I did subscribe for years back in the 80's - 90's and loved reading that mag, there were some fantastic detailed articles/interviews by Jas Obrecht and other excellent writers. There were also great in-depth lesson segments written by some great players. I still have all those old issues and find things of interest in them even now, some are 20-30 years old.

After about 2001 I thought the mag had started to slip a lot, poor quality articles, weak lesson content, and a growing increase in filler ads, so I let my subscription slip and then decided to renew again in 2006. That only lasted a few issues before I cancelled it again as I thought the mag had turned to crap, gone were the great articles and in-depth interviews I loved and I was turning through 40 odd pages of advert before I hit any content at all.

So are there any regular readers/subscribers here, or is the content just not there? I guess with the internet and forums like this it makes it hard for them to compete, I am a sucker for a good magazine as long as the content is there, call me old fashioned but I just like em.

Those old issues from the '80's and '90's were great though.


Snowy

I never subscribed but bought it religiously every month from the late 70's up to about the 90's. Used to be fantastic but i stopped getting it as it went downhill.

The magazine was superb in it's heyday with the lessons section: Howard Roberts, Arnie Berle, Tommy Tedesco, Stefan Grossman, Larry Coryell.....

Also they used to have great features like scrutinising the making of a particular album, they'sd take it apart cut by cut and tell you everything; what guitars and amps, effects for every track, stuff like that.

At it's best it was unbeatable, i still remember the first one i bought had Alex Lifeson from Rush as the cover story and i believe it was sometime in 1979.

The good old days! wish i could go back. Makes me sad to think of years gone by.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Hi Snowy,
Yeah, I still subscribe. It's changed a bit but I still enjoy it. The lessons are back and they have good gear reviews. I've been read it since the beginning.

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

i subscribed again about 3 years ago. yes, it has changed over the years, but for the price of the subscription, i think it is worth it.

i pick up 1 or 2 new things every time i read it, so i'll keep reading

I let my subscription lapse. I got so many mags I couldn't keep up. Now I read Electronic Musician, Tape Op, and . . . Car & Driver.

I have subscribed to Guitar Player for several years now and have most issues since the mid 70s as I bought them over the counter when I didn't subscribe.I let my subscription to Guitar World lapse mainly because they are too metal oriented and don't see fit to edit out expletives-which other mags do.I find Vintage Guitar magazine to be the most informative dealing with guitars and in some aspects is better than Guitar Player.

BTW: Back in the 70s and early 80s Guitar Player used to have records made of very flimsy plastic in every issue.Each record contained usually little snipits of recordings from artists that weren't released to the general public.One of their best recordings was of Eric Clapton,Steve Winwood et al playing Little Wing at the Fillmore West,Steve's organ packed it in partway through the song and Eric had to improvise and do a long lead break.

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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.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will subscribe again as I really do miss it and the rates are very reasonable, even for an overseas subscriber.

For those interested in the writings of Jas Obrecht, here's a link to his Blog where he has released a lot of his old Guitar Player articles and some new ones, he's a fantastic writer and researcher. I really enjoy his Blog site, a goldmine of great interviews and historical articles.

http://jasobrecht.com/


Snowy

I used to subscribe to about 7 or 8 Guitar related magazines but I'm down to one or two now. Guitar Player is one of them and I just renewed for a price that was just too good to pass up. It has changed over the years but I still find something of interest in each copy.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

yes i,m subscribed as well and to Vintage guitar---the best

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Music is the spice of life

I have subscribed for about 3 years. Some articles are good, some bad, some of the covers are clearly driven by an advertiser pushing them. You can see in the letters section the following month when that doesn't go over well.

The Petrucci cover and article are pretty good this month. I am quite familiar with John (got to go to dinner with him and Sterling Ball from Music Man a couple years ago). I thought the article was great for people who had never heard of John before. They touched on....but didn't really get into his Berklee days or his insistance on alternate picking (which he drills into our heads in clinics). He really does have a sense of humor about the videos and in person, he can be a bit scary. When he arrived at Guitar Center, Sterling ball kidded that for anyone who bought a Petrucci that night, he'd have John bench press them. I believe he could. His bulking up came from conditioning after a skiing accident. He's a good guy and a very hard worker.

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

I've subscribed off and on for several years, and the last few years I've really been disappointed with the articles. In most cases, the cover articles aren't any longer than three pages, especially if there weren't pictures or advertisements. Some of the writers--Editor Boy Mike Molenda being the worst--try to hard to be clever and obtuse rather than just writing the article. The gear reviews are pretty good, but too short, too.

They also have obsessively tracked, documented and fawned over every sound from Carlos Santana's mouth, guitar or gastronomical system. That overwrought faux mystic hippie must have pictures of the editor doing something with a goat, because they act like every retreaded album and song is equal to his performance at Woodstock.

I continue to subscribe, due to the very reasonable price and the fact that there is a small handful of "nuggets"'in every magazine...just not as many as there were back in the 80's and 90's. Back then, each new issue was an "event"...now it takes me less than a couple of hours to read the whole thing, and I'm generally done with it. I don't go back and read previous issues like I (still) do with the issues and articles from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

I also recently subscribed to Vintage Guitar; two mags into the subscription, I'm very happy...

I will pick up the odd copy of Guitar World off the newsstand (if there is an artist or group that I like featured). I like the length and depth of the articles, but I get tired of the emphasis on metal and "rock and f-ing roll, dude!!". Somebody else mentioned their printing of the profanity, and that bothers me a bit, too; I'm against censorship, but I don't need to hear how Steel Panther's newest "@&$?-ing album is the mother-&$)@-ing-est @&$?! bomb!" I'm not a prude, but the (nearly) pornographic pics of the various bunnies/vixens/tramps with the gear doesn't really help me want to pick up the magazine, either (if I'm looking at a guitar, I don't need her in the picture...) If that attitude and those features were removed, I'd love the magazine (and I would subscribe).

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I am currently subscribed to both Guitar World and Guitar Player magazines. When Guitar World runs out at the end of 2012, I am going to just let it lapse. I will continue to subscribe to Guitar Player - it's much more "in tune" with my own interests. I particularly enjoyed the December cover article: 34 Great Guitars Under $500. I currently own five of them, all bought before I saw the article - what validation!

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I agree and i came to that conclusion years ago about GW. All hype and swearing with little if any substance.

Another thing bothers me about that magazine: these transcriptions! there would be about 6 in every issue why does that bother me? because it's all spoon feeding all the time. Ok that's the way it might be on the record but the artist could probably play it about a dozen other ways too. Not enough attention was ever given as to how to develop real musicianship, just a bunch of transcriptions for people to learn. What about giving musicians the tools to make their own music instead of rehashing a bunch of transcripts learnt parrot fashion?

Guitar players lessons section used to be ace; Howard Roberts column in particular, teaching you concepts not a bunch of licks to be played the same way over and over.

The swearing and profanities is another reason i don't like the GW magazine. There's no need for it but i see it as a pathetic attempt to appeal to the adolescents out there that think that that's in some way cool. It's not.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

I subscribe to Guitar Player and enjoy each issue. I let my last subscription to Guitar World lapse due to their boring articles on all the Metal stuff and the guy's who dress up in the wierd stuff to compensate for their ability to play the guitar.

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OK, I'll hum a little bit, got it now?

Only One...Vintage Guitar...after Guitar Player went downhill after the 90s I let the ones I had lapse, except VG. I do check some of the gear reviews on Guitar Player on line. There was a good one on A vs AB Amps... Here is the link:
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/cla ... ss-ab/5966

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.