Guitar World is a monthly
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
devoted to
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
s. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass
tablatureTablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year (12 monthly issues and a holiday issue). Formerly owned by
Harris PublicationsHarris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, XXL, King, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Men's Workout, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and...
,
Future USFuture US is a United States media corporation specializing in targeted magazines and websites in the video games, music, and technology markets. Future US is headquartered in the South San Francisco with offices in New York City and Los Angeles...
bought the magazine in 2003.
The magazine debuted in July 1980, with
Johnny WinterJohn Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
appearing on the cover. In its year history,
Guitar World has had interviews with many notable guitarists in rock, including
Keith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
,
Alex LifesonAleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
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Ritchie BlackmoreRichard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
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Jeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
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Brian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
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Arthur RhamesArthur Rhames was a guitarist, tenor saxophonist, pianist and melodica stylist, Krishna devotee, and a legend of New York City avant-garde jazz.-Biography:...
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Al Di MeolaAl Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...
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John FruscianteJohn Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...
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Steve MorseSteven J. "Steve" Morse is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his work in the hard rock band Deep Purple since 1994. He began his career to form the unique styled instrumental rock band Dixie Dregs in the 1970. Morse's musical inspiration comes from country, funk, jazz fusion, and...
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Robert WardRobert Ward was an American blues and soul guitarist. He was known for founding the Ohio Untouchables, the band that later would become the Ohio Players...
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Jimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
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David GilmourDavid Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
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Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
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Synyster GatesBrian Elwin Haner, Jr. , better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American musician, best known for being the lead guitarist of the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold.-Early life:...
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Joe SatrianiJoseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
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Steve VaiSteven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
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SlashSaul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
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Neal SchonNeal George Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist best known for his work with the band Journey. He is the only member to have recorded on all of Journey's albums...
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Tony IommiAnthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
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Steve HoweSteve Howe is the name of:*Steve Howe , progressive rock guitarist*Steve Howe , former major league pitcher...
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Angus YoungAngus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
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Zakk WyldeZachary Phillip Wylde , best known by the stage name Zakk Wylde, is an American musician, songwriter, and occasional actor who is best known as the former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society. He was the lead guitarist and vocalist in Pride & Glory,...
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Allan HoldsworthAllan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
and
Eddie Van HalenEdward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
, who has been featured on the cover 16 times, and twice on subsidiary magazine
Guitar Legends.
In the January 2005 issue,
Guitar World began selling some issues of the magazine with CD-ROMs containing video lessons, gear demonstrations and other self-produced and third-party content. Magazines that contain the disc sell for $7.99 USD rather than the standard issue price of $4.99. Each issue originally came with a
centerfoldThe centerfold of a magazine refers to a gatefolded spread, usually a portrait such as a pin-up or a nude, inserted in the middle of the publication, or to the model featured in the portrait...
poster of an artist or group featured in the magazine for that month, however, these are no longer included (magazines have stayed full price). In 2007
Guitar World started to produce a new
DVD magazineA DVD magazine is a magazine that collects most of its content on DVD, or is issued in a DVD-only format. It was invented by Isak Bini who published the first DVD magazine: City and You DVD magazine...
Guitar World presents...Guitar DVD
As of the January 2009 issue,
Guitar World is including columns from its now defunct sister magazines
Guitar One and
Guitar World Acoustic.
Some of the columnists include:
- Shred Alert by Paul Gilbert
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American guitarist. He is well known for his technical guitar work with Racer X and Mr...
of Racer X
- The Alchemical Guitarist by Richard Lloyd of Television
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
- Time to Burn by Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is a guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. His work has encompassed many genres, notably metal and its subgenres. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003...
- Practice What You Preach by Eric Peterson
Eric Peterson is an American guitarist. He is best known as the only constant member of the US thrash metal band Testament. Eric has also formed a side-project black metal band called Dragonlord, in which he plays guitar and also sings. In Testament, Eric was originally a rhythm guitarist while...
of TestamentTestament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
- Left-Hand Path by Ihsahn
Ihsahn is a Norwegian composer, guitar, bass, keyboard player and vocalist. He is best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Emperor. He has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, up until March 4, 2006, played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel , and now devotes himself to his solo project,...
of EmperorEmperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...
- All That Jazz by Vic Juris
Victor E. Jurusz, Jr., known professionally as Vic Juris is an American jazz guitarist.Juris played with Lyn Christie early in the 1970s and made his first recordings with Eric Kloss in 1975. Soon after he joined Barry Miles 's group, remaining with Miles well into the 1980s...
- Talkin' Blues by Keith Wyatt
Keith Wyatt is a Los Angeles-based guitarist, educator performer, teacher, writer, and developer of music curriculum and educational media. Since 1996, Wyatt has toured and recorded with renowned LA-based “American Music” group The Blasters and is featured on 4-11-44...
- Hole Notes by Dale Turner (songwriter)
Dale Turner is an American singer-songwriter, rock musician, and multi-instrumentalist/record producer, noted for his sophisticated songcraft, quirky vocal arrangements, and adventurous guitar work. Queen-meets-Mr...
- Dominion by Mark Morton
Mark Duane Morton is the lead guitarist of the American groove metal band Lamb Of God.- Before Lamb of God :Morton grew up near Williamsburg, Virginia. His first band was Axis, which was composed of other local youth, one being Ryan Lake of Alabama Thunderpussy fame. Morton played rhythm guitar...
of Lamb of GodLamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler...
Notable Contributors
- Charles R. Cross
Charles R. Cross is a journalist and author of seven books based in Seattle. He was the Editor of The Rocket Magazine in Seattle for fifteen years during the height of the Seattle music mania. He is also the founder of Backstreets Magazine, a periodical for fans of Bruce Springsteen, and editor of...
: features writer; acclaimed music author (including Heavier Than HeavenHeavier Than Heaven is the name of a 2001 biography of musician Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the grunge band Nirvana. It was written by Charles R...
, which details the life of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.)
- Alan Paul (author)
Alan Robert Paul is an award-winning journalist, author, musician and blogger.-Biography:Paul was born September 7, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska...
: Managing Editor (1991-1996), Online Editor (1996-2003), Senior Writer (1996-current).
External links