 | |
 Cover of the January 2025 issue | |
| Categories | Music magazine (guitar focus) |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Total circulation (December 2012) | 129,840[1] |
| First issue | July 1980 |
| Company | Harris Publications (1980–2003) Future US, Inc. (2003–2012, 2018–present) NewBay Media (2012–2018) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
| Website | guitarworld |
| ISSN | 1045-6295 |
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine forguitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980.Guitar World, the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States,[2] contains original artist interviews and profiles, plus lessons and columns withtablature and associated audio files or videos, gear reviews, news, and exclusive tablature for guitar and bass of three songs per issue. The magazine is published 13 times per year, including 12 monthly issues and a holiday issue, byFuture plc. Damian Fanelli has beenGuitar World's editor-in-chief since June 2018.
Stanley Harris, a New York magazine publisher, launchedGuitar World magazine in July 1980. The magazine's debut issue featured bluesmanJohnny Winter on the cover and included pieces on theAllman Brothers Band,George Thorogood andpedal steel guitars.[3]Guitar World's debut issue was only 82 pages, had a very small staff and budget and was not published on a monthly schedule for about the first 12 years of its publication.
By 1984,GW began to multiply with spinoffs and offshoots becoming a large part of its focus as ownership looked to expand its reach into other markets and demographics. The same year,Guitar Heroes, a one-shot guide to more than 100 of the greatest guitar players of all time, was published. In early 1992, the idea was revived as the semiannualGuitar World Legends, but with one major change: each issue was conceived as a tribute to an artist or genre, and included pastGW interviews, lessons, equipment guides, rare photos and more.
As former editor-in-chief Brad Tolinski wrote in the magazine's 40th-anniversary issue, "It was a decent start, but the design and editorial content was still a bit lackluster. If you compared it to an amp,GW's first few issues were a sturdy 40-watt tweed combo, when what Harris really wanted was a row of 100-watt Marshalls."[4]
Dennis Page, an advertising rep enlisted to handle the business end of the new magazine, hired a new editor-in-chief, Noe Goldwasser, also known as Noe Gold; Gold had his ear to the metal underground, printing the first of many cover stories withEddie Van Halen. He edited several landmark issues in the magazine's first decade, includingGW's fifth anniversary issue in 1985, which featured a cover-to-cover celebration ofJimi Hendrix; and a July 1986 tribute toLed Zeppelin'sJimmy Page, featuring a 15-page interview with the reclusive legend, along with early note-for-note transcriptions of Page solos toStairway to Heaven andRock and Roll.
When Gold left the magazine in 1988, he was replaced by editor-in-chief Joe Bosso and executive editor Matt Resnicoff. The two had divergent tastes in music with Bosso preferring covering rock 'n' roll artists and Resnicoff preferring jazz-fusion devotee, leading to a split-personality approach in the magazine's coverage. As publisher Page said, "For a time the magazine lost its way. We started including a lot of jazz, which our readers didn't care about. I knew the key was for us to get younger, not older."
In 1989, when Tolinski was asked to step into the magazine's lead role. "One glance at the May and June 1989 issues sums up the story," Tolinski wrote in 2020. "On one cover, a rather nervous-lookingAllan Holdsworth hides timidly behind hisSteinberger guitar, and on the next,Zakk Wylde explodes with pure animal fury while the headline screams SPECIAL REPORT! THE YOUNG GUNS OF METAL.GW went from black and white to full-on Technicolor."[5]
After the June 1989 issue,GW became a straight-up rock 'n' roll magazine, becoming the publication Stanley Harris and Dennis Page dreamed of – a guitar magazine for "rockers with big hair, tight jeans and pointy guitars." And although rock, hard rock and heavy metal are still coveredGW's pages, country guitarists, roots rockers, blues masters and shredders of all stripes have graced its pages, not to mention its cover.
Tolinski remained with the magazine until April 2015, when he was replaced by Jeff Kitts, who had been onGW's editorial staff since the early 1990s. Kitts was replaced by Damian Fanelli, who has beenGW's editor-in-chief since June 2018;[6] Fanelli had been with the magazine since 2011, originally as its online managing editor,[7] later becoming its managing editor.
In July 2015, a photo ofGuitar World's annual "Gear Guide" featuringDeerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki in abikini placed next to a copy ofShe Shreds, a magazine dedicated to female and non-binary guitarists, went viral on the internet.[8][9][10]
Following criticism from the magazine and its readers,Guitar World's publisher, New Bay Media, announced in April 2016 that it would stop using women in bikinis on the covers of their annual "Gear Guides".[10][11][12][13] This practice was further called out bySt. Vincent (Annie Clark), who appeared on the cover of the magazine's January 2017 issue in a bikini t-shirt. Clark was the first woman to appear on the cover since Joan Jett in May 2015.[14][15]
GW's first official sister publication wasGuitar School, which debuted in 1989 and foundered in 1997 shortly after its name was changed toMaximum Guitar. In the summer of 1993GW branched out withCountry Guitar, which morphed intoGuitar World Acoustic and lasted until 2007. Mid-2003 sawGW venturing into the bass market with the premiere ofGuitar World's Bass Guitar, which eventually ceased operation with itsPete Wentz-fronted June 2007 issue.[citation needed]
Second toGuitar World was theGuitar One magazine which was founded in 1998.[16] The second best-selling US guitar magazine which was owned by Cherry Lane Magazines, was sold as part of the company's desire to scale down its magazine roster.[17][18] Both of the magazines were purchased by Future Network in 2003. That year the circulation forGuitar World was 180,000, and for Guitar One was 140,000. The last publication forGuitar One was in 2007. Then what was left was taken up byGuitar World.[16]
In the summer of 2009,GW's editorial staff launchedGuitar Aficionado, a high-end publication designed for players passionate about the finer things associated with the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, including vintage and collectible axes, designer watches and fashion, exotic motorcycles, fine foods and spirits and more. By 2017,Guitar Aficionado had become a casualty of cutbacks resulting from the purchase of New Bay Media by Future PLC.
Revolver, one of the leading hard rock and metal publications still in existence, was conceived asGW's sister publication in 1999. When it hit newsstands in the spring of 2000,Revolver's debut issue contained a unique mix of content, including an oral history of the Doors, a behind-the-scenes look at the Japanese pop scene and members ofSlipknot wearing fashionable men's suits. But perhaps the world wasn't quite ready for such an eclectic combo: after only a few issues,Revolver was retooled and relaunched into the magazine metal fans know today.
While each of these magazines has either been killed off or – in the case ofRevolver – sold to another company,GW is still part of a large family. As a member of Future plc, it callsGuitar Techniques,Total Guitar,Guitarist,Guitar Player andBass Player its sister publications.
GW was published byHarris Publications from 1980 to 2003 and byFuture US from 2003 to 2012.NewBay Media took over from 2012 to 2018,[19] until Future plc re-acquired the magazine in April 2018.[20]
Source:[21]
GuitarWorld.com was first launched in 1994 as the online counterpart toGuitar World magazine.[22] It is run by a separate team to the print publication and posts up-to-the-minute guitar news, features, interviews, lessons, reviews and buyer's guides, as well as select content from the magazine. The site reaches 3.3m users per month.[23] Since 2020, it has become the online home of other Future guitar brands, including UK titlesGuitarist,Total Guitar,Guitar Techniques and US titleBass Player,[24] all of which were formerly hosted onGuitarWorld.com sister siteMusicRadar.Australian Guitar is also part of theGuitarWorld.com portfolio of brands.[25]
DuringGuitar World's NewBay Media era, the site was edited by Damian Fanelli, who is now the print magazine's Editor-in-Chief. Since 2019,GuitarWorld.com's Editor-in-Chief is formerMusicRadar Guitars Editor Michael Astley-Brown.[23]
.svg){kind=logo}