Playing
air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer
pretends to play
rock or
heavy metal-style
electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and
picking motions and is often coupled with loud
singing or
lip-synching. Air guitar is generally used in the imaginary simulation of loud electric guitar music.
Contests
Organized air guitar competitions are regularly held in many countries. The first on-off air guitar competitions have been organized in the early 1980s in Sweden and in the United States. Since 1996 the annual
Air Guitar World Championships contest has been a part of the
Oulu Music Video Festival in
Oulu,
Finland which currently governs Air Guitar World Championships Network
of official national championship competitions. The idea of the contest was originally coined as a joke, meant only to be a side attraction for the music video festival, but has since become a major draw in its own right.
In 2009 the Network consisted of twenty countries: Finland, USA, New Zealand, Canada, The Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Japan, Australia, Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Romania, and Brazil.
Rules have much in common with figure skating, especially using 6.0 score system. The most common set of rules are as following:
Each participant has to play air guitar on stage in two rounds, each lasting for 1 minute.
* Round 1: participant plays a selection of their own choosing. Typically the song has been edited (or a medley has been created) to fit the 60-second format.
* Round 2: participant plays a section of the song chosen by an organizer or competitor; usually the song is not announced beforehand and kept secret until the round begins, so a participant has to improvise.
Participant plays alone; backing bands, either with real or air instruments are not allowed; roadies and groupies are allowed to make up some image, but they have to leave the stage before performance.
Participant has to play air guitar (i.e. air drums, piano and other instruments are not allowed). Air guitar can be acoustic, electric or both.
Generally, there is no dress code and participant is encouraged to use any clothing and props that would add character and make the performance more interesting. However, any real musical equipment or crew (instruments, amplifiers, effect pedals, backing band members, etc.) are strictly forbidden. Some events make an exception for a real guitar pick, some don't.
Jury consists of independent judges, usually B-list musicians, music critics, comedians, or other members of the media.
Judges use the same 6.0 score system as in figure skating: there are several varying criteria, each judge must give the contestant a score from 4.0 to 6.0 on each of the following:
* Technical merit—how much the performance looks like the real playing, including accurate reproduction of all fretwork, chords, solos and technical moves.
* Stage presence—a charisma of rock star, the ability to rock, lack of stage fright and power to drive thousands of listeners; involves guitar showmanship and other emotional demonstrations.
* Airness—the most subjective criterion, as "presentation" in figure skating—how much the performance was an object of art by itself, not only a simulation of playing guitar.
World
Annual world championships (full name: "The Annual Air Guitar World Championship Contest") were first held in 1996 as part of the Oulu Music Video Festival in
Oulu,
Finland. Participants from all over the world competed in skills of playing air guitar. The judging panel included Finnish guitarist Juha Torvinen, and prizes included a custom made 'Flying Finn' guitar and
VOX BM Special amplifier donated by
Queen guitarist
Brian May. The ideology behind the event was that "wars would end and all the bad things would go away if everyone just played air guitar."
List of World Championships
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Austria
Championships generally follow international rules with minor exceptions and additions:
Participation is free.
Regionals take up to 12 participants. If there are more, additional qualification events take place.
Federal finals are held in July between the winners of regionals.
Winner of federal finals is qualified for World Championship in September.
Participants are allowed to team up to 2, only in regionals. Federal finals are still solo only.
Order of appearance in a second round is determined by the scores in the first round (highest score air guitarist plays first).
Jury consists of 5 people. Each of 2 rounds is scored by a single mark from 4.0 to 6.0. Lowest and highest mark get discarded, so only 3 marks are added, thus yielding possible results from 24.0 to 36.0.
United States
Competitive air guitar began in the United States in 2003, when Cedric Devitt and Kriston Rucker founded US Air Guitar, the official governing body of air guitar in the US. The 2003 US Air Guitar Championships included just two regional competitions, in
New York and
Los Angeles, with the national championship taking place in Los Angeles. David "C-Diddy" Jung won the competition, becoming the first ever US Air Guitar Champion and earning a spot in the World Air Guitar Championships. He was accompanied by fellow American Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane, who raised money to pay for his trip to Finland, where he qualified for the World Championships through a Dark Horse competition. At the World Championships, C-Diddy emerged victorious, becoming the first American to win the title of World Air Guitar Champion. Jung and Crane were featured in the 2006 documentary
Air Guitar Nation, a film that documented their 2003 journey, from the United States to Finland.
The 2004 US Air Guitar Championships featured regional competitions in five cities. MiRi "Sonyk-Rok" Park, winner of the New York City regional, took the national crown, and went on to Finland, where she tied for first place, becoming the 2004 World Air Guitar Co-Champion.
By 2008, US Air Guitar had expanded to include regional competitions in twenty-four cities throughout the country. The 2006 US Air Guitar Champion, Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier, went on to defeat 2005 Champion Fatima "Rockness Monster" Hoang and 2007 Champion Andrew "William Ocean" Litz en route to his second national title. In Finland, Hulahan emerged victorious, securing the United States' third world title and becoming the 2008 World Air Guitar Champion.
William Ocean captured his second national title in 2009, earning him a spot in Finland at the 2009 World Air Guitar Championships. William Ocean and defending World Air Guitar Champion Hot Lixx Hulahan tied for second place, behind Sylvain "Gunther Love" Quimene of France.
The reigning US Air Guitar Champion is Matt "Romeo Dance Cheetah" Cornelison, who won the 2010 US Air Guitar Championships at New York City's Irving Plaza on July 22, 2010.
List of United States Championships
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United Kingdom
There are currently two national air guitar championships running in the UK, both claiming status as the 'official' competition.
The UK Air Guitar Championships (UKAG) is the longest running air guitar championships in the world, established between 1994 and 1995 by Jeffrey Louis-Reed, and is still to this day the only Air Guitar Championships where the audience are the judges. It is also the only UK competition that tours the whole UK to find a true champion.
The similarly named, Air Guitar UK Championships (AGUK) was created in 2006 by two time world Air Guitar champion Zac Monro. It originated over the issues of how to decide the competition (through the audience, or by a figure-skating style judging system), and over membership of the World Air Guitar Network (UKAG were unwilling to pay to participate in the World Championships, as their competition wished to remain free, which was the main cause of the creation of AGUK). However this is the only championship officially recognised as part of Air Guitar World Championships (AGWC)
AGUK
The Air Guitar UK Championships was separately created away from the original in around 2005. This was in order to allow the UK to send a national champion to the World Championships in Finland and to allow for the setting up of a world affiliated Air Guitar UK network. This was to find champions in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Air Guitar Scotland had its first official competition in August 2009, and the winner there travelled to London, where the AGUK Championships are based, to compete for the title of UK Champion. There are plans to expand the AGUK Network to Wales and Ireland in time.
All profits from all of the Air Guitar UK events are donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust (www.teenagecancertrust.org). They are also officially supported by Gibson guitars.
AGUK have launched a brand new website for the 2010 Championship over at http://www.airguitaruk.com/
UKAG
The UKAG was founded in the upstairs of a pub called 'The Pig in Paradise' which is in central Brighton, England. The UKAG championships annually visits Norhtern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the north and south of England to find the best competitors from the UK and bring them to the national final stage to battle for crown of UK Air Guitar Champion
The competition brought the BBC Ski Sunday presenter Ed Leigh to the stage in 1999 for him to become the UK Air Guitar Champion in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Christopher 'Crispy' Vearncombe won the competition in 2005, but was tragically killed in a road traffic accident in South Africa weeks before the 2006 competition. His many friends hold an annual charity music festival in his memory. Crispystock is held in his home town of Andover, Hampshire. Next came Colin 'Cozza' Fulker who won 2006, 2007 and 2008 to become one of the UKAG's most successful champions.
2009 saw the Declan Gillick aka 'Deku Chan' win the competition to see the UK trophy stolen by Declan the Irishman, who dazzled the audience to a safe victory. It was also the first year that drinks manufacturer WKD sponsored the competition.
2010 - UKAG returned to London for the national final, the winner of the southern England heat 'Eddie Six Strings' aka Sophie Scutt, wriggled her way into the final and beat 'Juan Nightstand' to become the FIRST EVER FEMALE UK Air Guitar Champion.
Many air bands were founded in Brighton in the late 90's with acts known as 'Dum BN3', 'PISS' and 'Triple Slash'. There were many more who all took part in the UK Air Guitar Championships and a few of them won.
Website: http://www.ukairguitar.com
Innovations
There are multiple technological innovations that try to allow air guitar to be played as real instrument, producing sounds that depend on air guitarist's actions.
In 2005, students from the Helsinki University of Technology developed a system that translates hand movements into electric guitar sounds, resulting in a functional air guitar. The system, consisting of a pair of brightly coloured gloves and an infrared camera, is one of the most popular exhibits at the Helsinki Science Center. The camera recognizes the distance between the two gloves as well as strumming movements made by the wearer to synthesize an electric guitar tune, working using only six notes. No musical knowledge is necessary.
In November 2006, researchers at the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation announced they had developed a t-shirt that senses human movement to "showcase its expertise in designing and manufacturing electronic and intelligent textiles with which people effortlessly control computers", publicising it as an air guitar shirt.
In 2007, toy company Silverlit introduced V-Beat Air Guitar, a air guitar gadget. The three part device consists of a motion sensing guitar pick, a neck part with four buttons and a guitar body. By changing the distance between body and neck and pressing a combination of the four buttons on the neck part, up to 48 tones and chords can be played. The V-Beat Air Guitar was won 'Best Music Gadget' on the television program The Gadget Show. The V-Beat Air Guitar was created by Dutch startup 1upToys.
In 2007, a Japanese company Takara Tomy introduced Air Guitar Pro (Guitar Rockstar), a functional guitar simulator. Fitting in one hand, the device uses heat and motion sensors to detect the other hand motions and produce the guitar sounds. This guitar simulator was made popular in the UK motoring show Top Gear by presenter Jeremy Clarkson. He was seen playing the Tomy Guitar Rockstar in one of Top Gear's famous challenges.
In March 2008, Jada Toys of California introduced the Air Guitar Rocker toy which featured patented technology in a belt buckle. When the user strums a magnetic pick in front of the belt buckle, guitar music plays through a portable amp attached to the users pant or belt. The Air Guitar Rocker is marketed with the popular Guitar Hero license and was created by toy inventor David Fuhrer and his team.
See also
Air Guitar Nation, a documentary film about the 2003 US and World Air Guitar competitions
Air Guitar in Oulu, a documentary film following a young air guitarist's mission to attend the World Championship in Oulu
References
External links
Official Air Guitar World Championships Network Countries
World — The Air Guitar World Championships
Australia — Australian Air Guitar Championships
Belgium — Air Guitar Belgium Championships
Brazil — Air Guitar Brazil
Canada — Air Guitar Canada
France — Air Guitar France
Germany — The German Air Guitar Federation
Greece — Air Guitar Greece
Japan — Air Guitar Japan
The Netherlands — The Dutch Air Guitar Championships
New Zealand — New Zealand Air Guitar Championships
Norway — Air Guitar Norway
Romania — Air Guitar Romania
Russia — Air Guitar Russia
Switzerland — Air Guitar Switzerland
Taiwan — Air Guitar Taiwan
Thailand — Air Guitar Thailand
UK — Air guitar UK – UK Championship
US — The US Air Guitar Championships
Mexico — Air Guitar Mexico
Other Air Guitar Contests
UK—The Official UK & oldest Air Guitar Championships in the world
Italy—The Italian Air Guitar Championship
Articles
Behind the Scenes at the US Air Guitar Championships – Photos and interviews with the 2007 Washington DC finalists
No more silent shredding—A November 2006 Associated Press piece about Air Guitar sound technology.
"Dude, where's my guitar?"—August 2001 Guardian (UK) feature about the UK championship.
Student studying for a degree in Air Guitar
Air Guitar Nation Rocks On – Video clips and interview with the world air guitar champion
Music for the imaginary ax man – Msnbc article following the life of an air guitarist.
William Ocean performs and is interviewed on Radio Happy Hour
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003711866
Other
NPR Piece about US Air Guitar Championships
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