The ninth edition of Guitar Show has come to a close: the second hosted at BolognaFiere and the first to take place over three days. It was a significant edition, not only for the numbers achieved, but also for the quality of participation, the growth of the event’s international profile, and the confirmation of a path that is shaping Guitar Show into an increasingly central appointment for the world of guitar, bass, amplification, effects and lutherie.
Guitar Show 2026 recorded 10,515 total attendees over the three opening days. This result was built together with exhibitors, distributors, industry professionals, luthiers, artists, the press, the technical staff and an audience that took part with attention, curiosity and expertise.
The decision to open the event with a Friday designed especially for industry professionals proved effective. The 2,221 attendees on the first day, including a significant international B2B audience, confirmed the value of a more focused, business-oriented format. The Silent morning created an atmosphere of listening, exchange and relationship-building, offering ideal conditions for meetings, demos and professional conversations that are harder to develop during peak attendance times.
Saturday marked the attendance peak, with 4,847 entries, while Sunday confirmed the strength of the general public and enthusiasts, with 3,447 attendees. Three days with different rhythms and purposes, yet united by continuous participation and a level of attention that confirms Guitar Show’s role as a meeting point between the market, instrument culture and the music community.
Nearly two hundred events across stages, demos, clinics and showcases
The event programme also played a decisive role in shaping the identity of the 2026 edition. The show unfolded across five stages — Live Indoor, Live Outdoor and three Silent Stages with listening through Silent System headphones — for a total of around 90 official appointments, including demos, clinics, showcases and live moments with Italian and international artists.
These were joined by events hosted directly within exhibitors’ spaces, also integrated with the headphone listening system: a widespread programme that brought the total to nearly two hundred live moments over the three days, all included in the admission ticket.
Among the most anticipated moments of the programme, a central role was played by the masterclasses held by Kiko Loureiro and Donato Begotti, both welcomed with strong audience participation. Alongside these sessions, Guitar Show 2026 saw some of the most important guitarists and bassists from the Italian and international scene take turns on its stages.
Among the artists featured were: Luca Colombo, Federico Malaman, Ciro Manna, Massimo Varini, Cesareo, Gigi Cifarelli, Andrea Braido, Alex Lofoco, Simone Gianlorenzi and Marco Fanton, together with Giuseppe Scarpato and Enrico Santacatterina, artistic directors of the Guitar Saturday Night.
Alongside the music programme, the Creators’ Roundtable also returned, in collaboration with Dantone Edizioni, dedicated to content creators from the world of musical instruments.
An increasingly international show
One of the most significant aspects of the 2026 edition concerns the international dimension of the event. Guitar Show welcomed attendees from 43 countries and brought together 315 brands at the fair, including direct and indirect exhibitors.
The composition of the catalogue clearly reflects this evolution: 51% Italian brands and 49% international brands. This balance confirms the strength of the national market while also highlighting Guitar Show’s growth as a transnational point of contact for the guitar sector across the Mediterranean and Europe.
Among the international brands represented, the United States remained the most present country, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and Canada. The international presence also expanded to non-European countries such as South Korea, China and Indonesia, alongside confirmed participation from South America.
Bologna as a gateway to the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe
The geography of international attendances tells a clear positioning of Guitar Show that is worth highlighting.
Slovenia is the leading foreign country of origin for the audience. It is followed by Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania. A Balkan and Eastern European area that accounts for approximately half of the international audience attendances
A strategic observation for those who exhibit, distribute or manufacture: Bologna is becoming the natural point of contact for the Mediterranean and Balkan-Eastern basin. A vast geographic area, underrepresented in the Northern European trade fair calendar, for which Guitar Show is today the most accessible event — geographically and culturally.
One final figure that speaks directly to exhibitors: the vast majority of international audience members purchased the three-day pass. Purchasing behaviour consistent with visitors who plan their trip — industry professionals, foreign distributors, builders looking for channels, supply-chain professionals — rather than occasional enthusiasts.
Reaching Bologna
Bologna Marconi Airport is 6 km from the exhibition venue, 15 minutes by taxi or People Mover. Direct flights from major European capitals, with indicative flight times: Paris 1h45, Frankfurt 1h15, Madrid 2h20, London 2h20, Amsterdam 1h50, Brussels 1h45, Vienna 1h35, Munich 1h00, Berlin 1h45, Barcelona 2h00, Athens 2h30.
Bologna is one of the most accessible hubs of the European trade fair calendar for international visitors. For those arriving from within Italy, Bologna Centrale high-speed station is 20 minutes from the venue and connects daily to Milan, Florence, Rome, Venice and Turin.
European lutherie at the centre
Strengthening the event’s international profile and its focus on artisanal excellence, the 2026 edition also hosted the EGB Luthier Collection, the exhibition area curated by European Guitar Builders and dedicated to a selection of high-end European lutherie.
This was a presence of great value, bringing hand-built instruments by master luthiers from across the continent to the show and further raising Guitar Show’s positioning within the European landscape. The EGB Luthier Collection confirmed one of the event’s strongest identities: being a place where major industry players, distributors, independent builders and luthiers can coexist, engage in dialogue and meet a knowledgeable and passionate audience.
Sound quality as a shared value
Among the most important innovations of the 2026 edition, the new Sound Policy delivered a tangible result: a more sustainable, more orderly sound environment, better suited to the real listening experience of instruments.
Across the event’s three halls, visitors and professionals were able to try instruments, listen, compare, work and create content in more balanced conditions. This result did not depend on rules alone, but above all on the collaboration of exhibitors, demo players and the public, who contributed with care and responsibility to the success of the new setup.
The Sound Policy will remain one of the pillars of Guitar Show. The 2026 edition demonstrated that a fair dedicated to instruments can be fully sonic, lively and engaging, without giving up the quality of the listening and working environment.
A vision growing together with the music supply chain
Guitar Show 2026 was also the result of a shared vision with BolognaFiere and Eufonica – The Music and Music Professions Fair. The simultaneous scheduling of the two events strengthened the development of a broader context, capable of connecting instruments, professionals, education, networking and the music industry.
This was not simply a matter of sharing the same dates, but rather a project that looks at the music supply chain as a whole. In the same direction, the dialogue with MEI – Meeting delle Etichette Indipendenti also continues, along a shared path aimed at enhancing the supply chain, independent productions and the professionals who bring live and recorded music to life.
Bologna is thus confirmed as a strategic place where different yet complementary worlds can meet: those who build, those who distribute, those who play, those who teach, those who communicate, and those who work every day within the music ecosystem.
Thanks to everyone who made this edition possible
The result of Guitar Show 2026 belongs to all the people who helped build it: exhibitors, brands, luthiers, distributors, artists, operators, journalists, technicians, partners, collaborators and visitors.
A broad, knowledgeable and passionate community that, once again this year, gave shape to three days of instruments, encounters, listening and relationships.
Thank you all. See you in 2027.