General Music Industry News

Charlie Harrington Named Invitational Judge For Drum Off Competition

Published: 2012-09-07

Award-Winning Acclaimed Artist, Charlie Harrington Charlie Harrington

drums , has accepted an invitation to judge Guitar Center's 2012 Drum Off Competition. Charlie, an active touring and session drummer, is in high demand not only as a performer but as an educator as well. He has shared the stage with jazz legends such as Woody Herman Woody Herman
1913 - 1987
band/orchestra , Freddie Green Freddie Green
1911 - 1987
guitar, acoustic , Kirk Whalum Kirk Whalum
b.1958
saxophone , Larry Coryell Larry Coryell
b.1943
guitar , Kurt Elling Kurt Elling
b.1967
vocal , John Scofield John Scofield
b.1951
guitar , Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand
b.1942
vocal , Dave Brubeck Dave Brubeck
1920 - 2012
piano , Richie Cole Richie Cole
b.1948
sax, alto , Tony Bennett Tony Bennett
b.1926
vocal , Ira Sullivan Ira Sullivan
b.1931
reeds , Carly Simon, Ari Brown Ari Brown
b.1944
sax, tenor , Junko Onishi Junko Onishi
b.1967
piano , and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
1917 - 1988
sax, alto .

Guitar Center's Drum-Off is the world's largest drum competition with the goal of finding the top undiscovered drummer. The competition is broken down into 3 store preliminary competitions; 1 store final (store prelims and store finals take place in 230 Guitar Center stores); 25 quarter finals; 5 semi-finals and 1 grand final. All stages of the competition take place at a Guitar Center store with the exception of the grand finals. Grand finals will take place in Los Angeles at the Club Nokia.

The top 2 contestants from each of the 3 store prelims (those with the highest and second highest score) will advance to the store finals. So that means there will be 6 competitors at each of the 230 store finals. There will be only 1 winner at the store finals. (230 store winners total.) This store winner will go on to compete at 1 of 25 quarter finals. (25 quarter finals winners total.) From there the 25 quarter finalists will compete at 1 of 5 semi-finals. (5 semi-final winners total). The semi-finalists will then go on to compete at the grand finals.

The competition is open to qualified amateurs and is judged by a panel of prominent independent judges with significant experience in performing drum percussion, teaching drum percussion, drumming/percussion skills and/or substantial knowledge of and/or experience in the music industry.

Guitar Center's Drum-Off Competition can be found here.