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Guitar Center's King of the Blues competition takes place at 7 tonight, September 1, at the House of Blues in Hollywood, California. This annual competition is a nationwide search for the best -- and still undiscovered -- blues guitarist.

Five grand finalists have made their way through store prelims, store finals (which take place at all 220 Guitar Center stores), district finals and regional finals to reach the grand finals -- tonight's event.

The guitarists are competing for a prize valued at nearly $50,000; it includes $25,000 in cash, a recording session with producer (and awesome guitarist) Pete Anderson, a feature in Guitar World magazine, a Gibson Vintage Collectors Series Les Paul 1959 Reissue, an Epiphone 1965 Elitist Casino, plus endorsement deals from Gibson, Ernie Ball, Boss and Egnater and a lot more.

The finalists will perform in front of an audience and a panel of celebrity judges, before a headlining appearance by Gov’t Mule frontman and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes. The show also features Tyler Bryant and is hosted by Joe Bonamassa.

Here are the five King of the Blues grand finalists:

Jonathon Long (Baton Rouge, LA)
Charles Longoria (Robstown, TX)
Predrag Petrovic (Mundelein, IL)
Scott "Pinecone" Fletcher (Binghamton, NY)
Rami Halperin (Yelm, WA)

Click here for more info about Guitar Center's King of the Blues competition.

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