“Steve Vai gave me some good advice: ‘Concentrate on music and not too much on guitar.’ You can open up a lot of new ideas with that mindset.” Matteo Mancuso highlights the one thing many guitarists get wrong
The young virtuoso has leapt ahead of his peers by making musicality, rather than "wow" factor, his prime focus
Matteo Mancuso says modern guitar players reach fluency on the instrument faster, thanks to online resources. But that has also made many players focus less on musicality and more on shredding to grow and maintain their social media following.
The 28-year-old virtuoso discussed the benefits and pitfalls of social media In a new interview with Guitar World. In particular, he says guitarists tend to shred because it gets a positive response from their followers.
"That’s why people on Instagram tend to focus on that," he says. For that matter, he says, "They tend to focus more on Instagram reels rather than actual music."
Indeed, due to the fast-paced nature of social media, many users swipe away from a reel after a few seconds if it doesn’t grab their attention. If players pulling out their biggest and boldest tricks tend to outperform those performing with subtlety and nuance, others will feel they need to do likewise.
“I always say, 'Never judge a guitar player by a short reel',” Mancuso continues. “But to make it work, you have to do really short videos with a lot of 'Wow.' People tend to concentrate too much on the 'Wow.'”
Mancuso already had admirers in Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, and Al Di Meola by the time he launched his debut album, The Journey, last year. However, while he can shred circles around most of his peers, his dynamism with the electric guitar, more than his acrobatics, has seen his reputation flourish.
He points to guidance he received from Vai as being key to his outlook. "Steve gave me some good advice: ‘Concentrate on music and not too much on guitar.’ You can open up a lot of new ideas with that mindset.”
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
While Mancuso occasionally uploads short eye-catching videos to his Instagram, "they’re not to be associated with my musical offerings," he says. "They’re separate things."
Mancuso's comments harmonize with recent points made by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher about how the current crop of players have an easier entry into learning the instrument. But he too feels too many over-shred simply because they can.
“There's a lot more information out there now when you're starting, for equipment, what it does and what you should be doing,” he says. “Tips for this, videos for that. They'd have a sleepless night thinking about what we used to be. I don't know how we got by.”
However, after his son called him out for not being able to shred, he responded in a typically priceless fashion, saying: “Thank the fucking Lord.”
David Gilmour, in his early days as a player, recently told Rick Beato that his inability to shred forced him to be a more tuneful guitarist. It paid dividends in forging his now instantly recognizable signature style.
That’s two big-name players echoing Mancuso’s sentiments.
So while players may find it easier to master the guitar today, knowing when to shred, and when to be a little more tasteful will forever be a tightrope they have to walk.
Mancuso released his tribute to Paul Gilbert, a song called Paul Poisiton, earlier this year as he continues to – tastefully – showcase his talents.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
"There are a lot of guys that play much more like Eddie than Joe." Sammy Hagar says Joe Satriani was “not a perfect match” for his Van Halen Best of All Words tour. But one factor set him apart
“I used to hear people say, 'It's what you don't play that counts.' I thought, What the hell does that even mean?” Warren Haynes explains the two things every guitarist should do to stop sounding like an amateur