Guitarist Mag

Philly_Q

mellowsun said:

It's worth mentioning, imho, that while the printed mag declines, the digital content for Guitarist is getting better and better. 

I have a print subscription but am thinking of going digital, or a joint print-digital subscription to start with.

This month's Gibson review was a missed opportunity - the 2015 model most people are interested in is the reissued Junior. No mention of it in the mag, just coverage of yet another boring Standard and Studio.

I've contemplated going digital, simply because the physical magazines take up so much space (yes, I do collect them....)

I've looked on the website a couple of times but it confuses me.... they've had an offer of free trial downloads of the digital edition recently, but they seemed to be only for smartphones and tablets, which I don't have.  Does the digital edition look the same as the printed edition, with proper pages, ads and everything?  

One of my great reservations about magazine and newspaper websites is that - potentially - you lose that aspect of leafing through and just stumbling on things you wouldn't have read otherwise.  If it's a matter of clicking on links you'll ignore the ones which don't sound interesting.

xSkarloey

ToneControl said:

Seriously, why all the hate? Can anyone give me a list of better magazines?

Not when it comes to guitar mags, because the bar isn't very high IMO. 

But when it comes to how reviews are conducted and the level of detail, objectivity, unobtrusive written style and sheer helpfulness, I think the approach taken by a magazine like What Car? pisses all over Guitarist from a great height. 

thisisguitar

Re: The new Gibson guitars… has anyone here who is against them tried one?

I did, they are fucking awful. The neck width feels completely wrong in the hand and the strings have way too much space to the edges of the fretboard. It felt like a guitar sent to build without getting people to play a prototype first. 

boogieman

Part of the problem with guitar mags is they're trying to describe how things sound. YouTube reviews are somewhat better at this.

I haven't bought Guitarist in about 5 years. It'd be ok for reading on a train or plane journey I guess, but I don't see much point otherwise.

StefB

Bucket said:

I do like drooling over the gear photos. The white Caparison Dellinger reviewed this month is mighty fine.

On a complete tangent...

Any idea why the (bolt on, slab body) Dellinger is so much more expensive that the fixed neck, carved top sister guitar it is reviewed alongside?  The difference in price is quite obscene given the constructional differences IMO.

Phil_aka_Pip

boogieman said:

Part of the problem with guitar mags is they're trying to describe how things sound. YouTube reviews are somewhat better at this.

Only if the audio quality is any good. It often isnt.

Bod

I had a digital subscription for a bit, and the ability to hear sound clips and watch vids was brilliant.  It's just a shame that I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the blues, and the content is heavily weighted in that regard.  I cancelled as a result.  Also, I don't really trust their reviews - Musicradar is a sham.

mellowsun

Although the digital edition only works on smartphones or tablets, there's a lot of quality content on YouTube for free.

I haven't tried the digital edition yet, although I have bought a digital edition of Acoustic magazine and that was identical to the print copy but had embedded multimedia, so I imagine digital Guitarist would be similar.

Coincidentally I've just received an email offering me a great deal on a joint print/digital sub, which looks tempting.

At the end if the day we can gripe about individual issues but I think it is important to support the mag as the people who work for it seem like a good bunch and it's usually a good read. if it was gone we would gripe more.

Philly_Q

mellowsun said:

At the end if the day we can gripe about individual issues but I think it is important to support the mag as the people who work for it seem like a good bunch and it's usually a good read. if it was gone we would gripe more.

I would miss it, but I'd breathe a secret sigh of relief that I no longer had to find space for any more issues.

stickyfiddle

I bought a copy at Heathrow when I was last in the UK. Took me about 30 minutes to get through the content that was of interest, which isn't great value or the 6 quid or so it cost.

I imagine the ipad version is a little better with the interactive and audio stuff, but Tonereport is free and tbh just as good in content. And they don't give everything 4 stars.

p90fool

Skarloey;447127" said:

ToneControl said:



Seriously, why all the hate? Can anyone give me a list of better magazines?














Not when it comes to guitar mags, because the bar isn't very high IMO. 

But when it comes to how reviews are conducted and the level of detail, objectivity, unobtrusive written style and sheer helpfulness, I think the approach taken by a magazine like What Car? pisses all over Guitarist from a great height. 

As does Sound on Sound. Guitarist isn't written like a specialist magazine at all, they never get beyond a technical level my mum could understand.

I understand that they have to be careful not to alienate beginners, but surely there should be SOME content aimed at players who already know how a humbucker works, or who actually do gigs, week in week out?

I can't imagine anyone who slogs round the pubs every weekend ever learning anything useful from any of the print magazines, they seem to be aimed at either teenagers who haven't gigged yet or old geezers who never will.

chillidoggy

The Fretboard is a better read.

underdog

Phil_aka_Pip;446988" said:

underdog said:

Phil_aka_Pip;446753" said:So what do the Gibson detractors want Gibson to do? If they've upped their game in the build quality stakes, and come up with innovations that work, what's the problem?

I'm going with the logo and brass nut followed by weird non traditional tuners not many have used but everyone seems to know Don't work.












Is that true? tbh I don't really like the idea, but do they really NOT work?

I love them, the minority that have tried them love them but everyone who's never used them know they don't work based on what someone said on YouTube. If you see my point