Air Guitar

Lore & Background

Before the existence of air guitar, the popularity of the phonograph in the 1930s led to the phenomenon of 'shadow conducting', in which listeners would pretend to conduct an orchestra. Air guitar had a seminal moment at the Woodstock music festival in 1969, when singer Joe Cocker mimicked the playing of the keyboard and guitar during his performance of 'With a Little Help From My Friends'. Cocker's elaborate signature moves helped introduce the concept of air guitar to the public.

Neal Kay, founder of the Soundhouse heavy metal club in Kingsbury, London, recalls one night in 1976 a club regular named Rob 'Loonhouse' Yeatman arrived at the club carrying a piece of hardboard cut into the shape of a Flying V guitar, with no frets or strings. 'Suddenly Rob appears in front of everyone and he starts playing it along with the solo and he's absolutely perfect.' One of the first air guitar contests was held at Florida State University in 1978.

The term 'air guitar' subsequently gained popularity in the 1980s as more contests were held in Sweden and the United States. Since 1996, the annual Air Guitar World Championships have been organized in Oulu, Finland. The first competitions were arranged as part of Oulu Music Video Festival. Since 2011, it has been produced by Airnest Productions Ltd, which also administers the official Air Guitar World Championships Network of licensed national championships.

The idea of the contest originated as a joke that was intended to be a side attraction for the music video festival but has since become a major draw in its own right.

Reader's Guide

Air guitar contests have much in common with the figure skating scoring system, 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 one minute. Round 1: participant plays a selection of his or her choice. 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 the 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 must 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. Any real musical equipment or crew (instruments, amplifiers, effect pedals, and backing band members) are strictly forbidden. Some events make an exception for a real guitar pick.

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 the traditional figure skating system: there are several varying criteria, and 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.

Mimesmanship—how convincingly the performers can mime their performance, and create the illusion of an invisible guitar, apart from the technical accuracy of the fretwork. 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.