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When I first got interested in the idea of learning guitar - about three years before I actually got one(!), I bought the American "Guitar for the Practising Musician" here and there, mostly for things like a Ramones interview. Guitarist was the first UK mag I bought, in July(I think) 1992 - had Tony Iommi on the cover. I bought it for a few years every month, and The Guitar Magazine only occasionally, as the latter was a bit.... eh, I dunno, in those days a bit "ITV" by comparison. That said, it often had very cool stuff in it: I discovered Link Wray through TGM. Guitarist over time became a bit boomer / old fart / lifestyle for me: I got bored of the same parade of Establishment Guitar Heroes like Brian May being on the cover all the time; the reviews became dominated with high-end stuff I couldn't afford, many months any guitar reviewed under two grand was almost inevitably not available left-handed (especially if it was one I actually really liked), and I was never into the teaching bits in it. When they put a CD on the cover and took the price over a fiver, that was the end of it for me. I've still bought it once in a blue moon, but it's rarely one that attracts me now. Total Guitar was just never my bag. TGM over time evolved into Guitar Magazine as we've known it, and the quality really soared. I just a couple of days ago received in the mail a hard copy of their last two issues (I have another somewhere in the house I kept because my letter about Les Paul was printed in it; they made it Star Letter and I was sent a very nice gig bag as a prize; I asked for the bass version and it's now in my office with my Brandoni P bass in it). I'll be sure to savour them now... Hobby magazines do seem to have really suffered at the hands of the web. On the one hand I can see why, but I still mourn the passing of the physical. For kids who have grown up with digital, intangible stuff as a norm I doubt they will care. I suppose I could get used to the digital as long as I had control over it. I did try a couple of digital issues of Guitar, but you can only access them through a proprietary app. I've even seen other hobby mags where you can only access them on a website for as long as you subscribe to that website. I hate that model - I want to buy a copy of a thing once and then own it. Of course, Mrs Marlowe won't mind the digital shift and I do acknowledge that it might not be all bad going forward. I'm a diagnosed clinical depressive with anxiety issues; it's mostly under control these days, but it has in the past manifested in hoarding behaviour, the impact of which we're still dealing with as we clear out the flat. It's probably a good thing if my opportunities to amass more stuff in general are limited. There were two guitar mags around for a bit around twenty years ago that I really miss. One was called Guitar Buyer, and was founded on the principle that it was All Gear. No tutorials, just reviews, as well as the occasional interview with an artist or their tech, which was specifically about their stuff rather than anything more general. Then there was briefly What Guitar?, which would do fab review-types you never saw anywhere else. EVery month they had at least one thing they picked, like Teles or fuzz pedals or whatever - and did a shoot-out with ten of them across a price range. Fantastic way of getting an idea what was out there, the key differences, and what was worth looking into. Again, focused entirely on the gear. Neither of them lasted, I guess there's only so much new stuff a niche market over here wants to read about. I would still love to see a new guitar magazine that was more my bag than TG / Guitarist. Perhaps the answer is to do as The Chap: as they entered the era of magazines costing the price of a novel, they shifted to more of an 'event publication' and now go out quarterly instead of bi-monthly. It's something that I think works very well, makes it a novelty, and shifts away from that thing where at the end of two years at six quid a throw you've got a huge pile of mags you can't really keep, can't sell, and represent a fair whack of saving for one of the guitars you read about... I have a feeling Guitarist could go that way eventually, especially as its cover-price climbs ever higher. I see they don't even have a CD on the cover any longer (inevitably, it'll be on a website now I'm sure). Guitar, FWIW, have transitioned now entirely to their website, so the content is still there, albeit not really the same. I mean, you can take a tablet to the toilet, but it lacks that tactile thing, and for those of us who work on a screen all day....

I was "The Extra Terrestrial".... What can I say, I was twelve...

Remember, Eddie Van Halen held his pick between his thumb and middle finger, so that he could used his index finger for tapping. Whatever works for your style is the right way, don’t be afraid to experiment.

It’s strange but I’ve never really got into the guitar (or bass) mags. I used to get motorbike and car mags regularly but I’ve never really bothered with the guitar titles. In general, I think the magazine sector is now holding on after a period of consolidation. While we may have turned away from printed media for our news, we still like to sit on the loo on a Sunday and read up on our hobbies. Given their reach into commercial radio, I’m surprised Bauer Media don’t have any music or guitar titles. That seems a strange omission from their portfolio. From what I remember of the ones I’ve read, Total Guitar was quite heavily focused on learners and Guitarist is a bit “coffee table, lifestyle” for my taste. That seems to leave a gap in the market for a mainstream review magazine but perhaps that’s the area that YouTube now owns and the only place left for magazines is the high-end, glossy boutique stuff or the “How To Play Sweet Child Of Mine”-type tutorials.

My CB radio handle was 'G-Force'

In my misspent student days, I knew some young ladies, who lived in flat G4 and went by the collective name of 'G-Force'.