GUITARIST OF THE YEAR
US-only competition set to go ahead in 2020
Due to this year’s unique situation, Guitarist Of The Year competition will be a US-only affair, hosted by our sister magazines Guitar Player, Guitar World and Bass Player, along with our website www.guitarworld.com. There are four categories - Electric Guitarist, Young Guitarist, Acoustic Guitarist, and Bass Guitarist.
How to enter
Create and upload a three-minute (maximum) video to YouTube and then submit your nomination form online. You only have a short amount of time to show us your talent so make sure your sound and audio is clean and clear. We will not be accepting entry submissions via any other route.
What are judges looking for?
1. We need to see you play! No promo-style band videos or miming (finger sync-ing), please. 2. Keep it musical. We’re all for fretboard madness, but not at the price of musicality and mastery of multiple techniques.
3. Keep it tight and get to the point fast. Our experts are begging to be impressed, so three minutes of noodling won’t make the grade. 4. Make it impressive. We want to see the breadth of your skills in as tight a playing package as possible. 5. Make it sound and look good! Smartphone audio can work fine, but remember to point the camera at yourself, not at your dog, or feet.
Want to enter all four?
If so you’ll need to submit different videos and entry forms for Electric Guitarist, Young Guitarist, Acoustic Guitarist, and Bass Guitarist of the Year? Go for it!
Finalists
A panel of judges consisting of editors and star players, including John Petrucci, John 5, Nita Strauss and Tracy Wormworth (with several more being added soon!) will select the top five videos from each category as the finalists.
All finalists will be sent logos and promo graphics they can use on social media accounts to promote themselves and their video. Finalist videos will then be republished on guitarworld.com for readers to watch and vote for their favourites.
Winners
The winners will be featured in all the magazines and get plenty of YouTube and online exposure; in fact, videos of the finals of the past two years have generated more than 4.000.000 views!
Once the votes are counted, the winner for each category will be invited to our studio to record a live performance video, shoot their cover photo, and be interviewed by the editors for their features.
Please go to https://www. guitaristoftheyearawards.com for FAQ’s, entry details, and more!