An auction house employee holds up a see-through Dan Armstrong-Ampeg electric guitar owned by musician Mark Knopfler at a media event to promote an upcoming sale of his collection at the Christie's auction house, on 18 January 2024 in London, England. Centred on the collection of the celebrated lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter of the iconic British band Dire Straits, Christie's auctioned more than 120 guitars and amps from his 50-year career. (Photo: Leon Neal / Getty Images) 
We have all seen them at live concerts, faced contorted, hands cramped in the air, fingers touching invisible strings: the air guitarist, completely oblivious of their surroundings.
Air guitar, says Wikipedia, is “a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play an imaginary rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs and solos. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions, and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching.”
Is air guitar purely a guy thing? What are the qualities of a great air guitarist? Are there competitions? What makes a song air guitarable? Why is it usually the high notes that get air guitared? Does the rhythm guitar lend itself to an air performance as well? And does the air guitar require a recognisable melody, or is speed and screaming noise enough? Does it have to be screaming?
There are compilations with dozens of perfect songs to play air guitar to.
Famous ones include Layla by Derek and the Dominos, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple, and Paradise City by Guns N’ Roses.
In this episode, journalists and music writers Fred de Vries and Tim Cohen try to answer some of the questions raised above. They also confess to being avid air guitarists, and introduce you to six of their favourite air guitar songs, with, as usual, some twists.
This week’s selection consists of:
I’m Going Home — Ten Years After
Voodoo Chile — Stevie Ray Vaughan
Bohemian Like You — Dandy Warhols
The End — The Beatles
Painkiller — Judas Priest
Sultans Of Swing — Dire Straits
DM
You can listen and subscribe to ThePerfectSongFor… podcast about the perfect song on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Full versions of the songs are in Spotify and Apple playlists.
Contact the hosts of the podcast or email us your suggestions and alternatives at perfectsongfor@gmail.com
You can also follow the hosts on X: @perfectsongfor Insta: #perfectsongfor Tim Cohen is the business editor of Daily Maverick. Fred de Vries is an author, writer, journalist and South Africa correspondent for Elsevier Magazine and De Groene Amsterdammer. He writes regular music columns for Platenblad in the Netherlands and Vrye Weekblad in South Africa.