The US Air Guitar Championships
Click here to enter the competition
Judging CriteriaAll performances are scored on a scale from 4.0 to 6.0 (6.0 being the highest). Scores should be given to one decimal point (i.e. 5.4 and not 5.48).
Each judge gives each contestant a single score from 4.0 to 6.0 on their overall performance. That score should reflect the quality of the performance in terms of three key factors:
1. TECHNICAL MERITThe performers don’t have to know what notes they’re playing, but the more their invisible fretwork corresponds to the music you’re hearing, the better the performance.
2. STAGE PRESENCE
Anyone can do it in the privacy of the 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 one of all. Airness is defined as “the extent to which a performance transcends the imitation of a real guitar and becomes and art form in and of itself.”
PLEASE NOTE!!!
The scores from BOTH ROUNDS ARE ADDED to determine the contestants’ final scores. This combined score determines the winner.
Confusion over this detail was the cause of a controversy in the 2006 Finals that tore at the very fabric of competitive air guitar.
