Guitarist Of The Year 2003

Now in its ninth year, the Guitarist Of The Year competition is again being held at the massive Music Live show this November.

Music Live 2003 takes place at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre 21-23 November and, as usual, will feature hundreds of manufacturers and distributors showing the latest gear.

The Guitarist Of The Year competition will run all three days of Music Live from 8 to the 10 November, with finalists having their performances judged by a panel of industry experts and top player.

How does it work

For the electric category, you can submit any style of playing you like. For the acoustic category we're after more of a showcase of song writing talent than guitar wizardry - although instrumental pieces are also welcome. A vocal mic will be available on the day for singing finalists.

Finally the Young GOTY category can only be entered if you are under the age of 16 on the day of the competition. Once again, any playing style you like as long as it conforms to the rules below. Tune in next month for full details of the superb prizes that we have winners and finalists!

Competition rules
1. Entries must be of original material and no longer than four minutes in duration. Your entry must arrive at the address stated on CD, Cassette or Mini Disc - no DATS please! Entry to include full track plus backing track minus your guitar. You'll need a back up of your backing track for performance if you make the final.

2. The closing date for entries is Friday 17 October 2003. Please note that proof of postage is not proof of delivery, and no correspondence on this subject can be entered into.

3. You must include your name, your age (for Young Guitarist Of The Year you must be under 16 on the date of the competition), your address and a daytime telephone number.

4. You must be available to perform at the Music Live show 2003 in Birmingham on the relevant dates:

Friday 21 November - Young Guitarist Of The Year
Saturday 22 November - Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year
Sunday 23 November - Guitarist Of The Year

No exceptions can be made, as this is a condition of entry.

5. You may enter any or all competition categories, but only one entry per category, per person will be permitted.

6. All entries will be judged jury-style by the editor and the entire Guitarist team after the closing date. Finalists will be contacted by phone and a follow-up letter in due course.

7. Finalists will gain free entry to the remainder of the show, along with two complimentary tickets for family and friends.

8. The editor's decision is final and no correspondence can or will be entered into.

9. Guitarist reserves the right to reject unsuitable material without notice to the composer.

10. Unfortunately no entries can be returned, so make sure you make back-ups!

Competition Address
Please mark your entry with one of the following first:

YGOTY - Young Guitarist Of The Year
AGOTY - Acoustic Guitarist Of The Year
GOTY - Guitarist Of The Year

...then send to:

Guitarist Magazine, Future Publishing
30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW

Good luck!

Comments

personally I'm not gonna go for that, all gonna be amazingly good experts. Might try go up though and check out the exhibition. cheers for that nice piece of info Zappp

[*Truly Ninja*]

uh-huh...no friggin way

[dead_kennedy]

i would go and think im pretty good for underage and there'll be this 7 year old sitting with a les paul shredding, totally kicking ***.....

[Pollo]

(sigh) oh ***, thats the thing i'm scared of...sounds cool though, maybe some other day, i got a few more years til' 16

[TheOffspring77]

i'm too old, by like 3 months, how stupid

[Trapt/SOAD-LVR]

That would be pretty awsome to compete in, but i definatly don't have what it takes. Will Garret be there?

[rising_fury]

we should send gar to compete and represent ug

nice idea, rusing_fury

[EncryptedMind]

do u have to have a backing track? cant it be just u soloing?

[ieatmonkeys]

why how old is garrett?i might try out. i think im good for 12, but yeah therell probably be some great players there.

[masterofmuppets]

yikes... no way ill get slaughtered

[NashO]

Geez you guys are really rock n roll
"ooh i hope no1 will be better than me!"
Get it sent in

[erniesballs321]

dead_kennedy, that 7 year old is me. and im 15 now

[davidgilmour]

where is this show at

david, if you even read the article you'd know from the second bloody paragraph it's at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre 21-23 November

[feenxfire]

LOL OMG i would HATE to go there...cuz I KNOW that there will be some 8-year old jid there friggin shredding the hell outta his Gibson Les Paul or somehting....Man that would be the day i walked in shame if iw ent....lol

[cicak_cobing]

Ah??? Duh...

[bulldog75]

you guys are weird i could beat all of you- shredding is worthless to my creativity

[Murray4920]

yeah, I'm the best guitarist ever

[Tom Martin]

this thing sounds so cool, ill prolly have a little go at it, but id mainly go just to see all the other amazing guitarists and all the guitar shops and stands that would be there... y'all should quit bitching about how crap you all are and for once... i been playing for over 5 years and i got a les paul and a warlock.... id still get absolutely washed by some genious who plays his guitar 24/7...

[Rokability]

dude Tom you should try

[Jackass]

UGStranger why the hell r u posting so freaking much

[NirvanamanX]

My penis itches

[NirvanamanX]

I think I'll try this contest and then when i get stomped by the 7 year old kid with the Les Paul(who's name by the way is Vinnie) I'll take his Les Paul and ram it up his Ass!! Sideways Even!! Because if you have a Les Paul at that age it will definitely fit up there FAG!!!

[fleaflicka]

I know it's like no one cares about bass anymore! If it wasn't for us, guitarist's solos would sound really stupid and pointless. Wake up ppl it's not just about you and your solo!

[fleaflicka]

hey Nirvana, are you dissin' Les Paul?

[FenderISxlife]

Ok dudes I got a full ride scholarship for how well I play guitar and im not touching that competition with a ten foot pole. I suggest you dont even think about it. Chances are you couldnt play half the stuff I can play. Im not trying to be mean Im trying to spare you the embarrassment when some guy walks up and in 2 seconds out plays you on his scales alone. I mean think clearly dudes. Stay away this is going to bring out the best.

[hendriksfan]

first of all, stop having split personalities ug strange piece of shit, and don't post so many comments, you cock sucker bitch

[notrightned]

i don't think mouthin off about how good you are is such a good idea when none of you have even heard each other play, any retard can shred up and down the neck but to play it with accuracy takes more skill so kiss my ass if your better than me i couldn't give a shit.

[hendriksfan]

that 7 year old is really stupid.
(random crap)

[hendriksfan]

Hey, how the hell do you know? You think you are so special? Well there are others like you too, stupid. Stop thinking that everyone's stupid and you are the best...I don't even like guitars, this is what my brother looks at. I think guitars are stupid as hell, they have a disgusting sound, and piss me off like hell. But that doesn't mean that the people that use this site are ass-holes...you must have some big-ass insecurities to go and talk about something like this...

[hendriksfan]

sorry, that was my sister.. teh

[hendriksfan]

I would not make it in there for another... hmmm...i guess year or so.

[hendriksfan]

here's some advice. start with acoustic. you'll get a lot better quicker. I play acoustic for 7 months and my friend plays electric for a year, I sounded 3 times better than him.(plus my other friends that started with electric) start acoustic, then go electric.

[Tijy]

oh yea

[mishman]

UG Stranger, may I ask why you are leaving so many messages that are not even regarding the competition? I think that you should stop it and leave everybody from having to read the stupidest messages that have no meaning!

[Djall89]

pooj....silent j

[Ratiug318]

"im 13 and im like kirk hammett can play every metallica solo" yeah sure, anybody can at 1/100 of the speed.

[WOBtexan]

Tonny Iommy rocks all of this ****ing world!

[peavey6]

yeah...uh...my luck i would prbably go and i would get my @$$ stomped by some 8 year old girl........then i would have to kill myself!!

[Mark]

I'm pretty good too, I could win this competition easily!!!!!!! :P

[Idontkno]

Ha. Y the hell r folk braggin bout bein able 2 play every metallica solo? Ok they're pretty good but I thought there'd b at least sum1 on here with a bit more talent. I mean come on, sum of jimi's stuff's way better than any metallica fiddle. Sum1 brag bout bein able to play that.

[StonedRocker]

i say robert fripp is the best guitarist in the world and every guitarist from the 70's would be laughing now if they saw what shit is being played nowadays and called rock.

[Tom Martin]

has any1 else noticed how you get worse on the guitar when drunk, and a hell of a lot better when youve been smokin' the herb?

[MadCat]

ok jus gotta say this to stop ppl making idiots of themseleves .. UG stranger is the name the forum gives to users who dont log in!!! so in otherwords most of tha time if a ug stranger says one thing then says a different opinion - then ITS A DIFFERENT PERSON!!!.. sorry that has nuffin to do wit the topic jus really annoying when ppl r too stupid to realise simple things...

[Bassist666]

THERES NO BASSIST OF THE YEAR!!
***ing guitarists.......

[Bassist666]

I like what ur saying you dont have to have a good guitar to play good, my bass is shit( probably because ive never changed the strings) but i have the skills of cliff burton

[Cannon00]

Whoever said that you should learn on an acoustic because then you'll find the electric easy, well, maybe that's true, but I learned on electric and I can fingerpick most anything on an acoustic, and play some fairly fast stuff like metallica on an electric. My friend learned on an acoustic, he can't play anything decent on electric, can't move up or down the neck fast or clean enough, and I can even fingerpick better than him. And we've been playing about the same amount of time....so I think it's got alot more to do with how much you want to get better than the guitar type you choose......

[Cannon00]

Oh, and I used to play for 4 hours everyday on average I'd guess...he played for 1 maybe....Interesting how effort and skill relate to each other....

[AdMansk8s]

hey tom martin, it is hard to play drunk! And bein stoned never hurt my guitar playin!

[metalbest]

it's a good idea for the one who work a lot for a day like that ...yeah!

[mt2kn2]

i think people should just register so their name isnt UGStranger, that way, you dont get the dumb ***s asking way UGStranger keeps posting mixed oppinions, I mean Come on, it doesnt take a genious to work it out!!!

[mt2kn2]

why*

[Phalanx]

You guys are all sad. I think I lost brain cells reading all of your stupid, uninspired posts.

[greenday182]

dude i got a yellow tom delonge strat beat that motherf***ers ill kill you all with my solos and s**t!

[biohazardous56]

listen all of you retarted "guitarist" who have been playing for a coulpe of months and think your the s&*%. get a grip.
stratocaster=$249


24 private ssessions=$89
laughing at your lame ass when you get blown away by a 58 year old hippie at the competition= price less

you kind of people pisss me off. you stick to one kind of music and talk shit about every other kind.
you go to a metal concert and bad mouth some peoples religion of metal and you will get your ss kicked and maybe after that youll have a new appreciation for all kinds of music. and if not go play your bigassed amp (that your parents bought you when you first started to play)and play in th rain.
you kids dont get it take in all kinds of music
listen to metal,punk,hardcore,indie
,jazz,blues,indie,and whatever the hell you can get your yet to be torn up fingers on
thats it im done im too pissed off to go on

[5ironaudiorage]

kk

[5ironaudiorage]

gogogo

[PRodQuanta]

Sorry, that was me who posted that, forgot to sign in.

[FbM-Biker]

can anybody send me the full song of dee by randy rhodes plz that would help a bunch and if u start cussing at me on the inernet and think ur cool plz dont i dont need it....(>.

[grae]

Zack Wild all the way!

[FbM-Biker]

randy rhodes is way better then zakk wylde and thats how u spell it..does anyone know all of dee?

[slipvaynekorn89]

i dont get why all of you are bragging. you havent even heard each other play. quit bashin people's music, too. i really only listen to rock, but i can still appreciate qther kinds of music and recognize the talent that goes into it. plus shredding isnt everything. some of the best songs arent hard to play, theyre just well written songs, and in th end thats what counts more.you could be able to play the speed of light, but if it sounds like shit, you cant call yourself a good guitar player. quit hatin on other instruments, too. they dont take any more or less talent than guitar. i play guitar and bass, but plenty of my inspirations are great drummers, too. and just play for the love of it, and nothing else. dont worry about how good you are. okay ive said enough. peace.

[slipvaynekorn89]

i feel better now that that's off my chest

[slipvaynekorn89]

what r u talkin about them talkin smack for when thats the same thing ur doin

[stief-vo]

it's me
i'm the best
nanananananananan
to you all:A GREAT
FUCK YOU ALL

whawhawhawhawha-ev
il

[benzep]

i was already anounced the winner.

[geo_rocks]

ha ha ha i will win you all suck

[biohazardous56]

the guy that was 2 messages up is right man
you people arent having fun any more your just playing to say that you can play. you guys dont get anything out of it. find your soul and not someone elses. Get some talent and go play at your school on stage. i swear that you will find no greater feeling than playing your guitar in front of people who can recognize your talent.

[blakeysparks]

yah, i play whatever i think sounds good or anything that sounds hard or challenging. not worried about "shredding" i love acoustic songs and slow solos just the same as i do maiden ones

[daniel_th77]

I think that words like "Cuz" and "Lol" Doesn´t belong at a serious page like this. Get lost!

Screw you guys

[kirk_Is_A_God]

hey y the hell u f***ers gotta be so angry all the time man i have been playin for like a year now and i have thinkin about buying that marshall 100 watt mgdfx i am pretty good i think for a ameture i play like 3 hours aday so can u give me some advice about the amp

[jimmy_wa]

UG Stranger do u want to stop talking to yourself

[jimmy_wa]

it gives me the s,h,i,t,s that UG post up something like this and idiots like UG Stranger just ruin the comments by just talking crap. And also i dont think that anyone cares whether anyone is good or not or whether they are going to go in it or not.

[guitarplayer401]

No way in hell im gonna do that!!!

[Kick Me]

wtf does 'meh' mean?

[zakk_wylde4]

you kno as good as you think you are there are gonna be prodigy's there, who were better then u like the 4 days after they picked up the guitar, they will be very good

[ChurchNSkate]

ill bet i could get into top 100. i try to be modest, but the only people better than me at soloing are people that 1. are my music teacher, hes hella good or 2. have a contract w/ warner lol(you know what i mean) im serious...i wont get top because theres gonna be some 15 yr old with shred skillz yknow..

[rockon4evr17]

hey stranger...some of ur comments are kinda weird but i gotta agree w/ u on one thing playin someone elses solo is not worth anything u gotta improv and come up w/ ur own...but i shouldnt be talking

[jamzhetisgod]

good music isn't about how good u can shred, shreding is stupid.

[strigoi_vii]

to all the UG strangers! get a name! ur confusing everyone.

[stiff-upper-lip]

wens the next comp?

[orcutt989]

I am Yngwie Malmsteen.

[americanxidiot]

That would be cool to win

[MILF]

you guys really shouldnt even try, i have people that pay to hear me play guitar...dont get your hopes up to win cuz i will be there...BRACE YOURSELVES

[MILF]

[wilty00]

No thanks. I like my pride the way it is