The 2013 New England Flatpicking Championship 
has been cancelled! 
 
We regret to inform those of you who enjoyed watching the best flatpickers in the nation tear up the stage each year, that we are saying goodbye to the New England Flatpicking Championship.
 
Recent economic concerns have made festival sponsorship difficult for the world's premiere guitar companies. Without those beautiful prizes our championship just isn't up to our standards. 
 
We highly value the opinion of our loyal crowd, and we are open to the possibility of bringing the contest back in future years. If you feel strongly that we should do so please let us know by emailing info@ossipeevalley.com
 

2012 New England Flatpicking Championship Winners:

1st Place: Ben Cockman (pictured right) 
2nd Place: Alan Schad    
3rd Place: Nick Desabastion 

See our first place winner, Ben Cockman, playing with our 2012 headliner, Tommy Emmanuel, backstage at TommyFest! 


Prizes for this years competition:

TBA!      

If you would like to enter the flatpicking contest, please send us an email with your name, phone, and email to Flatpicking@ossipeevalley.com 

You will need to purchase a ticket to the festival in order to compete. Registration for the contest begins half an hour before the contest starts, at The Saco Stage.  

Flatpicking Rules:

  1. Contestants will play only unamplified instruments.
  2. Contestants may play original, traditional, or contemporary selections.
  3. Contestants may use one instrument and it must have 6-strings.
  4. Contestants will receive extra consideration for demonstrating proficiency in more than one style.
  5. Contestants may have one accompanying rhythm instrument if they choose.
  6. Alternative tunings are allowed.
  7. Contestants must not exceed the total allotted time for their performance.The time allowed is 7 minutes and includes the changing of tunings.
  8. All contestants must play with a flat pick. No finger picking or combination finger picking and flatpicking will be allowed.
  9. Standard and traditional style capos as well as partial capos may be used.
Contest winners are not allowed to enter the competition for 5 years after the year in which they have won. Second and third place finishers may compete as often as they like.

Contestants will be judged according to the following:

Arrangement and Repertiore 40 Pts
Technique, Tuning, Execution and Timing 40 Pts
Overall Impression and Artistic Quality 10 Pts
Versatility 10 Pts

Registration for the competition ends 30 minutes before the beginning. Contestants must be present no less then 30 minutes before the beginning of the contest to be eligible.

  1. There will be a limit of 25 contestants for each competition and all contestants must have a valid ticket to the Ossipee Valley Music Festival.
  2. The order of contestants will be decided by a lottery before the competition.
  3. No less then three judges will decide the winner and judges names will be made public.

Flatpicking Judging Guidelines:

40 pts. Arrangement and Repertiore Contestants should be rewarded for playing interesting music, and playing good arrangements and good music. It is not enough to merely play all the notes well. They should be notes worth playing. Is the contestant doing something new or original or is it just something that was learned from a recording and directly derivative of a common style or a well name players style?
40 pts. Technique, Tuning, Execution and Timing Contestants should maintain a steady pulse and rhythm and properly execute all the notes they attempt to play. Attack, speed, tone, phrasing, etc. all enter into this technical expertise area.
10 pts. Overall Impression and Artistic Quality Is it good music? Is it pleasant to listen to and evocative of more than just the skill of the player? Is it played with feeling and taste?
10 pts. Versatility Players who demonstrate proficiency in more than one style will be rated higher than those who only play one style, and likewise points should be given for playing different kinds of music in one style.


Prizes provided by:
Collings Guitars - Taylor Guitars - Friendly River Music