TORONTO - The sound of hundreds of guitars strumming Neil Young's "Helpless" in unison rang out through the heart of Canada's largest city Saturday, as musicians attempted to break the world record for largest guitar ensemble.

In the end, "The Great Canadian Tune" performance at Yonge and Dundas square fell about 200 players short of the previous Guinness World Record, held by a town in Germany that saw 1,802 guitarists take part in a performance of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" in 2007. Guinness officials were on hand to verify the results, but had to break the news to the crowd that the final count was 1,623.

The chance to bond with fellow guitar enthusiasts seemed as much of an attraction as the record itself. "We thought it sounded like a lot of fun," said Jennifer Bryan, who was there with a group of girlfriends.

"And it was a song we could actually play, which was good. We didn't know it only had three chords so that was a nice surprise."

The very young were just happy to have a chance to play as loud as they wanted. Six-year-old Vid Grujic played a cherry-red electric guitar that was almost as big as he was. When asked how long he'd been playing, Vid's father said a year, but the boy corrected him. "Two years," he said proudly.

The song selection of "Helpless" won an online poll conducted by the Luminato arts festival, which organized the event.

The crowd got in some pre-record practice with a countdown of the other nine songs in the top 10, performed by the band the Heartbroken, featuring Damhnait Doyle. The eclectic list included Tom Cochrane's "Boy Inside the Man," "Basement Apartment" by Sarah Harmer, "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, Fiest's "1-2-3-4" as well as tunes from Bryan Adams, the Band, Blue Rodeo, B.T.O and the Tragically Hip.

Singer Kim Stockwood joined the Heartbroken for the countdown.

She took a moment between songs to ask the crowd to hold their guitars aloft.

"I want to take a picture to send to my mom in Newfoundland," she said as she snapped a photo of the field of instruments in the air.