Last year’s winner in Minneapolis was Airosol (real name: Cami Phillippi). Judge Andrea Swensson later wrote:

Phillipi, dressed in tight black leather and sporting a mane of thick black and electric blue hair, exemplified pure, unadulterated airness. Suddenly, airness stopped being a silly, made-up word and started being the only way to accurately describe Phillipi’s spot-on invisible technical abilities and pretend rock-star charisma. A perfect combination of Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde, and Karen O, Phillipi commanded the stage.

And here’s the current world champ, Hot Lixx Hulahan (real name: Craig Billmeier; hailing from the U.S.) performing at last year’s world championships in Finland:

The origins of air guitar are disputed – one story goes back to 1970s London, when guitars were made out of cardboard and played onstage at a heavy metal club. Some consider Joe Cocker the godfather of air guitar after he was observed “simulating the music with his hands, sans guitar” at Woodstock in 1969.

The first official Air Guitar Championship was held in 1996, though similar competitions were organized in the 1980s in the US and Sweden. Here are the official rules, from the official U.S. Air Guitar Championship’s website:

- Each performance is played to 1 minute (60 sec.) of a song
- The 60 seconds can start anywhere in the song
- The instrument must be invisible & be a guitar, i.e. air drums not allowed
- Air roadies are allowed, but must leave the stage before the performance
- Back-up bands (air or real) are not allowed
US Air Guitar contests each consist of two rounds:
Round 1 (freestyle): each competitor performs to a song of their choice
Round 2 (compulsory): top competitors from round 1 perform surprise song

Winners are determined by a panel of independent judges that are “experts in the invisible arts.”

You can sign up here. It’s 21+ and will cost you $20.99. The winner on June 5th will move on to the U.S. final, and the winner of that tournament will go on to compete in the World Championships, which are held annually in Oulu, Finland.

(Make sure to stock up on plenty of these air guitar strings before the big night.)

But if you’re looking for air guitar action year-round, check out local band Action Vs Action:

action vs action @ the 400 bar, 4.13.2007. photo by taylor dahlin.

Perhaps more of an old school take on air guitar, the singer has attached a giant stick to his guitar strap, and plays the entire show as if it’s a guitar. (Also, the bassist wears a helmet because he was born without a left ear and can’t use conventional earplugs.) The giant stick is actually a crossbar taken from a closet in their first practice space. I wish I could find a video, because they put on such a fun show, but here’s a some info from the City Pages on the stick:

“I just started using it for fun in the practice space,” explains Krueger, who doesn’t play guitar but wanted to find a way to interact with the music as he sang. When it came time to play their first show, the stick came with. “I don’t have the sexy Mick Jagger thing, I don’t have the tough, hardcore singer thing, so I was like, I’m going to do something a little different. People get annoyed with it, I think especially people who have really worked hard at guitar,” he laughs. “They’re like, what the hell is this guy doing?”

Related viewing: Air Guitar Nation, a 2006 documentary that covers the entry of the U.S. into the worldwide Air Guitar Championships.

Related reading: To Air is Human: One Man’s Quest to Become the World’s Greatest Air Guitarist, written by Björn Türoque (real name: Dan Crane), famous air guitarist.