover was 2 x Fender Picks attached with a bit of tape. The magazine was brilliant and a total revelation (pre-internet remember).

So next time you see somebody slagging off Richard Desmond because of something his Newspaper has said, or because some of his top shelf publications were a bit tasteless......I say: Give him a bit of slack. 

JDE

Not sure I can forgive someone for the Daily Star and Channel 5 just because they once gave me a couple of picks.

Actually, Channel 5 put on Columbo occasionally, so perhaps I'm being too harsh.

GuitarMonkey

monquixote said:

... several basic faults that you wouldn't find on a £200 VIntage VS6 

Never played a new, out-of-the-box Vintage then?