Uni work help? ERG magazine project

[vampiregenocide]

So for my Journalism degree, I'm designing a magazine, specifically a magazine for extended range guitars. As part of the project, I need to do some research to back up my designs, and seeing as the subject matter is relevant I thought I'd ask you guys for help.

The questions are as follows, tick the corresponding boxes for each one. Also, feel free to leave extra comments regarding what you'd like to see in a magazine for extended range guitars. Just try to keep comments in good English and without swearing.

Cheers in advance!


A - Which of these names do you prefer?
1 - X-Tended
2 - ERG Player
3 - Extended Guitarist

B - What sort of music would you like it to include?
1 - Metal music only
2 - Metal and Jazz
3 - Any music

C - What sort of instruments?
1 - Extended range guitars
2 - Extended range guitars and basses
3 - Any extended range stringed instruments

D - What sort of look for the magazine?
1 - Traditional, classic – Guitarist, Revolver magazine
2 - Modern, stylish – Guitar Player, Zero Tolerance magazine
3 - Modern, gritty – Terrorizer, Metal Hammer magazine

E - What sort of colours?
1 - Aggressive – black, red etc
2 - Neutral – white, gray, light colours
3 - Cool – blues, greens

F - What sort of design for the features?
1 - Simple – white background, black text, a bit of colour and photographs if necessary
2 - More graphics – few plain white pages, simple coloured vector designs
3 - Graphic heavy – lots of graphics and textures relating to individual features.

[Don Vito]

Originally Posted by vampiregenocide

3 - Extended Guitarist

[vampiregenocide]

God dammit. XD I didn't even realise. To be honest, I'm mostly tossing up (DON'T SAY A WORD) between the other two, so I just threw that one in as a third choice for shits and giggles.

[morbider]

Submitted my answers.

Graphic heavy is a must to ensure I keep the high levels of GAS going.

[vampiregenocide]

Don't forget, if you have any other opinions on it outside of these questions, feel free to say. I could use more quotes. Thanks guys.

[AngstRiddenDreams]

This is a really great idea man, i'd love to see it happen!!! Are baritone guitar players included as well? I myself consider them to also be extended range, though some may not.

[AnarchyDivine88]

This is awesome man, what a cool project. Judging from the poll results, it seems like we're mostly on the same page, which is good because that might make the decisions easier for you.

1 - X-Tended

That doesn't sound like the thing you mean on the bright side you can rent ad space to male enhancement pill companies and get some revenue.

I went with "ERG Player", because it sounded the least like it had anything to do with penises.

E - What sort of colours?
1 - Aggressive – black, red etc
2 - Neutral – white, gray, light colours
3 - Cool – blues, greens

When I last looked at the poll results, these 3 were all tied, so I guess it's gonna have to be an ugly ass rainbow colored magazine. This combined with the new male enhancement ads is really not looking good for you, man, it's starting to look like a whole other type of magazine.

3 - Graphic heavy – lots of graphics and textures relating to individual features.

Because you know we ERG players need our pr0n

EDIT: To be clear, I mean guitar porn. I guess I've ruined yet another magazine.

[MFB]

Originally Posted by vampiregenocide

A - Which of these names do you prefer?
3 - Extended Guitarist

B - What sort of music would you like it to include?
3 - Any music

C - What sort of instruments?
3 - Any extended range stringed instruments

D - What sort of look for the magazine?
2 - Modern, stylish – Guitar Player, Zero Tolerance magazine

E - What sort of colours?
2 - Neutral – white, gray, light colours

F - What sort of design for the features?
1 - Simple – white background, black text, a bit of colour and photographs if necessary

This

[MFB]

Ah shit, just realized I chose the wrong thing and voted wrong too Meant to do ERG Player and STILL picked Extended Guitarist. Whoops.

[vampiregenocide]

Thanks for the help so far guys. Keep the comments and votes coming. I'd like to finish this by the end of the week and gather the results.

[ghstofperdition]

A - Which of these names do you prefer?
1 - X-Tended
(Despite the fact that it sounds like a male enhancement pill, it's the most unique and stand-outish of the bunch. You want that in a mag)

B - What sort of music would you like it to include?
3 - Any music
(Metal and Jazz are not the only genres that can benefit from ERGs)

C - What sort of instruments?
2 - Extended range guitars and basses
(I suppose other instruments could be put in here, but I'd like the focus to be on guitars and basses since that's pretty much most of what I care about. I hate when guitar mags start doing articles on singers and shit. It just feels way to OT to me)

D - What sort of look for the magazine?
2 - Modern, stylish – Guitar Player, Zero Tolerance magazine
(Stay classy, but not too old-school)

E - What sort of colours?
1 - Aggressive – black, red etc
(I'd want a mix of 1 and 2 though. Extreme colors only is a bad idea if you're going for a modern, classy look)

F - What sort of design for the features?
3 - Graphic heavy – lots of graphics and textures relating to individual features.
(Especially on things like learning licks and whatnot. I wanna be able to see the guitarists and how they play things and why, and plain text simply doesn't show that. Plus nothing evokes GAS like guitar pr0n pics)

[MFB]

I feel like with pages that have tablature and such, a two page spread is best so that on one side you're getting the raw text and notes to see how it's played and you can transpose it to wherever you want on the board if possible; while on the other page you can have pictures of the guitarist doing it, as well as potentially showing the rig/gear they use and little shit like that.

[ghstofperdition]

+1. I like seeing pics of how it's done in addition to the text/tab. Plus a few pics of amp/pedal/guitar settings would be awesome too.

[vampiregenocide]

Any ideas on the specific visual style of the magazine you'd like to see? And what sort of features would interest you?

[MFB]

My guess is for features everyone's gonna say different artist featured each month, but with probably more of a focus on what they're using and why, with the band coming second to that. I mean, we all know what the band is doing, but why an artist chooses to use a certain piece of gear, or why they may have switched endorsements/begun using another brand more while still signed on with another, etc etc... We can all see what the band is doing, but why an artist chooses certain gear/sounds, and how that can influence the writing process/music is a whole different story.

[Deadnightshade]

A - Which of these names do you prefer?
3 - Extended Guitarist and 00's hair metal




B - What sort of music would you like it to include?
3 - Any music but not 8 string country




C - What sort of instruments?
3 - Any extended range stringed instruments (but not baritone guitars or basses that's range shifted down,dummypants!)



D - What sort of look for the magazine?
2 - Modern, stylish – with check shirts




E - What sort of colours?
2 - Neutral – white, gray, light colours (anyways something that's easy to the eye)




F - What sort of design for the features?
2 - More graphics – few plain white pages, simple coloured vector designs again as long as it's easy to the eye.Also boobs.

[ghstofperdition]

Visual style? Something edgy, yet classy. Going the "terrorizer" route would be too much, but you don't wanna be bland either. Moderation of both would be ideal.

As for features:
- I'd want some tabs of current bands/artists that use 7, 8, 9, + string guitars and 5,6,7,8,+ string basses.

-One thing that made me hate Guitar World magazine more than anything was putting the same artist from 20 years ago on the cover over and over and over again. Try and stay current with the "scene" and do some research on brand new bands in addition to more established ones

-Photos/posters of a select guitarist is always cool. I kind like littering my practice area/room with pics of the greats that inspire me. Plus it's a great way to cover the holes I've made in the walls out of frustration.

-In depth articles with well thought out questions. Some humor is good too, provided it doesn't detract from extracting info from the band

-A section that has CD reviews.

-Articles on up and coming bands/artists. I like learning about new guys all the time and helps keep me current on things.

-Maybe a small section about local-level artists/bands from different cities that are unheard of and top-notch

-Reviews of new gear that's out. And please don't make it about stuff that costs like ten grand. Reviews of budget-pro level guitars are good, with a few customs thrown in for diversity. Stuff for the average working man and not Daddy Djenting Warbucks would appeal to me

-A section with a couple new recording tips each mag would be tops!

I'll think of more later when I'm not having a complete brainfart.

Edit:

-Oh and please make the tabs diverse. Having like one prog rock artist and then 4 djent bands and zero jazz guys would make me toss the mag in frustration. I like learning new things from most genres as all of it would really help improve me as a guitarist.

[MFB]

Maybe even include X amount of bass tabs for either the same songs that you're putting in for guitar, or just the same amount of tabs for bass PERIOD; since this is obviously catered to both crowds of the extended crowd.

Adding to what Jess said : both reviews of CD's either local or world-wide release would be good, as well as an up-and-coming section for the same thing. There's probably dozens of bands that have good music out and a label doing small tours as openers, but it's tough to remember them after they leave your city unless you remember to look them up - which after a kickass concert, you wanna go home, sleep and then wake up and shower so it's likely you'll forget. So maybe a review for bands that'll be coming around, as well as bands not from the area that are lesser known, and local bands that haven't quite gotten that "big break" yet but are looking and ready.

I'd say have one totally non-sensical section for artists as well, or just done by what would be the "magazine staff" if they existed. Stupid shit that is so out there and barely even makes sense and the responses can be the exact same way.

And yes, good GOD cover variation

[vampiregenocide]

Thanks everyone for the help so far, I'll be closing this up tomorrow as I'm doing a presentation on Tuesday and need to collect the data, so if anyone hasn't voted or has an opinion they'd like to share, if you could do it before then I'd be grateful.

[vampiregenocide]

Okay I'm opening this back up again as my presentation is not until next week and I need more opinions.

I also need to know this, what of these magazines do you read? (one from each section, if you don't read any of them just say which one you'd most likely read)


Guitar World
Total Guitar
Guitar Player
Guitarist
Guitar & Bass Magazine

Kerrang
Metal Hammer
Terrorizer
Zero Tolerance
NME
Decibel

[AngstRiddenDreams]

Guitar World.

[AnarchyDivine88]

Guitar World and Guitar Player

[ilyti]

Guitar Techniques is the only one that matters.

[Xiphos68]

A: ERG Player.

B: Any Music.

C: Any instruments.

D: Modern (Clean looking)

E: Stylish (Cool)

F: Graphic Heavy is cool when done well.

Personally I like a ERG gutiar magazine that includes not only guitars (even though it's mostly based on it), but other instruments as well. Like there is many tapping instruments, and etc. But a good classy looking magazine is something I like to read.

I'm sure you'll do well Ross! Good luck with this and I can't wait!

God Bless, Xiphos68

[JStraitiff]

"Extended Guitarist" sounds dirty