Fake guitarists wielding imaginary axes descend on Cambridge’s Central Square for the US Air Guitar competition Thursday. The area is also the home turf of Harmonix, developers of the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” video games, another way for non-musicians to pretend to shred like pros.
You’d think these two camps might bond over their mutual love of unreal guitar fun, but bad blood is brewing. It seems air guitarists and “Guitar Hero” enthusiasts simply do not play well together.
“There is no rivalry between air guitar aficionados and the weaklings who play ‘Guitar Hero,’ ” sniffed returning Boston air guitar champ Erin McNally, who competes under the name McNallica. “They have a plastic toy with buttons. I can do so much more with my guitar than they can do. My high-note slaying solos - they can’t do that. They are limited in their rocking abilities.”
Members of the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” game community were quick to return fire.
“We dig real stuff here,” responded Sean Baptiste, manager of community development at Harmonix. “We have real boyfriends and girlfriends. We don’t have to imagine them.”
Brian Shandra, a research scientist at a Boston pharmaceutical company who customizes and rebuilds his own experimental “Guitar Hero” instruments, is an avowed enemy of air guitar.
“Everyone hates mimes and that’s all they really are,” he said. “Rock ’n’ roll mimes.”
Then he produces a photo showing his doomsday weapon: a “Guitar Hero” controller that literally shoots flames.
“I can set people on fire with this,” Shandra bragged. “I can cause some bad-ass destruction with this instrument of rock. You show me someone that can shoot fire out of their fingertips and then maybe I’ll be impressed.”
But the air guitar force isn’t impressed.
“They aren’t playing guitar either, it’s a plastic toy,” said Tony Fernandez, 23, a film production assistant and air guitar competitor. “Anyway, everyone plays air guitar. It’s just that we do it out in public.”
Lee Becker, a 21-year-old intern at Budweiser planning to compete tomorrow for a chance to go to the US Air Guitar finals in San Francisco on Aug. 8, takes a more philosophical view.
“We are performance artists,” he said. “I don’t know how to play real guitar, but that’s not relevant to my air guitar greatness.”
Becker’s plan for air supremacy involves bringing an element of sex to his show.
“I’ve been told that I have a rock star (butt),” he said. “I will be sporting a pair of tight jeans and I plan lots of pelvic thrusts and air humps.”
At 50 years old, Jeff Lyons of Somerville expects to be the oldest entrant in the air guitar competition. He makes no claims of sex appeal. He does, however, vow to take the top prize.
