Signs that a Guitar magazine has nothing to talk about

RocknRollDave

Skipped said:

Ravenous said:

That sounds really boring (and good luck asking Andy Summers that question, he bores easily as covered in a recent thread)...

The exact choice of pick that you settled on (at a key point in your playing development) is not boring. It is an essential element of your technique.
It could only be boring to a non Guitarist.

Asking a Musician what picks he uses and then accepting the reply "Dunlop" is a pointless question. 

Recent article with Paul Gilbert had him mentioning the unusually thin choice of plectrum he uses, for a "shredder". 
I'm no shredder, nor do I wish to be, but it got me experimenting with plectrums and switching to a thinner one myself. Such a simple thing, but a huge eureka moment for me as a player.

Jalapeno

HarrySeven said:

 ....

b. Target demographics - you can't please everyone - for instance...personally (and in some cases, this is obviously very generalised) I'm uninterested in:

i. Articles/features on techniques
ii. Acoustic guitars
iii. Blues
iv. Anything related to Joe goddamn Bonamassa, Clapton, SRV, blahblahblah
v. Jazz
vI. Metal
vii. '60's/'70's "Classic" Rock (or any contemporary band/players rehashing the sh*te)
viii. New gear
ix. Blinged-up PRS, Eggle or any other planks which look like G-Plan furniture
x. Boutique pedals/amps
xi. '50's R'n'R
That leaves a fairly narrow bandwidth(!) of topics which would make any given issue (of whichever publication) attractive to me.

I'd put Blues/Classic 60s&70s rock #1 through to #10 at least, and Jazz/Classical/Acoustic/Rockabilly/Punk etc very far down the list.

scrumhalf

impmann said:

I really enjoyed this month's indepth feature about the guitars used by Man. That was brilliant, as I've actually held Mickey's SG and his Strat. I also had no idea that Deke's (in)famous Tele had been stolen.

Re the Tele: Deke wrote that "some ulcerous fuckdog stole my Telecaster". The man had such a way with words.

Moveing back to the OP, in the same way that not all music has universal appeal it must be the case that not all guitars/guitarists/gear have universal appeal.

That said, if articles about Bonamassa, PRSs, Blackstar amps and fuzzboxes were made illegal the amount of readable content would halve overnight.

underdog

Just once in a while I wish I could find a guitar magazine with Hendrix/Clapton/Gary Moore being the featured artist, an article on blues rock would be nice too, maybe a review of a strat you know

In truth not looked at a guitar magazine for decades, I use to buy them for the TAB but no need since the dial up internet days.

Ravenous

Skipped said:

Ravenous said:

That sounds really boring (and good luck asking Andy Summers that question, he bores easily as covered in a recent thread)...

The exact choice of pick that you settled on (at a key point in your playing development) is not boring. It is an essential element of your technique.
It could only be boring to a non Guitarist.

Ouch!

My main point is some artists seem (in my interpretation) very bored by debates about equipment selection, especially stuff like strings and picks which they seem to treat as trivial. Others are very interested, changing guitars often, using getting equipment as a source of ideas, then dumping it later when looking for more ideas.

By the way I've tinkered with picks in the past, from very thin home made ones to a standard "medium". Picking technique I find very interesting though.

Sassafras

They're all just glorified sales catalogues. They should be paying us to read them.

John_A

Signs that a guitar forum having nothing to talk about - a discussion on a magazine that has nothing to talk about

carlos

I like premier guitar. It has a million ads but I think it's worth it given it's free. The lessons are of a very high quality overall

CasperCaster

I like the 'Meet your maker' type articles.

I'm looking forward to the one with Terry Morgan....

57Deluxe

I download them avidly each month but never get round to reading them... shame, I used to get soo excited when a new issue was on the shelves...

Modellista

Skipped said:

Ravenous said:

That sounds really boring (and good luck asking Andy Summers that question, he bores easily as covered in a recent thread)...

The exact choice of pick that you settled on (at a key point in your playing development) is not boring. It is an essential element of your technique.
It could only be boring to a non Guitarist.

Asking a Musician what picks he uses and then accepting the reply "Dunlop" is a pointless question. 

I don't get this. What possible relevance could knowing what plectrum another guitarist uses have?  Do you think you just buy he same one and then you'll sound just like them? Does it help you to appreciate the music more knowing they use the same gauge/brand as you?

I'm not surprised people like Andy Summers get annoyed with ludicrous questions like that. They sweat blood writing intelligent songs and clever guitar parts and all people care about is their plectrums? Totally insulting. 

Funkfingers

In my opinion, the UK guitar magazines are a less frantic version of the American guitar magazines. Our magazines seem slightly less enthralled to the demands of the advertisers than their American counterparts but only slightly.

Like the OP, I once was a regular purchaser of Guitarist magazine. They were even kind (or, was it desperate?) enough to publish a few of my letters to the editor. For me, the rot set in during the late Eighties. Ooh, look. Gary Moore on the cover ... again! He must have a new album and/or tour to publicise ... again! Of course, it is nice that artistes of Moore's calibre even talk to the music press but, in the end, the cycle of self-serving publicity invites cynicism.

Much of the content of the UK guitar magazines is rooted in fantasy. Aspirations to expensive equipment, aspirations to Play Like _______________________ (fill in the blank). Aspirations to master that tricky lick in some song or other. Turn up to an open mic night. Lo and behold, everyone is playing THAT lick. D'oh! Some of the fantasy is on the part of the contributing writers. By the most amazing coincidence, they are always happy to give a positive review to the expensive kit that they fancy checking out.

I concur with HarrySeven that genre-specific presentation holds little or no appeal to me. I do not like putting music into categories. Neither do I enjoy having the latest "hero" figure crammed down my throat. Music is optional entertainment. Like many people, I mainly opt to be entertained by music that I first encountered before I was thirty. 

Speaking of age, this is a factor in the market demographic. There should come a time when a musician has most of the fundamentals down. Of course, there will always be room for improvement but the regular stuff should not go away. Obsessing over the exact gear used on a famous recording is pretty pointless. It is probably more important to know which microphones were pointed at the signal source and in what positions. This might explain why the only "music" magazine that I buy regularly is Sound On Sound.

As some of you may know, my board ID is taken from Tony Levin. I am a fan. I own and play some instruments that are similar to those associated with TLev. By no stretch of the imagination do I sound like him. The thing that I admire about TLev is that he unashamedly sounds like himself on whatever he works on. 

I unashamedly sound like myself. Hence, no need for magazines telling me how to be a replicant.

EricTheWeary

^ reminded me that years ago I went to see a rock covers band locally and whilst they were very good every song was one I'd seen transcribed in guitar magazines in the previous 12 months. Lost on most of the audience I guess but it seemed beyond coincidence and I had an inward smile.

I liked the long form interviews you got in the US magazines where you would go from pick size to inspiration and ideas. That approach disappeared a long time ago though. 

RocknRollDave

modellista said:

Skipped said:

Ravenous said:

That sounds really boring (and good luck asking Andy Summers that question, he bores easily as covered in a recent thread)...

The exact choice of pick that you settled on (at a key point in your playing development) is not boring. It is an essential element of your technique.
It could only be boring to a non Guitarist.

Asking a Musician what picks he uses and then accepting the reply "Dunlop" is a pointless question. 

I don't get this. What possible relevance could knowing what plectrum another guitarist uses have?  Do you think you just buy he same one and then you'll sound just like them? Does it help you to appreciate the music more knowing they use the same gauge/brand as you?

I'm not surprised people like Andy Summers get annoyed with ludicrous questions like that. They sweat blood writing intelligent songs and clever guitar parts and all people care about is their plectrums? Totally insulting. 

But in a guitar magazine interview surely it's a perfectly reasonable question?!

And for all the "it's all in your fingers" wisdom on the net, no you may not sound exactly like [insert name of interviewee here] simply by using the same gear, but reading their views on why they use certain gear and what effect they believe it has on their sound can be very helpful - sometimes it may be that you want the exact opposite of what they are trying to achieve, it's enough that they get you thinking about YOUR sound.

There's a whole world of difference between "Joe Bonamassa uses such and such a plectrum because he likes such and such a type of attack....Hmmm, that's the same kind of attack I'm after myself" and "If I use the same plectrum as Joe Bonamassa I will play exactly like him!"

Telejester

For me the kiss of death content I couldn't give a horse's arse about has been;

Clapton....again
Page......again
Hendrix.....again
SRV......again
Rickenbacker guitars
Pointless top. 10 lists
Pages and pages of adverts I've zero interest in
Features about the next shred monster from Krgystan I've never heard of
Features that the shred monster from Krgystan has been blown away by a new shred monster
Joe Satriani..........yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

Wanna read about up and coming guitar and tube amp makers
Wanna listen to demos of their products
Wanna read gig reviews that if it sucked the review say so
Wanna read unbiased and honest reviews, sick of Tom Quayle who loves everything

Just want to give the UK guitar playing publications a good boot up the arse before I'd consider purchasing them again, in fact I think their long term future is bleak as there are only so many times you can rehash the same shite and say every single piece of gear you demo is 5 stars and remain credible.

Jetfire

Tbh, this months Guitar and Bass magazine is greay because it has a few interviews i like and some gear stuff. I mean, gear reviews are ok coz im a bit narrow minded on my gear but ill still read it. However, three guitarist interviews (joanne shaw taylor, Paul Gilbert and JoBo) is a pretty good spread of music styles. Next month, what would be good would be something similar like say Greg howe (new album out), Ed sheeran and maybe the dude from Royal blood. Instrumental pop and rock. 

Cookiemonster

I like the one that used to be guitar and bass. Still a nice magazine.

Cookiemonster

I used to buy total guitar but it feels flimsy and I can get tabs online. Guitar tech just bores me. 

Telejester

Does anyone want to read that Drzyminoyskovit Grrrmmmynizipitivochkin can play at 3200 BPM ?

Ravenous

Telejester said:

Does anyone want to read that Drzyminoyskovit Grrrmmmynizipitivochkin can play at 3200 BPM ?

Read it, I can't even say it!