Air Guitar Championship. How to learn to play an invisible guitar

Do you see the guitar?.. And it’s there! Finished in Finland annual Championship World Air Guitar Championship

Oulu is the capital of Northern Finland, the university and research center of the country. City high technology and student dormitories. Life doesn’t stop for a moment, but it gets really hot in Oulu at the end of the short and harsh northern summer, when participants in one of the most extravagant events perform on the main city square. music competitions peace.

Do you remember how it all began

When in the 19th century the Spanish master Antonio Torres created classical guitar, and his contemporary Francisco Tarrega figured out how to play it, they both could not even think that someday, in order to be considered a virtuoso, the instrument itself might not be needed.

There have always been people who like to pluck invisible strings with their fingers, but until relatively recently they were embarrassed to show their talent to the world. They held concerts away from prying eyes, for example, in the shower in front of a mirror, while always introducing themselves Jimi Hendrix mi or Ritchie Blackmore. First public performance Guitarists without instruments took place in the early 80s in Sweden and the United States of America, but did not cause much resonance.

Everything changed in 1996, when air guitar competitions were included in the program of the annual Festival music videos in Oulu (Oulu Music Video Festival). Initially, this was supposed to be a one-time comic performance to attract the audience's attention to the main program, but the audience was completely delighted. The performance of a group of daredevils with a good imagination turned into an international championship that attracts thousands of tourists to Oulu every year.

Rules of the game

Playing the air guitar does not require the performer to musical ear or mastery of a real instrument, but extraordinary artistic talent is necessary. The participant must convince the jury, consisting of professional musicians that he is not just grimacing to the soundtrack, but really “playing”, it’s just that no one sees the guitar.

The competition consists of two rounds. In the first round, participants perform a game for a minute to a pre-prepared piece of music. The second is 60 seconds of pure improvisation: the participant hears the music and must play to it so that the audience believes that he is its real author and performer.

Participants are allowed to use any makeup and costumes. Anything to make your performance bright and memorable. The only ban is on real musical instruments; they should not be on stage.

The jury evaluates performers using a six-point system, as until recently in figure skating. They pay attention both to technique - how masterly the performer creates the illusion of acting, and to artistry - the ability to ignite the audience, charisma, lack of stage fright. The most subjective criterion of AIRNESS (airiness, gracefulness) is how good the performance was in itself, and not as an imitation of playing the guitar.

All for peace on Earth

The air guitar championship has its own ideology. Its adherents claim that wars will stop and all bad things will disappear if every person in the world plays the air guitar.

This idea was expressed in an interview with The Times by 2001 and 2002 world champion Zac Monroe: “You can’t play air guitar and be angry at the same time. Air guitar is a form of pure art. Nobody does this for the money. It's a way of self-expression."

Zach Monroe performing at the 2015 Air Guitar Championship. Video from the official Air Guitar World Championship YouTube channel

A simple recipe for saving the world has found support in many countries. If in the first years it was such a “get-together” of Finnish freaks, now daredevils from all over the world participate in the championship. The 2015 champion was Russian Kirill Blumenkranz, who performed under the pseudonym “Your Duddy.”

Performances by Kirill Blumenkranz at the Air Guitar Championship 2015. Video from the official Air Guitar World Championship channel on YouTube

Winners 2018

This year the best air guitarist was a girl. The jury was won over by Japanese participant Nanami “Seven Seas” Nagura. Her expressive performance with elements of dressing up left no one indifferent.

Nanami "Seven Seas" Nagura's performance at the 2018 Air Guitar Championship. Video from the official Air Guitar World Championship YouTube channel

Despite the jury's choice, each of the 15 participants in some sense became a winner. Overcoming shyness and conventions, without fear of seeming funny or ridiculous, everyone staged their own grandiose one-minute show.

By the way, the oldest participant in the 2018 champion, Canadian Bob “Mr. Bob" Wagner celebrated his birthday right on stage. The owner of a famous musical surname turned 75 years old. So far he has never managed to win a championship, but the pensioner of air rock does not lose faith: maybe next year he will succeed?

Performance by Bob "Mr. Bob" Wagner. Video from NDTV official YouTube channel

Material on the topic

Unboring Finland: strange competitions that Finns love

KIRILL BLUMENKRANTS, silver medalist World Air Guitar Championship:

1 ___________

If you know how to play the guitar, try to forget about it. For real guitarists, muscle memory often kicks in, and during a show they can’t go beyond the limits of, for example, imagining a guitar four meters long. There are several criteria for assessing a performance: firstly, stagecraft - how you use the space on stage, how you move to the music. Personally, I try to stay in the center, closer to the audience. Secondly, technicality - how similar is your performance to real game On guitar. No one expects you to be masterful, but if you hear high notes- hold left hand closer to the air deck. The magic disappears when a powerful solo comes out of the speakers, and the guitarist sluggishly plucks the strings, as if it were a bard's song. Thirdly, judges evaluate airiness - the most subjective criterion. Something like charisma.

2 ___________

I became interested in air guitar when I watched " Incredible adventures Bill and Ted" with Keanu Reeves - a story about two loafing schoolchildren who put together a rock band. When something good happened, they “played” the passage on a non-existent guitar - it’s like off-screen laughter or applause in a comedy. I like it. One day, my friends and I saw a poster for a qualifying competition for air guitar playing in Moscow, and I thought: I need this. And he won! The organizers said that now I must go to the world championship in the Finnish city of Oulu to defend the honor of Russia. As a result, it took me two and a half months to compose the number for international competitions. I came up with a complex choreography and costume - in the image of Iron Man, I rolled around the stage in sneakers on wheels and tore off my armor. Took 13th place.

3 ___________

In the first round, you perform to a composition that you have chosen yourself. The number lasts 60 seconds - this is ideal timing. Choose a song in advance that you like, listen to it many times and come up with movements for different fragments- so that they are not repeated and somehow reflect the essence. You can add sound effects to the act: for example, you throw up an air guitar and pretend to shoot it. Put the sound of a gunshot to music - it will be impressive. Or pretend that you throw a guitar on the floor and it breaks with a crash - here it is worth adding the sound of a powerful explosion. According to the results of the first round, ten best participants advance to the second round - there they will have to play a random song. The jury selects compositions by little-known Finnish rock bands, because, as a rule, no one heard them. This is a round for the best improvisation.

The most unusual guitar competition in the world gathers imaginary fans in Finland musical instruments and real explosive emotions.

The imaginary or air guitar is not like any of the known to man tools. To master it masterfully, you don’t need to train for years or even know musical notation. An air guitar player may have no ear for music at all, but the power of imagination and the ability to convince others are simply irreplaceable skills for him. The best performer is considered to be the one who can portray playing the “guitar” with maximum expression, artistry and verisimilitude.

The competition is divided into two stages. At the first stage, participants “play” to a pre-prepared 60-second composition. The second requires improvising “blindly” to the soundtrack proposed by the organizers. The championship takes place on open stage on the Oulu Market Square overlooking the waterfront.

The first Air Guitar World Championships were held in 1996 as part of entertainment program Oulu Music Video Festival forum. After the first event it became clear that comic competition deserves its own place in history. Today, on its basis, the international association Air Guitar World Championships Network has been created, covering more than 20 countries with its activities.

It is noteworthy that the movement of “air” guitarists that is gaining worldwide fame in Lately The Russians also joined. In 2015, the winner of the twentieth anniversary championship in Oulu was Kirill “Your Daddy” Blumenkranz, beating the challenger from the USA by a few tenths of a point.

You can get from Helsinki to Oulu in 6 hours by train.

Invisible Guitar Championship April 18th, 2018

The most unusual guitar competition in the world brings together fans of imaginary musical instruments and real explosive emotions in Finland. Air guitar or air guitar competitions are a type of creative art in which the performer pretends to play an “invisible” guitar through movements.

In this competition, participants imitate the habits of a real guitar virtuoso, for whom it is not particularly difficult to play complex parts and at the same time actively gesticulate, run around the stage or dance. No one could have imagined that harmless childishness and imitation of favorite guitar performers would develop into a real competition, which is held every year all over the world.

Today the event has acquired the scale of an international competition.

The air guitar or air guitar is unlike any instrument known to man. To become a virtuoso, you don’t need to train for years or even know how to read music. An air guitar player may have no ear for music at all, but the power of imagination and the ability to convince others are simply irreplaceable skills for him. The best performer is considered to be the one who can portray playing the “guitar” with maximum expression, artistry and verisimilitude.

The competition is divided into two stages. At the first stage, participants “play” to a pre-prepared 60-second composition. The second requires improvising “blindly” to the soundtrack proposed by the organizers. The championship takes place on an open stage on the Oulu Market Square overlooking the waterfront.

The first air guitar competitions were held in the early 1980s in Sweden and the United States. The championship rules have much in common with figure skating judging, which uses a point system. The jury often includes the world's leading guitarists, and the winners receive valuable prizes.

Aerial skills are assessed on a six-point scale, taking into account charisma, technical performance, confidence and airiness.

The first World Air Guitar Championship was held in 1996 as part of the entertainment program of the Oulu Music Video Festival. After the first event, it became clear that the comic competition deserves its own place in history. Today, on its basis, the international association Air Guitar World Championships Network has been created, covering more than 20 countries with its activities.

It is noteworthy that Russians have recently joined the movement of “air” guitarists that is gaining worldwide fame. In 2015, the winner of the twentieth anniversary championship in Oulu was Kirill “Your Daddy” Blumenkranz, beating the challenger from the USA by a few tenths of a point.

To date, technological innovations have been created from various companies that involve playing an imaginary guitar as if a person were holding a real instrument in his hands, producing sounds that depend on the movement of the hands in space. In other words, it is not the person who performs actions in the air to the music, but the movements of the person’s hands that cause musical sounds. This technology is called Virtual Air Guitar. The pioneers in this field were the Finns from the telecommunications laboratories in 2005. software, and multimedia and acoustics from the Helsinki Polytechnic Institute.

Then other gadgets that make sound when they move were announced by developers from Australia and Holland, who released special clothes and toys. In 2007, the Japanese company Tomy introduced Air Guitar Pro (Guitar Rockstar) - a functional guitar simulator. The device was shown on the popular UK car show Top Gear with host Jeremy Clarkson.

In 2008, the Californian company Jada Toys introduced its Air Guitar Rocker device, and in 2011, the San Francisco startup Yobble announced its Air Guitar Move product for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

In case you were wondering, the ultimate goal of the Air Guitar Championships is to bring peace to the world. According to the Air Guitar ideology, wars will end, climate change will stop, and everything bad will disappear if everyone in the world starts playing air guitars.

The World Championship was held for the 22nd time in the Finnish city of Oulu on August 23-25, 2017. Winner of the unusual international competition American Matt “Airistotle” Burns from the USA became the champion, defending his champion title.

Second place was shared by Patrick "Ehrwolf" Culek from Germany and Alexander "The Jinja Assassin" Roberts from Australia. Bronze went to 15-year-old Japanese Show-Show, who competed in air guitar for the first time outside his home country.

In total, 15 finalists from Sweden, the USA, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Germany, Australia, UK and Pakistan.

Sources:

Perhaps one of the most influential instruments of our time, the invisible guitar has inspired millions to take up rock music without guitar skills or even the ability to read music. It's the spirit that's important here: musicians with invisible guitars around the world are united by the real joy of playing an imaginary instrument.

The invisible guitar is easy to learn to play since the instrument is in our imagination, but it still takes some level of artistry to make your performance amazing. Plus, it's a ton of fun, and it doesn't really matter whether you play solo or with friends.

Steps

Choose the right music. We recommend playing metal, rock or punk, as in most cases this music has the right tempo, energy and rhythm, so necessary for effective playing on an invisible guitar. Most guitarists portray playing the electric guitar in rock and heavy metal styles. Under others musical genres most of them are much harder to play: some are too slow, some are too melancholic, and others are just very difficult to play on an invisible guitar.

Choose a suitable song and piece of music. The most suitable passage for playing air guitar will always be a passage with a guitar solo. The longer it is, the better, as it will help you really get involved in the game. Be sure to add some guitar riffs here.

First of all, listen to the melody. Imagine that you are the one creating the sounds you hear. Part of imitation is believing and imagining yourself playing there, on stage, in the spotlight, with the crowd screaming for more and more!

• Music to play the invisible guitar should be at a volume that you (and those around you) can handle. It will be best this way!

1. Get into the correct position. Spread your legs wide apart, bend your knees slightly and place your right hand at hip level. Hold the guitar correctly: Bend both arms somewhere between 75-90 degrees, with one hand facing your belt buckle. Turn your palm towards you, it should be at the level of the neck, as it happens when playing a real guitar, and hold your other hand in the air with your fingers spread, bent and turned towards you.

   Start plucking the strings and pressing the frets. When playing an invisible guitar, remember the following:

   • The higher the note, the lower you should lower your hand.
   • Don't drop your right hand too low. No real guitarist plays a knee-length guitar except Fieldy from Korn.
   • From time to time, stroke the neck of the guitar, running your fingers from bottom to top and back.
   • Move! This doesn't just apply to your fingers and hands. Move your whole body. Bend your knees, lift them, jump from time to time. Intermittent movements and sliding around the “stage” will also perfectly complement your game.
     • If you want to look really cool, try imitating some of Jimi Hendrix's signature moves with your invisible guitar: play it behind your head, pluck the strings with your teeth, twirl it, and other similar moves. You might even break the guitar at the end, but don't worry - it won't break.

2. Sing while playing an invisible guitar. Sing loudly or open your mouth to the words of a song when you strike the strings particularly vigorously. This item is optional. You may not be a singing guitarist, and you may not even consider the combination of energetic singing and guitar playing appropriate. However, loving the lyrics will greatly help you get into the spirit of the game.

   • Some guitarists believe that loud "woo" sounds are an integral part of playing an invisible guitar, so even if you don't know how to play, you can scream!

3. Bring a friend. It's fun to play alone, but with two it's twice as fun. Play invisible guitar jam with a friend. Maybe? will he play bass? You won't look so funny, and maybe others will join you. After all, the more of you there are, the merrier. Let there be rock!