Guitarist Mag: Living in the past

HarrySeven

I foolishly purchased a copy of the latest issue of Guitarist.

Leafing through it...

Les Paul Burst feature
Bernie Marsden
Steve Howe
Steve Rothery
Blues Heroes
Dan Patlansky
Some gratuitous Bonamassa content
More Blues twaddle
Some guitars from the past
Some guitars that look like they were built in the past
Blah
Blah
Blah

While I know they have a target demographic and you can’t please everyone, the above list isn’t totally representative of the whole mag, etc...but Jeez...

ICBM

I'm sure that's the same one I bought.















... about two years ago while I was waiting for a plane.

I donated it to the next occupant of seat 17F.

BintyTwanger77

I bought a guitar magazine recently, just because I hadn't done so since I was a teenager... and you're right, the choice is just so limited. I liked the BB King feature, but it was definitely geared towards one very specific demographic: mainly people who can afford an £8k Les Paul and somehow still have "the blues".

Are there any magazines out there that cater for other more alternative music tastes? Because Joe Bonamassa makes me want to smoke crack (to paraphrase Beck) and not in a good way.

Vibetronic

I got it but haven't been arsed to read it properly yet. Still not sure why I bought this issue. I know Bernie Marsden has a column, but he seems to crop up in the rest of the magazine every other issue anyway.

Phil_aka_Pip

I liked the latest issue, but then, I am a boring old fart with a grey beard.

Gassage

ICBM said:

I'm sure that's the same one I bought.















... about two years ago while I was waiting for a plane.

I donated it to the next occupant of seat 17F.

Anyone who turns right when entering an aircraft has reached the bottom of life's barrel...


(©Tara Palmer-Tompkinson)

richardhomer

If only they’d include the latest tech, eh @HarrySeven - like Casio guitar synths, Stepp controllers and newer Gibsons such as the Sonex, etc....

UnclePsychosis

Not much difference to here though is it? 

The first page of this section has a 3 page discussion on Eric Clapton, a thread about "which strat" and about eighteen thousand Gibson threads.

mbe

What? No Clapton or Page? That's not right!

impmann

I've got it still on subscription but I think its on borrowed time.

Seriously... do we really need another feature about bloody bursts? The answer is a definite NO. There has been more written about these poxy things than anything else - and Bernie Bloody Marsden.... shit the bed, he's a good player and an all round good egg but I think he (and his battered "Beast" burst) is suffering from over-exposure right now.
The Steve Howe feature was interesting to a point but FFS, if you are going to picture him with the Tele and the Junior, you need to tell their stories too. Plus a good angle would have been that Steve uses modelling live (and has done for many years) so what is he doing for this tour seeing as the old guitars are back out. It was a directionless feature.
As for the reviews... come on gentlemen, focussing all the reviews on high end stuff probably keeps the advertisers happy (and as a consumer title editor myself, I know that this pays for the magazine) but how about some balance?

And "adding value" by bagging it with a "poster" of Bernie's guitar and smaller 'magazine' with "blues" in the title - both of which went straight into the recycling bin without even being looked at DOES NOT ADD VALUE.

When I was out of work, I was interviewed for the job as Dep Ed on Guitarist and they chose Dave Hunter over me - tbh, based on what they are turning out right now, I'm kinda glad I didn't get the job. Although, I'm fairly sure I'd be pushing Jamie very hard not to keep churning out the same old stuff - possibly in vain!

BloodEagle

UnclePsychosis said:

Not much difference to here though is it? 

The first page of this section has a 3 page discussion on Eric Clapton, a thread about "which strat" and about eighteen thousand Gibson threads.

Exactly right - lots of threads bemoaning 'no younger guitar bands', then a million threads about the oldest most croaky boring dad-rock guitar stuff imaginable. The fact is there are loads and loads of young exciting guitar bands, but theyre not on this forum demographics radar, nor would they want to be.

dindude

I keep buying them and using them as a coaster - they are pretty poor these days, but to be fair to them, they can only work with what they've got, and that is a genre that is hardly moving at pace.

Gassage

mbe said:

What? No Clapton or Page? That's not right!

Rubbish, 186 pages in there

Fozz

It's definitely on borrowed time. Magazines generally are struggling, and particularly for music equipment YouTube reviews make much more sense (as you can actually hear the guitar).

To be honest, I don't think it will really be missed as it's not like they were an effective buyers guide - everything got 4/5.

That being said, they have some decent writers - I'd definitely watch Neville Martin review gear, I think he's a great player who genuinely knows his stuff. 

darthed1981

Magazines have a bit of a great hope in digital, I tried Readly (spotify for mags) for a few months at @TTony suggestion and it is great, only reason I don't maintain it is because too many of the specialist aviation mags I'd like to read aren't on it, and you cant zoom in on the web browser version of the mags.

It DOES however have all the guitar titles, so may be worth a try if you would like to skim them all each month, it is only £7.99.

Jimbro66

I gave up on Guitarist mag years ago. Same old stuff, same old stuff.....

Christmas 2016 my lovely missus bought me a subscription to Guitar & Bass mag. For me a far more interesting read than Guitarist. ChrisV and his small team manage to keep the content varied and readable.

Gassage

As someone who writes for a lot of income, the bookshelf publication needs really compelling content and they'll pay for it too.

My Cricketer Mag pieces (bookshelf) I can get £500 for 1500 words. Online rugby, same length, half that, sometimes less.

But the other issue is content is hard when the guitar market is slowing and few heroes are emerging.

Jalapeno

I am the grey haired, old fart demographic, and even I find it tired in the extreme and endlessly recycles the same old tired Blues articles and HowTos. Dropped the subscription a decade ago.  GT is a far better mag.

bluechargeboy

My missus bought it for me and my heart sank a bit when I saw the 59 burst feature and blues mag. But....

I quite enjoyed the extra blues mag, it reminds of the people I used to like when I was a young'un (in the eighties, not when Robert Johnson was alive!), and had some cool pics in it.

I quite enjoyed the burst feature, as a window into the details that burst-nerds obsess over. It's like finding a feature which explains the motivation of trainspotters.

A recent issue had an interview with the Takamine head luthier chap, which was very interesting. So there is good stuff to be had, even if you are not a blues dentist.

ICBM

Gassage said:

Anyone who turns right when entering an aircraft has reached the bottom of life's barrel...

(©Tara Palmer-Tompkinson)

What a pleb - flying first class on a 747? Doesn't she know that the cabin is always to the right of the door on a private jet?

mort

impmann said:

And "adding value" by bagging it with a "poster" of Bernie's guitar and smaller 'magazine' with "blues" in the title - both of which went straight into the recycling bin without even being looked at DOES NOT ADD VALUE.

But it stops you from having a free read in WH Smith’s....