Marcin Patrzalek is one of the acoustic guitar’s most formidable talents: a jaw-dropping percussive player, meticulous arranger, and dramatic performer. But his new single, PANICATTACK, takes his playing in its boldest direction yet: electric.
But before you yell ‘Judas!’, rest assured, the Polish wizard’s electric playing is just as fierce as his acoustic approach, all flying fingerstyle and harmonic minor flourishes.
“I’m a really loud player on acoustic guitar,” Marcin tells GW. “That’s the reputation I have. A lot of the things I play are very loud, dynamic, and pretty in-your-face. That’s just who I am as a person and as a musician.
“Because I play so hard on acoustic, I can bring that same approach to electric without it overpowering the other instrument too much.”
Marcin chops and changes between acoustic and electric to match the mood of the track – literally swapping guitars mid-music video. His jagged electric playing was inspired by everyone from Tosin Abasi to Deftones, Tame Impala, and Tool.
But the guitarist sought to team those heavier styles with his newfound passion for clubbing, and Polyphia producer RJ Pasin was key in developing not only the throbbing EDM production but also the guitar approach. The two had previously collaborated on Art of Guitar – 2025’s highest-streaming instrumental track.
“RJ is a beast,” Marcin says. “His signature crunch is a big part of this track. There’s a particular line that comes right after the first hook. That exact two-bar phrase was written by RJ, and it really inspired me to build more around it.”
Electric guitar is a relatively new instrument for Marcin. He started with classical guitar, developing into flamenco and percussive acoustic. Electric came later.
“I wanted to go to college in the States, at Berklee, and everyone there plays jazz. Jazz is a huge deal for admissions. That’s why I picked up the electric guitar: to improvise.
“I never really loved electric guitar until about a year and a half ago, when I started getting into a heavier sound.”
Ibanez hooked him up with a new HSS Premium for the electric parts, which he ran into the Neural DSP Archetype: Petrucci plugin. “As someone who isn’t traditionally an electric guitar player, being able to do all of this on my laptop is a game changer.”
Acoustics were his signature MRC10, recorded with a Manley microphone running through a Manley preamp into a MOTU UltraLite audio interface. A new custom Ibanez also features on the track and in the opening shot of the video, its fretboard squiggle looming as large as Marcin’s sonic signature on the song itself.
It all points towards a big 2027: a new album, complete with vocals, and a daring new approach to the electric/acoustic paradigm. And anything that brings guitar into the wider collective consciousness is good news in our book.
“There’s a really big shift coming in my music. One thing people can expect is a much greater emphasis on original music and original compositions. PANICATTACK is just the start.
“The music is going to be much darker and heavier. It’s also going to be a completely self-produced, self-created, self-directed, and self-written record. I’m extremely excited about it.”
- PANICATTACK is out now.
