After 3 weeks of furious guitar playing we finally crowned our champion Berjaya Ak Jarum. The final guitar duel with the runner up Ihzwan Omar was a massive battle holding the crowd captive and giving the judges a tough time to decide. It was a nail-biter to the finish and a close competition. One round of a guitar duel was not enough, the crowd shouted, “one more round,” after the first one ended. The judges obliged, and Berjaya and Ihzwan ripped out a second time to another difficult track with modulations and challenging chord changes. Still no conclusion was formed. One of the judges, Kenny, stood up and announced that what we have here are two extremely talented guitarists and the fight between them is too close to call. “Nak satu round lagi?” Kenny asked, and the crowd roared with approval.

So off they went again to a third track, and the solos were still at a blistering pace. A decision ultimately had to be made, and the judges finally decided that Berjaya had an edge over Ihzwan in his execution and creativity.

Still at second place Ihzwan was no loser. He picked up RM600.00 and in the round of last 4 he performed a sublime solo piece that left everyone in awe. Not only could he rock but his finger picking clarity proved what a versatile player he was.  

The final prize of RM300.00 for third place went to Mazlan b. Sheik Anib who also had a difficult fight from his challenger Mohd Nadzir b. Adnan who showed equally hard that he had no plans of turning away empty handed. 

But eventually the day belonged to Berjaya who coolly walked away with RM1200.00 and an Aria PE Gothic electric guitar worth RM 1469.00

Now we rewind the event 3 weeks back. During the heats (2^nd November 2008) on the first week, 30 challengers battled it out. They played solo and improvised over a backing track. Even then we could see a few that shined. 24 were chosen in to the 2^nd round/semis (9^th November 2008) and this time they fought in pairs in a guitar duel. Some that played well the 1^st week didn’t do as good while others stepped up their game.

For the finals (16^th November 2008), 16 challengers with the highest points from the 2^nd round/semis progressed through, and this time they battled it out in guitar duels in which the winner of each duel proceeded on to the next level in a knock-out format until we had the 2 best guitarists challenging for the number 1 spot.

Throughout the challenge, the backing tracks in which the challengers played over was only made known to them on that day itself. They had no time to rehearse and were forced to improvise on the spot, testing their creative and technical knowledge of the instrument. 

We congratulate the 3 winners and we would like to thank Sungei Wang for sponsoring the venue as well as the prize money, La Floresta for the champion’s guitar, our three honourable judges Kenny Tay, Timothy Chan and Felix Augustine as well as Mr. Tan from La Floresta. We would also like to applaud the audience and supporters of each challenger who made such tremendous cheers, and finally all the challengers who took part, regardless what your musical level is, for your bold performances, stage costumes and (at times crazy) showmanship.

You have time to hone your skills as we plan to make this a yearly event and you can return more brilliant than before to challenge to become the Rock City Blazing Guitar Challenge Champion 2009.