All,
As with a lot of printed magazines, I just read on THE GEAR PAGE that Guitar Player Magazine bites the dust at year's end.

In its early form, I thought the magazine was absolutely great. There were tutorials from great players like Johnny Smith ("Try It This Way"), Barney Kessel, as well as the rock guitar notables of the day. George Gruhn was a contributor on vintage gear, also.

The magazine sadly (d)evolved into an "ads" magazine. Often, there were 20 or so pages of ads before you got to some pertinent articles.
Then there was the overly redundant "righteous tone", "woman tone", "creamy tone" (whatever the hell that is) cliches in many "Reviews" that never gave a negative critique to any products GP advertised. I tried a few of GP's product reviews myself at my local music emporium. Several GP "recommended" products were real clunkers. There went GP's credibility with me.

So, I stopped getting it over time. I'd look at it in a local bookstore to see if there were any interesting articles. If I found one, I'd buy it; most of the time, there were none, so I didn't.

I've noticed that Vintage Guitar Magazine is also going downhill fast.
It is only available now via full year subscription - no more newsstand/bookstore sales. The last one that I purchased via online order is the issue on Duane Eddy. The magazine is thinner and still shrinking. A lot of contributors have disappeared; articles from several years ago are being repeated.

Well - they were fun and informative while they were around.
J Mo'

Last edited: Sep 16, 2024 07:02:42

Fretboard Journal seems like the guitar mag to read now. Less rock focused of course.

Daniel Deathtide

I am genuinely – and somewhat surprisingly – saddened to hear this. As a kid growing up in early 70s rural Nebraska, Guitar Player Magazine was my key source of knowledge for all things guitar related. It was the place I first saw words like Stratocaster, read about six-string pioneers, and found lessons in playing fundamentals. ...and the pictures! Wow!
It’s difficult to describe to a 21st century audience just how much information could be gleaned from each issue of that magazine.
Like others posting here, I haven’t picked up an issue of GP in years. So I’m not exactly sure what I’m mourning. But it does lead to a moment or two of reflection…and gratitude.
Cheers to Guitar Player Magazine.
Cheers to all of us.
Chuck

It's easy to blame ownership, but the reality is it's the consumers who are killing print magazines. Thanks to the internet, many of us now believe all content should be free and available at our fingertips 24/7; we act accordingly. Some magazines will survive. Most will not.

--
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

The first issue I bought featured Billy Gibbons on the cover around 1984. I was thrilled to find a magazine that was focused on guitars, gear, and guitarists. I discovered a lot of guitar/music related things through GP.Sad to see it go, but if they were struggling to find readership I guess
it is time. It must be tough to run a print magazine, and I certainly appreciate those who still manage to do it like Pipeline, The Continental, Reverb International, and Colorado Instrumental Fanzine.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Last edited: Sep 17, 2024 10:11:55

Sorry to see it go, but print mags and books are slowly disappearing into the paper abyss and will continue to retreat along with albums, cds, etc. As the younger generation comes up they will continue to be device driven with shorter and multi-tasked attention spans.

Reliable reviews are pretty hard to find these days (except on SG101 )

I get the annual subscription to Vintage Guitar, for the price it's a great value! And I need something to read while waiting at various Dr. Appts, hair appts, shopping with wife, etc... Plus lots of color pages! I'm more of artist bio person than a tech head, so it plays to what I want. Plus they seem to squeeze Brian Setzer in just about every year!!!

Surfcat

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Last edited: Sep 17, 2024 20:03:53

At one time, I probably read at 5-10 magazines per month. I had Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Road & Track, usually GP, and whatever caught my eye. A British mag on Land Rovers one month, maybe Flying or Plane and Pilot the next. These days, I hardly ever read magazines. The last one I bought was probably several years ago.

Some of it is the Internet, bringing information to us at the speed of light. Some of it is the deterioration of magazines, which could be editorial philosophy, or the sad effects of diminishing revenue forcing more ad space (sold at lower rates) and less content. It takes time and money to provide meaningful content, and I suspect that many magazines are barely clinging to life, these days.

Guitar Player had its great moments. I loved the columns, Jeff Baxter, Tommy Tedesco, Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, etc. There were some gems of information in those columns. Sadly, they fell victim to a common peril; basically every publication is in a minor conflict of interest when it comes to reviewing gear that their advertisers manufacture. They weren’t as bad as some publications, whose content became merely and extension of the ads, but I was cautious regarding the objectivity of gear reviews.

As wonderful as the Internet may be, there is a downside. I can buy a website template and have my sight hosted for pocket change. It’s quite possible to have an impressive sight, but the downside risk for false information is minimal. If you go back 100 years, newspapers staked their reputation on being accurate and balanced. If someone puts up a website, they can feed information to whatever group of people want their bias to be confirmed, and reputation is no longer all that important. In fact, it’s all but meaningless, because people only visit websites they like.

The same is true of YouTube, where channels disseminate information which builds view minutes, and isn’t always accurate, or even interesting. Many of the gear reviews I see on YouTube are not that good, although there are some which are great. What gets me most about YouTube are the videos which lure you to view with an interesting title, only to bury the lead in an exhaustive, and unnecessary history, which contributes little, if anything, to the subject at hand, and then you find out that the click bait was meaningless.

I wish there was an answer, where quality journalism could become more prominent, but still offers specialty information in an easy to digest format. The problem is, cost of production has dropped to the point where anyone with an opinion can pretend to be journalistically valid, and we are saturated with too much info. With that in mind, I think that forums such as this may be extremely useful information, and the community of forum members helps to keep things honest.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I'm surprised no one mentioned GP's surf music primer, which included tabs for the Wedge, Latin'ia, Squad Car, etc. A later issue also included a spy music primer. This was all in the early 90s when Joe Gore was running things.
Also, the GP Legends of Guitar recordings which had a great Surf volume.

Last edited: Sep 23, 2024 02:43:45