Over 2,000 guitarists will attempt to break the world record for the biggest guitar ensemble today (October 26 2007) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong, India. The stunt is being organised by the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum as part of their Shillong autumn festival. The festival organisers hope that over 2,000 plus guitarists will turn up to play Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door (I would have prefered Stairway-To-Heaven though, its the one song that really unites all guitarists).

The current world record was set on 4th June 2007 in Kansas City when 1,721 guitarists played 'Smoke on the Water' in unison. The guitars would have to be acoustic or maybe battery powered, because where would you find a place with 2000 power outlets to plug in all the amplifiers?

Power sockets were not a problem earlier this year when 29,000 soccer fans in Sheffield attempted to break the mass air-guitar record. The attempt was orchestrated by the rock band Saxon during the half-time period of a match against Sunderland. There are conflicting accounts of the event and some say Saxon had difficulty get the fans to cooperate (the lure of halftime beer and pies was too great). Sheffield United were not having a great season and they lost the match to Sunderland who went on to get promoted to the premiership.

Link: Hindustan Times Article (Via: guitarz blog )

Link: World air guitar record