Unique online guitar riff competition

Haynes Gibson Les Paul Manual

Haynes, the world famous publishing company, and Gibson Guitar, makers of the world's most desirable guitars, are collaborating on a special competition for guitar players of all ages. This is a great opportunity for guitarists to demonstrate their skills to the whole nation and win great prizes - including a fabulous Gibson Les Paul guitar plus editorial in Guitarist Magazine.

The competition goes live on 2 September and will close at midnight on 12 October 2008. To enter, players from 12 years and upwards should create an original guitar riff (not exceeding 40 seconds) and upload it as a music file to the special Haynes micro-site for this competition - www.haynes.co.uk/gibson

This unique competition has been set up to celebrate the forthcoming publication of the long awaited Haynes book the Gibson Les Paul Manual - How to buy, maintain and set up the legendary Les Paul electric guitar, by Paul Balmer.

Introduced in 1952, the Gibson Les Paul is the instrument of choice for legendary guitarists such as Paul McCartney, Kelly Jones, Neil Young, Jimmy Page and Slash. Designed by the great musician and innovator, Les Paul, with help from Gibson craftsmen, this guitar has constantly evolved and in 2007, an all-digital model was launched. Today, while original models change hands for thousands of pounds, almost identical Epiphone and Gibson models are produced for sale worldwide. The Gibson Les Paul remains a classic instrument and, with the help of this practical 'how to' manual, it will last a lifetime.

The new Gibson Les Paul Manual will contain essential information such as pre-gig checks, tuning, routine maintenance and servicing, set-ups and customising options and data on model identification.

Author and guitar expert, Paul Balmer, together with a senior member of the Gibson UK team and Mick Taylor, editor of Guitarist magazine, will judge all entries for the competition. The first prize will be a Gibson Les Paul guitar, two tickets to Music Live (Birmingham NEC November 7-9 November), a signed copy of the Haynes Gibson Les Paul Manual and a profile in Guitarist Magazine. The lucky winner will receive their prizes on the Gibson Tour Bus at Music Live.

In addition, the first 20 online entrants to the competition at www.haynes.co.uk/gibson made after the opening date of Tuesday 2 September will each receive a signed copy of the Haynes Gibson Les Paul Manual when it is published later this year.

Tune up your guitar and work on that riff - you could be the lucky winner of a brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar!

Haynes is the foremost publisher of manuals on everything from cars to babies to washing machines and to Spitfires. It published the Fender Stratocaster Manual in 2007.