Gadzooks! Steve Vai's a Guinness World Record holder. © RADU SIGHETI/Reuters/Corbis
It's official: Steve Vai is now a Guinness World Record holder, having conducted the largest online guitar lesson music in history on 3 March.
Vai teamed up with Berkleemusic, the online continuing education division of Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music, to stage the first-of-its-kind event, which brought together almost 7,000 members of the international guitar community in a celebration of online music education.
Guinness certified the world record based on Berklee having recruited 4,455 students over the first 15 minutes to the lesson. Berkleemusic also announced a donation of $7,000 - one dollar for each student certified as taking part in the lesson - to the Steve Vai Online Scholarship Fund at Berkleemusic. The fund rewards and assists outstanding students studying in Berkleemusic's multi-course certificate programs.
"I hope this record encourages players to continue to cultivate their own unique style and spirit on the guitar," Vai said. "I think this record really showcases the interest that exists in guitar education worldwide. It was a true pleasure working with an institution like Berkleemusic.com, who shares my interest in helping to bring more skilled musicians into the world."
In addition to the group lesson, Berkleemusic.com and Vai have teamed up for a new 12-week online course: Steve Vai Guitar Techniques. The course offers students a chance to gain a deep understanding of Vai's approach to the guitar, repertoire and musical concepts from anywhere in the world.
You can still view Steve Vai's archived online guitar lesson right here.
“One of the best guitar solos ever conceived - captured live on stage!”: Uncovering the truth about the Clapton classic that he called "wrong" but Eddie Van Halen loved
“This one is a prototype. We’re getting close to the finish line tho!”: Abasi Concepts set introduce an extended-range nylon-string to its lineup and Tosin Abasi got so excited with it he spilled his coffee
