Not into the boutique stuff either.did the one you dislike have better or more gear in it that did appeal to you?
For those of you who subscribe to either or both magazines, I have a question. How does Guitar Player compare to Guitar World? A number of years ago I subscribed to GW. I kind of got fed up with it and switched to GuitarOne which I loved until they killed it. My remaining subscription got handed over to GW which I've been receiving since. My complaint remains the same: too much fluff. It seems geared for a demographic about 20 years younger than I. Is Guitar Player better in that regard? I bought the issue with George Lynch in it that Robert pointed out to me and enjoyed it. I got a cheapy subscription flier for GP in the mail and was considering taking them up on it.
I also subscribe to Premier Guitar which I like tremendously. It seems more "age appropriate" to me. My only problem with them is that it seems that the majority of the gear they review is boutique-caliber stuff that I'll never be able to afford in several lifetimes.
Thoughts?
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
Not into the boutique stuff either.did the one you dislike have better or more gear in it that did appeal to you?
Life is like a camera, just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out, just take another shot. ~ Anonymous
Guitars: 1967(year they came out): Fender Coronado II Wildwood I ,Fullerton ST- 4 Fat Strat , Esteban Legacy acous/elec,99 MIA Standard Fender Strat
Amph's Original Roland Cube 15,Drive 30 w/spring reverb
I get both GW and GP. I like them both. I agree that GW is definitely geared more towards metal and a young demographic but I like their tabs and lessons. GP is different in that it covers a variety of genres (jazz, blues, rock, etc). I actually just got their $12 subscription offer in the mail and sent it in. Beats paying $6.50 at the newsstand! I think it's a really good mag, and for $12 you can't go wrong.
FYI -- I also signed up for a free 1 year subscription to Premier Guitar (thanks to hearing about it on this forum). I'm not familiar with the mag but you can't beat the price.
-Steve
Guitars: Carvin BoltPlus-T, Floyd Rose DST-3, Xaviere XV870, Fender Acoustic
Amp: Vox AD50VT 212, V-Amp 2
Pedals/Effects: Wasabi Overdrive, HellBabe Wah, Digitech Hot Head, Danelectro Fab Chorus
Guitar World always struck me as the guitar industry's version of Tiger Beat. If I needed help figuring out what was cool to wear on stage I'd go for GW. Guitar Player just has so much more variety, and though their reviews tend to be more toward the high end instruments they seem much more critical of the gear. I'm sure they aren't telling the whole story because they don't want to lose advertisers but they are better than the GW reviews which are very similar to the reviews in the Musicians Friend catalogs. Besides, most of the gear "reviewed" in GW is very common and can be found at most guitar stores, but it's not always easy to find a store that has Alembic guitars and Cornford amplifiers for example.
Patrick
Go with Guitar Player. You'll probably enjoy it more. I think the mag has improved over the last year or so. Better reviews, better interviews. One that bugs me is that the repeatedly review 4-5000 + dollar guitars. Like anyone can afford those. Otherwise it's a great mag.
The Law of Gravity is nonsense. No such law exists. If I think I float, and you think I float, then it happens.
Master Guitar Academy - I also teach via SKYPE.
GP is the first and only guitar mag I have subscribed to. I like the variety, and it has more tips and lessons than I really have time to pursue. But I am collecting them so I can go back and try. I got in on the killer deal Spud found for us a year or so ago. Since that time, they have reviewed some really expensive stuff, but have also done an issue reviewing a bunch of less expensive guitars. I also like the "ebay find" column, where the author describes something he bought on ebay. In short, I like it.
Steve Thompson
Sun Valley, Idaho
Guitars: Fender 60th Anniversary Std. Strat, Squier CVC Tele Hagstrom Viking Semi-hollow, Joshua beach guitar, Martin SPD-16TR Dreadnought
Amphs: Peavey Classic 30, '61 Fender Concert
Effects and such: Boss: DS-1, CE-5, NS-2 and RC20XL looper, Digitech Bad Monkey, Korg AX1G Multi-effects, Berhinger: TU100 tuner, PB100 Clean Boost, Line 6 Toneport UX2, Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi, DuhVoodooMan's Rabid Rodent Rat Clone, Zonkin Yellow Screamer Mk. II, MXR Carbon Copy Delay
love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. . .
- j. johnson
Yeah, Guitar World did seem to have more reviews of things that the average person might be able to own. Almost everything they review they give an "award" though. I like that GW took the instructional columns from G1, but I thought the ones in G1 were better. The other big thing in GW's favor as scgmhawk said is the tabs. Unfortunately, I'll have about one song per every other issue that I'd want to learn. Well, I'd like to learn "Through the Fire and Flames" from the current issue, but it'd take me until 2075 to learn it. The "Tiger Beat" thing is close to what I was referring to too.Originally Posted by player
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
I used to read both GP and GW and G1 too. For a while GP lost my interest and I quit reading any of them all together. Then GP got back to what they used to be in the 70s and early 80s which I can totally relate to. Quality interviews and articles. They made a significant improvement. They leave all the other mags in the dust in my opinion. So now I only read Guitar Player.
"No Tele For you." - The Tele Nazi
Ha! Tele-ish now inbound.
+1 for Guitar Player. I had a subscription to G1 and then started getting GW when that died. GP is definitely aimed at a "more mature" demographic, but I fit in that category so that works for me.
I read everything and feel I can learn stuff even reading about death metal bands, though that's not my taste in music. I do agree about the reviews of those mucho expensive guitars in GP -- maybe they think us "mature" people have more money!
Though they did have the sub-$50 mfx shootout in one of the summer issues.
I have the digital subscription to Premier Guitar and have been enjoying that.
They seem to do a lot with mods and how gear works, which I really enjoy, since they're not trying to sell anything.
Bob
Guitars: Jimmie Vaughan Strat, 2001 Affinity Squier Strat with 70's Japanese pickups, Affinity Squier Tele
Amps: Fender Pro Junior w/ Ragin' Cajun speaker, Peavey Delta Blues 115
Pedals: Ibanez TS9DX w/ Humphrey mod, Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Dano PB&J Delay, Arion Tubulator w/Indyguitarist mod, Boss CS-3, Dano Fish and Chips EQ, Boss CH-1, Dano TunaMelt Tremolo, Boss RV-3, Boss DS-1
Strings: Darco 10's
Website: www.bluesrow.com
I only get GP, but I ditto everything SVL has already noted.
Mark
* Loud is good, good is better!
sounds like from the popular vote GP gets it then don't it?Originally Posted by sunvalleylaw
why change a good thing especially if you like it already.
my opinion milage may vary
Life is like a camera, just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out, just take another shot. ~ Anonymous
Guitars: 1967(year they came out): Fender Coronado II Wildwood I ,Fullerton ST- 4 Fat Strat , Esteban Legacy acous/elec,99 MIA Standard Fender Strat
Amph's Original Roland Cube 15,Drive 30 w/spring reverb
I have a subscription to GP
(thanks goes again to Spud for alerting us to that great deal)
But I've read several copies of GW. Guitar Player is a much, much better magazine. Deeper & with more breadth.
I pick a moon dog.
I subscribed to GP waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when it started in the 70's. I don't subscribe now to it, but seem to pick it up at stupid newstand prices almost every month. It's still very much like it was 30 years ago. I might even subscribe again.
I really liked G1, didn't subscribe, but picked up the issues that ween't laden in metal & have a bunch of the cd's tht came with it b4 they killed it. GW, same thing. I agree, it's aimed at younger demo. Still, I just picked up the latest '300th Issue' that hit the stands, with cd/video. But I'd never subscribe. It stinks they killed GW Acoustic, too...I liked that even more, and more than Acoustic Guitar mag, because that tends to be 'boutiqueish' (?) and too high-brow for me.
Any of the gear reviews in these mags are for 'perspective'; they're basically 'paid for' by the advertisers. Take them with a grain of salt.
^^
AXES: Fender '81 The STRAT, '12 Standard Tele, '78 Musicmaster Bass, '13 CN-240SCE Thinline; Rickenbacker '82 360-12BWB; Epiphone '05 Casino, '08 John Lennon EJ-160E; Guild '70 D-40NT; Ovation '99 Celebrity CS-257; Yamaha '96 FG411CE-12; Washburn '05 M6SW Mando, '08 Oscar Schmidt OU250Bell Uke; Johnson '96 JR-200-SB Squareneck Reso; Hofner '07 Icon B-Bass; Ibanez '12 AR-325. AMPS: Tech 21 Trademark 10; Peavey ValveKing Royal 8; Fender Acoustonic 90, Passport Mini, Mini Tonemaster; Marshall MS-2 Micro Stack; Behringer BX-108 Thunderbird; Tom Scholz Rockman. PEDALS/FX: Boss ME-50; Yamaha EMP100; Stage DE-1; Samson C-Com 16 L.R. Baggs ParaAcoustic D.I; MXR EQ-10.
My first issue of Premier Guitar arrived yesterday. If you go to their website, you can get 1 year FREE. I read a little and it seems to be pretty good, and definitely seems to delve into the tech side way more than the others which I want to learn about.
-Steve
Guitars: Carvin BoltPlus-T, Floyd Rose DST-3, Xaviere XV870, Fender Acoustic
Amp: Vox AD50VT 212, V-Amp 2
Pedals/Effects: Wasabi Overdrive, HellBabe Wah, Digitech Hot Head, Danelectro Fab Chorus
currently subscribe to Guitar Player & Vintage Guitar....
Guitars: A Few
Amps: A Couple
Pedals/Effects: Sure
We've done four already, but now we're steady, and then they went one-two-three-four....
I agree with the "Tiger Beat" analogy of GW. It does have some good tabs, but I do like to read about something besides metal. GP has enough metal to satisfy any 'head, but also covers all other genres. I thought it was a radical step to have Brad Paisley as the cover article, but upon reading about him, he's as big a gearhead as there is.
They've recently featured John Fogerty and Allan Holdsworth as cover stories, which I really enjoyed. And, I also enjoy the Ebay bargain hunter article. Yeah, they do tend to do most of their equipment reviews on high end stuff, but, hey, it never hurts to dream. I guess I'll have to start saving up for one of those $25,000 EVH Frankenstein's.
Hey, for $12, you can't beat the subscription price. :
You know, this made me giggle to myself...I have like a dozen or so GP's lying around here, I suppose I have saved them because they each had a nice lesson or tab on them. But, in 25 years or so I think I can still easily count with my fingers the exercises or tabs I actually did from any magazine...still I keep them round just in case I sometimes would actually try one :-)
Dee
"When life's a biatch, be a horny dog"
Amps: Marshall JVM 410H w/ Plexi Cap mod, Choke Mod & Negative Feedback Removal mod, 4x12", Behringer GMX110, Amplitube 3/StealthPedal
Half a dozen custom built/bastardized guitars all with EMG's, mostly 85's, Ibanez Artwood acoustic & Yamaha SGR bass, Epiphone Prophecy SG, Vox Wah, Pitchblack tuner plus assorted pedals, rack gear etc. for home studio use.
Cool thread resurrection.
GW is still flashy. The best thing they do are the gear review videos, but those are available online. GP is more about and for real working players.
Premier Guitar has become the best overall. They still review the high priced gear, but now most reviews are of more accessibly priced gear.
Hmm. This thread has made me consider getting a subscription, something I never thought I would do. Anyone have any good places to find a good price on a subscription to Premier Guitar or Guitar Player?
Guitars: Gibson LP Studio, MIA Fender Precision, Carvin C350Originally Posted by Spudman
Amps: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 + Avatar B212 / Genzler 12-3, Acoustic B20
Pedals: Pod HD500X, Diamond Compressor, Tech 21 VT Bass, Sonic Research Turbo Tuner