Guitar Superstar is a yearly competition hosted by the

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...

magazine in which 10 finalists compete for the title of Guitar Superstar or Guitar Hero for the year. The competition started in 2005 as the Guitar Hero Competition but was changed in 2008 to the current title, probably to avoid confusion with the ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Player ...

'' video game series.

Guitar Hero '05

Held at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, on June 10, 2005.
Finalists: *Dominic Frasca (Winner) *Rodney VerBrugge (First Runner-Up) *Marcus Deml (Second Runner-Up) *Juan Carlos Coronado *Scott Jones *Ulf Högberg Judges:

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

, Trevor Lukather, DJ Munch, and

Jude Gold Jude Gold (also credited as Judah Gold) is an American guitarist who has toured with Jefferson Starship since 2012 and has toured with Kristin Chenoweth, JGB (formerly the Jerry Garcia Band), Eddie Money, 2 Live Crew, Jeff Berlin, and more. He ...

Guitar Hero '06

Held at the

Great American Music Hall The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconies ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, on September 23, 2006.
Video of the competition
on Guitar Player TV Finalists: *

Trey Alexander Robert "Trey" Alexander (born April 3, 1983 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American soccer player, currently without a club. Career College and Amateur Alexander grew up in Meridian, Mississippi and began his college career at Meridian Commu ...

(First Place)
video
* Patrick Woods (Second Place)

* David Powers (Third Place)

* Joshua Karickhoff * Joe Cefalu * Nathan Hahn * Ed DeGenaro * Ron LoCurto * Sergei Roudzinski * Anton Tsygankov Judges:

Richie Kotzen Richard Dale Kotzen Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. As a solo artist, Kotzen has back catalogue of more than 20 album releases. He was a member of glam metal band Poison from 1991 to 1993, Mr. Big ...

Rafael Moreira Rafael Moreira is a Brazilian-American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist / vocalist on the hit CBS television shows '' Rock Star: INXS'' and '' Rock Star: Supernova'', MTV's ''Rock The Cradle ...

, Shredmistress Rynata, and Steve Read.

Guitar Hero '07

Held at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California, on October 12, 2007.
Video of the competition
Finalists: * Ladd Smith (

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

) (First Place)
video

Les Robot
(real name: Cory Melnychuk) (

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) (Second Place)
video
* Danny B. Harvey (

Canyon Country Canyon Country is a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies along the Santa Clara River (California), Santa Clara River betwee ...

) (Third Place)
video
* Jamie Robinson (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

) * Juan Coronado (

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census. It ...

) * Tony Smotherman (

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

) * Taka Minamino ( Hollywood, California) * Curtis Fornadley (

Playa Del Rey Playa del Rey (Spanish for "Beach of the King") is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a populat ...

, California) * Casey Harshbarger (

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

) * Chris Peters (

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

, Florida) Judges:

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. He has also recorded ...

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

Greg Howe Gregory Howe (born December 8, 1963)Malusardi, Guglielmo (October 2006) Guitar Nine Records. Retrieved 2012-10-14. is an American guitarist and composer. An active musician across four decades, he has released ten studio albums in addition to co ...

, and

Mike Varney Mike Varney is an American record producer and music publisher. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records, and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Recor ...

. Host:

Brendon Small Brendon Small (born February 15, 1975) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, animator, writer, director, producer, and musician known for co-creating the animated series ''Home Movies'' (1999–2004, with Loren Bouchard) and ''Metalocalypse'' ...

. Guitar Hero 06 winner Trey Alexander also came back to battle

Guitar Hero III ''Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero 3'') is a music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the third main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series, following ''Gui ...

expert Mark Johnson. Johnson played

Lay Down "Lay Down" is a single by the Strawbs which reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1972 - their first hit. It was included on their 1973 album ''Bursting at the Seams''. The lyrics are loosely based on the 23rd Psalm in the Old Testa ...

by Priestess on GH3 while Alexander played the riffs with his Peavey HP Special.

Guitar Superstar '08

Was held at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California, on September 13, 2008. Finalists: * Vicki Genfan (Winner) * Daddo Oreskovich (First Runner-Up) * Makana (Second Runner-Up) * Dan Peters * Eric Barnett * Mark Orlando * Christopher Schreiner aka The Guy Judges: Joe Satriani, George Lynch, Steve Vai, Elliot Easton and Brendon Small. Host:

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated w ...

Guitar Superstar '09

Finalists: *Steve Senes (Winner) *Krisz Simonfalvi (First Runner-Up) *Brian Davidson (Second Runner-Up) *Dave Benzinger *Brodie Cumming *Hercules Castro *Danny Jones *Steve Langemo *Doug Towle *Jeff Zampillo Judges: Steve Lukather, Elliot Easton, Jennifer Batten, Earl Slick and Greg Hampton. Host:

Guitar Superstar '10

Finalists: * Don Alder (Winner) *Eric Clemenzi (First Runner-Up) *Charlie Crowe (Second Runner-Up) *Angel Vivaldi *Dan Kumar *Jodee Frawlee *Karim Khorsheed *Kevin Zugschwert *Ignacio Di Salvo *Val Kostadinov Judges: George Lynch, Elliot Easton, Reeves Gabrels, and Gary Hoey. Host: Nikki Blakk

Guitar Superstar '11

Finalists: *Mark Kroos (Winner) *Fredrik Strand Halland (First Runner-Up) *Arek Religa (Second Runner-Up) *Jeremy Ore *Forrest Lee, Jr. * Kevin E.Holdren(Viewer's Choice Winner) Judges: Muriel Anderson, Carl Verheyen, and Reeves Gabrels. Host: Larry Carlton

References

{{Reflist Guitar competitions