Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

One player performs a prepared piece alone on an acoustic guitar, entered in the older age groups and given a three-minute slot with a warning bell at two and a half minutes.

Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar is a solo class for a guitar whose sound comes from its own hollow body and strings rather than from an amplifier: a steel-string or nylon-string acoustic guitar, played by one entrant, who chooses and prepares one piece. The wording is the organiser’s own, and the event’s sheet does not define “acoustic” any further, so a coordinator should say in the notice whether a guitar with a built-in pickup that is played through the hall system counts, and whether a capo, a pick and a strap are fine. The class is separate from the keyboard class of the same instrumental section, so guitarists are marked against other guitarists.

The event that carries it opens this class only to the two older age groups: Intermediate (14 to 17) and Seniors (18 and above). Younger entrants play keyboard or sing instead. Boys and girls enter together, no language applies, and every entrant is scored alone. The running order is simple: the entrant is called, tunes, plays inside the slot, and leaves while the panel writes marks.

Time is tight. The slot is three minutes, with a warning bell at two minutes thirty seconds, so the piece has to be chosen and cut to fit. A slow introduction and a full set of repeats can use the whole slot before the best part of the piece is reached; a shorter arrangement that ends cleanly under the limit usually shows the player at their best.

The sheet also says the song list for the instrumental classes is drawn by lot, and that recorded music is not allowed. Those are organiser rules the software does not model, so coordinators carry them in the entry notice. Organisers run an acoustic guitar class because the instrument is widely taught, cheap to own and easy to move, so it brings in players who would not otherwise enter a stage event.

Where Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar is run

In the eTalenter data this item appears on one template, a one-day talent test held in Kuwait, where it sits among the instrumental, vocal, speaking and quiz classes. No other template carries an item with this exact name; guitar classes under other names exist elsewhere and have their own pages. Beyond that, acoustic guitar is a common solo class in school and community music festivals, but that is general knowledge and is not part of the data here.

• Kuwait

Key facts

• Individual entry; one performer on one acoustic guitar
• Both genders enter together; no language applies
• Two age groups only: Intermediate (14 to 17) and Seniors (18 and above), counted on a fixed date set by the organiser
• Three-minute limit with a warning bell at two minutes thirty seconds
• Installed with a default maximum of 100 marks; the sheet prints no criteria, weights, grades or prizes, so the organiser can change the maximum
• Organiser rules outside the software: the piece comes from a published song list drawn by lot, and no pre-recorded music is allowed
• Idea, not a rule: ask players to send their chosen arrangement ahead so the panel can check it fits the three-minute slot

On eTalenter, Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar is filed under Music and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 3 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar

What a Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Accuracy: the right notes, chords and strumming or picking pattern, with wrong notes and stops kept to a minimum
• Rhythm and tempo: a steady pulse that holds through the changes, neither rushing the easy bars nor slowing for the hard ones
• Tone: a clean, even sound from the strings, with no buzzing frets, muted notes or harsh strumming
• Tuning: the guitar in tune at the start and still in tune at the end, since a slipping string costs marks quickly on a short piece
• Musicality: dynamics, phrasing and a sensible choice of arrangement, so the tune sounds like music and not a run of chords
• Time discipline: finishing inside the three-minute limit; the sheet prints no weights, so these are common panel points, not the event’s own scale

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar under Scoring Setup, or start from the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar

How entrants and their teachers usually get Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar right on the day:

• Time the piece from the first note to the last and cut it to about two minutes forty-five, so a slow start on the day does not push it past the bell
• Pick a piece from the published list that you can play cleanly at your own standard rather than a showy one that falls apart in the hard bar
• Tune in the waiting area, then check one open chord and one high-position note before you walk on
• Pack spare strings, a tuner, a pick and a capo, and keep the same set on your own guitar that you practised with
• Practise the whole piece standing or seated exactly as on the day, in front of one listener, at least twice, so the nerves are not a surprise
• Plan how you will start without delay: know your first chord shape and your count-in so the clock is not wasted on setting up
• After a loss, ask which of the criteria cost you marks and record yourself playing the piece: rhythm drift and tuning slips are far easier to hear on a recording

Frequently asked questions

Is Instrumental Music Acoustic Guitar judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Can I use an electro-acoustic guitar with a pickup?

The sheet does not say. Ask the organiser whether a pickup guitar played through the hall system counts as acoustic, and whether you may plug in at all.

How long can my piece be?

Three minutes in total, with a warning bell at two minutes thirty seconds, so prepare a piece that fits under that with a little time to spare.

Can I play with a backing track?

No. The organiser’s rules ban pre-recorded music for the instrumental classes, so the piece must be played solo and live.

Which age groups can enter?

On this template only Intermediate (14 to 17) and Seniors (18 and above) have the class; younger groups have other instrumental or vocal items.

Is it the same as the Guitar (Western) or Electric Guitar Solo classes?

No. Those are separate items on other templates with their own time limits and criteria; this one is acoustic only, played solo for the Kuwait talent test.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide, or browse every music competition item.