“When I really play, I just try to go like crazy”: Mateus Asato digs deep into his signature guitar style
The guitarist and social media star also explains his love for Suhr guitars.
Credit: Lorne Thomson/Redferns
Mateus Asato has gone into detail about how he developed his signature style.
The popular guitarist and social media star dissects his techniques in a new video with Rick Beato, which sees him put his own jazzy spin on Pure Imagination from the classic film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, using a Gibson Les Paul Special.
When Beato asks how he pulls off his “ripping single note things” when he’s soloing, Asato explains that he honed that technique comes from “my actual music background”.
“When I really play, I just try to go like crazy, alternate picking, everything” he says. “When I ‘cheat’, I just use the alternate picking, because that’s something I learned from listening to Brad Paisley and guys like that.”
Asato is also keen to praise Suhr guitars, the company he announced he had developed his own signature model with earlier this year.
“My favourite thing about the Suhr guitars is that they’re so easy to play,” he says. “John Suhr just makes one of my favourite necks, man. It’s just beautiful. Since I started playing those guitars in 2014, that kind of contributed to my style of playing too.
“There are a lot of players that love to fight the instrument. I wish I could be that guy but unfortunately I’m not. I’ve got to be a diva – the guitar has to be very well set up.”
Elsewhere in the video, he reveals what he specifically admires about country and metal guitarists. “The right hand, for me, is my weakest,” Asato says. “That’s why I really appreciate country and metal players; they’re very equal when it comes to right hand and left hand. It’s so syncopated, it’s so in tune. My left hand was always better than my right hand… when I play the double stops I don’t care much about my right hand, it’s pretty much all about the left hand.”
Asato is currently working on his debut album. A release date has not yet been confirmed, but you can stay in the loop over at his official website.