What do you get when you put over 500 guitarists in a room with multiple bars, a stage with a house  band, and a PA system?  Even though I'm sure there's a humorous anecdote brewing, the real answer is the 2007 Guitar Player Guitar Hero competition at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

So, was this the video game "Guitar Hero"?  Not really...even though it was sponsored by Activision/Red Octane, the creators of the Guitar Hero game title for Xbox 360.  Rather, this was the final stage of Guitar Player magazine's next "Guitar Hero" competition, that started with thousands of entries from guitarists all over the world to compete for the grand prize and the sole title of the next "Guitar Hero".

The AMP Alliance was proud to be a contributing sponsor along with Microsoft, Digidesign, and Activision.  As a drummer (and, alas, not technically a musician), I was very curious to see what this was all about...so I hopped aboard the non-stop from SEA to SFO to check it out.

Once we got inside, we noticed a line of people along the side of the theater. Curious as to what the hubbub was about, we maneuvered around the side and found out they were waiting for their turn to play the Guitar Hero game on an Xbox 360 unit and a 42" wide screen.  It was really cool to see the level of excitement this game has generated, and that it is helping raise awareness of musicianship and creative expression to households all over the world.

It wasn't hard to see the promotional stuff...our logos and branding was everywhere, from the programs to the videos playing back on the main projection screen.  They sold 578 tickets to the show (about 3/4 capacity of the Hall) with a marketing and promotion reach through the trades and web sites of over 500,000.  We had a really cool "Creativity is Fundamental" full page ad located on the back cover of the program that caught a lot of attention and tied in well with our other promos and branding around the venue and the promo materials.

We had a chance to get backstage and rap with a few of the contestants, including Danny Harvey,  Les Robot, and the eventual winner Ladd Smith out of Nashville. We also had a chance to meet and chat with the legendary Joe Satriani and Steve Lukathur, who were both part of the panel of judges for the event.

It was great to work with Music Player Network in the implementation of Silverlight as their web media format for all the Guitar Hero Event web casts.  Since then, Music Player Network has used Silverlight for all the videos associated with their Bass Player Live event in New York City.  All these web casts can be viewed on the Guitar Hero web site or the Bass Player web site, respectively.

We teamed up with Line 6 to help build out the prize packages given to all contestants, judges, and VIPs.  Everyone received a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate and the GuitarPort software from Line 6.  These guys walked away with some serious tools...but they deserved it!

This Soapbox clip one is Juan Coronado from Ontario, who was one of my favorite contestants:

Many thanks to John at New Bay Media for making this event happen!