When: October 17, 2024
Competitor check-in: 5:00PM.
Where: In front of Finn's Pub, 317 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan, KS
Rules
We are using the official US Air Guitar rules for our competition!
- Each performance is played to 1 minute (60 sec.) of a song.
- The 60 seconds can start anywhere in the song, and can be a mashup of multiple songs.
- The instrument must be invisible & must be a guitar.
- Air roadies are allowed, but must leave the stage before the performance.
- Back-up bands (air or real) are not allowed.
- Round 1 (freestyle): each competitor performs to a song of their choice, with top half advancing to round 2.
- Round 2 (compulsory): advancing competitors from round 1 will perform surprise song.
Judging Criteria
For our competition, there will be a jury of independent judges. The results of the jury cannot be protested. All performances are scored on a scale from 4.0 to 6.0, with 6.0 being the highest possible. Scores are given to one decimal point (e.g. 5.4, not 5.48). A single score is given to each air guitarist based on their overall performance in that round. The scores from BOTH ROUNDS are added to determine the contestants’ final scores. This combined score determines the winner.
The score reflects the quality of the performance based on three key criteria:
1. Technical merit
You don’t have to know what notes you’re playing, but the more your invisible fretwork corresponds to the music that’s playing, the better the performance.
2. Stage presence
Anyone can do it in the privacy of their bedroom. Few have what it takes to rock a crowd of hundreds or even thousands – all without an instrument.
3 Airness
The last criteria is the most difficult to define yet often the most decisive of all. Airness is defined as the extent to which a performance transcends the imitation of a real guitar and becomes an art form in and of itself.