Total Guitar
Encyclopedia
Total Guitar is a monthly magazine
based in the United Kingdom. The magazine is the best selling guitar
magazine in Europe.
The magazine is owned by Future Publishing
, who publish many other magazines ranging from drums and video games to mountain bikes and knitting magazines.
Total Guitar regularly contains tablature
for rock
, acoustic
, punk, Blues, Classic rock and Metal, as well as detailed profiles of guitarists and their specific techniques and playing styles. Total Guitar is aimed at players who would like to learn how to play guitar, with dedicated beginner tutorials in acoustic and electric guitar, as well as helping those who can already play guitar to develop their playing style and learn new techniques and songs.
Total Guitar is mainly focused on tuition, but also has an expert gear reviews section that looks at the latest guitar equipment including guitars, amplifier
s, pedals and accessories. Total Guitar also secures many exclusive interviews with guitarists from all kinds of genres and levels of playing, and has an in-depth features section.
The Learn To Play section of Total Guitar covers songs from beginner level through to intermediate. The magazine also comes with a free CD in each issue that contains backing tracks and demonstration tracks to accompany the magazine's tablature and regularly features Video Lessons and Guest Lessons with a variety of guitarists. The magazine has also featured a DVD edition in two of the issues. Total Guitar has the largest amount of tablature in each issue of any other UK and European based guitar mag.
2010's line-up of Guest Lesson columnists so far Total Guitar include Australian fingerstyle player Tommy Emmanuel
, blues
player Joe Bonamassa
and metal guitarist Zakk Wylde
. There have been guest spots from various other popular guitarists in Total guitar
over the years, such as Brian Setzer
, Joe Trohman
of Fall Out Boy, Mick Thompson
and Jim Root
of Slipknot, John 5, Synyster Gates
and Zacky Vengeance
of Avenged Sevenfold, Alex Skolnick
, Marty Friedman, Joe Satriani
, Wes Borland
, Matt Tuck and Michael Paget of BFMV
, and Matt Heafy
and Corey Beaulieu of Trivium.
The magazine celebrated its 200th issue in April 2010, with Jimi Hendrix on the cover.
Total Guitar has launched its new-look website, featuring practical features, reviews, tips, song index for tabs in back issues and guitar news stories and interviews www.totalguitar.co.uk/
Magazine
Magazines, 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...
based in the United Kingdom. The magazine is the best selling guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
magazine in Europe.
The magazine is owned by Future Publishing
Future Publishing
Future plc is a media company; in 2006, it was the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, automotive, cycling, films and photography. Future is the official magazine company of all three major games console manufacturers...
, who publish many other magazines ranging from drums and video games to mountain bikes and knitting magazines.
Total Guitar regularly contains tablature
Tablature
Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
for rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
, punk, Blues, Classic rock and Metal, as well as detailed profiles of guitarists and their specific techniques and playing styles. Total Guitar is aimed at players who would like to learn how to play guitar, with dedicated beginner tutorials in acoustic and electric guitar, as well as helping those who can already play guitar to develop their playing style and learn new techniques and songs.
Total Guitar is mainly focused on tuition, but also has an expert gear reviews section that looks at the latest guitar equipment including guitars, amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
s, pedals and accessories. Total Guitar also secures many exclusive interviews with guitarists from all kinds of genres and levels of playing, and has an in-depth features section.
The Learn To Play section of Total Guitar covers songs from beginner level through to intermediate. The magazine also comes with a free CD in each issue that contains backing tracks and demonstration tracks to accompany the magazine's tablature and regularly features Video Lessons and Guest Lessons with a variety of guitarists. The magazine has also featured a DVD edition in two of the issues. Total Guitar has the largest amount of tablature in each issue of any other UK and European based guitar mag.
2010's line-up of Guest Lesson columnists so far Total Guitar include Australian fingerstyle player Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
player Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist and singer.-Early life:Bonamassa was born and raised in New Hartford, United States. His parents owned and ran a guitar shop. He is a fourth-generation musician...
and metal guitarist Zakk Wylde
Zakk Wylde
Zachary 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,...
. There have been guest spots from various other popular guitarists in Total guitar
Total Guitar
Total Guitar is a monthly magazine based in the United Kingdom. The magazine is the best selling guitar magazine in Europe.The magazine is owned by Future Publishing, who publish many other magazines ranging from drums and video games to mountain bikes and knitting magazines.Total Guitar regularly...
over the years, such as Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York...
, Joe Trohman
Joe Trohman
Joseph Mark Trohman is an American musician. He is best known as the guitarist of the Chicago-based pop punk band Fall Out Boy, as well as the lead and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things.-Early life:...
of Fall Out Boy, Mick Thompson
Mick Thompson
Mick Thompson is an American banker and politician from Oklahoma who is currently serving as the State Banking Commissioner for the State of Oklahoma. Thompson was initially appointed by Governor of Oklahoma David Walters in 1992, and reappointed by Governor Frank Keating in 1996 and 2000...
and Jim Root
Jim Root
James Donald "Jim" Root , also known by his number #4, is an American musician known for being the rhythm/lead guitarist of the heavy metal band, Slipknot, and the lead guitarist for rock band, Stone Sour...
of Slipknot, John 5, Synyster Gates
Synyster Gates
Brian 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:...
and Zacky Vengeance
Zacky Vengeance
Zachary James Baker, better known by his stage name Zacky Vengeance, is the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American metal/rock band Avenged Sevenfold.-Biography:...
of Avenged Sevenfold, Alex Skolnick
Alex Skolnick
Alexander Nathan Skolnick is an American jazz and metal guitarist. He was a member of the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament from 1983 until his departure in 1993...
, Marty Friedman, Joe Satriani
Joe Satriani
Joseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
, Wes Borland
Wes Borland
Wesley Louden Borland is an American musician and artist, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit. He has been in several other bands as well including: Black Light Burns, The Damning Well, Goatslayer, Big Dumb Face, and Combichrist...
, Matt Tuck and Michael Paget of BFMV
Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matt Tuck , Michael Paget , Jason James , and Michael Thomas . They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana...
, and Matt Heafy
Matt Heafy
Matthew Kiichi "Matt" Heafy is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the American Metal band Trivium. Heafy is also the vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof.-Biography:Heafy is Japanese from his mother...
and Corey Beaulieu of Trivium.
The magazine celebrated its 200th issue in April 2010, with Jimi Hendrix on the cover.
Total Guitar has launched its new-look website, featuring practical features, reviews, tips, song index for tabs in back issues and guitar news stories and interviews www.totalguitar.co.uk/
Personnel
The magazine's current team is:
Editor - Stephen Lawson
Deputy Editor - Claire Davies
Music Editor - Chris Bird
Reviews Editor - Stuart Williams
Deputy Art Editor - John Blackshaw
Staff writer - Matt Parker
Production Editor - Lucy Rice