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Form of dance and movement

Air guitar 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. Air guitar is generally used in the imaginary simulation of loud electric or acoustic guitar music.

Before the existence of air guitar, the popularity of the phonograph in the 1930s led to the phenomenon of "shadow conducting", in which listeners would pretend to conduct an orchestra. Air guitar had a seminal moment at the Woodstock music festival in 1969, when singer Joe Cocker mimicked the playing of the keyboard and guitar during his performance of "With a Little Help From My Friends". Cocker's elaborate signature moves helped introduce the concept of air guitar to the public. Neal Kay, founder of the Soundhouse heavy metal club in Kingsbury, London, recalls one night in 1976 a club regular named Rob "Loonhouse" Yeatman arrived at the club carrying a piece of hardboard cut into the shape of a Flying V guitar, with no frets or strings. "Suddenly Rob appears in front of everyone and he starts playing it along with the solo and he's absolutely perfect." One of the first air guitar contests was held at Florida State University in 1978. The term "air guitar" subsequently gained popularity in the 1980s as more contests were held in Sweden and the United States. Since 1996, the annual Air Guitar World Championships have been organized in Oulu, Finland. The first competitions were arranged as part of Oulu Music Video Festival. Since 2011 it has been produced by Airnest Productions Ltd, which also administers the official Air Guitar World Championships Network of licensed national championships. The idea of the contest was originated a joke that was intended to be a side attraction for the music video festival but has since become a major draw in its own right.

Annual Air Guitar World Championships were first held in 1996 as part of the Oulu Music Video Festival in Oulu, Finland, and now held there each August. According to the competition ideology, "wars will end, climate change will stop and all bad things will vanish when all the people in the world play the air guitar". Participants from all over the world compete in skills of playing air guitar. The judges represent professionals of performing arts and culture, the guitarist Juha Torvinen among others. The winner gets a custom made guitar, 'Flying Finn', by Matti and Saara Nevalainen. One year, Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, donated a VOX BM Special amplifier for the winner. Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, the Air Guitar World Championships were not held in 2020 and 2021.

The Air Guitar UK Championship was created in 2006 by twice air guitar world champion Zac 'the Magnet' Monroe (the first non Finn to win the competition) and is affiliated with the Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland, forming part of the World Air Guitar Network. In September 2011, Air Guitar UK launched Air Guitar Wales and Air Guitar Northern Ireland to join Air Guitar Scotland (first launched by AGUK in 2009) as part of the Air Guitar UK Network. Air Guitar UK events are held in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

UK Air Guitar (UKAG) works regularly with charities including RAFA, The 1800 Club and Action Medical Research.

Multiple technological innovations allow air guitar to be played as a real instrument, producing sounds that depend on the air guitarist's actions. In 2005, students from the Helsinki University of Technology developed a system that translates hand movements into electric guitar sounds, resulting in a functional air guitar. The system, consisting of a pair of brightly coloured gloves and an infrared camera, is one of the most popular exhibits at the Helsinki Science Center. The camera recognizes the distance between the two gloves and the strumming movements made by the wearer to synthesize an electric guitar tune, working using only six notes. In November 2006, researchers at the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced they had developed a tee shirt that senses human movement to "showcase its expertise in designing and manufacturing electronic and intelligent textiles with which people effortlessly control computers", publicising it as an air guitar shirt. In 2007, toy company Silverlit introduced V Beat Air Guitar, a device that consists of a motion sensing guitar pick, a neck part with four buttons and a guitar body. By changing the distance between body and neck, and pressing a combination of the four buttons on the neck part, up to 48 tones and chords can be played. The V Beat Air Guitar was won 'Best Music Gadget' on the television program The Gadget Show. In 2007, a Japanese toy company Takara Tomy introduced Air Guitar Pro (Guitar Rockstar), a functional guitar simulator. Fitting in one hand, the device uses heat and motion sensors to detect the other hand motions and produce guitar sounds. In March 2008, Jada Toys of California introduced the Air Guitar Rocker toy that included patented technology in a belt buckle. When the user strums a magnetic pick in front of the belt buckle, guitar music plays through a portable amplifier attached to the users pants or belt. The Air Guitar Rocker is marketed with the popular Guitar Hero license and was created by toy inventor David Führer and his team.