British guitar magazines

[guitlouie]

Hello all.  This may seem rather silly to some, but here goes.  I was just at a bookstore with the fam and while they were perusing everything from chemistry books to biographies of Da Vinci, and maybe a Backyardigans book or two,  I, of course was busy finding everything in the store that related even remotely to guitars.  Well, I walked out of there with a British magazine called Guitarist.  It was a little pricey, due probably in part to the emaciated dollar, and it was wrapped in plastic, so I was taking a gamble since I couldn't look at it first.  Well, I got it home and ripped it open, and, well....wow.  This mag is everything that the american mags are not, which is why I don't waste my money on them any more.  I mean they have actual content that relates directly to GUITARS.  It is not some lame, non-nude Playboy rip-off, and they did not have any interviews with cartoon characters, or video game reviews.  The whole thing is about GUITARS, and it is INTERESTING!!!  Most of you are probably like, so what!!???  But here is the thing, I was wondering if any of you Brits out there could tell me if all of your guitar magazines are like this.  Is this even a good one?  What would you suggest?  I would love to look for more of these in my constant quest for guitar geek-dom, so any suggestions are welcome.  As always, sorry that I cannot say in three words what I end up saying in thirty!

 

[misplacedsanity]

I'd say "Guitarist" magazine is the best guitar mag out there. Although I would have to shamefully admit I haven't bought it (or for that matter any guitar mags) for a couple of years. It was a little more expensive than the rest, I don't know whether it still does but it used to come with a CD every month, I got a box full of them in the shed. The CDs were pretty good too, they weren't just full of backing tracks, they had gear reviews, previews of tracks from forth coming albums and interviews on them. Well worth taking a subscription out on.

 

[willyk]

I'm a big fan of Guitarist magazine. I like the UK version better than the Australian edition which is similar but watered down. Most American guitar mags suck canal water IMHO (Sorry Uncle Sam  :doh

 

[lp1958]

Hi,

I live in the uk.  And the best magazine from "my" view point is Guitar Techniques.  It is the sister magazine to Guitarist.
Made by the same people, same company and many are the same contributors.

Guitar Techniques is more concerned with playing the guitar, there are no gear review and less advertisments.
It is mainly intended as a tuitional magazine. It usually has 3 fully tabbed well known pieces complete with full backing tracks and the a series of lessons analyising players styles, methods, genres etc.
The instructors really are fantastic.

It covers a very wide range of genres from country\jazz right through to death metal.

Like I say it is made my the same people as Guitarist but they themselves say that it is aimed a slightly different target audience.
I believe Guitarist is aimed more at the younger players. They certainly tend to have more metal in there and the covered song are usually a bit more up to date.  (Saying that my first Guitarist mag was an Hendrix special)

I know you can get it in the states, but you may have to order it. They are allways doing free stuff with reduced prices for US subsribers.

It's really down to what you want from your mag. 
If you want to read about guitars and gear and play modern music Guitarist wins hands down.
I've tried Guitarist and it's not really for me.  Where as Guitar Techniques has really bought my playing on no end.

There both very good,  just different.

As for American mags I can't comment as I've never seen one.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Have to pretty much agree with lp1958 in what he says. I've got piles and piles of Guitarists, Guitar Techniques and (not mentioned so far) Total Guitar. The latter sort of combines the two already mentioned and is roughly half gear and half technique. Most of them I carry back from the UK to here in Riyadh, but I sometimes have to buy them in Bahrain (no chance here) at twice the UK cover price  :sad: I need my fix though...

 

[jimh]

I'm a subscriber to Guitarist magazine, and have it delivered to my door by my friendly postman every month.

In my opinion Guitarist along with Guitar Techniques, like LP mentioned, are by far the best guitars mags out there.  Again, IMHO they beat the pants off the American stuff.  They do have adverts, but they dont let them get in the way of the very in depth reviews. and techniques / lessons.

Each month you get a CD-ROM (which will also play in a regular CD player), which contains audio snippets to play along with the lessons, gear demos, and very often on the CD-ROM section they'll do video demos, so you can actually see the guy playing the guitar and tweaking the amp at the same time to see how he's getting 'That Sound'.  Also they often have a video specials.  Last month Monte Montgomery (check him on YouTube if you've never heard of him) was awesome.  They have pro guys (Steve Lukather, Andy Timmons, Joe Bonamassa, etc) taking you through their rigs, and demo their guitars so you can see how the big guys do it.

Great Mag, it is more expensive than many of the others, but it's worth it.......get a subscription.

My tuppence

 

[lp1958]

Have to pretty much agree with lp1958 in what he says. I've got piles and piles of Guitarists, Guitar Techniques and (not mentioned so far) Total Guitar. The latter sort of combines the two already mentioned and is roughly half gear and half technique. Most of them I carry back from the UK to here in Riyadh, but I sometimes have to buy them in Bahrain (no chance here) at twice the UK cover price  :sad: I need my fix though...

I forgot about Total Guitar.  It's put together by the same people.  Again it's very good, just aimed at a slightly different audience.

They are all distributed by future publishing>

http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/store/searchresults.asp?sid=2735&custid=03@07@200845609@893090326&search=guitar

I think last month new state-side subsribers were getting a free distortion pedal

 

[Wyliee]

+100. 

Guitarist and Guitar Technique are great magazines.  Yes, they are a bit expensive on this side of the pond.  I usually pick one or both up at the bookstore a couple times a year.  There's plenty of material in a single issue to keep one practicing for a long time.

 

[guitlouie]

Well, a big ole cheers to all!  Thanks for the replies.  I think I'm going to have to investigate Guitar Technique, sounds like it is even more up my alley.  I'll have to check on the deal with subscriptions cause I am loving this one I picked up.  Like I said before they just seem so much more focused on guitars and guitar playing than the american mags which seem to just jump on every pop culture bandwagon and forget that my old ass is still trying to be a better guitar player.  Thanks guys.

 

[Soloshchenko]

Guitarist is good although I do wish they would tell you when something was good or bad rather than ALWAYS awarding 4or 5 stars.

Guitar techniques is a brilliant magazine with really challenging techniques. This months modern acoustic techniques is brilliant,just amazing.

 

[Ted]

Guitarist is very good. They seem to be getting better and better.

I usually leaf through the latest copy at the local WH Smith, and end up buying it when there's a decent gear review or nice feature like Les Paul special edition or the Flying V at 50 editons etc.

Total Guitar is also OK and aimed at younger guys into metal heavy rock.

Also if you want GEAR only guitar buyer is also good.