Australian Guitarist Plays for 125 Consecutive Hours for Charity
Scott Burford, a guitarist from Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, recently finished playing for over 125 hours in an attempt to break the record for the world’s longest guitar marathon.
ABC News—the Australian ABC, mind you, not the American one—reported that Burford played from noon on Sunday, July 15 through Friday, July 20. If verified, the guitarist’s marathon feat would easily eclipse the previous world record of 114 hours, set back in 2011.
“I had super-glue put over my fingers to hold the skin together,” Burford told ABC. “I had a nurse and a former paramedic check me out [during the attempt] to make sure I was ok.”
Burford adhered to a strict set of rules during his record attempt. He was only allowed to take 30-second breaks between songs, and earned five minutes of rest time for each hour he played. As if that wasn’t enough, Burford could only repeat a song every four hours.
On the bright side, Burford’s attempt galvanized local musicians, who rallied around the event, which was intended to raise funds and awareness for the charity Musicians Making A Difference, which uses music and mentoring to help young victims of abuse, neglect and homelessness.
A number of local guitarists joined Burford throughout his marathon.
“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,” said Mike Miller, the manager of Engadine, the music shop where the marathon took place.
“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.”
Source: www.guitarworld.com
