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Fifty-three hours and no Freebird!

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How long can you play the guitar? Forty-four hours, you say? That's pretty good, but it's nothing to Akash Gupta. Last week, the 14-year-old from Agra, India, made his way into the Guinness Book Of Records by playing his Washburn guitar for 53 hours straight.

Gupta, a, class IXth student of St. Peter's University, began his record-breaking attempt last Sunday morning. On Tuesday, he broke the previous record of 44 hours held by American Brian Engelhart, Guinness Book of Records representative Reilf Hann said. Akash then went on to shatter his own (non-official) record of 52 hours and 48 minutes.

After the event, Gupta, exhausted and nursing blistered fingers, said, "I would like to thank people of Agra who have supported me throughout. Only with their help, I was able to organise this programme in which I have broken the previous record."

Hann noted that Gupta showed a lot of stamina while breaking the record. "He had a lot of dedication and concentration and I am very pleased with his record," he said.

What's more impressive, during the entire 53 hours, not one lick of Freebird was played.