The ten Guitar Hero finalists were chosen after the staff of Guitar Player listened to hundreds of entries posted on SonicBids.com.

The panel of celebrity judges who will choose the winner are: guitar legend Joe Satriani, session great and Toto axeman Steve Lukather, former Poison and Mr. Big guitarist Ritchie Kotzen, TV's Rockstar:SuperNova house band guitarslinger Rafael Moreira, the fabulous Shredmistress Rynata, and Steve Read of Musician's Friend.

The ten finalists who will showcase their talents at the competition are:

" Trey Alexander, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
" Joe Cefalu, Boise, Idaho
" Ed DeGenaro, Seattle, Washington
" Nathan Hahn, Waxahachie, Texas
" Josh Karickhoff, New York, New York
" Ron LoCurto, Kenmore, New York
" David Powers, Brewster, New York
" Sergei Roudzinski, Russia
" Anton Tsygankov, St. Peters, Missouri
" Patrick Woods, Winona Lake, Indiana