After 6 decades, Guitar Player magazine to release final print edition

Oct. 10, 2024 


The publication Guitar Player still will exist online at GuitarPlayer.com, where it will continue to publish digital content about guitars, the people who play them and the stories about both. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Guitar Player, the world's most iconic magazine devoted to all aspects of the guitar and published consecutively for close to six decades, is shuttering its print edition.

The publication still will exist online at GuitarPlayer.com, where it will continue to publish digital content about guitars, the people who play them and the stories about both.

"You have witnessed a revolution," Christopher Scapelliti, editor of Guitar Player for the last half dozen years, said of the glossy print magazine, which has become slimmer in recent years, driven by a drop in ad revenue. Other classic publications have faced a similar demise, largely for the same reasons.

"When Guitar Player made its debut 58 years ago in 1967, it marked a new era for guitar," Scapelliti continued. "For the first time, the instrument was celebrated in a regularly published magazine devoted to furthering guitarists, guitar gear and its makers, and guitar virtuosity. What founder Bud Eastman began laid the first stone of an empire that would go on to launch many other magazines -- including Bass Player, Frets and Keyboard -- publish books, release records and videos, and much more."

Guitar Player magazine ran in print for 57 years.

Its maiden edition in 1968 featured an article about a tall, lanky guy with untamed hair from Seattle, a rogue newcomer to the rock scene who had an uncanny ability to pull sounds out of this electric guitar that few had previously achieved. His name: Jimi Hendrix.

For the final edition, on sale October 15th, Guitar Player will close its storied history with a cover story on former Led Zeppelin guitar master and rock and roll legend Jimmy Page, who recently worked with Gibson to release a $50,000 replica of the double-neck guitar he used on Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." In the piece, Page will discuss re-creating the guitar and the amplifiers he used on the song.

The December issue of Guitar Player, its last, will go on sale next week.