I have been reading Guitar Player since the mid-70s and Guitar World since it's debut in the 80s and subscribed to both a couple of years ago.I find that G.P. writes informative articles on all genres on music but lately G.W. is steering more towards metal,although they write good articles on other types of music,metal certainly gets the lions share of the attention.I realize that metal has it's place but is it as popular as G.W. seems to think it is or does it boil down to the bottom line where metal fans would be flocking to buy the mag if their favourite bands were in it?Don't get me wrong I can appreciate the playing of Metallica,Dimebag and some of the older established metal bands but some of the stuff I've heard recently has all the musical merits of a mis-firing chainsaw.I was listening to a metal station on satellite radio last night and most of the stuff was lower frequency cacaphony and the "singer" was just screaming indecipherable gutteral rants.I can't fathom someone actually liking this stuff.I'm not trying to be a snob here as I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music but the popularity of this "death/thrash metal" and how it can sell magazines is beyond me.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Guitar World has been mostly metal and hard rock based for the last decade and a half really, this is not new...

But then again, what do you expect from a magazine that had, or perhaps still has, Nick Bowcott of Grim Reaper as one of the main writers/editors....

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Nevin,I can't see how you can say that rock is dead with the proliferation of rock bands-some that have been around for decades-in the world today. As for the blues being boring,blues was the foundation of most genres of popular music today and it's extremely difficult to play the blues convincingly well.Sure the standard blues scale may not be as complex as some others but out of these few notes have come some of the most important landmark songs in the world.A very large number of this Forum- Iwould say perhaps the majority-are avid blues and rock players/fans surely we can't all be misguided or wrong.Over 50 years ago rock was thought by many to be a flash in the pan fad,time will tell if metal has nearly the same longevity.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Well at one point there was a third; Guitar for the Practicing Musician. When this mag started out, it featured primarily hard rock/heavy metal artists while GW and GP focused more on the other genres. When GftPM went away in the mid-90's, that's when GW picked up the Metal gauntlet and ran with it.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

I think you may need to prepare to wait for a long time, as the music industry is not what it once was, and I don't know if we'll ever see an era like how the 60s and 70s were for rock and rock bands ever again...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

when nickleback is the worlds biggest rock band, you know we're screwed.... +1 rock is dead

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Blues in its simplicity is for me the funnest thing to play
becuase of the progressions and the basics you can get a couple
of guys together yell out a key and make music and that is where
all good music starts that collaberation between musicians just the
other day at a local guitar store me and two other guys played for 30
minutes I had never met them but we all had a working knowledge
of the blues one would lay down the rythym and the others would solo
over it and make up melodies and counter melodies then we would
trade off there are not many music forms that allow such freedom of
expression or rewarding experiences as the blues

and as far as rock and roll being dead maybe rock and roll on the radio
but as long as kids are picking up guitars and learning back in black
sunshine of your love sweet home alabama and God love em stairway
to heaven ( despite what you see in Waynes World ) rock is still very
much alive in fact as long as you carry it with you it lives on
sunday mornings in worship I try to inject a little rock and roll and
blues to evry song we do

"rock and roll aint noise pollution rock and roll aint gonna die"

long live rock and roll

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1956 Gibson CS Lemon Les Paul
1957 Fender CS Aged Cherry Strat
1958 Gibson CS Pg 85 Les Paul
1960 Fender CS 3tsb Strat
1961 Gibson SG Wildwood Pelham blue
1966 Fender CS Firemist Metallic Silver Strat

turn on the radio. its already dead.

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Nevin, just because YOU can't name 10 blues albums from the last 10 years doesn't mean blues is boring. Sure it may not be your cup of tea, but if you dug past some of the "SRV wannabes", you may find some lesser knowns that are far from boring and definitely original. Some one also posted that if Nickelback is the biggest rock band, then rock is already dead. Remember a few decades ago when Michael Jackson ruled? If rock wasn't dead then ( minus Eddie on Beat It) it most certainly isn't now! You gotta be a little more optimistic bro and dig past all the "popular" bands that get the big press. Please don't take this as a personal attack, I just get frustrated when everyone complains that rock is dead.

MJ was pop (and, honestly, quite good).... Nickleback is what rock has become. Music killed itself around 2000. rock no longer has any place in pop culture other than defining the "weird" kids.... rock. is. dead.

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

I agree, Guitar World has gone pretty metal, but they still have In Deep with Andy Aledort...

Guitar Player seems to be keeping a pretty good balance. The 10 Thing you gotts do to play like xxx is seldom a metal guy.

dang nevin, you started a pissing match. lol
the only thing worse is if you said something bad about leo fender himself.
hey, i respect your opinion.
i almost agree with you.
i think music has gone to the hip-hop side of things.
that garbage is everywhere. oh some of them call it
rhythm and blues. i cant say on here what i think about that cap
either.
sad day when hiphop gets the best rock album of the yr as it did several yrs ago.
so yeah, in a way rock is dead.
it wasnt because folks like us let it die either.
im sure each and every one of us held on as tight as we could too.
to me, it was the 80's where rock reached its peak.
man there was tons of good bands out then.
the radio was playing hit after hit and classic rock wasnt even "classic" yet lol. i knew rock was headed a whole new direction when
the seattle type groups started in and all the focus went towards them.
didnt take long before the radios were filled with a bunch of no talent
having music.
there has been a few good rock bands come out over the last 10 yrs.
i dont like all of it but they are they last hope we have at this point.
i do see what your saying about the blues stuff too.
theres nobody new out. everything blues we have to listen to is
already over played in my cd player 10 yrs ago.
i have found 2 new (in the last 10 yrs) artists that are refreshing to hear.
tab benoit and ana popovic. both very talented and worth listening to.

i dont see rock ever coming back to the good ole fun times type of music that it use to be. things change, music too.
so we can either keep that tight grip on the same ole same ole we have been listening to for 40 yrs or accept the change and try to find some good
groups to listen to.
dont get me wrong, i feel your pain too.
until theres enough support, the hiphop garbage will continue to run our radios and record stores. its our daughters im worried about most. wow.
anyways, this is all i have to say about that. carry on gentleman.

ok i have to ask this... why are all of your post written like a poem.... its odd...

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

how are they written like a poem?

I find Metal a lot more boring than Blues. It's all just a matter of taste and maybe age has something to do with it too. Metal has its share of wannabees too but the "Strats With Hats" bores me to death. I'd rather listen to old Delta Blues.

It's no pissing match, people like what they like. Nothing wrong with that. Music would be seriously boring if it was all one genre. We all have different tastes and that's all cool.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal