Whether you are a professional musician or a hobbyist who likes creating playlists and exploring new bands and music, many music magazines can help you do so. If you are overwhelmed with the expansion of music coverage on the internet, pick the best music journal in print or music magazines that they use to launch weekly and monthly. These music magazines cover popular hits and music trends by famous artists and musicians and update readers about budding artists and music. Below is the list of top music magazines by circulation that is worth reading in 2020.

Alternative Press

It is the most deserving music magazines in this niche. Alternative Press has been the champion in covering the underground substitute music right from its conception in 1985. It is the music magazine covering several critical bands, allowing them an early boost in their professional journey.

The magazine also organized an award ceremony back in 2014, and it was a grand success with over 6000 attendees. Initially, they introduced the music magazine as a mimeo punk music magazine, which they chose to distribute at the concerts. They struggled a lot financially in the early decade, but gradually, they have become a pertinent face in alternative music niches.

Billboard

The list of top music magazines won’t be complete without mentioning Billboard magazine. It launched around the time of the 1850s, but it got recognition only after 1895, and since its conception, Billboard is the most dominant player within the industry. Everyone appreciates the music magazine for its assessment in reviews and witty writings, but also accessible for the detailed data that makes it popular for the music world. Recently, the magazine commenced covering the pop music industry and entertaining consumers with pop music hits. It also organizes music awards annually,  and an extensive scale of industry events. The forerunner fruit of Billboard is the Hot 100-roll of most appreciated songs and music.

Entertainment Weekly

This magazine has been into service since the 1990s, and hence it is the novice to the world of the music industry. But it has a broader focus on books, TV, film and video and music and gives access to the writers of EW and reviews, thereby making its cognizance worth reading. Apart from the music industry, EW is the only wholesome US publication that brings the news related to music in tangible form weekly. It also has a dedicated website that has ranked on top 10-favored entertainment news terminus on Google. EW has entertainment consumers, and in 2011 it was listed in 7th position for sought-after entertainment news in the USA. It has millions of readers across the world.

Hits

Hits is a business application for music that they set in motion in 1986. The people who initiated this music broadcasting worked in the music promotion industry. It also has a website that they launched in the 2000s. The music magazine covers the latest rumors and news of the industry and presents an insider viewpoint and irreverent stories. The task of the magazine is to republish the chats from different sources, including Media base. The insiders consider the magazine as one of the best magazines in the music industry.

Mojo

Commenced in 1993, Mojo is a magazine that came into existence by a publisher who delivered us Q. It is the British origin music magazine that has its center of attention only on pop artists and past rock. It has its recognition for issuing the top 100-lists in a wide variety of topics. It has also printed some of the series of approved uncommon revision about the issues, ranging from punk music and Pink Floyd. It doesn’t cover the classical music exclusively, and recently it has obtained acclamation for new coverage on relevant artists. This music magazine has helped encourage the creation of magazine-like Uncut and also covers music critics and musicians' reviews.

Music Week

Music Week is a popular music magazine that is equivalent to Billboard. It is a popular commercial magazine for the UK music industry, and it started publishing the magazine in 1959 as the Record Retailer. They renamed it to Music Week in 1972. Over time, the magazine has absorbed all other competitors in the industry. It has published a diversified range of music charts compiled by the magazine's official map. It publishes 51 music magazines in a year. It compiles its music charts using the data from predictors of new talents and DJs.

NME

It is the popular music weekly from the UK that started publishing its magazine back in 1952. This music magazine is mainly known for its sense of build-up, and all bands are bravoed as the next huge phenomena in the magazine before the release of the recordings. The magazine has its recognition for its dedication to turn on a group, just like it has started to benefit from the magazine’s earlier support. It has become an unbound weekly publication beginning in 2015 September. Because of the alteration in the distribution focus, they have garnered the most massive audiences in the history of a music magazine. They recorded distribution of over 3,00,000-magazines.

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is the successful giant of US music magazines in the rock genre. In the middle of diminishing readership, the music magazine has turned more hostile in the presentation of prime news events and music world festivals. Commenced in 1967, the music magazine has created a full archive that is available for online readers. The music magazine embroiled in some of the significant journalism controversies back in 2014, the magazine covered a rape story on uni-campuses that included the factors and mistakes that were non-verified before publishing. Despite all such controversies, it received 5-star ratings that helped the magazine to carry much influence in the music world.

So, these are some of the top music magazines which are worth following or reading in 2020. Remember, the magazines are published weekly, and you must keep checking for the latest edition of these music magazines online. Most music magazines have their official website where you can read their publication and latest version for free.

Music has no limits as it does not belong to only one region or community. It is spread all around the globe in different forms, languages, tunes, rhythms, and instruments. Every type of music is unique and has its importance that makes it different and stands out of the queue from other styles. From a single note of music, one can create many melodies as this is the specialty of music that everything can be improvised and there is always something new to create and play.

Music binds humanity around the world as the music albums on the top charts are heard worldwide without discriminating between the languages and regions. Some instruments have an ancient origin and they are some of the finest instruments listed to date like tabla, string instruments, etc. These instruments have contributed to the success and widespread of classical music which is the base of every type of music and it is known for its purity and uniqueness. From the simplest to the complicated and unordinary form of music, classical music covers every aspect of musical theory and the one who masters them is given the designation of a maestro. To be in touch with various new and evergreen trends of music, one should subscribe to the best classical music magazines.

Importance of classical music today

If we get into the depth of music, we will find the origin of various music-related terms from the culture prevalent from ancient times. The musical theory is based on the keynotes and ragas which bring the feel and completeness to a melody in the classical approach. In modern times, these keynotes and theories about music are taught to the individuals but somewhere they are kept away from the real classical touch that should be the prime point of concentration for a novice. Such information is greatly explained in the best classical music magazines published with articles and information from various artists and experienced musicians. Not only the music styles prevalent in the Indian subcontinent that is Indian classical music, Bollywood music, and Indian folk music but also western music including Pop, Rock, and Metal music styles have the roots of classical music. These musical roots are the building blocks of current successful music styles.

Some time ago, when there were no automatic and programmed electronic instruments, every part of a song, from instrumental to vocals, from bassline to leadings were recorded while being played in proper sync and timing. Classical music instruments are played as the main supporting ingredient of classical dance styles all around the globe. Names of the various classical composer of western music have emerged to be famous all around the world allowing other musicians to improve, to experiment with their styles in these famous compositions. Listening to classical music has been a stress reliever and a bridge that connect the emotions with the melody. Various classical compositions are so relatable to the human emotions that they were named after those feelings.

Benefits of classical music

• Where other styles like pop, rock, rap, etc. increase the blood pressure of the listener, it was found that listening to classical music maintains the blood pressure levels and helps in lowering the high blood pressure.
• Classical music helps in boosting creativity in work and various arts by calming our minds. This is one of the best ways to fight depression and make people live with a stable mindset.
• Classical music is very helpful in boosting our brain waves and mind activities that strengthen our memory power.
• One of the best characteristics of listening to classical music is its pain-relieving quality. It calms down the chronic pain and with the help of it, an individual uses fewer pain killers and several pain medications.
• It is observed that classical music listeners experience a good sleep as compared to other music styles as classical music have the quality and piousness to induce the body with healthy sleep.
• It is stated by experts that classical music has a calm and relaxing tempo like a normal human heartbeat which reduces the levels of stress and anxiety of the listener.
• To make an individual feel cheered up and pleasure, classical music plays a very important role in the release of dopamine in your brain that keeps you happy and bright.
• It helps in increasing brain power due to the non-disturbing traits of this music style.
• When people get bored doing the same task repetitively, listening to classical music can help in increasing productivity and does not let the mind wander away from the assigned task.

Various magazines are containing a lot of articles and stories about numerous topics and holding an endless discussion kept open for people all around the globe. The editors of the musical magazines keep the main theme of music in their minds and from an article to an advertisement, every content is related to the world of music. Some best classical music magazines also fall in the same category and they provide you with various information you need to know about the trends in music.

Features:

These magazines let us to know about what is happening around the world in the field of music and give us news about the launch of new music albums and where one can stream them or buy them, what are the latest artist rankings on the top charts, when is the next opera or concert of an artist is scheduled and about the venue of the same. Also, there are various upgrades in the famous musical instruments and these magazines cover every essential point that an individual must know. There is a great knowledge for beginners and intermediate music learners and the tips on various topics which will help young musicians excel in the field in music and for making their careers successful in music.

The best classical music magazines are highly recommended to be read at a music school as it provides additional knowledge to the young musicians. There are various campaigns carried out by the magazines to get in touch with music enthusiasts and spread the energy and goodness of music all around the world.

There are different ways from which you can learn guitar yourself. There are a number of options such as DVD, CD, books, online membership sites, tablature, teachers and many other options. Among all these, the oldest and the most popular way to learn guitar is from magazines. Guitar magazines are easily available in your nearby market place or any local bookstore. And all those magazines will contain the essential lessons, reviews by important experts, album reviews, interview of famous guitar players, and some of the magazines do contain CD OR DVDs that have video lessons and demonstrations on guitar teaching. Many subscriptions are also available for the different guitar magazines so it is upon you to decide that you want to go for which subscription.

Currently, the most skilled guitarist is Jimi Hendrix.

There are basically 3 types of guitar such as acoustic, electric and bass. And according to the type you can choose that with what type you want to learn and go ahead with.

Few things you need to focus upon before you give a foot forward in learning guitar

• You are under which stage of guitar learning such as beginner, intermediate, or advanced stage.
• You are associated with what style of music like hard rock, heavy metal, blues, or country.
• Things you want to be there in your guitar magazines like tabs, lessons, gear reviews, or album reviews.

Make sure that before you go to buy a guitar magazine focus on the things that you want to be there in your magazine and which magazine will be right for you to use.

Nowadays the guitar magazines have become more guitars oriented and specialized. Now the magazines focus with the acoustic musicians, rock musicians, metal musicians and many more.

These days subscription options are available that can help you in learning guitar with an option of 14 days free trial of guitar teaching. And, after that you can go with the monthly membership and enjoy your learning. Not only this, you can also enjoy some extra features of automatic renewal and cancellation policies.

Best Guitar Websites that you can go through that will help in reaching out with best publication of guitar magazine-

• Ultimate Guitar
• MusicRadar
• JamPlay
• Songsterr
• TrueFire

Here are a list of different guitar magazine publications that will help you out in choosing the right one for you

• Guitar World

Guitar World is currently leading as one of the popular monthly magazine in the market. It contains guitar and bass tablature of mostly around five songs per issue. All the lessons in this magazine are taught according to the levels of beginners and intermediate players. Most of the lessons include tabs and interviews that are in the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal genres. Subscriptions are available for these magazines with a very hefty discount. Also, you can upgrade your subscriptions as per your usage and get a bonus with a cd-rom along with the magazine. These cd-roms include different video lessons, gear demonstrations and music videos from some of the famous guitarists.

• Total Guitar

Total Magazine is also a monthly magazine. It is from UK and is the most famous guitar magazine in Europe. This is the best option for the beginner guitarists to choose as it mainly focuses on the novice which is essential for the beginner guitarists to learn. It also contains Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk, Country and Folk, Blues that are essential things for every stage of guitar learners.

Like other magazines, this magazine does not pay a high focus for articles and expensive gears but rather focus on the basic and important teaching for the beginners. Each magazine from this publication comes with a free CD that contains lessons of audio examples and the best backing tabs for all the different tracks. These backing tabs are essential for the beginners because they have some missing guitar parts so that you can jam along with song and enjoy the guitar playing like a band.

• Guitar Techniques

Guitar Techniques is a top-notch magazine that is associated with same company Total Guitar. It contains a massive amount of lessons that are present in many genres including Rock, Heavy Metal, Blues, Jazz and County. This magazine has a specialization in demonstrating the guitar instructions and the guitar shows along with the different forms of music. It includes CD with backing tracks for the various tabs and examples of introduction lessons. You can enjoy all the advantages present in this magazine starting from the beginner tips to some advanced lessons of soloing. It has mentioned all the correct and different styles used by some amazing guitarists including their exact scales and techniques. They will provide you the tabbed examples so it will be convenient for you to catch and play it easily.

The list of current famous guitar magazines that you must know

• Guitar World Magazine
• Premier Guitar Magazine
• Guitar Player Magazine
• Acoustic Guitar Magazine
• The Guitar Magazine
• Guitar Chalk
• Bass Player Magazine
• Vintage Guitar Magazine
• Guitar International Magazine
• Classical Guitar Magazine

You can also learn the techniques of different guitar players such as-

• Randy Rhoads
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• BB King
• Chuck Berry
• Robert Johnson
• Eric Captain
• Eddie Van Halen
• Jimmy Page

The list of best guitars that you can buy

• PRS SE Custom 24
• Gretsch G2622 Streamliner
• PRS S2 Standard Singlecut Satin
• Fender Vintera ‘60s Telecaster Bigsby
• Yamaha Pacifica 112V
• Ibanez RG550
• Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top Pro

Now, on the basis of all these different magazines and guidelines, you can easily choose and differentiate among all the types of magazines and go with best magazine that suits your current need.

If someone is looking for a general guitar oriented magazine then Guitar Player Magazine will be the best option to go with. And if you are looking for any particular feature or aspect of playing then there are more advanced and specialized magazines available in the market.