All kids, and some adults, have played the air guitar in the mirror, imagining themselves before a sell-out crowed. Because it's only natural.
Little did we know, we could be stars doing so.
Since 1996, The Air Guitar World Championships has annually been held in Oulu, Finland, "taking the once so absurd idea into an international media event that attracts a wide international league of contestants, audience and media representatives." The Big Happy Family includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, The Netherlands, and the United States.
Matt "Airistotle" Burns (USA) was last years winner.
Burns unseated former champ Kereel "Your Daddy" Blumenkrants, his friend from Russia, who placed second. The close friendship of the two best air guitarists in the world is proof that the Air Guitar World Championships' message of unity and world peace is a real one.
Nicole "Mom Jeans Jeanie" Sevcik and her husband Luke "Van Dammage" Sevcik made competitive air guitar history as the first married couple to make the second round of competition, placing third and fifth respectively.
Peace and goodwill filled the air as a crowd of more than 5,000 sang along to a Karaoke performance of The Beatles' "All You Need is Love" during the show's halftime.
15 air guitarists from around the world competed in this year’s Air Guitar World Championships Final (via).
So really, what this means for all of us who've started and restarted and bought and sold several guitars with the hopes of one day mastering the craft, is that there's hope.
All we need now, is a mirror and some rockin good moves.
Done.
And then there's this.