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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xw7qKZxUA8
It's not rock music, it's not blues, but I don't see why I'm not seeing this kind of thing in guitar magazines.*
And yes, what impmann says above, re: textural parts.
* I have actually seen one small interview with her, focused on gear, so it's not a total absence, it's just not a regular thing.
I try not to read product reviews, in any of them. I don't need any more gear, I just need some mental stimulation regarding playing or approach to playing. Reviews are not often that honest or helpful by the time they've been "blanded out" to avoid giving offence to advertisers.
There's occasional good stuff in Guitarist, and Guitar magazine, esp since Chris V took over. But they all lack much on playing and approach to playing (to use BigDipper's term).
I used to buy Guitarist magazine in the mid-late 90's. I quickly got bored with the same old features and the fear of giving a bad review. I think I stopped buying it around the time I started getting more into the Internet, when I was able to find more interesting content.
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Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Just to illustrate the point:
As far as I've ever worked out I've seen one item on Roddy Byers ( of The Specials ) in TG many years ago. There was an item on reggae in Guitarist that was so factually inaccurate that was pretty much the reason I stopped buying it. Guitar World, by contrast, did a feature and lesson on Bob Marley years ago that was in depth and I still have my copy.
I'm not expecting ska and reggae features every month or even every year but the Specials, Aswads of this world had hits, even Bob Marley had a British guitarist in his band. Pretty much household names with loads of guitar, appeal to a middle aged demographic and they can't even stretch that far. Good luck waiting on Snarky Puppy or D'Angelo.
"The Epi's pickups almost seem lifeless in comparison..."
"It has a generic feeling neck"
"lower quality parts"
"it's fine if you can't afford the Gibson, as long as you know it'll never be a Gibson..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Kum8OUTuk
Unless your ever-expanding collection of random schtuff now includes Doc's DeLorean from Back To The Future, all guitars that you encounter will, by definition, be from the past.
Issue 430 does mine the magazine's own past. For example, former editor, Neville Marten, makes a guest appearance in one article. Mag Will Eat Itself, perhaps?
If the magazine is sticking to its usual modus operandi, Marsden, Howe, Rothery or Bonnamassa has an album and/or tour to plug.
Quick question for those who currently subscribe to Guitarist magazine. When did they last give a guitar, amp or pedal a negative review?
Magazine readers of a certain age probably ought to know as much about gear as the magazine contributors.
The law of diminishing returns dictates that novelty will decrease. Instead, we get the same "received wisdom" potted histories getting trotted out time and time again.
I no longer need the written word about guitars. It is simply ineffective compared to its Youtube replacement.
I hate online magazines, I prefer the tactile nature of print.
I'll buy Total Guitar, although I keep saying I'll stop, but never do. It just appeals to me, although the artists featured are becoming less and less relevant as I get older.
To come up with something new every month is impossible, it's the nature of the beast, it's limited.
However I do think they could be a bit more imaginative sometimes.
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The whole point of new things is we can't predict them coming along - I'm sure there will be new designs, new concepts and new ways of approaching playing the guitar and music in general. The smug may say that by the time they are written about they are from the past, but not even the internet moves fast enough for that to be any different. Frankly, I'd like to see stuff that is focussed in the *NOW* not on stuff that 1) nobody will ever be able to buy (1950s Gibson Les Pauls), 2) stuff that has been written about time and time again and 3) misses the point of why we want to read about them (interviews that are directionless).
That last issue had an article on John Coltrane (he died in the 60's!), the works of Brahms (!!), yet another article about the Selmer Mk VI (yawn, as if saxophone manufacture hasn't evolved since the 70's.
Absolutely nothing about all the exciting new clarinet or saxophone bands.
Talk about living in the past!!