2010 'Best In Shred' Guitar Competition at Sam Ash Music Stores



I’ve had a great time judging the 2010 'Best In Shred' Guitar Competition at Sam Ash Music. Every contestant from every round is a winner in my book, just for entering the competition.

Sam Ash Music, America's premier full-line music store chain, is on the hunt for America's greatest unknown guitarist. The battle is underway with the contest is moving into the final rounds. Challengers from across the United States are competing to win $20,000 in valuable musical gear and the opportunity to perform live onstage with legendary guitarist Steve Vai.

I’ve been judging at the Puente Hills (City of Industry store) in California. The store finals took place at 7:30PM on Wednesday, November 10^th 2010. Now the store championship featured the four semi-finalists still standing from previous elimination rounds. At the City of Industry store the four semi-finalists were:

Al

Jessie

Chris, and

Jonathan.

I sat on a panel of 3 judges (Chris, Elrick and myself) and we scored the players on their technical skills, originality, accuracy, and showmanship. The competition was intense. The guitarists performed live in front of an enthusiastic audience playing along to one of six instrumental backing tracks of Steve Vai songs.

The consensus winner is:
Al Estrada.

Runner-up:
Jessie Hunter.

Congratulations Al. He won an amazing amount of gear. As I recall over $1,000 worth of pedals, recording gear, strings, a Line Six guitar amp and other items, plus an Ibanez guitar. Sam Ash is truly generous.

What I liked about Al’s performance started before he even began playing. He was asked to lower down his amp. What I saw him do showed me he understood all the components of his gear. I could see he didn’t want to turn down his amp because he had a particular tone he was going for. So instead he went to the gain knob on his pedal board and lowered his volume there. Exactly.

Once he started playing what I saw and heard was an original, thought out performance. You could see Al had rehearsed his performance and the song he played for us with his lead guitar work was executed precisely. His guitar playing showed his understanding of the craft. He did this kind of Jimi Hendrix part in the performance where he got on his knees and played some very cool licks and he pulled it off in rhythm which made it look effortless.

Another side note of worth about Al was he was ready to perform faster than any of the other players and he also got off the stage faster than any other player. Even his set up and tear down had been rehearsed. Well done.

My experience judging for Sam Ash Music in the 2010 'Best In Shred' Guitar Competition was fabulous. Store manager Paul Delaney along with his assistant store manager Mike Lovett were a pleasure to work with. As I wrote earlier Sam Ash is very generous and they gave all the judges gifts as well. A really cool Zoom H1 Handy Recorder. Brilliant Stereo Recording that fits in your pocket. Thank You Paul and Mike.

Store champions are going on to compete regionally in Orlando, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte on December 8^th 2010. All six regional champions will win over $1,500 in guitar gear prizes from Ibanez Guitars, Morley, Line 6 Amps, Electro-Voice, Jim Dunlop Products, Samson Technologies and Zoom Effects.

Regional champs will be flown to Los Angeles to compete in the grand finals on January 12^th 2011. A panel of celebrity judges will determine who is crowned Sam Ash's "Shredder of the Year -- 2010."