guitar mags and thier love of th deceased

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lesterpaul

lesterpaul

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Ok let me start off by saying i don't have a problem with th guitarists, i dig everyone of the guys i'm talking about so i'm not slamming them .....what is th deal with the mags and dead guys. the other guitartist in my band and i had this conversation the other day Guitar World especially has like 6 or more major articles and numerous cover photo's on Stevie, Jimi and Cobain every year and mostly its rehashed old articles or what if scenarios . i mean they all broke major ground but ,what happens god forbid that Clapton ,Van Halen or any other big name dies i mean it's gonna end up being "Guitar World of The Dead Guitarists " this month they have a big article on who or what actually killed Hendrix ...then i pick up a copy of Guitar One and there he is on thier cover with the headline "Who Owns Hendrix " my thought was who gives a flip ? I mean even if you're not happy with the current state of up and coming guitarists you still gotta wonder if this is all they have to give us ....Guitar world had like i don't know ten or so pages for the hendrix article ,ZZ Top has a new album out they got like 2 total pages and I don't know why but Stained beat them out for the cover ...just needed to vent ,your thoughts
 
I don't really know why any guitar magazine would dedicate much time to Cobain. Sure, maybe a small blurb of music appreciation, but he doesnt have the calibre for any full blown article in a magazine dedicated to approaching the fretboard.

My take is the editors are struggling with a music industry that doesnt glorify the guitarist as much as they used to. Rock was king for twenty years (60's and 70's), and it was still pretty potent but not as prevalent to the public in the 80's but then not many people listening to the radio since those thirty years heard anything that thought "holy hell.. that smokes! I wanna do that!"
Magazines are struggling with sales just like record companies. So what will bring people back? Nostalgia. I bet statistics show that a cover of Jimi or Randy or Stevie would make people want to read about their favorites of yesteryear.

I've subscribed to GuitarOne for over 15 years. Once upon a time I cherished each issue because it was the only one that would give you tabs to the utmost classics. They maintained their integrity until just a few years ago when the editors changed hands (and the mag got a new look). Now the mag is pretty much garbage filled with really bad guitar puns and an empty promise that "guitar based hard rock is making a comeback" in every lame issue.

I am really considering letting the subscription lapse. I am hesitant because once in a blue moon they have some decent learning material. The Hendrix issue of which you speak has a really interesting article on applying the pentatonic scale pattern to modes and such.

Cy
 
Like it or not, when the Seattle scene died (not just Nirvana, but PearlJam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, etc), most music hasn't be driven by intelligent musicians. Not to say anything out today is bad, I like it ALL, but soon enough things will change. There are some really good underground bands making their way up VERY quickly. Some of them have already broke through, and they will bring their more abstract friends. Its nothing like the music of the 60's or 70's, but its not supposed to be;)
 
I think most of the guitar mags suck. But, I still buy most of them and I'm always going to the used book stores to find old ones. I just don't understand why they don't promote some of the really great players out there like Chris Duartie and others. There are good players making music and turing out there.
 
Problem is there really are not any "Guitar Gods" today. Not like there was 15 years ago, or so. There is alot of really great music today, but I just don't hear solos to much anymore.
...and by the way...
...you are right ...Kurt Cobain was a GREAT artist, but was not a great guitar player. It was him that finally said "drop the flash, it's all about the material"

Although I don't really miss the big guitar solos of the 80's, it would be nice to see some of these newer bands with guitar players that could play.
 
Shitty state of guitar mags...

I'm with Cyrokk & Firebird... I used to love Guitar for the Practicing Musician, they ALWAYS had at least one transcription of a killer song, but the day I read an article about Billy Suck-ass Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, crying about how he didn't like for people to call him a rock star, I dropped or canceled every single guitar mag subscription that I had. And the shit has gone downhill ever since. I have NEVER thought that the SP's were worth a damn, & I still don't. To this day, I have no clue as to how the SP's became the "big deal" that they were. They just plain sucked! As for the whole "Seattle sound" thing, yeah, I liked some of it, esp. Alice in Chains, but on the whole, I was tickled when Nirvana finally petered out. I hate that Cobain had to go & kill himself, he DID have some talent as an artist, but in the end, he was just another in a long line of weak-minded fools who couldn't stand the "pressure" of fame. The last time I bought a guitar mag was about a month ago, & it was GuitarOne, I think, with a whole issue dedicated to Hendrix, whose music I love, but that's probably the only guitar mag I've bought so far this year. I DREAD when EVH or EC passes on, since they both have a certain amount of "Guitar God-dom" about them, but when Lennon died, nobody really covered it to death, or Harrison either, for that matter. Yeah, I know, I'm a long-winded son-of-a... Just my two cents' worth.
PS- You're right Toker, there are NO bands playing very many solos anymore.
 
There are bands playing great solos! You just don't read much about them in the guitar mags. This is what I don't understand. I realize that they have to put someone famous on the cover to sell mags, but they should intraduce readers to the best of the new guys too.
 
All I can say about this thread is...

Amen my brothers!!!
 
I hear ya, Firebird...

... I should have worded that last a little differently. I SHOULD have said that there aren't many bands playing solos at all any more... I remember when Dokken first appeared on the scene, I was a big fan, & all the mags were stroking George Lynch on his solos (I think he even won solo of the year for the solo in "Mr. Scary", but I'm not 100% sure on that due to too many bong hits as a teenager!). I was blown away by his technique, but then, I go back & listen to some of my older faves, like Nazareth (I'm dating myself here!), & I really have to wonder what has happened to rhythm, harmony, & melody in alot of today's music. I don't get the whole Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie/Limp Bizkit/Korn etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum, vibe. I will say that I do like "Dragula", & "Living Dead Girl", why I don't know, but there is something about those songs that is catchy. RIP, Herman Munster! I remember hearing that Korn were the next big thing, so I went to Wal-Mart & picked up their 1st CD, I didn't even make it out of the parking lot, I put that shit out the window & backed over it a couple of times with the duals on my truck to ensure that noone else would ever be subjected to THAT particularly shitty CD again. But I digress.... AGAIN! :D:D:D
 
Hair of the Dog is still a great album. I like alot of todays bands, too. I love Godsmack, Zombie, Linkin Park, and even alot of the "punk" bands (like any band today knows what punk is). But I can't really say I know 1 guitar players name anymore. It's always "they guy from godsmack" or whatever. It is kinda nice, however, to see a band get the spot light instead of just 1 or 2 members. I love Aerosmith, but can only name 2 of them off the top of my head. When GnR was all over the mag covers it was always Slash or Asshole....er...I mean Axl. Never heard those guys insist they "were a band" like say Advil does. (who I hate to admit I like)

Oh well, lost track of my point here.
...really gotta stop smokin' that stuff...hehe.
 
I think that the appeal of a lot of todays music is it's monotoneality. If you want to hear more guitar music you have to look to mordern blues. Listen to people like Robin Ford and Chris Duartie. The electric guitar is full of suttle nuances and the only place I'm hearing it these days is blues.
 
HMMMMM

well i kinda like where this is going but i didn't really mean for it to be about new guys but while some are on the topic of seattle bands who all thinks that ,like them or not, foo fighters kick nirvanas ass ...saw them at city fest in charlotte n.c. last week and man i don't think i've ever had more "fun" at a show ...i mean these guys were having fun and it genuinely was felt in the audience .......peace out
 
I find it hilarious that they even bother to transcribe most of the crap they do nowadays. If you can't figure out how to play "Come as you Are" by Nirvana with your ear, maybe you should get your ears checked. A lot of Korn stuff is along the same lines, as well as say, Slipknot. Don't get me wrong, I like both Korn and Slipknot, but not for the guitar parts alone, rather the whole damn schebang. Anthrax and Public Enemy were probably the first bands that combined Metal and Rap, ten or fifteen years later we can hear how musical boundaries are being trancended, and the closemindedness of the pure metalhead mentality is either dead, or living under a rock.

I very rarely buy Guitar mags anymore, because either I don't care for what's trancscribed :D, or it is all rehashed crap. I used to find everything rather informative, and while some of the articles are still good, the magazines as a whole are not. It's too bad, because when I was younger, I spent a fairly large chunk of my earnings on Guitar mags, but nowadays they aren't worth 2 cents.
 
The main goal of a magazine is to SELL MORE MAGAZINES... whatever it takes..


:confused: :p
 
...Then why don't guitar rags have Groupie Of The Month and centerfolds? :D
 
hixmix said:
...Then why don't guitar rags have Groupie Of The Month and centerfolds? :D
Click to expand...

I'm surprized they dont have more scantely clad women in em....

Like some hot babe straddling a beautiful guitar...LOL...

:D
 
Kelly5150 said:
I'm surprized they dont have more scantely clad women in em....

Like some hot babe straddling a beautiful guitar...LOL...

:D
Click to expand...

"some hot babe straddling a guitar"? I say leave the guitar out altogether. :D
 
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