Note to Acoustic Guitar magazine

[emtsteve]

This has been an interesting and informative thread. I do subscribe to AGF having received a nice 3 year rate a while back. I enjoy the magazine. They have a tough task trying to respond to the widely varied audience needs. And I get their needing to not bite that hand that feeds them with advertisers, so I take any gear reviews with a grain of salt. In this new issue, there are lessons that span from beginner to advanced, articles on Billy String and Normal Blake, and an article about a family luthier business. I think they do a nice job being as many things to as many people as possible w/o alienating their money stream (advertisers).

[MinorKey]

Who the heck is Billy String? And the other guy? And that's the trouble with guitar mags. I've never heard of half the artists featured!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I have found this discussion very interesting, having previously subscribed to Acoustic Guitar Magazine. I also want to comment about how much I have always appreciated Doug Young's articles and reviews in past issues of AG. I also appreciate Doug Young's comments here in this thread.

Doug Young is also a huge asset here to the Acoustic Guitar Forum.

Just sayin'...

- Glenn

Appreciate the vote of confidence, Glenn and others!

I'd just say that I know a lot of the writers for Acoustic Guitar personally, and to a one, they are all enthusiastic musicians and interesting people who care a lot about the instrument and music. Writing for AG doesn't make anyone rich, so people do it because they care and want to share and contribute. Most are working musicians, and many are well known.

In the current issue you have contributions from Steve Baughman, Mary Flower, Cathy Fink and Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. AG has had recent articles from - just grabbing a few off my shelf - by Al Petteway, Steve James, Dick Boak, Alex de Grassi, Molly Tuttle, and many more. I don't think any of these people set out to be "underwhelming". If someone finds that what these people contribute to not be good enough, I'd suggest, as I tried to earlier, that they jump in and contribute themselves - help make it better by lending your own expertise.

[birdsong]

I work 40+ hr; I do volunteer work for 3 entities; I travel, sometimes for weeks with no Internet. An 80+ page issue is better for me than 2 at ~40 pg. Thus, I prefer the AGM 6-mo schedule.

Of course, a publishing schedule is not the way to gauge “content”. Of course, it’s page count. And even that isn’t enough. It’s what’s on the pages. As RLetson points out, this is traditionally 1:1, ad copy vs. non-ad copy (in our case guitars and gear). I haven’t studied this in AGM and don’t intend to.
But years ago, page count was in the 30’s I would estimate, maybe some 40’s. Not in the 50’s. I clipped all the stuff I wanted from my stash of 20+ years of AGM and recycled the rest so I can’t say for sure.

As to the question of ‘quality’ - well, it's a slippery slope. I enjoy most of what I read in AGM, although much of it is on the lighter side. I agree with what Doug is saying when he points out that there are two ways to write, and interpret, a review. Are you a good witch or a bad witch (in your interpretation)? That’s up to me as a reader, to understand. Sometimes I chuckle out loud.

And sure, the articles and music provided span the range of experiences which is a tough thing to attempt. The owner/editors are trying to hit many different audience points….. in order to stay alive. It’s a near-impossible achievement (and in the end, they will have to morph into something else I’m betting).

I have done a lot of editing including some for smaller non-profits - we’re always looking for feedback. Such feedback provides that pulse you’re looking for. Whether it’s about content, scheduling, or pricing. All such feedback is read. And while there is a heavy hand at “Tending to the average”, owners and editors are responding to the degree they feel is viable. If enough say the same things, those things will take place. I’m glad to read you sent in your comments. If others did as well, the needle might move.

Doug mentions that some aspects of a guitar may not be known for years. So there’s a topic that an editor might take up – finding someone to review an instrument they’ve had for years. Or at least putting it out to the readers and asking “Is this of interest?”. They send out surveys like this from time to time and I answer them. The editor or owner needs to here of your interests.

I feel they have changed in two ways that I like. The music covered is broader and often more in depth (the author goes deeper into a given song). And the articles about some of the artists are longer. Some remain too brief for my interests but, others are longer for which I am grateful.

Consumer Reports allocates one issue/year, the April issue, to vehicles. So AGM could try this with say “the Gear issue” for a few years and see how it goes (I guess now I need to send a note). Perhaps they could try the “for the advancing guitarist…” once/year.

I’ve greatly enjoyed the various styles of music/songs they are publishing. Many are “out of my style” which is precisely what interests me (a jazz piece, or classical, or blues styling) - and so I’m learning new ways to interact with a guitar, which I incorporate into my “folk” playing. I do appreciate that the lessons now come with an associated video.

It’s not a perfect situation, to be sure. But I continue to subscribe and I too made a little donation last year......

[Benjo]

Originally Posted by MinorKey

Who the heck is Billy String? And the other guy? And that's the trouble with guitar mags. I've never heard of half the artists featured!

A quick visit to YouTube should solve that for you

[hamburg325]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Appreciate the vote of confidence, Glenn and others!

I'd just say that I know a lot of the writers for Acoustic Guitar personally, and to a one, they are all enthusiastic musicians and interesting people who care a lot about the instrument and music. Writing for AG doesn't make anyone rich, so people do it because they care and want to share and contribute. Most are working musicians, and many are well known.

In the current issue you have contributions from Steve Baughman, Mary Flower, Cathy Fink and Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. AG has had recent articles from - just grabbing a few off my shelf - by Al Petteway, Steve James, Dick Boak, Alex de Grassi, Molly Tuttle, and many more. I don't think any of these people set out to be "underwhelming". If someone finds that what these people contribute to not be good enough, I'd suggest, as I tried to earlier, that they jump in and contribute themselves - help make it better by lending your own expertise.

Doug, I certainly understand and appreciate how you can see a glass half full. And I like and respect all the writers and players you mention.

But my critique stands. It's not a just casual bash. It comes from years of watching this magazine struggle to find an authentic voice and some real energy and magnetism.

Underwhelming? Yes, pretty consistently, an opinion shared by others in this thread. Sorry if it stings.

And telling me to go fix it myself is basically telling me to pound sand. Which is pretty much what I expect to hear from AG folks.

[emtsteve]

Originally Posted by MinorKey

Who the heck is Billy String? And the other guy? And that's the trouble with guitar mags. I've never heard of half the artists featured!

Originally Posted by Benjo

A quick visit to YouTube should solve that for you

Surely he doth jest

I've been delving deeply into "the other guy's" catalog so that article was timely. Also the lessons by Mary Flowers are always excellent and right on my level so I enjoy those greatly.

[Street Glider]

This conversation, while interesting to read, will really have little impact. The OP should e-mail his post to the publisher.

If you're not going to bring your concerns to the person who can fix what you see as broken, you can't legitimately complain if those concerns remain unaddressed...

[MinorKey]

Originally Posted by emtsteve

Surely he doth jest

I've been delving deeply into "the other guy's" catalog so that article was timely. Also the lessons by Mary Flowers are always excellent and right on my level so I enjoy those greatly.

No not at all. There's a lot of guitarists and bands I've never heard of. I'm not into country or alt rock or whatever it is.

[hamburg325]

Originally Posted by Street Glider

This conversation, while interesting to read, will really have little impact. The OP should e-mail his post to the publisher.

If you're not going to bring your concerns to the person who can fix what you see as broken, you can't legitimately complain if those concerns remain unaddressed...

I did send to AG.

[rmp]

same could be said for Guitar Player

25/30 years ago, it was really a pretty good subsription. now, it's just no longer offering and appealing content.

if you like LOTS of adds, and articles on people you've never heard or ever plan to listen to,... well.. you're all set.

[emtsteve]

Originally Posted by MinorKey

No not at all. There's a lot of guitarists and bands I've never heard of. I'm not into country or alt rock or whatever it is.

I really thought you were kidding. But it wasn't that long ago and I didn't know who Norman Blake was either, so I get it. Great stuff and foundational to roots, Americana, bluegrass genres. I'm learning too. But wonderful artist. And Billy is newer but very impressive.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by hamburg325

And telling me to go fix it myself is basically telling me to pound sand. Which is pretty much what I expect to hear from AG folks.

Not what I intended at all. You have ideas, and strong opinions, so I'd expect that you would have something to contribute. I can completely understand if you just said "meh, that magazine's not to my taste" and ignore it, but you appear to care enough to speak out, so I'd think you might care enough to also contribute.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by birdsong

Doug mentions that some aspects of a guitar may not be known for years. So there’s a topic that an editor might take up – finding someone to review an instrument they’ve had for years.

That's an interesting idea. I might suggest something along those lines to the AG team. Sort of a "how is this guitar faring after 100 gigs?" kind of thing, maybe. Older guitars do get covered, of course, as part of the "Great Acoustics" that's often on the last page of a magazine. I've also done reviews of guitars I've owned for a while for Peghead Nation, so there I had a chance to at least leverage my time with the guitar to talk about why I still own it after a number of years :-) I just shot one of those, not yet published, on a guitar I've owned for 20 years.

There was a big project some years ago on the topic of "opening up". Someone organized it all, got a bunch of luthiers to build a guitar from the same sets of wood, and did all kinds of measurements and recordings of the results at one of the guitar shows. The idea was that anyone who owned one of those would be encouraged to bring the guitar back to future guitar shows where it would be measured and recorded again, in an attempt to track how they changed tonally over time, in a fairly scientific way. I wrote an article on the project for AG at the time, tho I'm forgetting the names involved at the moment. Unfortunately, I think the whole idea died out, as the people behind it lost interest or otherwise faded away. That was probably 10 years ago, at least, it'd be interesting to follow up on those guitars. Maybe someone on AGF owns one...

[hamburg325]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Not what I intended at all. You have ideas, and strong opinions, so I'd expect that you would have something to contribute. I can completely understand if you just said "meh, that magazine's not to my taste" and ignore it, but you appear to care enough to speak out, so I'd think you might care enough to also contribute.

I do care about acoustic guitar and Acoustic Guitar. I've been along for the ride from day one. I would like to see it get better so it can thrive. I want it to thrive.

My day job is in strategy, copy, and design. I would be happy to help in any way possible. No charge! Doug, let me know your thoughts. Thanks.