A guitarist from the town of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia has played for over 125 hours in an attempt to break the record for the world's longest guitar marathon.
ABC News reports that Scott Burford played from 12 noon on Sunday 15 July through to the afternoon of Friday 25 July. The superhuman stint took place at a Engadine Music in South Sydney and 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.
The attempt is currently unverified, but if successful will comfortably surpass the current record of 114 hours set in 2011.
Burford had to adhere to a set of strict rules during the marathon playing session, meaning he was only allowed to take 30-second breaks between songs, with five minutes rest time per hour of playing. What's more, he could only repeat a track every four hours, which resulted in a pretty lengthy setlist.
Every minute of the attempt was captured on video for verification purposes and the event appears to have galvanised the local musician community, with many others pitching in to play alongside Burford in order to help keep him awake through the small hours.
“The thing that really drained him was just sitting there playing guitar by himself,” store manager Mike Miller told ABC.
“So he was really lucky that he had people with him all the way through. 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.”
Scott said he hoped to raise $12,000 AUD for Musicians Making A Difference.
“Their mission statement and values seemed like a great fit for me,” he told press. “Music, in particular the guitar, has been incredibly important to me throughout my life and helped me get through some very lonely and challenging times. MMAD supports kids to use music and creative expression to get to where they need to be in their lives. It is just such a great cause.”
Currently the total is sitting nearer the $7,000 mark, so if you're as impressed by this feat as are, please head to Scott's page to make a donation to Musicians Making A Difference.
