A Woollongong musician could be headed for the record books after recently completing a marathon 125-hour guitar playing session as part of a world record attempt.
Over the years, we’ve seen some pretty wild world record attempts, from Andrew W.K’s 24-hour drumming marathon to Jack White’s attempt to create the world’s fastest-produced (vinyl) record, there have been some pretty big efforts put forward by people much more motivated than us. But now an Aussie musician has done all he can to get his name in the record books and aiming to claim the title of performing the world’s longest guitar marathon.
You might remember how just last year, an American bloke by the name of Jeff Waschbusch tried to both raise money and get his name in the record books by playing guitar for a total of 114 hours and ten minutes. Waschbusch’s attempt aimed to break the old record by a whopping total of three minutes and 30 seconds, but now Wollongong’s Scott Burford has tried to shatter this effort as well.
As the ABC reports, Burford began strumming his axe at noon last Sunday, July 15th at a music shop in Engadine, and performed virtually non-stop until Friday afternoon on July 20th.
The 125-hour marathon was a rather strict event though, with the muso being subjected to a large number of rules, including being allotted a 30-second break between songs, five minutes of rest time for every hour he performed, and only being allowed to repeat one of his songs every four hours.
The event also took a rather strong physical toll on the musician though, who finished up the event with a swollen hand covered in blisters. “I had a nurse and a former paramedic check me out [during the attempt] to make sure I was ok,” Mr. Burford explained. “I had super-glue put over my fingers to hold the skin together.”
Likewise, Mike Miller, the general manager of the store in which Scott Burford completed the marathon, explained that without the support of a number of local musicians, he might have been in a bit of trouble.
“The thing that really drained him was just sitting there playing guitar by himself, so he was really lucky that he had people with him all the way through,” Miller said.
“On Wednesday I think at two in the morning there were around 20 people in the shop, jamming with him and keeping him going and he had people with him all the way until around six o’clock the following morning.”
While the 125-hour marathon wrapped on Friday afternoon, we now have to sit back and wait for the fine folks at Guinness to verify the attempt by looking at evidence and footage from the performance.
Of course, if you want your own name to be a part of the history books, make sure you check out the attempt being held by the Sydney Guitar Festival next month, where they hope 500 guitarists will turn up to perform AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’. Rock on.
Check out footage of Scott Burford’s world-record attempt:
https://www.facebook.com/abcinsydney/videos/10156727630454015
