We all know by now that the 2014 US Air Guitar season is about to kick off. This little series will highlight important parts of the preparation process. I hope you have already put most of your preparation in for these things, but if not, last minute reminders can't hurt!

Part 3: Your Air Guitar Song

This is it... the most important part. You can dress however you want, you can call yourself anything you want, but without a song, you're not going to be air guitaring at all (well, technically you could be a walk-on and use a pre-edited song you didn't practice, but that is a tough row to hoe). You need to pick the song you're going to use, edit it down to one minute, and start practicing.

• Choose a song you know or at least a song you love. You're going to hear it a lot. If you've known this song forever and have been air guitaring to it while jumping on your bed as a kid, you've got the advantage of literally years of practice.
• Choose a song with the right kind of guitar parts for your style. First off, it should, you know, have some. Don't be the guy accidentally playing the bass part. Don't pick something where you won't have much to do for most of the time. Then, think about whether you're a really technical player or not, and whether the song works with your strengths as a performer.
• You're going to need to edit it down to one minute (unless you pick a minute-long song, which is always an option, especially if punk is your cup of tea). Plenty of air guitarists recommend using Audacity for editing.
• When you edit it, make sure you think about what you'll be doing during each part - does it start with a bang? How's the ending? If there's a pause or a non-guitary section in the middle, what will you do with that time? Make sure to maximize the best, most rockin'-est parts of the song so what you're editing out is stuff you can afford to lose.

Once you've got your song nailed down, you can move on to the fun part - practicing it! And then... performing it! LIFE IS SO EXCITING RIGHT NOW.

Want more tips for getting started and getting ready?