Coming up in Hoboken: An epic ‘Johnny B. Goode’

by JAY LUSTIG

Guitar players and other musicians will gather in Sinatra Park in Hoboken on July 20, to try to break a world record..

Scores, maybe hundreds of guitar players will perform the late Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” in Hoboken, July 20, as part of an attempt to set the record for the world’s largest band.

In what has become an annual rite of summer, guitarists and other instrumentalists will gather July 20 at 7 p.m. (with registration starting at 6 p.m.) at Sinatra Park.

The Hoboken music store, The Guitar Bar organizes this free event, at which all guitarists and musicians who play other stringed instruments are welcome to play along with a rhythm section. The goal is is to break the record for the largest performing rock band. According to the Guinness World Records web site, it’s 953, set in Beijing in last summer, though it appears that the record might have been broken earlier this month by 1,004 people singing Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” with a band at a festival in Spain. (Though maybe there weren’t enough instrumentalists there to qualify?).

Guitar Bar owner Jim Mastro (a member of the band The Bongos) and other staff members and Hoboken music scene members will lead the assembled masses through the material.

These are the songs that will be played. For the chords, visit facebook.com/guitarbarnj.

“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Bob Dylan
“Ain’t No Sunshine,” Bill Withers
“Changed the Locks,” Lucinda Williams
“Dead Flowers,” The Rolling Stones
“When I Come Around,” Green Day
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” U2
“Johnny B. Goode,” Chuck Berry
“Isis,” Bob Dylan
“Rock and Roll,” Led Zeppelin
“Harvest Moon,” Neil Young
“Somethin’ Else,” Eddie Cochrane
“The Last Time,” The Rolling Stones
“Island in the Sun,” Weezer

Sinatra Park is located on Sinatra Drive, between 4th and 5th streets.

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