Can An Air Guitar Be Classed As A Real Instrument?
The one instrument that is perhaps the most easily learned of all is of course the air guitar. It might seem strange to even class the air guitar as an instrument at all, since it is a mime or dance form rather than the creation of music in any form. Having said this, since many performers mime when on stage, both vocally and with their instruments, it has been argued that air guitar is an art form used by both traditional performers as well enthusiastic fans of guitar music.
Air guitar is most usually noted for its exaggerated actions, with strumming or picking movements which are far more excessive and visually noticeable than would actually be the case were an instrument to be actually held in the hands. In addition, the use of the imaginary fret board is also highly exaggerated and the emphasis is primarily on creating a visual impression of playing the instrument, rather than an accurate reproduction of a genuine performance.
Although air guitar, by its very nature, is not limited to particular forms of guitar music, there is a general tendency for it to be most popular within heavy rock music, and often the fans of heavy rock bands will enjoy participating in this activity during performances, either real or imaginary. For those people who already play guitar, there is often an element of understanding as far as the way in which the instrument is most likely to be held and played for a particular piece of music, but for those who have only a vague idea of how to play guitar, perhaps gleaned only from watching performances, there can be the tendency for rather unlikely performances which, it has been argued, can lead to bad habits which need to be dealt with in cases where the person ultimately decides to take up learning guitar properly.
Playing guitar is often a visual performance, and guitars have log been manufactured to create a visual appeal. Not all instruments lend themselves well to visual performances of music, but guitars, especially electric guitars, do have this advantage. The fact that performers can either stand or sit, and even move about on stage, as well as the visual use of strumming, fretting and using levers, all helps to create a performance which can be as much fun to watch as it is to listen to.
It is easy to imagine that the idea of air guitars has been around for as long as the guitar itself, but in fact it is a fairly recent idea. During the latter part of the 1970s there was huge interest in rock music, especially a group called Iron Maiden. Many of the fans would come to Iron Maiden concerts armed with cardboard or wooden cut-outs of the musician's guitars, and would play along on these model guitars throughout the performance. There were many fans who did not have these cut-out guitars, and so the habit grew for them to simply mime having a cut-out guitar. This led to the hue popularity of air guitars at concerts, and eventually into the wider field.
The first example of a performer on stage actually playing air guitar was in 1969, when Joe Cocker began a live performance of "With a Little Help from My Friends", but he did not actually have a guitar with him. He began miming the guitar playing, effectively starting the performance with an air guitar. Today, thanks to video sharing websites such as YouTube, the playing of air guitars is now a very popular, and highly competitive, field all of its own.
