Signs that a Guitar magazine has nothing to talk about

Philly_Q

Neil said:

A far cry from when I would keep checking John Menzies in Epsom to see if the new Guitarist mag was in, buying it and then disappearing for a couple of hours devouring its contents, ads and all.

Those days are sadly past now and it's all just meh. 

I do occasionally make a conscious effort to read one or other of my guitar mags from cover to cover, like I used to, and it's still enjoyable.  You learn things you'd never have found on the internet because the link simply wouldn't have seemed attractive enough to click on.

But mostly it's a case of buy it on the way home from work, flick through it on the train, then just add it to the pile (...one of the many piles) to gather dust.

mellowsun

Guitarist Presents Acoustic is a good read, comes out quarterly.

Maybe that's the solution, fewer issues and more depth.

Or go fully online in a TPS style format but with less clowning

ChuckManual

mellowsun said:

Guitarist Presents Acoustic is a good read, comes out quarterly.

Maybe that's the solution, fewer issues and more depth.

This is exactly what I was going to say.

Although, calling a magazine Guitarist's Quarterly might keep the lawyers busy for a bit...

scovell001

I wasn't going to dwell on the negatives of the magazine only to add that I've gone from reading it regularly to the occasional flick. The 2 epic fails for me have been:
a) the 633 Custom 36 review. They had it for 'ages' but couldn't see fit to offer a decent video (even when they gave it an award) - which leads me on to:

b) why do all their video's sound 'the same', like impossibly 'the same'. They close mic the amp with the same mic & for whatever reason they consistently sound like this crunchy voxy thing, even when they're not even playing a vox ! here's a case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriwSjmVkVo&t=146s&list=PLDOiIiYLl1KvGlkztg2C8ZI5ITcqCCOfe&index=3

When by comparison you 'can' have something like this with a 2 mic setup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s52F7mniHGE  capturing more of that room sound.

TimmyO

scovell001 said:

b) why do all their video's sound 'the same', like impossibly 'the same'. They close mic the amp with the same mic & for whatever reason they consistently sound like this crunchy voxy thing, even when they're not even playing a vox ! here's a case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriwSjmVkVo&t=146s&list=PLDOiIiYLl1KvGlkztg2C8ZI5ITcqCCOfe&index=3

When by comparison you 'can' have something like this with a 2 mic setup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s52F7mniHGE  capturing more of that room sound.

Yep that's *always* been a thing in their demos - they have reviewers whose opinions I genuinely want to hear, but the (original) CD and video demos have always been useless as telling you what you might want to know about the sound. Even before the plethora of good review channels we have now I'd get more from some bedroom bloke recording with worse kit than I would from heavily mastered clone demos on that channel. They never got that right. 

slacker

I had no wifi on holiday so I bought the Guitar Magazine with the Jazzmaster on the front. It's the first guitar mag I've had since 2004 when I was in hospital. 

As HArry 7 stated earlier the internet has contributed to the death of magazines. So if you are a magazine producer your demographic is people too old to work a computer. Hendrix and Burst articles all the way. 

impmann

TimmyO said:

scovell001 said:

b) why do all their video's sound 'the same', like impossibly 'the same'. They close mic the amp with the same mic & for whatever reason they consistently sound like this crunchy voxy thing, even when they're not even playing a vox ! here's a case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriwSjmVkVo&t=146s&list=PLDOiIiYLl1KvGlkztg2C8ZI5ITcqCCOfe&index=3

When by comparison you 'can' have something like this with a 2 mic setup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s52F7mniHGE  capturing more of that room sound.

Yep that's *always* been a thing in their demos - they have reviewers whose opinions I genuinely want to hear, but the (original) CD and video demos have always been useless as telling you what you might want to know about the sound. Even before the plethora of good review channels we have now I'd get more from some bedroom bloke recording with worse kit than I would from heavily mastered clone demos on that channel. They never got that right. 

Hmmm, they do know how to get a good sound and know how to get 'the room'. Exhibit A, m'lud:

Chalky

Ok, so in the spirit of sincere feedback from a current subscriber:

A ) There are some excellent reviews and reviewers of new gear on Youtube. Look back a bit and they covered the gear that is now secondhand and I'm now interested in.

B )There are some great educationalists and entertainers on Youtube who can teach me in a very well explained and engaging manner.

C ) My family are now well used to me sitting on the loo watching Youtube rather than quietly reading Guitarist.

I honestly don't see how you can compete with that. Sad but true.

Telejester

Chalky said:

Ok, so in the spirit of sincere feedback from a current subscriber:

A ) There are some excellent reviews and reviewers of new gear on Youtube. Look back a bit and they covered the gear that is now secondhand and I'm now interested in.

B )There are some great educationalists and entertainers on Youtube who can teach me in a very well explained and engaging manner.

C ) My family are now well used to me sitting on the loo watching Youtube rather than quietly reading Guitarist.

I honestly don't see how you can compete with that. Sad but true.

You want to hear exactly how a guitar, amp or gear will sound Shnobel on youtube is precisely this.

Do not go anywhere Rob Chapman,never has a man made everything he touches sound so bad.

Parker

If it is to be believed, then guitar music is on the current decline and the print market is getting squeezed by electronic media. One (or even many) guitar magazines have little control over this decline, but there is a role to be played in promoting new talent and push the guitar genres. Stilia and Twin Atlantic are two great young bands that are guitar-driven (and I haven't looked very far!). Support them and run some features on these kids! We all have a place for Brian, Eric, JoBo etc, but they aren't relevant in a lot of today's new music. They are interviewed as though they do though, so people zone-out because nothing has changed in the last three years since they were last interviewed! I think Guitarist has lost the plot more than G&B, but both are guilty of following similar moulds (Sorry Chris!). There is no silver bullet - shops are closing and consolidating across the country and the market is saturated by the heavy hitters. That limits the content of any magazine and is quite a depressing state of affairs! I miss the 90's....

Philly_Q

slacker said:

As HArry 7 stated earlier the internet has contributed to the death of magazines. So if you are a magazine producer your demographic is people too old to work a computer. Hendrix and Burst articles all the way. 

I can work a computer.... but I can't work a tablet or smartphone, so I'm still buying the paper magazines (although they can stuff their Burst articles).

I keep meaning to embrace the electronic editions, but every time I try I get confused.  I don't understand why Guitarist (for example) is available for phone/tablet but not for PC, and I don't like the fact that the e-mags are sold through third-party sellers rather than direct from the magazine's website.  It's all beyond me....

EricTheWeary

Parker said:

If it is to be believed, then guitar music is on the current decline and the print market is getting squeezed by electronic media. One (or even many) guitar magazines have little control over this decline, but there is a role to be played in promoting new talent and push the guitar genres. Stilia and Twin Atlantic are two great young bands that are guitar-driven (and I haven't looked very far!). Support them and run some features on these kids! We all have a place for Brian, Eric, JoBo etc, but they aren't relevant in a lot of today's new music. They are interviewed as though they do though, so people zone-out because nothing has changed in the last three years since they were last interviewed! I think Guitarist has lost the plot more than G&B, but both are guilty of following similar moulds (Sorry Chris!). There is no silver bullet - shops are closing and consolidating across the country and the market is saturated by the heavy hitters. That limits the content of any magazine and is quite a depressing state of affairs! I miss the 90's....

IIRC Guitarist said they did a Hendrix cover every year and every year it was their best selling edition. The impression given is that there isn't a great deal of appetite for new music or certain types of new music in printed guitar magazines and no one is going to put Stillia on the cover to try to find out. 
I think Guitar is less and less bothered by artists and more gear/ technical info driven. An article about reverb tanks is probably both cheap journalism and the kind of stuff that many want from guitar magazines. Selling to a reasonable sized niche audience seems to be the way to go. 
Gig guides, new bands, gig reviews were what the broadsheet music papers did and of those I think we are left with the NME in small format and given away free. 

Luminous

One of my students drops off copies of the bass guitar magazine and it's even more badly written than guitarist

Sassafras

Maybe if they were printed in text-speak more of da yoof might buy guitar magazines. At the moment, they probably can't make head nor tail of the proper sentences and correct grammar.

Ravenous

Sassafras said:

Maybe if they were printed in text-speak more of da yoof might buy guitar magazines. At the moment, they probably can't make head nor tail of the proper sentences and correct grammar.

Text speak -  reads like weird chord progressions to me.

It took me ages to work out what chord "RTF Minor" meant...

downbytheriver

I like Guitar magazine but I'm wondering if the next Guitar Quarterly is due any time soon....

Chalky

Parker said:

If it is to be believed, then guitar music is on the current decline and the print market is getting squeezed by electronic media. One (or even many) guitar magazines have little control over this decline, but there is a role to be played in promoting new talent and push the guitar genres. Stilia and Twin Atlantic are two great young bands that are guitar-driven (and I haven't looked very far!). Support them and run some features on these kids! We all have a place for Brian, Eric, JoBo etc, but they aren't relevant in a lot of today's new music. They are interviewed as though they do though, so people zone-out because nothing has changed in the last three years since they were last interviewed! I think Guitarist has lost the plot more than G&B, but both are guilty of following similar moulds (Sorry Chris!). There is no silver bullet - shops are closing and consolidating across the country and the market is saturated by the heavy hitters. That limits the content of any magazine and is quite a depressing state of affairs! I miss the 90's....

But that is one of the things that I don't like about Guitarist - too much talking about guitarists that I have no interest in and are just promo pieces. NME is the place for that, not a mag about guitars.  Take a look at this forum - the heavy hitters are threads about guitars and amps and pedals - the bands that use them are incidental.

ICBM

modellista said:

Skipped said:

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?

Because with some, it actually matters quite a lot. Part of The Edge's unique sound comes from the type of pick he uses and how he holds it, and I'm sure the same is true for quite a lot of players.

Why shouldn't it be of interest? It probably makes more difference than the precise brand of expensive PAF clone pickups a lot of people seem to obsess over (for example).

Modellista

ICBM said:

modellista said:

Skipped said:

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?

Because with some, it actually matters quite a lot. Part of The Edge's unique sound comes from the type of pick he uses and how he holds it, and I'm sure the same is true for quite a lot of players.

Why shouldn't it be of interest? It probably makes more difference than the precise brand of expensive PAF clone pickups a lot of people seem to obsess over (for example).

Fair enough about The Edge's plectrum but I'd argue that's the exception that proves the rule, he's a guitarist defined by his tone a great deal more than most. Still, I'd appreciate much more an insight into his songwriting approach than exactly how to reproduce his sound. 

I'm reminded of that famous video of Satriani playing a Squier or some such and it still sounds brilliant and just like him. The important thing is how you play, not what you play.