COMPETITION INFORMATION

2012 Guitar Competition update:

We will be accepting registration for the 2012 Fingerstyle Guitar Competition on Wednesday February 1, 2012 as of 6 pm EST.

Simply read the rules on this competition page - in your registration email that you send us, please acknowledge that you have read and understand these rules.

There are no auditions - no need to send links etc.

Registrants will be received in the order that they arrive.

After the 1st 25 registrants are received, those that follow will be placed in order, in the manner that they are received in a holding pattern.

There will be an announcement made to the 1st 25 enrolled entrants. If you are one of these 25, when you receive your announcement, you will have precisely one week to purchase your registration ticket for the event. The registration ticket is the same price as a camping pass for the festival - in fact, IT IS a camping pass for the festival which covers your admission for the whole weekend.

Failure to purchase your pass within the exact time frame described in the announcement, will bump your name to bottom of the holding list...and the name at the top of the holding list will advance to the 1st group where upon the same opportunity to complete registration shall be provided.

Looking forward to hearing some amazing new talent again this year!

- Del

The 2011 Canadian Guitar Festival Competition winners ...

  • 1st Place - Kevin Horrigan, Brookfield, WI USA
  • 2nd Place - Bob McAlpine, Toronto, Ontario
  • 3rd Place - Jon Finley, Saint Paul, MN USA

Congratulations to all who competed - See some of you again in 2012! - Del

2011 Competition applications are now closed ...

The competition is now full for the 2011 season - if interested people can send an email as an 'Alternate Competitor'. To sign up send us an email. The subject line should automatically be: 'Alternate Competitor'. Good luck to all who are participating. Hone those chops and see you at the Park in July!

The competition begins at 10:00 sharp on the Sunday morning, and marks the final day of the festival. All registered competitors must assemble at 9:00 am sharp - ONE HOUR PRIOR to the competition, behind the stage end of the building for final registration. It is here that we determine the order of your appearance in the event by placing numbers 1 through 24 into the hat. The number you draw is your new and only identity for the next 5 or 6 hours..keep it close :-)

Prior to the drawing of numbers we determine that everyone who is expected to be there IS...and if that number falls short for some reason we go to the list of alternates : people who were a tad late entering before quota was reached...so once we have our 24 people, the numbers are drawn. If you sleep in, get a flat tire, your wife's water breaks, or are in any manner late ...please understand that the drawn numbers are final...it is one thing to test your own fate...but hardly fair to force everyone else to monkey with theirs. No one wants to take a pregnancy test twice right?

Okay then. 9:00 am it is!

Our 2010 Winners Were ...

  • 1st Place - Calum Graham - Alberta Canada
  • 2nd Place - Dylan Ryche - Toronto Canada
  • 3rd Place - Trevor Gordon Hall - USA

From left to right: Trevor Gordon Hall (USA), Dylan Ryche (Toronto Canada) and our Competition 1st place finisher Calum Graham (Alberta, Canada).

Congratulations to all the competitors who took part in this, the best Canadian Guitar Festival Competition ever!

Our 2009 Winners Were ...

  • 1st Place - Ewan Dobson - Toronto
  • 2nd Place - Callum Graham - Calgary
  • 3rd Place - Trevor Gordon Hall - Philadelphia

The skill level among the competitors was simply astounding. With an Olympic styled judging system, scores can be separated by a decimal place or two. It is a difficult task to judge art, and often the question is asked "Is our children learning?" - oops, I mean "Why do we do this?" .. And the answer is simple : We are all creatures who aim to achieve. Be it outward or inward, we are for some reason, pre-wired to do this. (At least that's my personal take on it.) Getting up on that stage is an achievement on its own. Congratulations to the winners and to all who took part. - Del

While there is no entry fee for the guitar competition as such, only those who purchase either a weekend pass or a weekend pass with camping will be eligible to compete for the competition. Advanced ticket sales are required via PayPal or other means for eligibility verification. No exceptions.

To our confirmed competitors: practice, breath, practice, relax. The judges will be affected by that which 'moves' them. It could be a tear-jerker of a composition..or it could be a linear locomotive busting through the walls..but whatever it is they'll be hearing, make it yours. Own it.

Please note the following important Rules for the Competition.

On stage rules:

  • No singing
  • No talking to the audience
  • No flat picking
  • Thumb picks are acceptable

Competition prizes

Once again this year we are offering some fantastic prizes!

Walnut Valley Festival logo

  • A) Stonebridge Guitar (details to be announced)
  • B) A D-TAR Solstice (details)
  • C) Hagstom Guitar HJ500 Tremar(details)

As always, the first place winner is guaranteed a competition spot in the International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition held at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield Kansas this fall.

Hone those chops and we'll see you at the park!

Competition General Rules

There is no entrance fee for the competition itself but only those who purchase either a weekend pass or a weekend pass with camping will be eligible to compete in the competition. Advanced ticket sales are required via PayPal or other means for eligibility verification. No exceptions.

The competition is open to anyone of any nationality. The title of the event is "The Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Championship"

The number of entrants is limited to 24. Each contestant will play two separate pieces for a total time of no more than twelve minutes. Contestants must pre-register and have had there registration confirmed by the organizers.

Five finalists will then be selected from the 1st round and will perform two additional songs each. The order of these performances will be determined by 'random draw', in keeping with the same manner as that which determined the order of the first round.

Three finalists will then be selected by the judges in order of first to third.

Hired main stage performers of the guitar festival are not eligible to compete at the fingerstyle competition that same weekend. The main stage performers, those willing and available, we be the judges. Like the wise folks in Winfield have discovered, the judges will be in a separate area away from the stage and will only know the contestants by their respective competitor identification numbers.

Each contestant will perform in a seated position into a condenser microphone as provided by the organizers.

Judging will be done on an Olympic model points system.

There will be four judges.

Competition Q & A

We have put together your most commonly asked questions and provided the definitive answers. Please review this section thoroughly if you have a question about the Competition.

Q: "I was perusing your site, I was checking out the competition rules, what is the difference between using a thumb pick, and just holding a flat pick? Fingerstyle can be played employing both methods, the thumb pick can be used like a flat pick, and visa-versa. Music is an auditory thing, so if you don't see what he is using, thumb or flat, what's the difference? Just wondering."

A: - Well good question - if a player is using a flat pick in addition to other digits then likely finger style it technically can still be...however, assuming that at least two of the digits are employed for the sake of controlling the flat pick, that leaves but three to do other things. Flat picking in the general sense, speaks more to musical idioms than it does mechanics...so a flat picker by that standard, is easily spotted by what we hear and not necessarily by what we see. It can look like a duck...but it can't quack like one. (Can I copyright that? ;-)

Q: "I just had a quick question concerning the use of thumb picks. Can some parts of songs be played only with a thumb pick (ex. a fast melodic line being playing with cross-picking)? I play fingerstyle guitar, but my pieces are peppered with some cross-picking. I just wanted to make sure this is permitted."

A: - Thumb picks are a mainstay in the FS world...if their use occasionally crosses over then this is chalked up to added technique. I can see no negative connotations here.

Q: I just read over the rules and would like more information about the requirement that:
"Each contestant will perform in a seated position into a condenser microphone as provided by the organizers."
My instrument of choice is the Gibson Chet Atkins solid body nylon string, requiring amplification such as direct in to the board. Also, I very much prefer a stool to a chair. Please advise.

A: You're the first one to raise this question about the solid body guitars. In short, the rules require that all contestants are amplified by the same condenser mic. This of course implies that the instrument should have some ability to project. What we can do is have you play into your own amp and we can pick this up with the mic. It's not really the optimal way for us to go, but if the alternative would negatively impact your performance, that would not do anyone any favors with respect to the spirit of the event.
Chair, stool...whatever you'd like, that's fine.
One note of advice on the amp: try to keep your sound as clean and honest as possible. ..ie no digital delay etc ;-)

See you at the lake!