Guitar Player has become a wonderfully diverse and intelligent voice and advocate for new, and generally less heard styles and talent. Lately they have featured many terrific artists that are just under the pop culture radar. I find myself running to the computer to check out 4-5 new artists per month based on GP advice. In addition, their features are not glib, puff pieces, but detailed, literate and informed journalism. GP is going way beyond the hip flavor of the month or showing (yet again) some standard Hendrix lick. I think that GP has intelligently responded to the glut of free tab on the internet. There is no longer any need to waste print or editorial space on the Free Bird solo, as you can download the tab in seconds. Instead, they are introducing and championing fantstic players whose work is too difficult or demanding for the average 15 year old tabber. Don't get me wrong there are excellent articles still about legends (Jeff Beck, Satriani, George Benson) but they are now balanced with other talents. GP is definately the thinking guitarists guitar magazine.
Its more than the beginner or mainstream guitarist needs Submitted on: 2005-07-12
I've subscribed to Guitar Player for a little over a year now. It seems like a great magazine that attempts to cover all of the bases of guitar playing. It has reviews and interviews with everyone from pretentious guitar heros to down-to-earth acoustic players and punk rockers. There are quite a lot of ads but they are expected for such a magazine. There are CD reviews based off of the guitarist's aspect also.
Although there are not complete song tabs there is a section that aims to improve aspects of guitar playing taught by acomplished musicians (Rusty Cooley, Robben ford, and some more). I personally prefer this over full song transcriptions because these improve personal playing instead of simply copying what some other muscian has done; thereby leaving room for innovation instead of emulation.
This magazine has a lot to cover, so it tries to be eclectic and thorough. It interviews and examines classic rock, jazz, acoustic, classical and metal guitarists.
This is great for those that are serious about guitar playing. For the casual, MTV based guitar player, Guitar World is probably a better magazine for you.
If you are truely serious about a specific type of guitar playing. You would do better to pick up a magazine solely about your style of guitar playing (ex. Acoustic Guitar magazine).
Pros: A thorough magazine that covers most if not all aspects of guitar playing.
Cons: There are too many ads and the products that are reviewed are generally too expensive for the average guitarist (it's at least too much for me to care)
Better than the rest Submitted on: 2005-04-28
Let me say at the outset that I'm not a big fan of tab. Figuring out songs on your own provides a greater lesson than simply following along with tabs. Besides, there are scores of free tab sites on the web, so if you really need to know how to play a song and can't figure it out on your own or simply don't have the time, get to surfing.
That brings me to one of the reasons I subscribe to this magazine - e.g. the absence of pages and pages of song tabs. In addition to the lack of clutter that comes with tab, I also like the buzz section, the album reviews are excellent, the gear stuff gets a bit much, but what else would a guitar playing magazine feature? Most of all, the articles/interviews are better than the others because they don't seem as juvenile. I get the feeling that Guitar One et al are going for the teen player audience (if you need evidence, check out the Top 200 Guitar Albums issue) and, while GP has altered it's look/feel a bit towards that end, they still remain faithful to their roots. They do have transcriptions, but they are generally single page specifics, not scores of newspaper print pages detailing the latest popular songs.
GP is the best cross-genre guitar magazine on the market for my buck. It could be better, but in order to appeal to a large market, it's impossible to make everyone completely happy.
Guitar product reviewer.... Submitted on: 2005-04-27
Wow...There's a lot to see in this magazine...A lot of product reviews and a lot of advertisements. If You're looking for something to improve your playing, this is not the right source.
Too narrow... Submitted on: 2005-01-28
When I read a magazine, I want it to present different styles of guitar. I want it to teach me new things as well as introduce and review new gear. Guitar Player mag just doesn't cut it. It is a magazine based almost exclusively on rock. It's fine if you're a rock musician but what about the rest of us guitar players (jazz, blues, country, classical, flamenco)? The product reviews are OK but leave much to be desired. In my opinion, this magazine's perspective is too narrow. The guitar has so much to it and this magazine just doesn't show it well.
PS- I've been playing guitar for 21 years (gospel, jazz, fusion, latin). Personally, Guitar One mag is one hundred times better than this magazine.
Wonderful Improvements
Its more than the beginner or mainstream guitarist needs
Guitar product reviewer....
Too narrow...