You couldn't exactly call them high strung.
On Friday, 15 contestants from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia brought their A game to a rainy stage in Oulu, Finland for the Air Guitar World Championships.
Each contestant performed part of a song of his or her choosing, then had to improvise to "Hopeless Case Of A Kid In Denial" by the Swedish rock band The Hellacopters.
Alexander Roberts, aka "The Jinja Assassin" apparently for his mane of red hair, came out in a studded denim vest, riffing and falling to his knees as the crowd cheered.
Vincent "Lord Scrat" Roussel of France wore cheetah print leggings with knee pads, a tie and a crown. He let some balloons loose, blew the crowd kisses and plucked the air to "Maniac."
But it was all over when Japan's Nanami Nagura, the 2014 champion, transformed from a Cinderella-type character to a raging, head-banging star.
She took home first prize and will get a spot in next year's World Final. She also received an actual guitar – a hand-carved Flying Finn electric guitar.
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![German air guitarist Patrick Culek.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/403fb7b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4382x3286+0+0/resize/880x660!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2018%2F08%2F25%2Fgettyimages-1022610664-f74325e4b47e50d6942a8978ee2de71922583e52.jpg)