For your entertainment, here a couple of vids featuring people playing Flight of the Bumblebee really, really, f’in fast. I think to be considered even “competent” you need to do it at around 300 BPM.

1. First up is Tiago Della Vega, who played it at 320 BPM and may (or may not) have set a world record. I’ve read and seen some evidence that indicates that he did this as a publicity stunt (the world record bit) and overdubbed a recorded performance over the live one. We don’t judge here, so I’ll let you decide. Here’s the vid that he claims makes him the real deal:

Follow the link above to read some comments on the Guinness Book’s community forum that may indicate otherwise.

2. Next up is a guy who set a world record for playing “Dueling Banjos” on guitar, Jose Del Rio. Check out Flight of the Bumblebee on his MySpace page.

3. Here’s Ken Aoki playing it on a banjo (hey, we don’t discrimate, the banjo is close enough…):

4. Here’s my favorite, the incomparable Great Kat:

5. How about Jose Feliciano doing it old school in 1966? He even drops the pick!

6. Here’s Nuno Bettencourt playing Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee. Yeah, yeah, it’s not the same, but it’s still pretty friggin’ cool:

7. Jennifer Batten’s version is as cool as her haircut. Check out the amazing tapping.

Honorable Mention
Lastly, I think Alexander Dmitriev deserves some credit, even though he isn’t a guitar player. This is crazy: