-
I enjoy reading guitar magazines and have learned at lot from them since my teens. Was shocked to see that the current edition of venerable Guitar Player Magazine is it’s last. They promise to continue digitally somehow, but wow… GP has been there my whole life. Every issue between 1982 and the early 00’s was in my collection (which I sold at some point to save space). They were pretty much the first and for a very long time they set the bar.
Similarly, Total Guitar and Guitar Techniques also just delivered their final issue. Never cared much for TG but GT was different: it was almost entirely devoted to lessons and playing music (instead of interviews and gear reviews).
Apparently the readership is still there, but mags survive not through subscriptions and newsstand sales but via advertisement income. Advertisers don’t want to spent money on print anymore. And that’s that.
-
10-18-2024 02:23 AM
-
We're in the future. I'm kind of scared lol.
-
I don't imagine you're happy about that decision? I sure wouldn't be.
Originally Posted by Oscar67
By the way, I think there was already a thread on this topic.
-
It's a pity we're losing GT.
Yes, I already started a thread about it -
Guitar Techniques Magazine to cease publication
-
I have every copy of GT from around 1996 to 2006 and few few odd ones as well. After 10 years they were rehashing a lot of stuff and I thought that was enough stuff to be getting on with!!
-
I used to go to the news stands around Boston of which there were many. I'd browse and always leave with an arm full of magazines from which I'd learn God knows how much of what I now know. It was an education that I'm sure got me into the music school there. The news stand was an essential part of the knowledge base of generations of guitarists.
There really isn't a place to browse, discover, purchase and support periodicals in most cities now. I was saddened to go to Barnes and Noble in New York, which regularly had every type of guitar magazine, and find nothing I wanted to buy. The few magazines I saw had no jazz articles, were predominantly ads for gear and glancing at the interviews, told me nothing that might help me become a better musician or broaden my perspective.
I know it's because there's so much on the internet now, but so much of what I see is not helpful, to put it kindly. And the depth of the dives is often so shallow as to leave me resentful for the wasted time.
Guitar Player once had the most comprehensive columns that made up full courses in theory (Mick Goodrick's), technique (Howard Roberts), experimental electronics (Craig Anderton), fretboard understanding (tons of those), composition and chord solos (Howard Morgen)...
I don't even look to the columns anymore.
Maybe like vinyl, there'll be an eventual return to a serious quarterly journal of guitar (like Jazz Guitar Magazine). I'll be waiting to support it.
-
Such a shame that the actual printed word is going the way of the dodo bird. I love technology as much as the next guy, but not everything is "progress" IMO. I LOATHE reading on a computer screen/kindle. DOUBLE LOATHE on a phone screen. Books have been around for centuries, I don't think it's necessary to extinct them (altho I understand if something isn't paying for itself, what are you supposed to do?)
I can say for sure, I will be far less likely to read issues online, and when I do, I will be skipping straight to the content I want... the ads (which is their revenue) will make even less impact on me.
-
Same here. I’d go to school by train and there’d be a newsstand at the station. On the way back home I’d browse there. There used to be a bookstore / newsstand at every Dutch railway station that had any significance. They’re disappearing as we speak, except for the central stations in major cities. Books still seem to sell, thankfully. Chains like Waterstones do well. Magazines sales are evaporating.I used to go to the news stands around Boston of which there were many. I'd browse and always leave with an arm full of magazines from which I'd learn God knows how much of what I now know … The news stand was an essential part of the knowledge base of generations of guitarists.
-
The magazine business was always tough, and it has become brutal. I spent the latter half of my working days as a freelance magazine writer, and thirty years later only two of my regular markets are still standing--and both of them solicit contributions to keep afloat, not unlike public radio/TV, but without the corporate grants that supplement PBS/NPR income.
It's not the cost of copy that's the problem*--it's everything else that's required to print and distribute a physical magazine, along with the flight of advertisers on the income side. And the kind of content that GP offers--interviews, profiles, gear reviews, how-to-play pieces--is available for free on line. The same forces have been at work in fiction markets--the "little" magazines that were a crucial part of the literary environment have almost entirely migrated to free or subscription-based webzines, and the handful of print lit journals depend on university or arts-grant support.
* As far as I can tell, word-rates haven't changed much in the decades since I started, but all the other costs have increased substantially.
-
I'm surprised the print mags have lasted as long as they have, to be honest.
For a while in the mid 90s I freelanced as an editor and copy editor on Future Music, which shared an open-plan office with Total Guitar. One of the TG staff writers was particularly talented and now works as a professor at Berklee. But from the printed tutorial point of view, I don't recall seeing anything that was better than what can these be found for free on the internet.
(I seem to remember that, back in the day, our magazines were typically expected to earn 50% from readership and 50% from advertising.)
-
I've been a subscriber to Guitar Player since the early 1970s. I loved that rag. The only upside in some really down news is that the online version will--I assume, I hope--let you see and hear audio and video clips. Hear a riff. Watch somebody play something. That could be useful. But yeah, I hate trying to read stuff online.
-
The future you say..naaa...welcome to the Twilight Zone.. Originally Posted by Bobby Timmons
We're in the future. I'm kind of scared lol.
-
If your paying attention..the disappearance of "information" should sound an alarm.
Its not only specific types of magazines..its "news" in general..and not only in print.
Many local "newspapers" have gone under and many are floating down stream.
So..ok I can still read them online, right..well..not really..now online content is being molded by "policies"
not by a single or group of editors that are working for the publications.
An example..the comments section have been removed on the editorial/opinion pages on many news and social magazines (Atlantic..etc.) Print and online versions
Many remaining newspapers only offer "one point of view" on political and social topics..Op-ed while offered is often looked down upon.
And now..Internet content..when it disappears..its GONE
-
Yep lol. I'm telling myself that I have to adapt and get used to it instead of worrying that I'm living dysfunctionally. Little healthy human contact, no warm human contact, everything online now including friendship, cost of living, lol. Originally Posted by wolflen
Last edited by Bobby Timmons; 10-18-2024 at 05:34 PM.
-
I got a lot out of GP over the years and I'll miss it. A dedicated guitar magazine available at most newsstands was a revelation when it was introduced in '67. I loved the industry reports and ordered a lot of stuff from my bewildered dealer (who couldn't find any of it in his catalogs yet because I'd just read about it in GP). I called my dealer to order an Ibanez AF207 after reading in GP in 1996 that it was being introduced. He told me 16 times that there was no such guitar, and I told him to write it down and keep bugging Hoshino to send him one. A year later, he called and told me "your guitar is here". I replied "What guitar?" because I'd forgotten all about it. I picked it up the next day, and it's still my default gigging archtop 28 years later. I have GP to thank for it - I'd never have known it was even available otherwise, since they only made them for a few years, weren't in stock at any store I ever visited, and didn't sell very well.
But music mags go back decades before GP was even a gleam in the eye. We had some great reading material to help us learn and grow - I had a full reading schedule just between DownBeat and Metronome. Playboy had some great music columns, and their best music critic and columnist for many years was a stellar keyboard player (who's on many Chicago blues albums from the '60s on) and a real character. I met him when he retired from the Playboy gig and moved to the Philly area over 25 years ago. We began gigging together and became friends. It was really cool to meet a contempoary who'd unknowingly been a part of my life for decades.
I really miss all of those great mags. I managed to hang on to many of my favorite issues of DB, most of which featured jazz guitar in some way (reviews, ads, aticles). This one is the crown jewel in my collection:
There were ads for guitars and other musical instruments in DB. But a Gibson ad on the back cover was like honey to a young bee! I think I read the back cover of this issue a thousand times. I had just gotten a used 345 a few months before, but I lusted after a "real" archtop and that picture of JS drove me crazy. For a year or two, DB gave an album to you as a bonus for renewing your subscription, and The Incedible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery was it that year. When I openend the package and saw Wes with that 175, I knew what my next guitar was going to be (given that there was no way I could afford a JS - I was in high school). Within a year, my dealer found me a used 175DN - but my love for that JS never went away, thanks to DownBeat.
-
Wait until the aliens start showing up... Originally Posted by wolflen
-
I too read and studied from those publications. It was exciting even, maybe especially, to see the ads.
If I had to choose between only magazines and only the Internet, it's not even close. Those teens interested in jazz guitar have much richer resources today.
Advertisers also may have an advantage. Let's say a new amp or a new reissue occurs. A video can reveal much more than print.
Further, teachers and advertisers can have links to download for those who want something printed.
The invention of the printing press dramatically pushed modernity forward. The Internet did it in decades, not centuries. I do have a good sized book shelf in case there is power loss!
-
That’s a very valid point, although perhaps in a much broader sense than you meant it to be.I do have a good sized book shelf in case there is power loss!
-
I wholeheartedly agree! If we had today’s resources back then, we’d have known a lot more a lot sooner. But to be honest, I think the fact that we had to work so hard to find and absorb information also had great value. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
The intensity of the chase was an enduring part of the passion. I doubt that I’d remember so many things in so much detail if I didn’t have to choose so carefully, search so hard, and wait so long for everything - information, recordings, live appearances, newly introduced guitars / amps / gear etc.
The choice you offer (magazines vs the internet) isn’t as simple to make as it seems. I do agree that as an isolated choice, the web wins for me. We can find obscure facts, correct our faulty memories, look at images we never would have known exist, hear music we never would have been able to access, etc. But there were some advantages to “the good old days” that I’d still prefer, and in aggregate a choice between then and now wouldn’t be quite so easy.
When I was in high school, I could go to any of three local music stores and play at least a few models of Gibson, Martin, Fender, Guild etc - and archtops were well represented. If I went to any of several shops in the nearest big city, I could play most models from most makers. Even better, used ones were available at appropriate prices - I got a used 345 in early 1960 and traded it for a used 175 less than a year later.
The other advantage of print media was that it was generally more accurate and reliable than the endless unvalidated drivel on the internet. There was a general level of integrity among those who wrote what we read that’s almost gone now. Even radio DJs brought an intellectualism and depth to their commentary that’s gone now. Anyone who remembers Ed Beech and Sid Mark knows what I mean. I learned more useful and factual information as a kid from radio jazz shows than you can get from most Internet forums, blogs, etc today.
Don’t forget liner notes, many of which were written by journalists whose books and magazine articles we also loved. Think of all we learned about music by reading album jackets and sleeves. Losing print magazines, album notes, instrument catalogs etc etc is not the end of the world, and modern media can bring all of that content to us much faster, easier, and cheaper than ever before. But we now have to sift through a million times more unvalidated and often erroneous nonsense to find the kind and quality of information that used to be the bulk of our resource base.
I love living in the 21st century! But the overall quality and utility of available information has dropped in inverse proportion to the amount and availability of it all. So we still have to work hard to find information we can trust, enjoy, and use. We used to have to work hard to find any information, but what we found was mostly beneficial to us. Now we have to work hard to find good information among mountains of foolish self serving crap.
Yes, I said that working hard for knowledge and experience made it that much more precious. But that was good and positive work that was also fun. Digging gold flakes out of bovine excrement is not - the smell alone overpowers any sense of elated discovery. Nevertheless, the more things change…..
-
I recall the days in which I ordered a book or other materials and waited a week or more for it to arrive, sometimes a month. OTOH, I did enjoy going to a music store and looking through what they had. That is mostly gone for me.
-
I still have GP Volume 1 Number 1.
-
It’s mostly gone - period. There are only a few independent locally owned music stores left around here, and they have to stock stuff that sells at a decent profit despite competition from GC, SW et al. So the only joy to be had is either in the odd trade-in of something cool or in the oldest area of the stockroom. Every once in a while I get to rummage through the dusty NOS stuff in a basement or back room, but the pickin’s are mighty slim. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
Talking to the owners of those shops can be a joy. Many are knowledgeable and appreciate a polite customer with reasonable expectations. But most are now disheartened and bored with hawking crude planks and (as someone put it on one of the forums yesterday) “iPhones with speakers”.
Going to GC and other big box music stores is usually an aural assault and a waste of time unless you know what you need and they have it.
-
I never had a subscription, but bought a lot of Guitar Player mags back in the 80s.
As I recall Stefan Grossman had a regular column with transcription and tabs that I always enjoyed. I think Larry Coryell published some transcriptions in there as well.
Like most of you I’m nostalgic for the old days but also realistic.
I heard about the Real Book about 1979 but it took a couple of years before I could actually locate a copy to buy—a wonderful independent guitar store in Atlanta—Diapason—had legit copies.
Now of course you can download the iRealbook app and have access to the chords of thousands of songs, and even accompaniment. Wish I had had that in 1980.
But, as the wise man said, All Things Must Pass.
Archtops aren’t as big a segment as they were 40 years ago. However, there are stores that stock them in the larger cities, and the vintage market is booming. Again, good and bad. You can access dozens of desirable guitars from all over the country. Unfortunately, thanks to the internet, everyone knows what they’re worth, so real bargains are hard to find. Prices are much more consistent. Even a guy in Valentine, NE, with a 175 that’s been in his closet for 20 years can sell it for market value.
I’m not gonna lie. If I could wave a magic wand and go back in time, I’d go back to the mid-70’s. And enjoy it even more the second time around LOL. But since that’s impossible, I’ll make do with what we have now.
-
Interestingly, when I first moved to Omaha in 2010, there was a very good guitar store called Russo’s that had a good selection of Gibson and Fender, among others. Guitar Center came in, and Russo went downhill fairly quickly. Selection sucked. They closed about 2013. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
2 of the other local stores—Dietze and Lidgett (across the river in Council Bluffs, IA)—gradually expanded their offerings and became very good places to buy guitars, selling both new (Gibson, Fender, Eastman, even Heritage) and vintage. Lidgett gets some high-end items and sells to very well-known musicians all over the world.
Guitar Center doesn’t have nearly the selection or service of the locals, but they do occasionally have a new guitar or stage product that makes it worth the trip out there.
-
I used to like Guitar Player then I found out they don't pay the artists. What a reprehensible trash rag. I'm glad they are finally closing their doors. That's where leeches like that belong.
Reply With Quote
I'm mad at rhythm
Today, 02:32 PM in Everything Else