In any discussion concerning the greatest alternate pickers to walk the earth, names like John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Al Di Meola, Jason Becker, Chris Impellitteri and Shawn Lane will never be far from guitarists’ lips.

These are the players that set the bar impossibly high with their near-perfect storm of precision, dexterity and control – at times often sounding like they’ve beamed in from a different planet altogether.

If there’s one name out of the younger generation that could undoubtedly sit among the ultimate pickers and super shredders, however, it’s 26-year-old Chilean guitarist Bastian Martinez, better known to the online community as Baxty.

Having already inked up deals with Neural DSP, Jim Dunlop and Ernie Ball, this year he announced his debut signature model through Kiesel, and he’s now adding the final touches to a debut album featuring high-profile guests such as Joe Satriani.

It only takes a quick scroll online to see the likes of Tosin Abasi, Misha Mansoor and Rick Graham praising Baxty’s incredible musicianship and flawless delivery, and – having been invited to teach at John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe camp last year – it would be fair to say the Santiago-based prodigy now has a lot of friends in high places.

It was perhaps inevitable that Baxty, whose father and grandfather played guitar, would one day pick up the instrument. By age six, he’d grown accustomed to hearing the music of Ozzy Osbourne, Symphony X and Yngwie Malmsteen around the house.

The greatest education came in the form of a G3: Live in Tokyo DVD that he’d watch religiously, basking in the magnificence of Satriani, Petrucci and Steve Vai – three musical magicians who each had their own otherworldly quality when it came to touch and feel.

“I fell in love with how they made their guitars sound,” Baxty says from his home studio. “Steve had all these whammy tricks while Joe had this strong melodic voice. John was even more out there technically, which made me want to work harder.”

Besides those guys, who else ended up influencing you?

When I was 15, I saw Guthrie Govan on YouTube. It was inspiring to see how far he had taken the instrument, and it made me want to practice more. Later on, I got into Nick Johnston, who likes to blend piano with guitar on tracks like Gemini.

He doesn’t just write guitar music, which is why I find him interesting. I also love how Fredrik Åkesson from Opeth plays; there’s so much feeling and intensity in his lines, especially in the note choices and bends.

A guitarist of your caliber could pick any company in the world for an endorsement deal. What made you choose Kiesel?

They sent me a guitar in 2024, and I knew straightaway how well it suited me in terms of comfort and sound. I visited the factory in 2025 and Jeff Kiesel handed me a guitar.

I think they were like, “Let’s see if this internet guy can play!” I’m not faking anything because my dad always told me to be myself. Give me any guitar and I’ll be happy. It’s like a disconnect from the world. Playing guitar makes me feel alive.

It must be wild to see players like Misha Mansoor and Tosin Abasi saying how brilliant you are.

The first mind-blowing moment was when Joe Satriani commented on a post in 2022. I also couldn’t believe it when Tosin sent me a guitar and started sharing clips of me. Then John Petrucci inviting me to Guitar Universe was insane.

He and his wife Rena had seen my masterclasses online and thought I’d be a great fit. I thought it was someone impersonating John; I didn’t fully believe it until I saw my photo on the Guitar Universe website.

At the camp, I met Chris Broderick, who is guesting on my album. All these guitar legends are paying attention to what I’m doing. I don’t know why! It feels weird, but I’m happy about it.

Joe Satriani will also be appearing on your album. What can we expect?

I’d written one track that represented a dream, which felt like a good place for Joe – because of his 1989 album [Flying in a Blue Dream] and the fact that it’s a dream come true. What’s interesting is that it’s almost what Dream Theater would sound like with Joe on guitar.

This album will be like a natural connection between ambient stuff and heavier ideas. I love songs with a melodic climax. Sometimes simplicity can blow your mind more than the technicality. It’s great if you can alternate-pick crazy lines, but if you can’t bend, you’re a bad player.

You’re playing in real time on your videos, but you still get accusations of faking it.

People say things like, “This is sped up,” but I’m kinda grateful because it means they find it impressive. One guy commented on every post saying I was a Petrucci copy that didn’t have my own sound. I’m still trying to find my own voice, but if someone thinks I sound like John Petrucci, I’m fine with that.

What’s the secret to alternate picking so fast?

I’ve seen some Cracking the Code YouTube videos [hosted by Troy Grady] and felt stupid after watching them. I didn’t understand. I’m not reading a biology book. What I will say is that alternate picking is a 3D movement from the wrist rather than straight up and down.

If you want to go fast, you need to test your body. New things will feel uncomfortable, but keep pushing. See where the tension is, slow down, then eventually build back up. It takes time.

What exercises would help people build up speed and precision?

Try playing a line that goes up the 16th, 19th and 22nd frets of the G-string followed by the 15th fret of the high E and back. Once you have that going, occasionally add in the 19th and 22nd on the E. It’s good because you are mixing stretches with fast alternate picking and string-skipping.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

The recent 70th and 75th birthdays of the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster, respectively, have highlighted how little the electric guitar recipe has changed in the best part of a century.

Tosin Abasi, though, has been intent on shaking up the industry, masterminding a raft of boundary-pushing instruments that look to rethink what is possible with guitar design.

His namesake brand, Abasi Concepts, has proven to be both an industry disruptor and a trendsetter, with Ibanez’s Alpha series seemingly taking its cues from the future-minded, progressive Larada metal guitar.

Abasi also designed the weirdly wonderful Kaizen guitar with Ernie Ball Music Man, and with it, the Animals As Leaders guitarist wanted to swerve away from decades-old design features.

“We thought it would be cool to try something novel as opposed to the traditional sort of signature thing,” Abasi tells Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto of their collab. “It was an opportunity for me to make a Music Man that I felt didn’t exist.”

Naturally, that meant doing things differently, and Abasi is ready to fight pushback against its alien-like qualities.

“The guitar space is really interesting, ‘cause the most iconic instruments have been kind of crystallized since the ‘60s,” he says. “It’s a strange argument because a lot of guitar players get in their mind, like, ‘Oh, well, Jimmy Page was fine with that, so I guess I don’t need more fret access. I don’t need better balance.’

“It’s this very interesting balance of designing the guitar further to feel like you’re benefiting from the design without leaving behind the bones of what makes a guitar feel gratifying,” he adds.

There are plenty of radical specs on the Kaizen, from its ultra-thin body – because “it shouldn’t get in your way at all” – to its multi-scale, Infinity Radius fretboard for enhanced visibility. It flies in the face of traditionalism.

“The Infinity Radius prevents the need to tilt the guitar [to see the fretboard better],” Abasi says, crediting Music Man’s Drew Montell for the idea. “The strings fall a little bit more effortlessly where you want them.”

The multi-scale configuration also sees the bass side getting a standard 25.5” scale, but a shorter 24.75” scale for the treble end, making guitar solos and widespread legatos easier to nail.

It’s a lot of change, but Abasi believes they are all “subtle”, collectively pushing the traditional guitar design forward and only requiring a short adjustment to get used to.

In related news, Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto is launching an in-house guitar brand of his own – and he's hit back at the skeptics that have criticized his novel approach.

Not content with merely reinventing technical guitar playing with Animals as Leaders, Tosin Abasi has also ended up changing the face of the instrument itself.

His own brand, Abasi Concepts, has staked new territory with its bold reimaginings of extended-range electric guitars via its Larada and Emi outlines. But the virtuoso has also collaborated with Ernie Ball Music Man on the angular chic of the Kaizen, and now with Cordoba for the Abasi Stage 7 – his long-awaited, groundbreaking ergonomic nylon-string design.

But, as he told Guitar World during a Q&A on his new Cordoba acoustic at NAMM 2026, he had no intention of ever designing instruments. It was necessity – namely the shortage of quality extended-range guitars – that ultimately forced his hand.

“It was never really part of the plan,” he says. “But once you start playing eight-string guitar, especially if we go back 10-15 years, you didn’t really have options. I cut my teeth on the design aspect by having to commission these custom-built guitars, and it really forced me to think about what was important to have in an extended-range instrument, and what wasn't.

“There’s a lot of extended range guitars that basically take an existing six-string and just add strings, and I don’t think that hits the mark, as far as how comfortable and playable these instruments can be.”

Although he’s always had an interest in fashion and design, Abasi has been surprised by the impact he’s had on the industry – something that was perhaps best exemplified last month when his former flame Ibanez dropped its ergonomic new Alpha Series.

Fans – and Abasi’s own bandmate – were quick to point out its similarities to the AAL leader’s efforts. As he says, with a twinkle in his eye, “At this point, we’re even being emulated by other companies…” Imitation, of course, being the sincerest form of flattery.

It’s a mark of how far Abasi has come as a designer, especially as creating guitars has taken on a whole new meaning for the guitarist. It’s no longer just a means to an end. It’s a way to fulfil the musical ambitions of a new generation of players. And he feels like a proud parent.

“There's almost a paternal quality to making an instrument for another musician. It's one thing to make music that people consume. It's another thing to make instruments that other musicians use to make their music.

“There's a totally different relationship when it comes to making instruments, because your guitars go out into the world, and then you see someone producing their own music on it. It's a sense of pride or something.”

You can watch the full Q&A with Tosin Abasi, in which he details the design process for the Cordoba Abasi Stage 7, as well as his classical guitar and design journey, above.

NAMM 2026: So, there we are. Another NAMM in the bag. 2026’s show further cemented 2025’s new normal: smaller booths, not quite as much product, but still a packed-out Anaheim Convention Center.

After making a big splash last year, Marshall was a no-show. Fender held an off-site Custom Shop event, but its only showfloor appearance was to promote its new Studio Pro DAW. Major brands like Gibson, ESP and PRS were in rooms accessible by appointment only.

Yet, weirdly, this all establishes NAMM as an important event in the gear calendar. Brands still value those dealer relationships. And, heck, as media, we can still get in, so we’re not complaining.

But what did we learn? Where is the gear industry heading? And, most importantly, what are we going to be spending our hard-earned dollah on?

Collaboration is the new competition

If there’s an upside to the ongoing tariff uncertainty and its effect on businesses big and small, it’s a new sense of unity across the industry. It’s not just about competing; it’s about growing the market by reaching out to new players and, sometimes, joining forces with complementary companies.

Take Laney. For its new Billy Corgan pedal amp – one of the highlights of the show for me – it joined forces with the Smashing Pumpkins frontman’s amp builder, Brian Carstens. The resulting pedal, the Supergrace, combines vintage Laney Supergroup sounds with the boutique maker’s detailed high-gain distortion. It’s using each other’s knowhow to further both brands.

Synergy debuted its new machine learning tech that makes class D power amps respond like a proper tube power section. But for the actual physical products, it teamed up with Boutique Amps Distribution buddies Wampler and Friedman, who employed the tech into an IR-Load head and pedalboard-friendly power amp, the Pedalhead.

EarthQuaker Devices and Dr. Z made a tube-loaded preamp pedal, ZEQD-Pre – billed as the ultimate end-of-signal-chain tonal tool. Blackstar previewed the BEAM Mini – world’s first amplifier to natively support Neural Amp Modeler (NAM). And Third Man Hardware’s entire booth is a reminder of just how many collabs Jack White has secured with pedal companies big and small.

It’s gratifying to see companies come together to push the market forward. More of this, please… (MAB)

Neural DSP has won the modeling game… or has it?

The conversation surrounding the state of play in the amp modeling market can often run the risk of becoming a bit stale. Firmware updates, hardware launches, everyone trying to do the same thing better than their competitors… modeling fatigue is a real possibility.

But this weekend Neural DSP looked to have all-but put the conversation to bed and taken control at all points of the modeler product chain spectrum. Here, new to the show, was the Quad Cortex mini – a touchscreen-equipped compact modeler that was first believed to be the middle ground between the Quad and Nano Cortex pedals.

However, that’s not really what the QC mini is. Functionally, it isn’t quite a middle-ground, because it is, basically, a full Quad Cortex, with the same processing power and a higher-than-anticipated price tag of $1,399 that puts it within touching distance of the QC.

At first glance, it looked to be the stake in the heart of Line 6, IK Multimedia and even Fender’s chances of wrestling control with their own in the premium, touchscreen-loaded, compact modeler. Those units are still years away. Neural DSP has beaten them to the punch by some distance.

Nevertheless, the story isn’t quite so black and white. At that price, it leaves the door open for rivals to issue a compact modeler of their own at a more accessible price point.

For now, the crown sits comfortably with Neural. But it might not stay there… (MO)

The tube is alive and well – the mid-range amp is not

There’s been a lot of debate about the future of tube amps in recent years. The tube shortages and supply chain disruptions of the COVID era and Russian sanctions forced a re-think for many of the big firms.

However, at NAMM 2026 tube amp builds appeared to be in rude health. High-end, innovative tube designs proliferated, with Magnatone, Orange, Two-Rock, and Divided by 13 all unveiling killer builds.

The latter’s Butch Walker signature, the BW 1969 [pictured above], takes a British amp and let’s you toggle between EL34 and 6L6 power stages, or stack them.

Orange’s OR60 is a single-channel amp that can somehow conjure up a huge variety of tones, Two-Rock’s Studio-Overdrive offers its own flexibility, bringing new levels of gain to a firm renowned for its headroom.

What is notable is that these are all high-end builds. Even the 8-watt Slack signature from Magnatone, the Lil Viper, retails at $1,899. So the tube really is becoming the preserve of the player of means, rather than the masses.

It’s sad in some ways, but it’s also taking the brakes off for boutique builders – and that’s exciting.

Meanwhile, most mass market amp solutions we saw weren’t traditional amps at all – between pedal amps, modelers, and the plethora of clever practice solutions [see below] – there were very few actual amps debuting at the sub-$1,500 mark.

All of which leaves me noting that it’s the mid-range amps that have really died a death. Those products that used to plug the gap between your crappy practice amp and your dream tube head. Those are notable in their absence. (MP)

Innovation takes many forms

Yes, the halls of the Anaheim Convention Center are typically filled with familiar-looking designs, and that shows no sign of abating (heck, even Tokai’s ‘lawsuit-era’ copies are making a comeback). But it felt like there was more innovation than normal on display this year.

Most obvious was the Casio Dimension Shifter – the doohicky that attaches between your strap and guitar and enables you to manipulate the parameters of any pedal with an expression input. That’s innovation in its purest form.

You might expect it to be the type of thing that never catches on, but the fact it was crowd-funded indicates there’s an appetite from guitar players for boundary-pushing devices.

Polyend isn’t a name we’ve mentioned much on Guitar World, but with Endless, its open-source pedal that lets users create effects from prompts, we’re sure to be talking about the Polish firm an awful lot more. It’s essentially ChatGPT in pedal form and the best use of AI in the gear world we’ve yet seen. It sounds spectacular, too.

Technological marvels don’t all require electricity, however. Strandberg debuted an all-new tremolo design, the Arc TILT, which promises smoother motion with more stable pitch control.

Gibson, meanwhile, used the show as an opportunity to gather feedback on a concept offset guitar, the Atomic Age. A brand-new guitar shape from one of the world’s oldest guitar companies? Will wonders never cease… (MAB)

The practice amp game is more competitive than ever – and it's evolving fast

JBL muscling in on the guitar arena was one of the biggest shocks of the show. The audio giant, best known for its ubiquitous portable speakers, debuted BandBox, an AI-powered smart practice amp.

Available as the Spark Go-esque Solo or the considerably larger Trio, the BandBox is most notable for its ability to separate song stems using AI, enabling players to isolate or remove vocals, guitar, or drums from any track in real time.

Shania Twain Strat slinger Lindsey Ell demoed the tech live onstage and it was impressive, quickly switching out the track mix and pitching songs up and down.

Jury’s out on JBL’s own amp-modeling tech – it is, after all, early days. Down the line, it could be worth partnering with more established amp brands to really hone the tonal side.

But as it is, the BandBox signals how much the practice amp market has changed: back in the day, you were lucky to play through something that sounded adequate.

But since the advent of the Positive Grid Spark, players are increasingly looking for something that can help them hone their playing. Finally, practice amps are living up to their name. (MAB)

Prices TBC

Like any manufacturing industry in 2026, the music-making business is heavily reliant on imports, and the tariff/global trade situation continues to have a major impact.

It’s impossible to paint a complete picture of the disruption, as it is in almost every facet of production across the industry – from components to materials and machinery – and there’s little appetite for politics at NAMM, but there are signs of the issues.

More than ever, brands appeared to be keeping info on prices for their 2026 lines very close to their chests, particularly on those products that were not due to hit stores directly.

It’s understandable: trying to predict what costs and, therefore, what viable profit margins and list prices might be in six months to a year has become a huge challenge.

Others are still figuring out how to price existing products – and we’re seeing different approaches.

For instance, Solar’s new ‘Sweet prices’ for the US, which attempt to take the uncertainty off the table by offering one fixed price that covers all shipping, tariff duties, UPS fees etc., so players know what it will actually cost at the point that they order.

Elsewhere, other forces of change are having their own impact, with manufacturers struggling to secure memory chips that are in short supply and being snapped up by cash-rich AI firms. Sadly, it seems there might be further pressure on prices, as a result. (MP)

Nylon-strings for shredders is becoming a new product category

Forget the classical guitar gathering dust in the wardrobe. Nylon-strings just got sexy. Ibanez ushered us into a nondescript meeting room so Tim Henson could give us the lowdown on TOD100, a higher-end version of his best-selling signature nylon with a Fishman Acoustic Matrix undersaddle pickup and fancier tonewoods.

Tosin Abasi, meanwhile, finally made good on his promise of a Larada nylon-string – but he ended up partnering with Cordoba to do it, with a price tag of $1,499. “It was kind of like my dream classical guitar,” he told us. “It's quite thin and it doesn't feed back on stage. You can plug it in, and if you're recording direct, you get a tone that sounds like you’ve mic’d up a high-quality nylon string guitar.”

Neither of these guitars will get you much volume unplugged; rather, they’re designed almost like electric instruments, with body contours and playability to match. And with two of today’s most groundbreaking players putting their own spin on the design, it hints towards the changing face of guitar playing. (MAB)

The headless guitar trend was never a ‘trend’ – it’s a movement

Those who thought the headless guitar resurgence was merely a phase may need to eat their words. They can’t be faulted, though – five years ago, who’d have thought that the headless guitar market would be continuing to grow with every passing month? Not many.

Strandberg, of course, is the biggest reason for that. Ola Strandberg’s firm has reframed what is possible from headless guitars while championing an ergonomics-led design ethos that prioritizes player comfort and health.

As players continue to cotton on to the benefits of headless builds, so too are rival firms. Ibanez, Kiesel and Schecter have already joined the ranks, but now there’s a move to make them more accessible than ever.

Donner’s HLX-500 – dubbed “the ultimate modern headless guitar” – is only $330, and offers an ‘asymmetrical neck profile’ directly inspired by Strandberg.

Cort, whose pedigree in affordable guitar making needs no introduction, has also released its own headless designs. Strandberg continues to set the standard and is the benchmark to beat, but this trend certainly isn’t slowing down.

If anything, it’s speeding up – and finding it’s way into more parts of the market. (MO)

Player wants are leading the charge on new products

One really encouraging trend at this year’s show is just how many manufacturers have actually been listening to players when it comes to the spec of their gear.

It’s an idea companies have paid lip service to for a long time now, but when we see stainless steel frets on Epiphones, or Yamaha finally capitulating to a rare new signature model – in the much-demanded Chris Buck CB502, its first signature Revstar – you get the impression that message boards are actually being monitored in 2026.

They say the customer is always right, but the industry has certainly previously been guilty of spec’ing to a price point rather than a player’s needs.

Now we’re seeing signature models emerge that are more than simple refinishes – and serious component upgrades on firm’s more affordable lines.

You can argue it’s simply a continuation of the premium offshore trend. I’d also wager it’s a response to the challenges and risks facing builders and guitar importers in 2026 – there is simply no room for flops.

Or perhaps it’s simply management really understanding their customers, reading the feedback and meeting them where they are.

Either way, we’re pleased to see it. (MP)

NAMM 2026: The much-rumored Tosin Abasi nylon-string electric guitar, which has been in development for three years, is finally here.

Much like any other Abasi model, it reinvents the nylon-string as we know it through a collaboration with Yamaha-owned classical and Spanish guitar experts, Córdoba, marking the first time Abasi Concepts has ever collaborated with another firm.

Abasi had previously teased the Abasi Stage 7 in a Guitar World interview at last year’s NAMM show, where he stated that, “It’s basically an attempt to create a nylon-string instrument that [takes] a lot of the same design concepts from [other Abasi Concepts guitars] – multi-scale, thin-bodied, ergonomic – but it's for guys who maybe aren't traditional classical players, but do want a nylon-string guitar for recording and specifically for stage.”

At first glance, the Abasi Stage 7 is truly a meeting of the minds. It draws inspiration from Córdoba’s flagship Stage solidbody nylon-string guitar concept and Stage pickup system, and pairs it with Abasi Concepts’ Larada ergonomic platform.

Described as a “unique 7-string instrument” tuned from B to E, the model was specifically crafted with resonance, low-end response, and rich tones in mind, as showcased by its extensively chambered mahogany body with custom internal bracing.

Ergonomics are prioritized via the 24 fanned frets, a compound radius fretboard, and a satin neck finish that guarantees “exceptional range, intonation, and playability.”

Additional features include an oval sound hole on the side of the instrument, a mahogany flat C-Shape set neck with a rosewood fingerboard, black top purfling, and a Fusion Fan headstock with a rosewood overlay. Inlaid Córdoba and Abasi logos cement the collaborative spirit, while a rosewood bridge with a bone saddle and a bone nut wrap add further flourishes to this inventive guitar.

So what's under the proverbial hood? Turns out, all Abasi Stage 7 guitars come equipped with Córdoba's Stage Pickup System, co-developed with Fishman. Thanks to an under-saddle transducer with internal body sensors, the model delivers the quintessential nylon-string tone without the “quack” associated with piezo pickups.

A professional-quality preamp with side-mounted Volume, EQ, and Body Blend controls round up this guitar's keen specs. And in true Abasi form, the model is available in cool Ziricote, Acacia, and Whiteburst finishes.

As Yamaha Guitar Group describes it, “The Abasi Stage 7 defines a bold new direction in nylon-string guitar design – modern, ergonomic, and unapologetically performance-driven. It invites a new generation of forward-thinking players to explore nylon-string tones and make them their own.”

Priced at $1,499, the Abasi Stage 7 is now available for pre-order.

Head to Abasi Concepts to find out more.

Ibanez’s all-new electric guitar model, the Alpha, is gunning for the currently bustling progressive and metal guitar markets.

Yet one of the scene’s biggest players, Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders, has taken issue with the design, as comparisons to two other guitars – both designed in collaboration with his bandmate, Tosin Abasi – intensify.

Available exclusively in seven-string and eight-string formats, the Alpha seemingly continues where their signature guitar collaboration that never was with Abasi left off. Abasi spent many years as an Ibanez artist before launching his own brand, Abasi Concepts, in 2017.

Some on social media are claiming they assumed the Alpha was a new Abasi Concepts design and there appear to be some notable similarities between the lower horn and cutaway bottom of the Alpha’s silhouette and those of Abasi’s Larada model.

Then there’s the Kaizen, which Abasi built in partnership with Ernie Ball, and appears to have offered some influence on the top horn side of the Alpha body shape.

Indeed, if you simply splice together the top of the Kaizen and the bottom of the Larada in Photoshop, you get a result remarkably similar to the Alpha’s outline...

That’s all seemingly prompted Abasi’s co-guitarist Reyes to comment a thumbs down emoji in response to Ibanez’s Instagram post launching the guitar, before asking, “What’s Japanese for shameless?”

When pressed for more from other Instagram users, Reyes responded: “I’m just another Yelp reviewer like you. I respect and appreciate your opinion, like my band members' contributions to my life. But be smarter. If you can’t discern that [the designs are very similar]. That’s not on me. You should be smarter, or don’t be a Yelp reviewer.”

Yelp ratings aside, the fact that the Alpha was launched on Tosin Abasi’s birthday was also not lost on some of his fans.

However, other commenters on Ibanez’s post have rightly pointed out how shape copying is no new fad in guitar design. Strat and Tele shapes are incredibly commonplace because, legally speaking, those guitar designs have been deemed generic.

It’s a slightly different story for V- and Z-shaped guitars, with Gibson winning its trademark dispute with Dean, as it successfully argued that those shapes were its intellectual property.

The Alpha, meanwhile, creates a new outline, albeit by splicing two shapes together and tweaking them slightly, which is fairly common practice.

Time (and, we imagine, some IP lawyers) will tell if that’s enough for Ibanez to avoid breaching patents or trademarks held by either Abasi Concepts or Ernie Ball, but it seems unlikely the firm would not have investigated such a possibility prior to the launch.

At the time of writing, Abasi has not issued a response to Ibanez’s first big launch of 2026. His last Instagram post was from the day of the drop, celebrating his 43rd birthday.

In a recent interview, however, he teased the future of Abasi Concepts, with the guitarist set to expand his roster of electric guitars and pedals in new ways.

Meanwhile, we suspect the debate about whether the guitar's design cuts too close to the bone of Abasi's standout designs will continue to divide opinion.

• Guitar World reached out to Ibanez, Ernie Ball, and representatives for Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes for their response, but had not received comment at the time of publication.

NAMM 2026: Ibanez has debuted an all-new electric guitar lineup that’s been officially badged the Alpha Series – and it could be a landmark launch for the storied metal guitar brand.

Available in seven- and eight-string iterations, the Alpha instruments are arguably Ibanez’s most ‘prog rock’ guitars to date, bringing a distinct contemporary flair to a lineup that’s otherwise rooted in traditional shred and metal.

With a space-age double-cut silhouette, ergonomic contours, Fishman Fluence humbuckers and more, they are quite clearly inspired by current trends that have recently emerged in modern progressive guitar design.

In other words, they are giving serious ‘Tosin Abasi’ vibes. After all, Abasi – who famously worked with Ibanez on a prototype signature guitar before he left to start up his own company – has been at the forefront of the progressive metal guitar music and making for the past few years.

With Abasi Concepts, he innovated models such as the Larada and Emi. He then partnered with Ernie Ball Music Man for the Kaizen.

But that is just one example of how certain progressive minds have pushed the boundaries of modern metal guitars. Strandberg should be mentioned. So too should Kiesel, Aristides and even the Ibanez Quest series.

So, yes, the prog guitar world is going through a phase of rapid development at the moment. It’s no surprise, then, that Ibanez has elected to channel these trends and design cues into a neatly wrapped package that looks to be its most progressive launch to date.

“The Alpha models blend cutting-edge features with thoughtful ergonomics, leaning heavily into concepts that optimize tone and playability,” explains Ibanez, describing the Alphas as “engineered from the ground up”.

As such, the Alpha guitars feature a space age basswood body, which is joined by a ‘Parallel Wizard AS’ five-piece walnut and maple neck.

Since ergonomics and playability are key here, the body has been “engineered for extreme comfort” whether standing or seated, with a forearm cut and “innovative lower body carve” to accommodate various playing positions. It’s a similar school of thought we’ve seen from the likes of Strandberg.

There’s also a new three-bolt neck joint design, developed for robust joint strength and upper fret accessibility, as well as a back-mounted output jack for a “cleaner stage profile”.

Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers are used across the board here, and are paired with its companion Fishman Fluence Voicing switch for multiple tones. Other appointments include multi-scale setups – 27.2” to 25.5” for the seven-string, 27.5” to 25.5” for the eight – jumbo stainless steel frets, and Gotoh MG-T locking tuners.

Iron Pewter, Nebula Shift and Coral Mirage are the finishes on offer. The seven-string has an estimated street price of $1,899, while the eight-string version sits at $1,999.

To put that into perspective, they're competitively positioned in the upper-mid-priced prog guitar market, sitting neatly between the $4k Ernie Ball and $899 Sterling Kaizen models, and roughly in the same ballpark as the Strandberg Bodens.

The Alphas also benefit from having the Ibanez machinery in its corner, helping to further bring these progressive design cues even more into the mainstream.

Head over to Ibanez to find out more.

Rewind two-and-a-half decades, and it was perfectly normal to find signature products made in collaboration with some of the world’s biggest artists.

You could walk into any high-end music store and stumble upon Gibson Les Pauls customized by the likes of Slash, Joe Perry and Gary Moore, or Fender Strats bearing the names of Eric Clapton, Yngwie Malmsteen and Jeff Beck.

Just a few steps away on the Ibanez wall, you would be greeted by models co-designed by Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and George Benson, while elsewhere there might have been ESP models tailored to fans of George Lynch, Ronnie Wood and Stephen Carpenter.

And it wasn’t just guitars; we’ve grown used to seeing artists developing their own amps, pedals, pickups, plug-ins, slides and strings, all of which give fans more and more opportunities to emulate their favorite sounds.

All these years later, it feels like players of any caliber can be found with their own signature gear, from young acoustic mastermind Marcin and Australian singer/songwriter Tash Sultana to modern blues revivalists like Jared James Nichols and Tyler Bryant, all of whom are still carving their names into legend.

And it’s not just shred virtuosos, jazz noodlers and pentatonic powerhouses unveiling their own custom instruments; recent times have seen Fender signature guitars for mainstream R&B stars like Bruno Mars, Steve Lacy and Raphael Saadiq, which demonstrates how the playing field for artist models is widening.

One major phenomenon of the last decade in particular has been the rise of the signature brand, a trend started by Zakk Wylde, who left behind career-spanning endorsements with Gibson and Marshall to launch his own company, Wylde Audio, in 2015, in partnership with Schecter.

Two years later, Animals As Leaders mastermind Tosin Abasi followed suit, leaving behind a deal with Ibanez to launch his own company, Abasi Concepts, as did Ola Englund of the Haunted, who parted ways with Washburn to start Solar Guitars. Nuno Bettencourt left the same company to announce Nuno Guitars.

So what exactly makes a player with an existing endorsement want to start afresh as the CEO of their own company?

“Honestly, it came from frustration,” Englund says. “Before Solar Guitars, I had signature models with other brands, but I kept seeing outdated business models and distribution methods that didn’t make sense in today’s fast-moving, social media-driven world. I felt there was a better way to connect directly with players and deliver guitars without all the old barriers.”

While most brands tend to juggle an array of styles, sounds and players – effectively catering to varying degrees of output and heaviness – Englund has found that running a company with a specialist niche has helped allow him to focus on what is most important.

As the old adage goes, a jack-of-all-trades can often wind up being the master of none and – at least for visionaries like Englund and Abasi – guitar gear is no exception.

“Our main strength is focus,” says Englund, who has also built a name testing products and interviewing fellow musicians on his successful YouTube channel. “We’re not trying to make guitars for everyone in every genre; we’re making guitars for the metal community. That’s where our energy goes, and I think players feel that dedication in the instruments we put out.”

He notes that the trend of artists leaving big brands to start their own companies isn’t especially surprising. It’s never been easier to source parts and work directly with factories, essentially cutting out the middlemen.

The freedom and fluency that comes from a direct connection between him as the designer and the teams at factories in Indonesia, China, France and Spain is something that simply cannot be ignored.

“I think a lot of artists share the same sentiment I have," Englund says. “They already have a platform and an audience, and they know that audience because they interact with them through social media. One of the biggest challenges in this industry is reaching people in such a saturated market. Having a direct connection with fans is a springboard for starting something of your own.”

Now, as the head of his own company, if he wants something to happen, he can make it so – there’s no waiting around for other people to check budgets, sign off and give him the green light.

As a result, the Solar line has expanded into all kinds of guitar shapes, bass guitars, pedals and accessories, with artist models for players like Down/Crowbar riff wizard Kirk Windstein, Anders Björler from At The Gates and Blind Guardian’s Marcus Siepen, as well as Englund himself.

“Our best-selling model is the Type A,” he adds. “It’s a modern take on the Superstrat, and when you see it, you instantly know it’s built for metal. Our more extreme designs, like the Type X, have also become popular because they stand out visually while still being built for performance.

“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. We’re a no-bullshit company with a community feel. It’s not about dealers, distributors or bureaucracy. I’m taking it back to a consumer level because I’m thinking about what people actually want.”

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

As the creative powerhouse behind both Animals as Leaders and Abasi Concept, Tosin Abasi has helped to redefine the contemporary guitar landscape.

As the CEO of Abasi Concepts, he's continuing to push the boundaries of what a guitar can sound and look like. Naturally, with the brand recently expanding its wares to pedals, any tone conversation nowadays would be remiss not to include amp modelers and plugins.

“Abasi Concepts was always meant to be an umbrella encompassing more than just guitar design,” Abasi tells Premier Guitar.

“We’re interested in solutions across the board. And part of the fun of having the company is that we get to manifest the things we wish existed.

Abasi also has a high-profile collaboration with Neural DSP in the form of the Archetype: Abasi plugin suite, which in turn could influence some of Abasi Concepts' own output in the future.

“We’d love to have an offering in each of those spaces,” he teases. “Software is a territory that we have not really stepped into yet, but it is clearly of such utility that it would make sense.

“But Ivan [Chopik, Abasi Concepts COO] and I are both big fans of tube amplifiers,” Abasi admits. “There’s no substitute for playing an amp in a room. So the amp thing has been a conversation.”

In a Guitar World interview earlier this year, Abasi shared his thoughts on amp modelers – explaining that, for him, it’s very much “a [case-by-case] scenario depending on the gig.

“There are times I will use modelers, and there are fantastic companies like Neural DSP [who make them],” he divulges. “They cloned my tube rig and it's shocking [how good it is]. Our feeling is that modelers are basically perfect, especially at the end of the chain, when you're hearing a mixed record or a mixed band.

“But there's nothing that defeats the experience of plugging into an amp and a cab in the room. And it's not knocking modelers, it's just saying there's literally physical differences between how the sound is being produced. So for me, it's like a love of both, right? It's like, I still like engines but [electric vehicles] have their place.”

Abasi’s band, Animals as Leaders, has just been announced as the sole support act for the SatchVai Band’s maiden U.S. tour.

Few bands have influenced the modern metal landscape quite like Meshuggah, both in terms of sound and gear. Now, guitarist Mårten Hagström has reflected on how the band changed the face of metal guitar – and blew Tosin Abasi’s mind in the process.

There’s a whole generation of metal and prog-adjacent virtuosos currently changing the guitar game that get woozy when it comes to the Swedish heavyweights. Periphery’s Misha Mansoor, Polyphia duo Tim Henson and Scott LePage, and Plini, who “grew up” on Meshuggah, are all big fans.

But Meshuggah's impact wasn't felt overnight, nor was it immediately accepted by the wider metal world.

“Sometimes we still see ourselves as the upstart oddball band that we were as kids when everybody was side-eyeing us and going, ‘What are you guys doing?’” guitarist Mårten Hagström tells the ProgCast (via Blabbermouth). “Even in the progressive genre, it was, like, ‘Dude, what are you up to? What's going on?’”

The band's vicious polyrhythms soon became the foundation for djent, thall and beyond. After being met with some skepticism from the wider metal scene, Meshuggah finally earned their flowers, cementing their reputation as the band who changed the face of metal guitar.

“Tosin [Abasi, Animals as Leaders] told me once, the first time he heard us, he said, ‘This music is broken,’” Hagström adds.

It was Meshuggah that introduced Abasi to the wonders of the eight-string guitar – something he’s since made his signature weapon. They were experimenting with the twice-extended range guitars as far back as 2002, and it redefined their sound.

“We quickly figured out that powerchord chugging and riffing didn’t really work; it wasn’t as simple as transposing ideas down to the eighth string,” Hagström once told Guitar World of their early experiments. “The tone of the instrument lent itself better to the single-string stuff we’re known for. It was like, ‘Wow, this is a new tool that makes us sound different!’”

Abasi's own adventures saw him launch the high-end Abasi Concepts in 2019. They are builds designed to “encourage people to play complex things” and write their own 'broken music'. Everyone from Spiro Dussias to Dante Swan have been doing exactly that, pushing boundaries and developing freakish new techniques as they go.

In modern metal, down-tuning to eight-string depths in such a way has helped usher in key changes to the sound of the genre. And, without Meshuggah’s influence, who knows what the modern metal landscape would look like today.

Stevie Salas has backed up Rod Stewart, started a guitar trend via Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and was asked to join both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar’s bands. But he doesn’t take any of it too seriously.

“I like to surround myself with super talent,” he tells Guitar World. “I always like to be the shittiest guy in the room – that makes me learn more and become better.”

Salas picks out his early ‘90s opening slot with Joe Satriani as a significant learning experience.

“I stole a lot of shit from Joe!” he admits. “But when I do it, it doesn’t sound like him; it sounds like me. I couldn’t do it when was there, but I was able to watch.”

While he’s promoting the reissue of his 1994 album, Back from the Living, his calling card remains the frenzied work from Bill & Ted. He didn’t like it when it arrived in 1989 – but he’s warmed to it now.

“A year ago I was with Keanu Reeves, and we talked about the third movie,” Salas says.

“I told him, ‘I’ve done a lot of amazing things, but when I die people will say, ‘That’s the guy who did Bill & Ted!’ He started laughing – we all feel like, ‘I don’t want to be known as the guy that did Bill & Ted.’ But it’s been an insane blessing – young guys are always like, ‘You’re the guy that did Bill & Ted!’ So there you go!”

Early on you rubbed elbows with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, and eventually started working with producer David Kirschenbaum.

I left San Diego in ’85 after I got out of school and spent a couple of years rocking out with my band. My band was pretty good, but I didn’t think it was going to make it. I quit and moved to LA in 1985.

I was living in someone’s house with my next band, Color Code. We all got kicked out, and I was homeless from August to September ’85. Then I met George Clinton in the studio, and Terry Costa, wife of Don Costa, who produced Sinatra and Elvis. They let me live in their house in Beverly Hills. I was living in a rock star pad, but I had no money!

In ’87, David Kirschenbaum called me, because he knew I’d worked with George and Bootsy. At the time rap was very new; I was a big fan of Eddie Martinez’s playing with Run-DMC, and I was kind of emulating his funk-rock thing.

Someone said to David, “This kid knows about rap music.” I really didn’t, but I told him I did! So I became a producer for David at a studio called Power Tracks.

How did you end up working on movie soundtracks?

I met a Motown arranger named Gene Page, who told me about two African American boys called West Coast Posse, these badass rappers. There was this movie called Big Shots, about two black kids who steal a car and go across the country on an adventure.

They said, “We need some rap music.’ I said, ‘I can do it!’ and I went into the studio with these two kids. We created this song called Put On the Brakes. Atlantic Records loved it and released it as a 12-inch single.

That led to the next movie, Action Jackson. They needed another rap song, so I called the West Coast Posse kids and cut a song called Protect and Serve. That was another Atlantic 12-inch – and all of a sudden I’m the expert on hip-hop in LA, but only because no one in LA really knew shit about it. It was all being done in New York.

Is that what led to your memorable guitar solo at the end of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?

David said, “Stevie, I need your help. There's this movie about these two kids who play guitar and want to be in a rock band, but they don’t know how to play, and they go on this history trip. They put a score down for the movie, but there’s no guitar at all. They want you to redo the whole movie over the score.”

So that was unusual, but it was dope. Once the movie was done, I forgot all about it and moved on. I got a call from David, who said, “The Bill & Ted movie is coming out, but the ending isn’t testing well.” I was like, “I don’t even know what that means!” I was a stupid fucking kid! He goes, “They’re gonna reshoot the end and they want some kind of guitar solo.”

What do you remember about recording the solo in a scene with George Carlin?

I drove to this house in the Palisades. They had the whole Bill & Ted setup in the garage, and Keanu and Alex Winter were there. Everyone thought I was a big shot, so they had me share a trailer with George! He told me stories all night; it was one of the most amazing nights of my life.

So they called me up to the set with George, and we’re wearing matching outfits. They stood me up on this crate, handed me a guitar, and Keanu, Alex, and the two girls were standing in front of me.

I said, “What do you want me to do?” The director, Stephen Herek, said, “Just play something crazy!” I wasn’t plugged in, and I knew it was a comedy, so the first thing I did was hit the A chord like it was Eruption. Then, I just started spazzing out with my fingers!

So the solo wasn’t premeditated.

No – I just started moving in the most unorthodox, weird way all over the fucking place. I was trying to be funny, playing air guitar, and you couldn’t hear anything. My fingers were going bananas and everyone goes, “That’s great! That’s perfect, thanks!”

A couple of days later I got the cut. I went into Power Tracks and used a Rock Tron, which made these really cool pre-amps that you could plug into a pro-gap, like a yellow Bass overdrive. Joel Dantzig from Hamer sent me an amazing Tele-shaped Hamer, so I had that guitar. All I did was follow my hands – I hit the A chord and followed my fingers the best I could. It sounded ridiculous to me, which I thought it was supposed to.

I got the gig with Rod Stewart after I’d done it. I took off on a world tour, and when I went to see the film I thought it was the worst, crappiest film I’ve ever seen in my life! I was super-embarrassed. But somehow that guitar solo became part of the franchise.

Tongue-in-cheek as it was, you started a trend that Steve Vai and Tosin Abasi followed.

The next movie came out and Steve Vai was the guitar guy. And then the third one came out and Tosin Abasi did it. It became this rite of passage to be the guitar guy in Bill & Ted, which is really weird!

In the early ‘90s you opened for Joe Satriani. What was that like?

A fucking nightmare! I was managed by Bill Graham, and by then I was hot shit, playing on big records and going on MTV. I was the guy in LA, I’d just gotten this huge gig with Rod Stewart, and then I signed the biggest recording contract Island had ever given a new artist.

I made my album – the Colorcode album with Bill Laswell – and Bill Graham said, “We should put you on tour with Joe Satriani,” because they also managed Joe. I was up for it, but I was scared shitless because everybody who went on tour with Joe got booed off the stage. You can ask him!

Satriani really wanted me to do it and I wanted to go back on tour. But I’d just finished with Rod Stewart, where we were playing 20,000-seaters, with mostly women in the crowd. Now I was going out with Satriani with 5,000 people a night, and it was all dudes. They would just stare at your hands, and I’d never taken a lesson – I just play.

So I was like, “This is going to be gnarly,” and I was scared shitless. But in the end it was one of the greatest things I ever did. I got standing ovations every night!

What’s the biggest lesson you learned from Satch?

Joe was so good to me. He was really bummed when I had to leave because my European label wanted me to do a more alternative tour. He never tried to shut me down – he’d sit up the front watching me.

He’d measure the volume every night of what the amp was doing, and it had to be the same. Then he’d measure the volume of the monitors, and they had to be the same too. He’d measure between the monitor and his amp to be exactly the same, no matter how big the stage. At soundcheck, he’d hit a note, walk around, and put an “X” on the stage.

During the shows he’d go over to that spot, hold that note, and the crowd would go crazy. He’d worked all that out – he knew exactly how it was going to sustain forever and do that shit. That was a big thing I learned.

In 1994, you made Back From the Living, which has built a cult following.

I went from being this cult guitar player with tons of dudes who’d show up to see me play to having a ton of chicks in the audience! I shot the photos for the album in New York with a Vogue photographer. It sounds corny, but she made me look beautiful!

Suddenly I had all these chicks piling in to listen to me play. That album never caught on in America, but it was number one in other countries. It was life-changing for me; it made me rich. I got this multi-million-dollar contract where I kept all the money!

Steve Lukather lived up the street from me, and he asked, “Where’s Stevie getting all that money – is he a drug dealer?” I swear to God! But that album changed my life in the most amazing way. I was just trying to blend James Brown and Jimi Hendrix; that was my thing.

Is it true that both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar asked you to join their bands?

Sammy called me two days after he got fired from Van Halen, and David Lee Roth called me after Steve Vai left. I might be the only guitar player in the world who was called by two Van Halen singers!

Why didn’t you take the gigs?

I was a huge Van Halen fan. When I was with Rod Stewart I got to meet Eddie Van Halen, and we became friends. I was a Van Halen nut – but when Roth called me, I thought somebody was taking the piss! He talked to me for about an hour, but he kind of sounded like he was out of his mind.

He was talking about making a blues album, like B.B. King. I’m thinking, “What am I doing?” I didn’t like where Dave was going. I didn’t like [Roth's 1988] Skyscraper album, and I just didn’t think it was what I wanted to do.

With Hagar, I was a Montrose fanatic. He called me, flew me to San Francisco, picked me up himself in his Porsche, and I stayed at his house. We started to write together. I wanted to write a Montrose album, and he wanted to write an album more like the Eagles – and I hate the Eagles!

No disrespect, but that didn’t work for me. Plus, I still had a recording contract, and Back From the Living was blowing up in Europe. So I played on his album, but I couldn’t commit to the tour.

What’s next for you?

Well, I’m 100 years old now, so I don’t know! But Deko has been talking to me about rereleasing my shit – so I’m kind of letting people rediscover my old shit like it’s new shit. In 2006, I started producing television; I’m still writing and producing movies and TV now. But I’ll still do music stuff if it’s something that’s good and interesting.

• The reissue of Back From the Living is on sale now.

Spiro Dussias may be touted as shred guitar's next big thing – and tipped to be one of the guitar world's biggest disruptors by heavyweights such as Tim Henson and Tosin Abasi.

However, Dussias admits that he's secretly – or not so secretly – a “classic-guitar nerd,” and even has his heart set on releasing a blues album.

“I jam to Joe Bonamassa, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and John Mayer all day long, going into a Plexi-style thing,” he discloses in the latest issue of Guitar World.

“It sounds like I’m joking, but there’s definitely a blues album in me, and it’ll come out before I turn 30. I might be doing hyper-modern stuff – maybe I’m playing into the hate I get from how cold it can be – but I will do a 180 at some point and make people cry with a version of Stormy Monday.”

Dussias is quick to note the division between more traditional guitar players and those committed to challenging the very boundaries of the instrument.

“There’s this whole narrative where you are either real-as-fuck and old-school or hyper-produced,” he observes. “I’m trying to push the envelope in both respects.”

As for what we can expect next, the virtuoso reveals that he's well into the process of launching his own “project” – and is knee-deep in studio sessions for what we assume to be a brand-new band.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be in my own band. I’ve also been in the studio with Polyphia, working on their next record, but my dream is to tour my own music and get this band off the ground.”

At Guitar Summit last month, Misha Mansoor joined Henson and Abasi in showering praise on Dussias, even going as far as to call his playing “alien stuff.”

For more from Spiro, plus new interviews with Henson and Jim Root, pick up issue 598 of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.

What is it?

It's safe to say Tosin Abasi is already one of this century's key progressive players. This is someone who has made his name through pushing the boundaries of the electric guitar. Thumping, tapping, performing impossibly dextrous clean fingerstyle passages, shredding like a man possessed, and churning out brain-breaking low-register metal riffs, Abasi has spent the last two decades rightly hailed as one of the geniuses of modern guitar.

Such a player requires a special instrument, and Abasi’s latest weapon of choice is the Kaizen, developed with American legends Music Man.

A bold offset design, all angles and points; with fanned frets for balanced tension, plus proprietary pickups and custom shop build quality, in a range of vivid colors. As you can imagine, it’s not a cheap electric guitar - but can those principles be adapted into an instrument that more of us can afford?

That’s the question today, with the new Sterling by Music Man adaptation of the Kaizen. Music Man’s sub-brand needs no introduction, having a lengthy track record of high-quality mid-range guitars and basses; this latest addition to the range will be welcomed by Abasi fans, as well as anyone else exploring the forms that a modern electric guitar can take.

In particular, I’ve got my hands on the seven-string variant, likely to be of particular interest to the target audience.

Specs

• Price: $899/£1,099/€1,229
• Made: Indonesia
• Type: Seven-string electric guitar
• Body: Nyatoh
• Neck: Roasted maple
• Fingerboard/radius: Rosewood, 15.75"
• Scale length: 25.5"/648mm
• Nut/width: Plastic/49.5mm
• Frets: 24
• Hardware: Steinberger Gearless tuners, Sterling two-point vibrato, black finish
• String spacing at bridge: 10.8mm
• Electrics: 2x Sterling by Music Man uncovered ceramic humbuckers, volume, tone, 3-way toggle
• Weight: 6lb/2.7kg
• Options: Kaizen 6-string, $849/£999
• Left-handed: No
• Finishes: Firemist Purple Satin (as reviewed), Stealth Black
• Cases: None included
• Contact: Sterling By Music Man

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

Only two colors are offered - it’s this Firemist Purple Satin, Stealth Black, or nothing; even the purple is a subdued shade that rather downplays the Kaizen’s dramatic shape.

Some glossier, more unapologetic finishes might do wonders for the aesthetics, as it could be argued that this model looks a little undercooked as is. There were a couple of small finish flaws on our review example, too.

The build underneath is not to be sniffed at, though; a smooth, attractively-grained roasted maple neck and well-fretted rosewood fingerboard mated to a lightweight nyatoh body.

The Sterling Kaizen ditches the fanned frets of the USA model, but it’s a comfortable and ergonomic experience that should cater even to those unfamiliar with seven-string guitars.

The USA-built Kaizen’s Steinberger gearless tuners do make their way over here - a plus from functional and aesthetic perspectives alike. It gives the headstock a streamlined, futuristic aesthetic with no buttons poking out from the sides, while the machines themselves are silky-smooth in action. At the other end sits Sterling’s tried-and-tested two-point vibrato.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

The body might look strange, but the shape sits comfortably and balances well thanks to the long top horn. The neck is slim and subtly rounded, feeling hardly bigger than the average six-string neck despite actually having a slightly above-average seven-string nut width. The vibrato is smooth and expressive, holding tuning well.

On a seven-string guitar, the standard 25.5" scale length can feel like a compromise, not allowing the low B string the tightness it truly needs, but engineering in fanned frets would add hundreds to this guitar's price tag.

Overall, the Kaizen plays superbly and encourages you to put your best foot forward technically; it’s Tosin Abasi’s guitar, after all.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Tonally, we’ve two unbranded ceramic humbuckers described as “focused, with an aggressive midrange bite”.

In theory then, ideal for modern metal guitar sounds – especially with extended range, where low frequencies must be tightly controlled. No doubt Sterling by Music Man suspects many buyers will swap straight over to their own choice of esoteric seven-string pickup, maybe even Abasi’s own signature Fishman Fluence set - but let’s give these stock units a fair shake.

Encouragingly, the humbuckers immediately make good on their ‘focused’ brief – there’s decent attenuation of boomy lows, and plenty of punchy midrange to cut through a mix.

Some extreme tone-chasers will still wish for a sharper and more cutting sound, but there’s no lack of good qualities here. It also doesn’t push a cleaner signal into undue breakup, important for those seeking to emulate the frequently clean-toned Abasi on a budget.

Not the most inspiring lower-gain voice, but perfectly usable. Tonally, it certainly stands up to other comparable seven-strings, and the slinky playing experience only enhances the enjoyment.

Verdict

Sterling's take on the Kaizen, necessarily, has to dispense with such niceties as the fanned frets and the custom pickups, but what's left is still distinctive and bears the hallmarks of a guitar that has been thought through very well.

You might want new pickups, and the aesthetics aren't up there with the show-stopping USA model, but the playability and ergonomics of this entry point to the Kaizen model leave many rivals in the dust.

Guitar World verdict: It might not have the full complement of features that define the USA Kaizen, but this Sterling model takes the basic design ethos and morphs it into a very well-executed mid-range model. Scoring especially highly for its superb ergonomics, it ought to appeal to those seeking a highly playable seven-string.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Ernie Ball

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• “A must-try for fans of guitars that push the boundaries of instrument design”: Sterling by Music Man St. Vincent Goldie review

Guatemalan virtuoso Hedras’ latest solo album Front Line is a heart-on-sleeve work where his two distinct disciplines – angular progressive metal and free-flowing jazz – meet. Facing the realities of being a modern musician, he admits it was a struggle to stay motivated when he has bills to pay.

“You’re trying to push hard on your instrument but you’re busy every night playing gigs,” he says. “I found the secret is just to grab the guitar and start playing. Something will happen. If you’re lazy and don’t grab the guitar, you’ll be a victim.”

Front Line was written while he’d been laid off for six months by Sam Ash during 2020’s lockdown. It sounds like John Petrucci and Tosin Abasi invading the New York jazz scene – a wild ride.

Abasi’s influence is all over the album. What do you admire about him?

“He’s always on the hunt to discover new things. So many rock guitar players hit a certain threshold and stay there forever. He keeps pushing. He just texted me, like, ‘I bought your tapping package.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, you already have those skills! Why did you do that?!’”

There’s a ton of wah on Victorious. It seems to have fallen out of favor in modern metal.

“I like wah! I grew up listening to Joe Satriani and John Petrucci. It's a cool boomer tool – it's so ingrained in my brain because of them – and it forces you to play every note and bend in a certain way. I think it adds a lot of dimension.”

How do you navigate the complexity-versus-simplicity divide?

“You’ve got to negotiate with yourself. Some players think, ‘If it doesn’t impress me, it’s not worth it.’ But I think that’s wrong. Music has never been about that. The older I get, the more I understand the boomers! People react better to a strong melody than a 32nd-note line, one even with great design and cool motifs. Most people prefer the bends of Clapton to Allan Holdsworth.

“I find a lot of beauty in complexity and intervallic changes, but I’ve started to see beauty in other things. I want to play melodies that people can sing. If you listen to Guthrie Govan's solos on Erotic Cakes, even when he’s playing fast, there are very clear moments you can sing.”

You’re one of the most notable Cort artists – how did you link up?

“When I still lived in Guatemala, they were looking for a player to do a run of clinics in South America. But I wasn’t interested in their guitars; I was playing a PRS and I was really happy with it. The clinics idea seemed pretty cool so they sent me some guitars.

“After more than 10 years together, and six years of having signatures, I really believe in these guitars. They build a lot of Sterling by Music Man, Strandberg and Fender in their factory now. Those brands trust them; they have the knowledge. I’m very fortunate to be working with them.”

When designing a guitar, what are your must-haves?

“I really like fat necks. The necks on my Corts are super-fat, but they’re actually customs; the mass-production guitars have very fast necks that most people seem to enjoy. Thick necks help me play more effortlessly. There’s less travelling and motion on the fingers because your hand isn’t opening and closing as much.

“Another thing I cannot live without is good single coils. I really like Fishman pickups, and even with split-coil humbuckers, they have amazing sounds.”

Anything you’re less picky about?

“Some people tell you the woods make all the difference and others say it’s the pickups. To my ears, it’s the type of finish. When the whole guitar has a satin or open pore finish, it sounds… I don’t know if it’s spankier or warmer but it’s different than a gloss finish.

“Maybe there’s more connection with the instrument and your skin than with gloss finishes – it’s more organic. There’s even a difference when you play acoustically.”

What are your current favorite pieces of gear?

“I've been using a lot of the Revv G3 distortion pedal. You don’t have to go past half, and the sustain you get is insane. I’ve been using that through a Laney Lionheart clean channel. I’ve been using the Hotone Ampero Stage II for pop gigs; it’s very versatile. DigiTech has sent me some pedals, too – the Ricochet is a very fun thing to have.

“But if I’m going to play my own music, I need distortion from my amp, and the Laney Ironheart has a very warm, rounded tone. I can get close to the Petrucci sound with that.”

What’s your approach to writing solos?

“I consider the feel of the song and where the solo is happening. I want a solo that connects the dots. Most of my solos are composed – even when the songs are heavy, there are usually modal changes, but they start with improvisation.

“The goal is to write music. I want everything I do to be intentional and honest, especially with so many fake players online. I’m seeing players compose something that’s crazy-hard to play on Guitar Pro, put the MIDI through an amp sim, and pretend they can play it, when they can’t. It’s dishonest.

“It’s the culture of shortcuts. Everybody wants to hit 1,000 likes, get endorsements fast and make money easily. Players are reaching levels that aren’t possible to perform. But they can come up with some very cool stuff. Are we separating ourselves from the limitation of our hands and letting the imagination go into a different state?

“If I don’t limit myself I come up with crazy ideas. So from the perspective of a composer there are some gains. But you’re losing the honesty of human skills. It’s more honorable to be able to play the music you’re producing. If I have to work really hard to nail a part, it needs to happen.”

Are people too social media-focused?

“If you’re pursuing the reward rather than the love of playing, you’re going to fail at some point. The journey is too ugly. The only way you can still be playing guitar at 50 is if you do it for love. For developing a language and real skills on the guitar, there are no shortcuts. It takes time – but some people don’t want to go through that.”

• Front Line is out now.

When people think 'Strandberg', chances are they think 'Plini' at the same time. After all, the Australian virtuoso is the brand's poster boy. After one fateful day when first discovered a headless Boden 7-string backstage after an Intervals show, he has since gone on to add a few tasty Strandbergs to his lineup – not to mention a raft of signature models under his belt.

He’s one of the most avid proponents of headless guitars, even telling Guitar World at NAMM why he finds such designs so appealing.

Now, in a more recent conversation about his Strandberg origins with Lee Anderton from Andertons Music Co., Plini reflects, “I'd been playing Ibanez for years and years and recorded music with it, and thought, ‘Okay, it's time to get an even better guitar.’

“And I'd narrowed it down to a John Petrucci signature. I [also] really like the look of Parker Flys, but I don't think I could find one to even try in Australia. And then I saw that Misha [Mansoor] and Tosin [Abasi] and this band, Scale the Summit, were all using Strandbergs. I was like, ‘Oh, this whack-looking thing must be good if all these guys are using it.’”

As for the Mansoor influence, Plini mentions a specific period where the Periphery guitarist “would just have every guitar under the sun and play them and talk about them”. The similarities between the pair's expansive styles meant the Strandberg concept was a no-brainer for Plini.

“And so at the time, Ola [Strandberg] was doing them in his garage, like one by one, and then had just started to do production, so I emailed him and lied about how good I was,” Plini quips. “I was like, ‘I need to skip the waiting list to get a Strandberg.’ And he was tricked. They did two at the same time – one went to Misha, from an old US factory, which they don't use anymore.”

Summing up his relationship with the Strandberg guitars and brand, Plini is quick to say that, “Anytime I come across someone who's not married to a guitar company, I'm like, ‘Try this,’ and pretty much everyone who has tried it is used to it within a couple of minutes.”

In more recent Strandberg news, the brain behind the brand, Ola, discussed the headless guitar revolution and how he managed to change the concept of guitar design in the process.

Misha Mansoor has named the emerging electric guitar player who he thinks is taking the instrument to all-new heights – and it’s a player who’s already been singled out for praise from some of this generation’s biggest names.

At Guitar Summit last month, Mansoor was on hand to take Guitar World through his new stable of Jackson Juggernaut signature guitars. During the conversation, the Periphery pioneer was asked if there were any up-and-coming players who have caught his eye in recent times – and a familiar name cropped up.

“Have you heard of Spiro Dussias?” he said. “He's doing some alien stuff, man. It's very rare to see a guitarist where I'm just like, ‘How are you doing what you're doing?’

“He's definitely up there. He's doing some pretty great [stuff]. I feel like he's definitely trying to push what a guitar could be. I’m interested to see where that goes.”

Spiro is one of the fastest-rising virtuosos of recent years, revered for his mind-altering picking precision, head-bending speed, and downright absurd fretboard vocabulary. Widely regarded as “shred’s next great hope”, he’s an Abasi Concepts artist, starred in Jackson’s American Series Soloist promo campaign, and ended up giving Dream Theatre guitar lessons.

Mansoor is by no means the first player to ring the Spiro klaxon. At NAMM earlier this year, Guitar World asked both Tim Henson and Tosin Abasi the same question – and they provided the same answer.

“Dude, there’s that guy – Spiro – you know what I’m talking about,” Henson told Guitar World. “I don’t know how to say his last name. I just recognize the Instagram handle, but that guy is fucking crazy.”

“There’s this guy, Spiro,” Abasi echoed. “Alien levels of precision. It’s like, you can’t believe it until you sit in front of him and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’”

Earlier this year, Guitar World caught up with Spiro to discuss his whirlwind rise to the upper echelons of the shred guitar scene, during which he shared the secrets of his otherworldly economic picking technique.

Head over to the Guitar World YouTube channel to watch the full interview with Misha Mansoor.

After first announcing its arrival in January, Sterling by Music Man has finally launched a more accessible version of the highly acclaimed, Tosin Abasi-designed Kaizen model.

Back at NAMM 2022, the Animals As Leaders guitarist surprised-announced that he had partnered with Ernie Ball Music Man to design the Kaizen – a futuristic electric guitar that introduced a new body shape and offered a range of cutting-edge specs geared towards contemporary players.

It first arrived solely as a seven-string guitar, but a year later, it was introduced as a six-string. Both models, however, came with multi-scale designs that – while in keeping with the forward-thinking design approach of the Kaizen itself – distanced itself from regular players. That, as well as the $3,999 price tag.

In the ensuing years, guitar fans have been asking for a Sterling by Music Man Kaizen spin-off, one that would bring the design to a lower price point while also offering a platform for more conventionally inclined players.

Now, Abasi and Sterling by Music Man have responded, launching regular-scaled six– and seven-string formats that make “the forward-thinking design more accessible than ever”.

“I want the guitar to play fast, I want it to wear close to the body, and I want it to communicate a degree of aggression and forward-thinking – and I think the Kaizen really embodies that,” Abasi notes of the release.

“There’s a foundational shape to the Kaizen that’s really bold and impactful, but it doesn’t depart too far from what a guitar should look like. I like when the form is informed by the function.”

As such, the Sterling Kaizen – which slashes more than $3k off the original’s price tag – follows the cues of its source material, with a radical double-cut body built from nyatoh.

It’s joined by a roasted maple – topped with 24 frets – as well as a rosewood fingerboard, Steinberger gearless tuners, a Modern tremolo, and a 25.5” scale length.

There are, as you may expect, a few cost-cutting measures baked-in to the spec. Price-slashing efforts include regular ceramic humbuckers – as opposed to the high-end Heat Treated pickups found in the OG – as well as the 15.75" radius, which is drafted in over the innovative Infinity radius from the previous model.

Nonetheless, the essential spirit – or at least the shape – of the Kaizen seems intact.

“We needed to retain some things from the Music Man model because they’re quintessential to how the guitar plays and feels,” explains Abasi. “And we changed some things that we thought would actually be beneficial. This was an opportunity to give people an option, and I think we really hit a sweet spot.”

The Sterling by Music Man Kaizen is available in Firemist Purple Satin or Stealth Black, and is available for $849 or $899 depending on its string configuration.

Head over to Sterling by Music Man to find out more.

Digital modeling pros Neural DSP love a creative publicity stunt, and they’re no strangers to pairing hotshot shredders together, locking them in a room, and seeing if they can write a song in 24 hours.

We’ve already seen Plini working with ex-Megadeth man Kiko Loureiro and Mateus Asato, and producing magic, but seeing him team up with Animals As Leaders’ madcap genius Tosin Abasi feels like a dream collaboration.

In a surprise to no one, Plini opts for his signature “ridiculous space-age looking” Strandberg, and Abasi his self-made Abasi Concepts Larada, a guitar that Justus West snuck onto Beyoncé's new album.

Straight off the bat, Abasi stumbles upon a selective picking idea that leads Plini to point at him, a lightbulb pinging in his mind, to say, “Does that exist?! Okay, good.”

As they develop the idea, Plini laughs, “This is a part you’ll play, isn’t it?” The Aussie experimented with the technique on his latest EP, Mirage – which fittingly, features a guest solo from Abasi – but he’s regularly professed to being an amateur with it, especially compared to the man who coined it.

Where he excels, however, is with his emotion-draped chord progressions. In fact, he’s the one in charge of giving the song its core progression, and it’s as dreamy as they come. It's fascinating seeing the pair dissect the progression, trading chords for different feels with, at one point, Abasi taking on an almost directorial role.

The pair also show a keen ear for dynamic detail, with Abasi swapping from alternate picking to pure down picking à la James Hetfield for a more “metal” and attack-y approach.

“I rarely do straight down strokes,” Abasi confessed. “I haven't played Metallica in a while.”

As with any strong songwriting partnership, there are also disagreements. While penning the second section – an ascending chordal run that finds Abasi fingerpicking and Plini on lead – Abasi pushes for “a consonant in resolution” before any curveballs are thrown. Plini counters with, “You think, not just straight curveballs?” – a smile across his face the whole time.

Plini’s talents are properly tested when Abasi switches to a thumping part on his eight-string, leaving space for Plini to dive into a selective picking concept.

“Fucking hell,” he exclaims after fumbling his line. “Why do you write things like this?”

The idea is to syncopate the thump with the selective picking, but in a quest to make the Aussie’s part more personable to him, he’s put out of his misery.

“You were about to do a single note thing,” Abasi ponders as Plini battles with the part. “I wonder if it's a better use of Plini to do that,” he says, “and have the loop do a distorted version of the arpeggio,” which is then dialed in on the Archetype: Abasi plugin.

It goes to show that even the world’s best players have humanizing moments – although it seems Abasi comes away from their day’s writing pretty unscathed.

Elsewhere, there are crunchy, octaver-infused chord progressions “that sit right on the balance of an obvious and not obvious,” with Plini having stolen the octaver pedal for Gojira's signature plugin for his reprised edition, Plini X.

Abasi dishes out a key lesson that “sometimes, what a part needs is the most obvious thing,” leading Plini to quip, “Have you heard your music?” And there's also a charming moment as they nail down a harmonized lead line that has Plini musing, “Is this what it's like to be in band?”

The video offers a candid insight into how the two generational talents approach their respective instruments and songwriting processes. And, considering their tight-knit friendship and status as two of the most innovative guitarists born this side of Eddie Van Halen, it seems incredible that this represents one of their only collaborations together.

In other Tosin Abasi news, the trailblazing guitarist and entrepreneur recently released his first signature compressor pedal, the Micro-Aggressor.

Spiro, the emerging electric guitar virtuoso whose talents have left Tosin Abasi and Tim Henson’s jaws on the floor, has revealed the secrets behind his otherwordly right-hand speed-picking technique.

From his signature muted sweep picking trick to a tremolo technique that could cut glass, Spiro’s right hand is his all-powerful but not-so-secret weapon. It's led to a raft of comments on his Instagram posts begging for a breakdown of the wizardry behind it – especially since his hand is able to move so little, yet still generate Dragonforce levels of speed.

Now, the guitarist has taken to Instagram to play to the crowd and reveal his speed shred secrets.

“Why that instead of a larger motion?” he asks after a quick demonstration of his extra-terrestrial talents, during which his picking hand barely moves. “Imagine you have a bouncy ball, a floor, and a ceiling, and it's hitting both of them. The distance between those two points is gonna dictate how fast that ball moves.

“If you lower that ceiling, what happens to the ball? It has no choice but to speed up; the same thing applies to picking. If you restrict your range of motion, your hand has no choice but to oscillate at a shorter distance, which means you'll play faster.”

The concept is simple and leans into the well-established notion that players should be economical with their range of motion. Pete Townshend-style windmills are out, minimalist movement is in.

He also adds that the particular sound he gets is a personal preference, and so “mileage may vary” between players depending on how they execute this technique. Nevertheless, as Spiro explains, “This gives me the sound I am after in my head, and the feel I’m after.”

Speaking to Guitar World about his muted sweep picking technique, which he intentionally designed to sound “alien”, Spiro says the angle of the pick can also heavily influence the sound.

“It comes from experimenting with the mechanics of economy picking and what you can do with different angles and muting,” he explains. “There’s this notion that economy picking gives you a more fluid or bubbly sound than alternate picking – but I've been proving the opposite.

“You’ll see alternate pickers change their angle between downward and upward slants every few notes, which creates an opening and closing sort of envelope. I can maintain the same mute and envelope with every note.

“You have all these beautiful chord voicings that, if you're diligent about your technique and the tone you dial in, you can use to get a really wild mechanical, percussive sound. I’m actively seeing how far I can push it.”

The methods behind his right hand are a direct result of that mentality, and the results of his virtuosic approach can be heard throughout his body of work, most notably Negative, which he wrote to promote Neural DSP’s Archetype: Nolly X.

“If you look really carefully, I’ll very subtly lift my fingers off of the previous string, but they’ll still be making contact with the fretboard,” he adds. “When ascending, I’ll tilt my thumb down so that I’m always muting the strings with it on the way up.”

Spiro has caught the attention of some elite players, with Tim Henson and Tosin Abasi calling him their favorite new guitarist.

Henson said, rather elegantly, “that guy is fucking crazy,” while Abasi described him as “shred’s next great hope”.

“[He has] alien levels of precision,” Abasi told Guitar World. “It’s like, you can’t believe it until you sit in front of him and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’”

Spiro’s oddball playing style has been met with some detractors, however. He regularly posts stories on his Instagram debunking those who think his playing is fake. Check out the first shot of the video below to see his right hand up close – the motion is extremely minimal.

What is it?

In addition to being recognized as a trailblazing guitarist, Tosin Abasi has established himself as a savvy entrepreneur. Abasi has cultivated a signature range of guitars and pedals that cater to his unique style and curated tones under the name Abasi Concepts, an LA-based company he co-owns with COO Ivan Chopik.

While his brand is mostly recognized for its guitar models, Abasi has decided to release his first signature compressor pedal, the Micro-Aggressor. The Micro-Aggressor stands out as a boost-style compressor with two discrete parallel compression circuits built in.

And if that sounds unusual, it is. But once you understand how both seamlessly interact to enhance your signal and infuse your attack, you may never want to live without this tone-shaping compressor on your pedalboard.

Specs

• Launch price: $249/£197
• Type: Compressor pedal
• Controls: Level, Clarity, Bloom, Smack
• Connectivity: Top-mounted 1/4" jacks, standard 9V power input
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: 9V DC
• Options: None
• Contact: Abasi Concepts

Usability and sounds

Out of its fancy box, the Micro-Aggressor appears well-built with a compact form factor and a modern-looking faceplate (that lights up the name and blinks the incoming signal).

It’s surprisingly lightweight as a stompbox and follows in line with other desirable pedalboard features like “non-tone-sucking” relay true-bypass switching, a durable soft-touch footswitch, top-mounted I/O jacks and a 9-volt power jack.

Abasi Concepts states the pedal features a premium transformer at its core for its hi-fi compression, and I don’t dispute that. The four ridge-textured knobs with compass arrow indicators feel high-end as the controls for Level, Clarity, Bloom and Smack.

While the orientation of the knobs appears as a design consideration, they’re actually smartly arranged with Level and Smack on top and adjacent to each other as the output level controls of the primary (Level/Boost) and secondary (Smack) parallel compression circuits.

Also, Level controls the amount of signal boost with a noon setting achieving unity gain. Just below Level is Clarity, a tilt-style EQ that brings more high-end definition as you sweep up clockwise, and thickened warmth in counter-clockwise positions.

At the bottom left is Bloom, which administers the amount of compression in the primary circuit and, in essence, sets the sensitivity of how much the compression is felt.

Accordingly, Smack – the secondary parallel compression circuit – works in tandem with Bloom for added transparency and low-end content.

The Micro-Aggressor eschews typical compressor controls – like Attack, Sensitivity, Ratio and Threshold – and boils it down to two knobs for Bloom and Smack to duplicate their particular functions in parallel paths.

Using a compressor can seem foreign to guitarists, but here, you won’t need to crack open a manual because the Micro-Aggressor compels you to use your ears to dial in the proper amount of attack and compressed coloration.

Depending upon your rig and application, a compressor can do wonders for your tone or get in the way of it – but for enhanced compression that boosts your tone, the Micro-Aggressor is wonderful. If I had any criticism, I’d say because of its simplified control set, the Micro-Aggressor has limited functionality compared to other stompbox compressors.

Still, this pedal seems more fine-tuned in its dynamic response and percussive attack for players who occupy tapping, avant-garde smacking and popping styles, and even those who need to elevate cleaner runs in the jazzy, bebop space.

I found dialing Bloom upwards best emphasizes the rich compression required for those techniques, whereas Smack increases thickened resonance as you move it clockwise or can tighten low end for transparency in the other direction.

That said, if you’re already using mid- to hi-gain from an amp, you’ll need to dial back Bloom and Smack for the proper threshold so as not to clamp down on transients. Furthermore, the pedal’s Clarity control comes in handy here to cleanly define any dense overtones or chugged riffage and articulate pick attack.

Turning on the Micro-Aggressor, you’ll quickly hear how it can fatten and boost a clean signal well over the top with minimal coloration while latching onto notes for lingering sustain.

It’s a useful and smoothly compressed polish that accentuates your playing and the sound of your guitar, and by the same token, a baritone or other down-tuned and extended-range instruments.

Whether I’m using a Les Paul or a Tele, I like setting Bloom around noon and Smack just past that for a “soft knee” compression curve, which cushions the signal and prominently lifts whatever I’m playing with plenty of sustain and body.

It’s quite pronounced, and the kind of compression that can boost or intensify your attack – so much so that you’ll never turn it off.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

The Micro-Aggressor from Abasi Concepts flips the script on traditional compressors, coming in hot as a boost-style compressor with dual parallel compression circuits that are complementary.

One path maintains thickness and clarity; the other elevates dynamics for pure sonic enhancement.

Guitar World verdict: For those who need more attack, the Micro-Aggressor is a nouveau compressor conceptualized for metal and progressive styles.

Hands-on videos

Guitar World

Abasi Concepts

• Abasi Concepts Emi 7 Master Series review

Technical innovator, gear entrepreneur, virtuoso, guitar guru. These are just some of the terms that can be used to describe Tosin Abasi – one of today’s foremost electric guitar players, who has helped redefine the progressive metal guitar scene on numerous fronts over the course of his career so far.

When he isn’t pushing the boundaries of his own playing in Animals As Leaders, he’s heading up his own gear firm, Abasi Concepts; collaborating with Apple for a new GarageBand producer pack; knocking heads with Ernie Ball Music Man to develop their joint guitar design, the Kaizen; or mastering a new genre.

The reality is, he does all of that (and much more) at once – so how he managed to find time in his hectic schedule to swing by the Abasi Concepts booth at NAMM 2025 for an in-depth chat with Guitar World to discuss all-things-guitar is, quite frankly, remarkable.

Fresh off the back of expanding the Abasi Concepts product range throughout 2024 with all-new guitars, pedals, and accessories, the Animals As Leaders, erm, leader, took a brief 15 minutes to reflect on his guitar-building and music-making journey thus far.

It’s been a whirlwind to say the least, and there’s no sign he’ll be slowing down any time soon. With a tour on the books, an AAL record in the works, and maybe even tentative plans for a daring blues album, the next 12 months looks to be business as usual for Abasi.

All of the above – and a juicy update regarding that highly elusive Abasi Concepts nylon-string – can be found in the following highlights from our interview with Tosin Abasi and Abasi Concepts COO, Ivan Chopik (you can watch the full thing below).

Tosin, there are some beautiful guitars in this booth. When you first started out in your career, did you see yourself as a guitar designer?

“Not as a guitar designer, but customizing guitars was always this attractive thing to do. There were the established brands, and then you'd see these custom, luthier-made guitars that often had feature sets and woods that were like, ‘Whoa.’ You can't just go into a Guitar Center and get that.

“When I started playing eight-string specifically, I realized that there weren't a lot of options from the traditional big brands and manufacturers, because at that time the eight-string was a very novel guitar.

“So the guitar design was more of me being like, ‘Well, I'm playing an instrument that seems under-served as far as options [go],’ and I basically commissioned a custom guitar for myself with eight strings and that was the first sort of ground-up design: it was to solve problems I found on existing eight-strings that basically just felt like you took a six-string guitar and added more strings. The design was almost a de facto thing that came from actually wanting the form of the guitar to match the playability.

“There was another issue with a lot of the eight-strings – it seemed as if they catered towards only playing really heavy music in the lower register, and I was someone who wanted to do a lot of chordal stuff and a lot of lead guitar.

“So there were features like the multi-scale and the actual shape of the body and the neck profiles that I wanted, to [make it] really easy to play even though it had more strings than you were used to. That's where the design part actually came in.”

You've got a few different body shapes now in the lineup. What was the inspiration behind them? Was it purely an ergonomic consideration for you?

“There's some features that make this a lot more ergonomic, right? I like sitting in a classical position when I'm practicing. It just centers you with the guitar, as opposed to the offset thing. So this bottom cut away [on the Abasi Concepts guitars] really sits nicely on your inner thigh, and it pitches the guitar up at a nice angle. And then the beveling minimizes the space between you and the rest of the instrument.

“[Showcasing the Abasi Concepts Larada] We did this continuous bevel, and also the neck joint – this has extreme fret access, and what's cool is that we're able to get the majority of the neck deeper into the body, which basically reduces the wingspan while playing the instrument. So, [you can] set up your hand closer to your torso.

“These things combined make the guitar. They shrink it, basically… and we lose some mass here, so the guitar is light as well. And the Fishmans, I think, are really fantastic pickups. They have multiple voices, and they handle the frequency range really, really well. That's like the icing on the cake. The electronics are specific to this instrument as well.”

Everyone is asking about this nylon-string that you've been teasing for a very long time. What's the latest on that?

“[Showing the latest Abasi Concepts nylon-string model] This is the latest prototype. We were experimenting with using the logo as a soundhole, but I think we're gonna delete that. We've also been playing with how thick this bridge is width-wise.

“It's basically an attempt to create a nylon-string instrument that [takes] a lot of the same design concepts from [other Abasi Concepts guitars] – multi-scale, thin-bodied, ergonomic – but it's for guys who maybe aren't traditional classical players, but do want a nylon-string guitar for recording and specifically for stage.

“My band Animals As Leaders, we have compositions with nylon guitars, but on stage, a fully resonant traditional classical guitar feeds back. You can't have a wedge at volume. If you got a drum set behind you, it just makes it unusable.

“I actually noticed that Cordoba has a guitar called the Stage, and I toured with it and I was like, ‘Man, this thing is actually perfect.’ [The Abasi Concepts nylon-string] is a similar thinline acoustic-electric approach that's usable on stage.

“We did some things where we split the difference between the string spacing between an electric and a classical. Because classical spacing is really quite wide, we wanted something that – if you didn't play traditional classical and you're an electric player – you could get on this and it wasn't as jarring.

“So, the neck profile is closer to an electric guitar, and the string spacing, we basically hybridized it. What's really cool is that on a nylon-string guitar, you could never play the 19th fret. And I really like that you can sweep pick on this thing, so it gets you the nylon-string sound without the physical limitations of a traditional acoustic instrument.

“And we're working with Fishman on a pickup. Piezo pickups can often have a transient attack that's a little paper-y. Fishman [are] geniuses at making these direct systems sound like they have the depth and ambience you would expect from acoustic, so we're really proud of how this actually sounds like plugged in.”

You've been doing quite a lot with pedals recently as well, and also strings. What's the latest in your wider category? Do you have any more pedals like in production at the moment?

“Years ago, we did a drive pedal called the Pathos and it was an attempt to do an amp-in-a-box thing. I use it for leads. You know, I’m a big fan of Dream Theater, and John Petrucci has a very harmonically rich, smooth-sounding lead. This pedal kind of gives a bit of that.

“And, you know, we're both guitar players, and the reason we're designing gear is we’re making things that we wish existed. We really think that that pedal sounds great.

“And the [recently released Micro-Aggressor] compressor… I think guitar players don't often understand compression, so I think it's a secret that some guitars are missing. A lot of pedal compressors are designed to do something similar to a studio comp, and we decided to make one that’s actually a boost-style compressor that enhances the transient attack without a hard clip. You literally could use it to drive the front end of an amp… it physically feels like your amp is giving more, which is amazing.”

Nowadays, a lot of people are switching from tube amps to amp modelers, whereas you've gone the other way. What facilitated that move?

“I think it's a [case-by-case] scenario depending on the gig. There are times I will use modelers, and there are fantastic companies like Neural DSP [who make them]. They cloned my tube rig and it's shocking [how good it is]. Our feeling is that modelers are basically perfect, especially at the end of the chain, when you're hearing a mixed record or a mixed band.

“But there's nothing that defeats the experience of plugging into an amp and a cab in the room. And it's not knocking modelers, it's just saying there's literally physical differences between how the sound is being produced. So for me, it's like a love of both, right? It's like, I still like engines but [electric vehicles] have their place.

“Like I said, for us this [company] is a passion project, so I think we want to do it all. We definitely bias ourselves sometimes towards what feels good and what sounds good in the room, so that's pedals and maybe even amps in the future.”

What are you working on at the moment? Is there a new Animals As Leaders record in the works?

“We are about to begin pre-production on an album. We do have some touring – we're headed to Europe in a few weeks – but I want to spend a portion of this year writing the record. In a perfect world, it'll be written and recorded by the end of this year.”

You said an interview that you were toying with the idea of doing a blues album at one point. Is that something that's still in the cards?

“This is funny, because Ivan is a fantastic blues guitarist, and I’d never really gotten into the genre. And there's amazing players like Josh Smith and Eric Gales that I’m like, ‘Okay, I've been missing out.’

“So I had a moment over the pandemic, where I was like, ‘I’m learning the blues,’ and I got really into it, and I said I'd do an album. I gotta respect the art, and I don't know that I've evolved to the point where I can [do it justice], you know what I mean? But it's fun. It's fun to mess around with.”

In terms of new music, are there any new techniques that you're working on at the moment?

“You know, it's funny. I’m trying to use the techniques that I have in more diverse ways, because at a point, it's about how effectively you're using what you already know, as opposed to thinking you've got to add more novel stuff. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

Who are the new players that are inspiring you from the new generation?

“There's this guy, Spiro [Dussias]. Alien levels of precision. It's like, you can't believe it until you sit in front of him and you're like, ‘Whoa.’ Honestly, Matteo Mancuso [is another one].

“These guys are literally like… we marvel at them. There's a guy that we brought on, Stanly Bactian, and he doesn't play slide but he plays guitar as if he's playing slide. It's very cool. He's drawing from a lot of gospel music, and to see someone from across the world tap into that and do it so passionately is very cool.”

• Visit the Abasi Concepts website and Tosin Abasi's Instagram account for more.

Tosin Abasi is one of the 21st century’s most prolific electric guitar innovators. From reinventing ergonomic eight-string design by launching his Abasi Concepts brand to pushing the boundaries of progressive metal through his work with Animals As Leaders, the guitar virtuoso/designer has always been a key figure in the world of heavy music.

However, back in 2022, Abasi teased he was tempted to take a temporary hiatus from heavy music, after he decided to go down the blues rabbit hole and buy virtual lessons from Oz Noy, Josh Smith and even Joe Bonamassa.

At the time, he said he had “flirted with the idea of doing a blues album”, but almost three years on, and there’s been no sign that any such thing will actually happen.

Naturally, when we caught up with Abasi at NAMM 2025 to discuss all things Abasi Concepts, we couldn’t help but sneak in a question about new music he was working on – and that included asking for an update on his elusive blues record.

“This is funny,” Abasi laughs when reminded of his blues promise, “because Ivan [Chopik, Abasi Concepts COO] is a fantastic blues guitarist, and I’d never really gotten into the genre. And there's amazing players like Josh Smith and Eric Gales that I’m like, ‘Okay, I've been missing out.’

“So I had a moment over the pandemic, where I was like, ‘I’m learning the blues,’ and I got really into it, and I said I’d do an album.”

However, the idea of doing a blues album has slightly lost its appeal to Abasi – not because he doesn’t enjoy the genre, but because he respects it too much.

“I gotta respect the art,” he reflects, “and I don't know that I've evolved to the point where I can [do it justice], you know what I mean? But it's fun. It's fun to mess around with.”

It’s certainly an unfortunate update, especially when one considers just how tasteful Abasi’s blues chops are. While studying the genre, he posted a few clips online (see above) and we can’t help but feel we need Abasi to rip through some more blues shuffles on his Abasi Concepts Larada.

Those hoping for new Animals As Leaders music, though, do not fear: Abasi might not be working on his debut blues turn-out any time soon, but he is certainly planning to get the next AAL written and wrapped up as soon as possible.

“We are about to begin pre-production on an album,” Abasi confirms. “We do have some touring – we're headed to Europe in a few weeks – but I want to spend a portion of this year writing the record. In a perfect world, it'll be written and recorded by the end of this year.”

The full interview with Tosin Abasi will be published to the Guitar World website and YouTube channel in the coming weeks.

When we hit up NAMM 2025 earlier this year, Guitar World wasn’t just on a mission to appraise the newest pieces of electric guitar gear – we were also intent on finding out which emerging players are making an impression on the established pros.

As such, we made it our imperative to ask every artist we interviewed about which up-and-coming guitarists were blowing their minds, and when we asked Tim Henson and Tosin Abasi, they both offered the same name: Spiro Dussias.

When it comes to identifying early talent, Henson and Abasi are two of the most qualified players out there.

Both reinvented progressive music in their own image, while Abasi already proved his pedigree in hand-picking players when he tipped Matteo Mancuso for greatness a number of years ago.

Therefore, when Henson and Abasi name a talent we need to be aware of, we listen – and progressive metal shredder Spiro Dussias is the one that’s currently got them excited.

“Dude, there’s that guy. Spiro – you know what I’m talking about,” Henson tells Guitar World when asked about the new players he’s impressed by. “I don’t know how to say his last name. I just recognize the Instagram handle, but that guy is fucking crazy.”

Likewise, Abasi didn’t have to think too long before he put the spotlight on the technically elite player, who has been lauded as “shred’s next great hope”.

“There’s this guy, Spiro,” Abasi says when faced with the same question. “Alien levels of precision. It’s like, you can’t believe it until you sit in front of him and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’”

Players plugged into the progressive guitar scene may already be familiar with Spiro. One of 2024’s standout metal guitarists who made it onto Guitar World’s best solos of the year rundown in 2024, Spiro has already worked with Abasi Concepts, Neural DSP and ESP, and even stole the show during Jackson’s promotional video for its American Soloist series with an original piece, Python.

Revered for his otherworldly muted sweep picking technique, compositional nous and the fact everything he plays seems to blow the minds of household artists, Spiro is already well on his way to having a very, very bright future in the guitar world.

And, if Henson has his way, that future could include a guest spot on the upcoming fifth Polyphia record.

“As we start to book these sessions this year, to bring in all the incredible talent that is out there, to vibe them out on the new music, I’m definitely going to be hitting up Spiro, just to see what kind of insanity he can bring,” Henson adds in his Guitar World interview.

Spiro sat down with GW earlier this year to discuss his whirlwind rise. During the conversation, he discussed comparisons to Tosin Abasi, his fondness for ESP, and the mechanics behind his technique.

Head over to Spiro's Instagram account to keep up to date with the shredder's journey.

Apple has recruited the guitar expertise of Animals As Leaders' Tosin Abasi for an all-new rock/metal producer pack for its Logic and GarageBand digital audio workstations.

The high-profile pack features 170 Apple loops, with each one bringing a taste of Abasi's one-of-a-kind progressive creativity to the sound library within Apple's flagship DAWs.

Those loops deliver everything from dirt-shredded bass guitar samples and untethered blues metal guitar riffs, to lead guitar melodies, ambient, reverb-laden pads, and pensive echoes.

The pack therefore offers the chance to patchwork fresh ideas plucked from Abasi's futuristic brain, and layer in player-made ideas as if they’ve collaborated with Abasi first-hand.

Moreover, the release fills in a gaping genre hole that GarageBand users have long been wanting filled. The choice of Abasi as the player of choice is a shrewd move, with Apple partnering with one of the brightest and most innovative guitar talents of the modern era.

“There's nothing wrong with tradition, but I like being surprised,” Abasi says of the collaboration. “I like seeing boundaries pushed, I like new things. With these loops, I wanted to inject my identity. I like to listen to rhythmically complex music so when there are phrases, there's a natural expression of the complexity that doesn't feel forced.”

The pack is accessible within Logic and GarageBand systems.

Head to Apple for more information on how to download Logic and GarageBand.

It comes after the long-awaited release of a Sterling by Music Man version of the Kaizen, an oddball and space-age-looking electric guitar made by Abasi and Music Man.

Abasi's gear brand, Abasi Concepts, meanwhile has been flying. Alongside a raft of high-end six-, seven-, and eight-string guitars, the company launched its Micro-Aggressor compression pedal late last year.

NAMM 2025: Ernie Ball Music Man offshoot Sterling has debuted affordable takes on its futuristic Kaizen model, alongside Rabea Massaad’s signature Sabre and Ryan ‘Fluff’ Bruce’s signature StingRay.

The Kaizen, a collaboration between Music Man and Animals As Leaders' extra-terrestrially talented Tosin Abasi, was first launched at NAMM 2022. New neon colorways and metallic oxidizes-as-you-play finishes have been showcased at the events over the following years, but it's taken until now for the partnership to answer calls for a cheaper Sterling by Music Man version.

With Music Man Kaizens costing up to $3,999 apiece, its innovative array of features isn’t exactly accessible to all, so an affordable option has been hotly anticipated.

Of course, cutting edge components cost a lot, so it’s perhaps not surprising that many of those features have not made it down to the Sterling build – most notably, the Infinity Radius fingerboard and Steinberger Locking Gearless tuners. The multiscale design has also gone.

What’s left is an instrument its creators are still pitching as “ultra-modern,” with Steinberger tuners, a roasted maple neck, and Sterling by Music Man-designed high-output pickups replacing the Music Man humbuckers found on the premium model.

It is available as six- ($849.99) and seven-string ($899.99) versions, while those slim hopes of an eight-string model existing, remain just that for now.

Rabea Massaad joined the Ernie Ball family in 2023 and released two signature Sabres at NAMM 2024. The following summer, the riff machine and YouTube favorite had revealed Sterling alternatives were in the works – and the fruits of their collective labor have now borne fruit.

“Built for modern playability,” the ergonomic improvements Massaad made to the stock model, via recessed carves on the front and back of the lower horn, have thankfully made the jump. Its roasted maple neck features the same comfortable profile, with glow-in-the-dark side markers representing a useful appointment.

Massaad’s signature Bare Knuckle Silo humbuckers were always going to be swapped out for the sake of keeping the cost at a fair level, so it’s no surprise to see own-brand, custom-voiced Alnico 5 ‘buckers in their place. But they offer plenty of versatility with a five-way switch and push-push coil splitting functionality augmenting its Volume and Tone controls.

Aesthetic choices include signature inlays and a luxurious-looking flame veneer top, with locking tuners and a Sterling by Music Man tremolo completing the package.

It is priced at $899.99 and is available in Ashen Burst and Blood Flame Burst finishes.

Lastly, guitarist, YouTuber, and one of the internet’s go-to gear nerds Ryan ‘Fluff’ Bruce has also been received a lower budget take on his signature StingRay.

The full-trimmings model arrived in 2023 and, here, its Fishman Fluence pickups have been swapped-out in favor of a pair of Seymour Duncans, with a JB Jr. in the neck, and a Trembucker in the bridge.

Said to be “built to Fluff’s exact specs,” it again features a roasted maple neck, locking tuners – and it comes strung with Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkys, in the metalcore primed drop C# tuning.

The Sterling by Music Man Fluff Artist Series StingRay costs $879.99 and comes in two finishes: Amana Boat Blue and Rula Thumb Red.

Head to Sterling by Music Man for more.

The trio of drops follows right behind the unveiling of Sterling’s non-signature line-up of electric guitars and basses for 2025. The roster includes a P-90-laden StingRay, a Sub Series Cutlass, and a five-string DarkRay bass, built in collaboration with Darkglass.

Dante Swan didn’t grow up in the nicest Chicago neighbourhood, so he stayed indoors and found solace in music. His multifarious tastes have since bled into his guitar playing, with his talents now recognized by Tosin Abasi.

The Animals As Leaders guitarist is eager to showcase the versatility of his builds, which is why Justus West, Josh De La Victoria, and Spiro Dussias all have a home in its artist roster.

Dante Swan is another perfect fit: while his technical ability is to be applauded, it’s his polyamory for djent, trap, electronic and nu jazz – and the seamless patchworking of those styles – that makes him far more than just another shredder.

Away from his solo work you’ll find him posting loops online, encouraging artists of all genres to sample his ideas, and enriching alternative R&B group Dreamer Isioma & The Celestials with “mathy, shoegazey” licks.

“One thing I’ve learned is that space is very important,” Swan says. “It’s something a lot of guitarists don't pay enough attention to. Space and repetition offers space for the ear and brain to register something as a melody. Otherwise, it’s hard to find the focus point.”

His solution: “Sometimes I’ll just riff and stop playing at certain points, or I’ll cut out them out on my DAW and go, ‘Okay, what does this sound like?’ If it works I’ll write a part with those spaces in mind.

He notes that he’s very big on looping back, which is where his trap background kicks in. “I don't like open-ended things that don’t connect well,” he explains. “If I put on a delay pedal, I want it to still sound good as I loop back to the first part.”

That cyclical approach injects an infectious fluidity into his music; and if he's going to add something into a song’s palette, it has to be warranted. “A solo should feel like a part of the song’s message.

“Does it tell a story, or would a song have been just as great without it? I've been to five Plini shows, and at every single one, the crowd is singing the guitar parts. That’s how you know you wrote a good part.”

His latest single, Eyeless, is the best showcase of his guitar playing yet, proving that prog metal and trap are perfect bedfellows – even if no one else has made the connection. “Honestly, if you turn the deep guitars of djent into 808s, it’ll sound like trap,” he explains.

“I always tell my students to listen to music without guitar; you’ll get so inspired. Listen to Kendrick Lamar do a cool triplet thing; that can easily translate into a riff. It stops you recycling the same ideas over and over again.”

Swan’s first electric guitar was a “knock-off of a knock-off,” and he’d since adopted a Schecter Hellraiser and Rick Derringer's Warrior signature as his main axes. Then along came his Abasi Larada 8. “The ergonomics are really nice,” he says.

“When I got it, I’d play it all day and only come out my room for food at night, like a gremlin.” Having found most humbuckers too dark, and not gelling with single coils, its Abasi signature Fishman Fluence pickups were a game-changer.

“Each pickup sounds so different; the neck is really smooth-sounding, and the bridge is really percussive. It’s great for selective picking and twangy rhythms; it’s not too distorted. I want to deck it out with a kill switch to go that extra step, and have some crazy options when I’m playing with rappers.”

Abasi has been tracking Swan’s progress since 2018. ”For me, it’s not how many are watching, it’s who is watching – Tosin engaging made me feel like I was doing something right.”

With his profile having grown exponentially since then, he’s found new ways to stand out, such as putting a capo on the second or fourth fret, “since everyone is doing harmonics now,” and thinking in intervals to ensure he has spice in all the right spots.

Abasi’s endorsement underscores that evolution. “I’m honored to be part of it,” Swan says, “but it’s also really intimidating. Abasi has some monster players. I’m focusing on writing something that will impress past, present, and future me.

“And that doesn’t mean shredding at 240bpm – I want to look at it and think, ‘I really wrote a good melody there.’ I'm an Abasi artist now; I need to up my game.”

• Find Dante Swan on Instagram and YouTube.

This interview with Tosin Abasi was first published in Guitar World in 2014.

The Animals As Leaders guitarist has quickly risen to the top of the new school of virtuoso players… and he used to shovel dog poop for a living. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is…

Where does your impeccable fashion sense come from? Some of your outfits are out of this world. – William Best

“[laughs] Well, I go on fashion blogs like the Sartorialist or FaceHunter, and look at a lot of street fashion. My brother is actually a fashion designer and he’s influenced me. I had a girlfriend for close to 10 years, and she was a huge influence on me, too.

“I don’t really separate things. I love music and I love aesthetic art as well. I feel like there’s a thread between visual art and music. Sometimes a designer can give me a similar feeling and impact me as strongly as hearing a really cool song or a really great guitar player.”

I am currently a freshman enrolled in a Jazz Studies Associates Degree program at Berklee College of Music. But I am debating switching to Atlanta Institute of Music because of the significant costs of Berklee. As a graduate of AIM, I was wondering if you could explain what you feel are the advantages of that program. – John Karkosiak

“It’s hard for me to speak in contrast, because I didn’t go to Berklee. But I chose AIM partially because I didn’t want to take any other core subjects, like history, math, or any of that. I just wanted to focus on music.

“AIM is good for that because it’s a condensed curriculum focused on music, and you can complete the curriculum in one year. And I didn’t want to spend four years without touring or gigging. So if you want to get a really condensed, concentrated musical education without being out of the scene for a few years, and save money, I think AIM is perfect.”

Was there ever a defining moment in your life where you felt like you had “arrived” as a musician? – David White-Goode

“Man, I’d say meeting Steve Vai and having him express liking my music. That was pretty… [pauses] I mean, I used to play his signature guitar! This is a guy that basically spearheaded the genre that I’m participating in.

“Just as a person, he’s got this guru vibe. The Guitar World cover that I was on with Steve [September 2012] was a big deal, too. And getting a signature Ibanez guitar is ridiculous. Those three instances have been, like, ‘Oh, this is a real thing!’”

I’ve been a six-string player since I learned guitar five years ago, but now I’m interested in expanding my sound. What advice would you give on how to transition to seven- and eight-string guitars? – Toby Schlitz

“I recommend getting a seven-string first and working on things like octave identification and recognizing patterns on the fretboard. This will help you better integrate the extra string.

“Another cool thing is to practice six-string material while avoiding the seventh string; then, once you’re comfortable, start writing material that incorporates the seventh string. This way, you’ll get used to knowing that extra string is there, and when you start writing your own material, it’ll be coming from an intuitive place.

“You should also learn seven-string music by other musicians and take chord voicings for six-strings and translate and revoice them on the seven-string.”

When you were younger, were you better at hand-eye coordination than other kids, like with video games, sports, and so on? Just curious, because there always seems to be something that separates a prodigy from the average player. – Jon Dallaire

“I don’t know that I was better than at sports than other kids. I mean, I was decent at some sports, like baseball, soccer, football, and hockey, but I just played them for fun. I was actually more into visual art. I would illustrate a lot and do comic books and stuff like that. That was my first creative outlet before guitar, and I guess that’s hand-eye coordination.”

In an interview a short while ago, you mentioned that you practiced yoga. How strongly has that practice affected you as a guitar player? – Broken_Hyren

“I think yoga is amazing. I also practice transcendental meditation. Both those things help to center you. So when you’re thinking about creativity, it comes from a source – an inner source. When you’re meditating, you’re bringing your consciousness to that centered source of creativity and intelligence. I think it’s reinforced my creativity. And even physically, it’s helped my response time and reflexes.

“Being centered and aligned allows you to execute anything physical more proficiently. I still do both yoga and mediation, and I think they’re super beneficial whether you play guitar or not.”

You often talk about how transcendental mediation can jump-start creativity. I’m wondering if you explore any other methods, like smoking herb? – Hong Bit

“[laughs] I have experimented with various substances. Smoking a little weed can definitely get the creative juices flowing. But I don’t know if I’d tell other people to go out and do that. Everyone has their own method, but I think meditation is something that will benefit you holistically. It doesn’t take away from your body; it actually reinforces you. In my opinion, it’s the best way to tap into creativity.”

You’ve been on the cover of Guitar World twice, and you’re always being hailed as one of the greatest new guitarists out there. Does that kind of attention cause you to feel extra pressure? Does it bother you, or maybe motivate you? – Frank Harris

“It’s starting to get a little bit weird, actually. And I’m sure there will be the inevitable negative backlash that comes along. Yeah, it means that if I pick up a guitar in front of someone who knows me, I’d better sound like one of the best guitar players on the planet. [laughs]

“It’s kinda stressful, man! I really appreciate the positive reinforcement, but I think there are so many other super-talented, under-recognized guitar players out there. So for me to be so prevalently appreciated, I think I can start to feel guilty and kinda pressured. But I guess it’s a good problem to have.”

What did you do for a living before Animals As Leaders? And do you still have to work a day job when you’re off tour? – Buddy “Victory Boy” Yarnall

“Dude, when I was going to the Atlanta Institute of Music, I worked at a dog kennel. It was a boarding facility, and I was cleaning up shit and piss in a concrete room with 40 dogs barking at me at the top of their lungs. [laughs] I also worked at a fish cannery in Alaska, where I processed salmon for, like, 16 hours a day. That’s actually how I saved up to buy my Steve Vai guitar.

“I’ve worked in coffee shops. I’ve done a lot of odd jobs. But now I just play guitar for a living. Between the clinics, tours, and lessons, I make enough money to get by.”

Have you ever consider putting vocals in Animals As Leaders? Not saying you need to. I think your sound is awesome. Just wondering. Can you sing at all? – Russell Davis

“I do not sing. [laughs] And vocals? I don’t think so. We like that it’s an instrumental band. But maybe future projects would involve me working with a vocalist.”

I’d love to get some tips on how you structure your practice routine. Do you separate your practice into sections, such as technique, composition, etc.? – Max Liebenberg

“I think it’s a good idea to section your practice sessions. I’ve been playing for 18 years, so my routines have changed. But I used to always warm up to a metronome while doing alternate-picking exercises, then maybe legato exercise and string-skipping exercises.

“Then, I’d spend 20 to 30 minutes reading music. Then I would usually pop in an instructional video and work on something that was cool from the video. But I’d say metronome-based practice is about as structured as I get these days.”

Abasi Concepts has launched its second-ever pedal in the form of the Micro-Aggressor Compressor.

Back in 2018, the firm – which is headed by Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi – partnered with esteemed pedal maker Brian Wampler to producer the now-sold-out Pathos distortion pedal.

Abasi Concepts has now brought its second stompbox to market, and it's been described as a compressor pedal with some all-important twists. Badged as a “boost-style compressor,” the Micro-Aggressor promises to equip any electric guitar with “vibrant, expressive tones”.

Its creation has been driven to counter what Abasi calls the “sterile” tonality of transparent compressors, and therefore vies to add character to your signal for a “satisfying feel”.

It does so thanks to two compression circuits designed to shape and enhance the transient attack of every note played without sacrificing the thickness and grunt of guitars. This, it adds, is “ideal for maintaining clarity in extended-range instruments”.

As for the pedal itself, a Level dial alters the boost of the primary compression circuit, while a Clarity control provides a tilt-style equalizer that focuses on clarity in clockwise positions, and makes things thick when turned anti-clockwise.

Bloom controls the compression, and Smack the level of the parallel secondary compression circuit, which is focused on transparency and low-end impact.

A premium transformer acts as the pedal’s beating heart, mimicking the dynamic and organic response of a tube amp – meaning it could prove to be a handy sidekick for amp modeler users, especially.

Tosin Abasi, though, recently ditched his much-adored Axe-Fx in favor of a stereo Bad Cat Amp rig for AAL’s tour with Dream Theater and Devin Townsend.

“When I plugged into the new Bad Cats I didn’t have to look for my sound first – it was immediately there,” Abasi previously said of the new setup. “I hadn’t heard such clarity and definition before.”

His new pedal, then, seems to spring off that digital-to-tube transition. It features top-mounted jacks for easy pedalboard integration, and true-bypass switching.

“After several years of development, we are very proud to introduce the Micro-Aggressor: a boost-style compressor crafted for guitarists seeking vibrant, expressive tones,” writes Abasi Concepts.

“Elevate your tone with the Micro-Aggressor and experience a new level of sonic excellence.”

Priced at $249, the Abasi Concepts Micro-Aggressor is available to pre-order now. The first batch of pedals begins shipping on November 18.

Head to Abasi Concepts for more information.

Back in May, Abasi Concepts launched its first bass guitar with the headless Larada bass, expanding its “signature aesthetics, ergonomics, and playability to a whole new audience of creators”.

Ernie Ball Music Man and Tosin Abasi have launched a new finish for their collaborative Kaizen guitar that uses real silver – and it uniquely oxidizes depending on how it is played.

Similar to Solar’s own oxidizing Chrome Canibalismo model, the Gallium colorway not only gives the instrument a standout shiny metallic aesthetic, but bestows each guitar with a wholly personalized aged appearance that develops over time, owing to the fact it contains genuine silver.

The Animals As Leaders guitarist had hinted at “exciting and progressive” updates for the Kaizen during NAMM 2024, and it appears the distressed metallic finish that was showcased during the event has now transformed into a grizzly beast thanks to the natural oxidizing process.

Back then, Abasi had likened the Gallium Kaizen to “an artifact from an ancient technological civilization”. Now, the nifty aging process makes the guitar look more like a piece of dug-up treasure, in the best possible way.

As for how it works, a layer of silver is applied before the final clear coat is fitted. This allows each guitar to change its appearance over time, reacting differently to each guitarist’s playing style and sweat habits.

Only 66 six-string and 33 seven-string models will be made available, with Abasi’s own model presumably rounding the highly limited run out to a satisfying 100 units.

Ernie Ball has called the Kazien Gallium “a collectible piece that combines world-class craftsmanship with a finish that’s a true work of art”, and owning an art piece such as this will cost players $3,799 or $3,999 depending on the string count.

Aside from its finish, the guitar has plenty of other high-end specs to justify its price tag. Each model boasts an alder body, a figured roasted maple Infinity Radius Neck for enhanced fretboard visibility, and Steinberger Gearless locking tuners.

They also offer custom-wound Music Man humbuckers – a Heat Treated bridge humbucker, and an offset mini humbucker in the neck – and multi-scale tremolos complete with whammy bars. The six-string model offers a 24.75” to 25.5” scale length, with the seven offering 24.75” to 26.65”.

If rusting silver isn't your preferred aesthetic, the Kaizen received a host of loud new colorways late last year, including Honey Suckle, Ember Burst, and Kryptonite.

Despite having his own instrument firm in Abasi Concepts – which has now added bass guitars to its arsenal – Abasi teamed up with Ernie Ball for the Kaizen back in 2022. Described as “visionary and compelling” by Guitar World upon its release, the electric guitar unites forward-thinking designers with future-minded designs.

The ultra-limited Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen Gallium is available to order now.

Head to Ernie Ball Music Man for more info.

Tone, they say, is in the fingers – and perhaps that’s why selective picking has quickly evolved into one of the most personal techniques in modern guitar playing.

Heavily based on articulation, scores of forward-thinking guitarists are finding new ways to spice up their music with the technique. But where did it begin – and how has it evolved?

What is selective picking?

Animals As Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi is credited for concocting selective picking in his lab of licks, combining legato playing with up and down picks to produce different timbres across clusters of notes. “You create note groupings by hammering on a number of notes and picking a number of notes,” he explained during a masterclass.

On 2014 track Kascade, he employs the technique across groupings of five notes. The first three notes are hammered – the first from nowhere – and the final two are picked with an up stroke then a down stroke with heavy palm muting, giving the phrase a percussive quality. With the player almost creating a delay pedal out of their fingers, the result in a rainfall-like patter.

“You’re gonna need low action to pull this off,” Abasi recommended in 2020. “[Otherwise] the hammer-on from nowhere is way harder.”

On 2016’s Inner Assassins, he applies selective picking in a more aggressive riff-like manner. He outlines a power chord with groups of three notes, and a four-note pattern completes the cycle. Importantly, the four-note lick consists solely of notes hammered on from nowhere, helping reinforce the technique’s percussive qualities.

Shred like a drummer

Players should welcome the discrepancies in the velocity of notes. “Selective picking, to me, is drumming on guitar,” early adopter Pomegranate Tiger explained to Guitar World. “You’re alternating hands; you’re either picking here or throwing a hammer-on there. That’s exactly what drumming is.” Check out his track The Cryptographer for another five-note grouping example.

“I do a lot of drum rudiment type things and it creates some pretty cool results,” Charlie Robbins told GW. “You wanna mute with your right hand to make the hammer on from nowhere sound like a picked note. But there's a slight timbre change, which gives it a more drum-like sound.”

Those discrepancies are where your individuality and expression shine.

Make it your own

Wolfgang Van Halen once quipped that his dad “kind of ruined” the musical landscape of the ‘80s. So dazzled was an entire generation of Eddie Van Halen's shred acrobatics, he suggested, that they all vied to copy him. Thankfully, selective picking hasn’t become copyist; nearly every player who tries their hand at it finds new ways to expressive themselves with the technique.

On Nightfall, Robbins’ interpretation hinges on the open G string, picked in groups of three. Meanwhile his left hand taps through arpeggiated shapes, with one note per string and all notes hammering on from nothing.

“Usually when I pick up speed, it’s a constant flow back and forth,” he explained, adding that when he’s doing slower grooves there are more variations in velocity. “It's about mixing and matching and creating a result you really like.”

Thus, even the subtlest of differences in timbre can hugely alter the characteristics of a riff, which is something Shubh Saran found on To Be. “The idea is repeated notes between the B and G strings, played in quick succession, that really give it that sound,” he told GW.

“That’s kind of what selective picking is – the same notes played, but articulated slightly differently, and so you get this interesting way of playing the same note. You can play it four times in a row, and it will sound different each time.”

An illusion of speed

Plini’s first foray with the technique is on Still Life. For the Aussie, selective picking has become a way to counter other limitations. “I’ve never been a good alternate picker and I've never put time into practising it,” he says. “So anything that I can do to mimic fast and percussive playing is attractive to me.

“I started by hammering on the first note then picking the second note three times, because once you pick four times you kind of get into alternate picking” – therefore losing the percussive crux of the technique.

Shubh Saran also benefits from such trickery. “I've never been a fast player,” he admitted. “A lot of my speed comes from Tim Miller and Allan Holdsworth [legato] style. There's something about guitar techniques that you pick up; sometimes they can be so alien to you, and sometimes it’s the exact thing that you need.

“Selective picking was that for me. Conceptually, I got it in a couple of hours. Afterwards I realized it was so natural because I’ve been doing a version of this my whole life. It creates the illusion of speed and intricacy.”

Get the tone

A player’s tone can be make or break the results of selective picking. “Tosin Abasi’s sound is a tight, tube distortion which allows the tone and pitch to shine through, while also allowing for crushingly heavy riffs,” Charlie Griffiths explains in his GW lesson (check it out for a more detailed analysis and finger exercises). “Just add some nice, ambient reverb.”

Abasi said: “I go for a split-coil sound. If you have a five-way switch I would go for position two or four. You can do it on a full humbucker and with sustained notes – but I really like the sound of muted, palm-muted split-coil sound. I add compression with a Friedman BE-100.”

If you want to build a tone from scratch, there are some key considerations. “You have to create the illusion of it being distorted without distorting,” Robbins said. “You want it at the edge of breakup, so it picks up all the little nuances.”

He adds that there are two ways to do it: “With amps that aren’t as pushed you can bring it down and then compress it. That almost works instantly, without much EQ.

“Or you can take a clean tone and use an overdrive pedal with a touch of gain, which will give you that fuzz without losing the clarity. Then you go to the EQ and the hot points are 2,500Hz for punch and then 4k and 8k to add brightness to it. Scoop out the mids to get a single coil sound that’s really percussive.”

Abasi Concepts, the guitar firm of Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi, has announced its first production run of bass guitars with the Larada Bass. 

The brand announced the model via its social media channels, revealing the first few details of a design that stays close to the ergonomic shape of Abasi guitars while retooling it for five-string bass.

One major difference, however, is an all-new Larada headless design, which includes individual string bridges as part of a 24-fret multi-scale build. 

In terms of build, it offers a set-neck construction with carbon fiber reinforcement. Two Fishman Fluence Multi-Voice pickups have been chosen to amplify the beast’s rumble.  

Other details spotted in the teaser video include four control knobs – presumably equating to a volume and tone pot per pickup, or some EQ parameters – with the truss rod adjustment situated where the neck meets the body. 

As is the case with the rest of the Abasi lineup – which includes the Larada, Emi 7, and Space T models – the Larada Bass' inlays nestle beneath the lowest strings, gradually working their way up the neck after the 12th fret.

Going off the video, there will be four colorway options: red, black, gray, and natural, all with gloss finishes. 

Says Abasi Concepts: “We’re extremely excited to announce the Larada Bass – expanding our signature aesthetics, ergonomics, and playability to a whole new audience of creators and performers.”

The official launch of the Larada Bass comes after Tosin Abasi himself showcased an intriguing half-fretted, half-fretless bass model at NAMM 2018. That, notably, actually had a headstock, so it looks as though some revisions to the design have taken place.

Six years later, the Larada Bass represents the first opportunity for bassists to experience Abasi guitars. 

It’s the latest innovation from Abasi Concepts, which has also previously teased a seven-string nylon concept instrument.

There are currently no further details as to a release date, price, or if there will be four-string models in the range, but Guitar World will be quick to report updates as soon as they land. 

In the mean time, head over to Abasi Concepts.

Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has been lauded for its modern take on country and Americana. Still, it might come as a surprise that guitarist Justus West, who played on single 16 Carriages, brought some progressive gear choices into the studio.

“As soon as I heard the demo version of the song, I knew it would be crucial to add rock elements on the chorus to really emphasize the scale of the song,” he tells Guitar World.

“Also, with all the songs on this album paying homage to Black American music, the blend of genres was also a worthy and needed addition. Honestly, the brief in my mind was to make this song as epic as possible.”

To convey the vision he had in mind, West opted for gear you might not expect to crop up on a Beyoncé album.

“Gear-wise, I used my blue Abasi Concepts Larada. Those active pickups really gave me the huge tone and bite I was looking for,” says West.

“I used the Plini Neural DSP as an amp sim with some added reverb from the stock Ableton reverb and also the stock Ableton Chorus to add a touch of wideness to the distorted guitars.”

Released by Animals as Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi's company Abasi Concepts, the Larada's distinct shape, plus multi-scale fanned frets and Abasi signature Fishman Fluence pickups, make it a favorite among prog and metal guitarists. The same can be said for Neural DSP's Archetype, created alongside prog guitar virtuoso Plini. 

Their use on Cowboy Carter maintains the genre-fusion trend that country music is currently experiencing, with guitarists and bassists such as Matheus Canteri, Harmoni Kelley and Justus West tearing up the rulebook. 

In a 2022 interview with Guitar World, West explained how despite country not being his forte, the genre served as his springboard into the session world via an unlikely collaboration with country legend Vince Gill.

“Country is nowhere near my background, so it was a huge honor to go there [Guitar Center’s OnStage contest with Vince Gill] and be accepted. A lot of people don’t realize Vince is an incredible guitar player, so it was cool to be up there chicken pickin' with one of the greatest ever, and to be told I actually did a good job. Because of that, I ended up moving to Nashville, and played with Vince a few times.”

Speaking to Guitar World today, West also lifts the veil on how he got involved with the project in the first place – and how the recording sessions for a project as high-profile as Beyoncé’s went.

“I had actually worked with Dave Hamelin, the producer of this song, previously on an artist named 070Shake,” he explains. “He felt I could be an instrumental piece in helping him put this Beyonce song together as well.

“The recording session was a lot of fun. I was in the studio with Ink [producer, songwriter and guitarist Atia Boggs] and Dave until the sun started rising working on this jam! We recorded my parts in Los Angeles at Record Plant.”

Alongside West, Gary Clark Jr., Raphael Saadiq, Jon Batiste, and Nile Rodgers were among the extensive list of veteran guitarists who contributed to Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter.

Back in December, we reported on a study published by Cambridge University Press titled Rock Guitar Virtuosos. It charts advances in electric guitar playing, as well as technology and culture, from the ‘60s to the present day.

Of course, we’re always delighted to see the wonderful world of shred being deemed worthy of academic discussion. But beyond providing a historical deep-dive into the instrument we all know and love, the study serves up some thought-provoking takeaways for contemporary creators.

“For a virtuoso, working situations have changed considerably since the last century,” reads the study’s abstract. “The aloof rock star has been replaced by the approachable virtuoso-guitarist-composer-innovator-producer-promoter-YouTuber-teacher-entrepreneur.”

As we witness everyone from Tim Henson to Manuel Gardner Fernandes to Sophie Lloyd juggle multiple disciplines while growing their careers – on social media as well as in more traditional arenas – the comment certainly chimes with our own observations from the last decade or so.

In addition, the study finds that modern virtuosos face greater scrutiny than those who went before, often being torn between opposing creative priorities: perfection vs. authenticity, innovation vs. consistency and technical ability vs. personality. Artists must balance those priorities in order to keep audiences hooked.

We met with the study's two authors, Dr. Jan-Peter Herbst and PhD student Alexander Vallejo. They aren’t your average intellectual bods – they absolutely know their way around a fretboard, too.

Herbst is a Los Angeles Music Academy alumnus and acted as Vallejo’s master’s degree supervisor, and he comes from the Paul Gilbert school of speed. Vallejo is a progressive rock aficionado who worships at the headless altar of Strandberg guitars. He’s recently released an album titled I’ll See You Soon, taking stylistic cues from the likes of Plini and Intervals’ Aaron Marshall.

Together they make a great team. “I’m more into the older generation of those guys we’re discussing in the book, whereas Alex is certainly more in the more recent camp,” smiles Herbst. “We’ve bundled our expertise!”

How did the study come about and what intrigues you about this particular moment in the evolution of guitar virtuosity? 

Herbst: “It really started with Alex’s master’s thesis. I’ve been more in the traditional world of virtuosity and Alex introduced me to so much in the more recent domain, and I found it hugely exciting. It opened a whole world to me, which academically is completely unknown.”

Vallejo: “I did my master’s on the development of guitar techniques, looking at sweeping, thumping and tapping, and seeing how these techniques have developed by looking at certain guitarists. While doing all of that, I was writing my own music.

“I follow many guitarists on Instagram. I look at guitar content every day. I’m looking at the quality of their content in terms of the videography, the editing and everything else that goes along with it – even guitarists that don’t necessarily have music out, but who are guitar influencers. What intrigued me was how they make a living and a name for themselves.”

How has virtuosity to have evolved from originators like Hendrix to today’s crop of artists-come-influencers?

Herbst: “One of the observations we’ve made – maybe more of a theory we’ve developed – is that the first generation of guitar players were really innovative in a multitude of ways.

”They were not just focused on lead guitar playing; they approached it quite holistically. They were exploring with technology, with effects, with distortion, with modulation and music production to enrich what they could perform live. 

“We don’t see so much of that in the second generation. The ‘80s were really just about exploring what you could accomplish on the instrument, and pushing technical boundaries. Usually, those players are really renowned for only one thing, maybe two.

“There are a few who are renowned for more, like Paul Gilbert, Dimebag Darrell or Zakk Wylde. They often went beyond pure technique or had a particular affinity to blues and emotional playing. Maybe they have some rhythmic chops – Nuno Bettencourt comes to mind – or they’re particularly academically minded like John Petrucci, Steve Vai or Joe Satriani.

“In the ‘90s and ‘00s it opens up again. Tom Morello went back to the ‘70s spirit of approaching things more holistically; as we continue into the ‘10s and ‘20s, our argument is that it’s a return to this idea of being very holistic.”

Vallejo: “We’ve come back around the circle to being innovative, and I think a really cool example in terms of guitar tone would be Unprocessed’s latest album, ...And Everything In Between. The tones aren’t incredibly orthodox – mixing all the heavy stuff with Manuel’s very clean playing. 

“Some guitarists look at the shred techniques and might find them cringey. When Tim Henson made the passing comment of ‘boomer bends’ he got a lot of backlash from the community. But it illustrates, within that circle, the whole ideology of moving forward and progressing.”

Are modern virtuosos under pressure to find new ways of making playing more difficult in order to be seen as more impressive? 

Vallejo: “I don’t think it’s about making playing harder; it’s about making playing more exciting. There’s always something coming up that people are doing slightly differently.

“I don’t think people will ever be content with what there is, as with Tosin Abasi and thumping. Now you have Ando San’s version and Tim Henson’s version, and they’re each different versions of the technique. Eventually something will come along that will shake the world up again and suddenly everyone has to learn how to do that.”

Herbst: “I think there are three areas in which technical playing can develop. The obvious one is that it can get faster. Then it can get cleaner – and that’s possibly even more challenging than just being faster.

“I think cleanliness is part of the progression because distortion has always been accused of disguising technical problems in execution. So it’s a natural progression in this regard to achieve more cleanliness.

“Then, the last one is borrowing from other musical influences.  What we’ve discovered about many players who have something new to offer is that they usually take inspiration from other instruments – from the piano to the koto, or brass instruments. Usually it’s some kind of adaptation that is developing technique, but also adding some originality.”

You’ve noted that virtuosos now have to take on multiple roles beyond writing and playing in order to succeed commercially. What’s changed? 

Herbst: “The fact that the recording industry has changed over time is widely known. Streaming has been blamed a lot – and rightly so – for the demise in decent salaries in the music industry, especially in more niche genres. Anything that’s more DIY and gets you closer to a fanbase definitely puts creatives at an advantage. 

“It’s also no secret that YouTube, if someone’s really accomplished, can pay quite a decent salary – not only from the direct streams, but also from affiliate links and other products that you can market. 

“Most of the guitarists we’ve studied offer video tutorials. Maybe they sell merchandise. So YouTube in itself can probably sustain a career, but if it can feed into all of these other revenue streams, it becomes really powerful.

“We can only speculate what the more established, older guitar players are earning based on their record sales, but it stands to reason that this new model might be more successful. But that doesn’t mean it’s less stressful!”

And the stress associated with these new responsibilities can have detrimental effects, particularly on artists’ mental wellbeing…

Herbst: “The indications we’ve seen in our research show that it’s very stressful to have this kind of lifestyle, because these creators have to produce content all the time – almost on a daily basis – and it needs to be perfect. 

“The expectation of creating content every day, being original and engaging with fans is something that wasn’t there previously. The earlier generations of guitar players were quite distant. They could go on tour and, for half an hour after the gig, sign some autographs – and that was it!”

Vallejo: “With guitarists on social media, lots of people follow them not just for being good at their craft, but also for their personality. 

“Keyan, the Australian guitarist, said that one of the biggest things that led to his growth was engaging with any fan that would comment – creating this personal relationship with whoever.

“Tim Henson used to do live streams on Twitch and that keeps a fanbase close. Fans admire your work ethic. They admire how you play and they want to also admire you as a person. They want to get to know you, more like a traditional celebrity.”

So what are the greatest challenges facing modern virtuosos? 

Vallejo: “If you’re starting out, it’s juggling everything. You have to get your technique and musicality there, and reach a level of competence that people will say, ‘Wow, that’s a great player.’

“Then you need to get your branding sorted; get your website and all of your social media up-to-date, and then you need to start engaging with fans.

“Let’s say you’ve done all that. Then you might start touring. So on top of social media, you have to organize live shows,  and that involves working with other people and more logistics.

“Then fans want to see things you do at live shows: how you prep for them and your gear. Then clinics happen. Then endorsement deals happen – and although endorsements help you, you must help them, and that’s another pressure.”

Herbst: “Virtuosos need to do maybe 10 things that used to be 10 full-time professions that one could perfect and train in for 50 years, making a whole career out of it. It’s just so much work and expertise in so many different domains: it’s technical, it’s creative, it’s economic.”

What are your predictions for the future?

Herbst: “I think what we’re seeing at the moment will continue. Musically, the compositions will hopefully develop and progress. The ‘80s was very much focused around the display of guitar technique and the song was really almost meaningless. Nowadays it’s more about songwriting and even groove and rhythm guitar playing. Virtuosity is not only in the solo guitar.”

Vallejo: “The guitar world and the whole virtuoso world is very much linked with progressive rock and metal. Take a look at Polyphia, who are incorporating lots of hip-hop and trap influences. More genres are coming in and influencing the music that these creatives are making. 

“Everything is developing in a very creative trajectory, and I think it will continue for a long time. I don’t think the guitar has reached its limits in any capacity – physically or with technology. It’s just going to keep on growing. I think it’s a very exciting road ahead.”

• Rock Guitar Virtuosos: Advances in Electric Guitar Playing, Technology, and Culture is available digitally from Cambridge.org.

Tosin Abasi and Ernie Ball have announced they have some “exciting and progressive” updates for its collaborative build, the Kaizen, while unveiling two new model-exclusive finishes.

Speaking at NAMM 2024 to reveal the finishes, the Animals As Leaders guitarist and Ernie Ball CEO Brian Ball spoke about their creation and the benefits of working together on the guitar.   

The first new finish is what Abasi describes as a “pretty insane” black burst metallic finish. It’s the result of a new chrome painting system that Ernie Ball has been refining in recent years, for which the Kaizen became a prime test subject. Ball said Abasi was “the perfect artist” to work with on perfecting the finish.   

A distressed, patina-like metallic finish is the Kaizen’s other new ‘paint job.’ Whilst it doesn’t currently have a name, it was described by one audience member at the Q&A/demo as looking like “metal that’s been rained on for 10 years.”

Interestingly, the finish is actually what many Music Man guitars look like in their intermediary stage. Having visited the factory, Abasi saw a guitar during that stage and it immediately jumped out at him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this on a guitar,” he says. “It’s almost like an artifact from an ancient technological civilization.”    

While there was confirmation that a left-handed model is not currently in development, Abasi said an eight-string model is something the pair have “chatted about.”

Ball, meanwhile, insists: “We've got some really exciting ideas for the Kaizen that are progressive,” which we’ll hear about later this year.

First launched at NAMM 2022, the Kaizen continues Music Man’s legacy of bold, atypically shaped signature guitars. It’s the firm’s first collaboration with Abasi, a luthier in his own right with Abasi Concepts.

Ball says he’s an admirer of Abasi’s ingenuity as a player as well as his business acumen. Ultimately, he didn’t see his guitar-building exploits with Abasi Concepts as a stumbling block.

“I looked at him having Abasi Concepts as a benefit,” he says. “We [Music Man] wanna push the instrument forward. When you work with someone like Tosin or [fellow Music Man endorsee] John Petrucci and they have an idea, it pushes the company and our engineers forward. It makes us better and it’s a rewarding process. There’s not one stock part on this guitar!”

Abasi admits to being a Music Man fan “for the longest time.” He tracked much of Animals as Leaders' 2009 self-titled debut album on a JP15 belonging to Periphery’s Misha Mansoor - who last month launched the Horizon Devices Clarity Compressor.

“Music Man has always been known for its build quality and the innovation and boldness of its design,” Abasi believes. “It’s not afraid to go in directions others are too afraid to go in, and that really appealed to me as a creative.

“When I visited the facility and I saw the amount of engineering at their disposal, I couldn't say no [to collaboration]. I knew I could execute anything.

“With the infinite radius on the fingerboard and the Steinberger gearless locking tuners, which I’ve never seen before, they brought a lot of stuff to the table. It was the perfect balance of innovation and engineering with my willingness to create a guitar that didn't already exist.”

The infinity radius necks, which are paired with ebony fretboards, are designed to increase player comfort and enhance the visibility of the board, regardless of playing style. It does this through what the brand calls a “strategically crafted conical radius,” which utilizes uniquely placed dot inlays.

The Steinberger tuners, meanwhile, place the tuning pegs at the back of the guitar’s headstock. This helps minimize tuning discrepancies when accidentally knocking the guitar, as well as neatening up its overall aesthetic.    

It’s been an action-packed start to the year for Music Man. The company has already revealed its first two signature builds with Rabea Massaad, and the final installment in the Joe Dart Artist Series, which sold out in seconds. In wider Ernie Ball release news (one of 2024’s more surprising gear stories, overall, mind) it’s even put air core technology in a guitar strap.

For more information, head to Music Man.

Tosin Abasi was born 40 years ago in Washington DC. He is best known as guitarist for instrumental progressive metal band Animals As Leaders, alongside fellow axe-smith Javier Reyes. 

Tosin’s excellent playing can also be heard throughout the 2020 movie Bill & Ted Face The Music, as he was the real guitarist behind those bogus air guitar riffs and licks. It’s no surprise that Tosin was chosen for the role, as he is regarded as one of modern metal’s most forward-thinking and creative minds. 

One of the early adopters of eight-string guitars, his music draws rhythmic influence from the likes of Meshuggah and King Crimson, and the harmonic nous of Allan Holdsworth, performed with modern production and perfect execution. Tosin’s technique is a big characteristic of his music, and he employs some fascinating and idiosyncratic approaches, which we’ll look at in this lesson.

Selective picking is a technique that permeates the first three examples. You can think of it as a halfway house between alternate picking and legato, with some notes being picked and others played using fretting-hand taps.

This allows for seamless streams of notes to be played in quick succession, but the speed of motion is shared between the hands, rather than both hands moving simultaneously, as when using strict alternate picking. 

Example 1 acts as an introduction to selective picking. The constant 16th notes are split between the picking hand and fretting hand with two notes per hand. First pick two notes, then hammer-on two notes, starting the string with a fretting-hand tap.

Example 2 combines fretting-hand tapping with another Abasi approach known as ‘thumping’, to which Tosin attributes bassist Victor Wooten as his inspiration. The technique here is a double-thumb slap and pop which is performed by percussively striking through the string with the tip of the thumb, then pulling the thumb outward through the string to create a second note. 

This riff is followed by a first-finger pluck for a total of three notes played with the picking hand. Add this to the initial two fretting-hand taps and we have a super five-note pattern. 

Example 3 is performed mostly with fretting-hand tapping, with some selective hybrid picking on the second string. Tosin would pick this repeating note with his second finger. The picked notes and fretting-hand taps should be played at the same volume and, when coupled with palm-muting, the effect is a continuous stream of muted arpeggios.

Our next idea combines sweep-picking with hybrid picking to create ‘swybrid’ picking. This allows for sweep picked arpeggios to be played with atypical phrasing and even string skips for an expansion on a decades-old concept.

Our final example uses two picking-hand fingers to create melodies against a held chord. It’s a fantastic way to explore chord tones and melodies within different modes.

Play each example slowly and accurately at first. Only when you can sense that muscle memory and hand synchronisation is attained should you gradually speed up, but only in small increments. Good luck! 

Get the tone

Amp Settings:

Tosin plays his signature Abasi Concepts Larada eight-string guitar with Fishman Fluence pickups into Axe-FX and, more recently, Bad Cat amps, as well as his Neural DSP guitar VST plugin suite. His sound is a tight, tube distortion which allows the tone and pitch to shine through, while also allowing for crushingly heavy riffs. Just add some nice, ambient reverb.

Example 1. Selective picking #1

Pick the open second string with a down and up stroke, then use your first fretting-hand finger to tap at the 5th fret, followed by a fourth-finger hammer-on. Repeat this motion as you ascend the fretboard throughout the B Half-Whole diminished scale (B-C-D-D#-F-F#-G#-A).

Example 2. Selective picking #2

Use your first and fourth fretting-hand fingers to tap the initial two notes and hold the 7th fret while using your thumb to slap and pop the fifth string with an inward and outward motion. Next, pluck the string with your first finger to complete the first five notes. Maintain this five-note rhythmic sequence throughout the riff.

Example 3. Selective picking #3

Position the side of your picking hand across the strings at the bridge to create a light palm-mute throughout. Use your fretting-hand second finger to pluck the second string on each downbeat and use your fretting fingers to hammer-on arpeggio shapes in-between to create a seamless sextuplet rhythm.

Australian maestro Plini is exploring darker tonalities on his new EP, armed with a newly updated Neural DSP plugin. And for an ‘evil’ solo, he called in a famous friend…

Your new EP, Mirage, explores the darker side of your playing, intermingled with your bright signature sound. How did you navigate blending the two together?

“There’s still a lot of Lydian in there, but in trying to expand my vocabulary I’ve been using a lot of chromatic and uglier tonalities. I don’t approach it too theoretically; I’ll treat what I’m playing as a minor pentatonic but with this extra evil note that’s borrowed from another scale. It’s just adding them note-by-note, seeing how they feel and what I can do with that extra tonality.”

The track Still Life features a guest solo from Tosin Abasi. What does he bring to the track? 

“There aren’t many guitarists I know that can write things that sound genuinely musical but also so evil; the way he plays is pretty, like, out-there compared to most guitarists. That’s probably the reason that I haven’t had too many guest guitarists lately. 

“I’m still a greedy lead guitarist in my heart, so if I’ve written a section for the most epic ‘John Petrucci on a mountain’ solo, I could ask him, but I would rather do my best impression for the self-satisfaction. However, I knew Tosin would be perfect for that section. I love the fact that he’s constantly finding new ways to be more ridiculous as a guitarist!”

Your Neural DSP plugin is the first to receive an update and it comes armed with a host of new features. How did that come about?

“There are features in other plugins which have become a very integral part of how I like to make music. For example, the octave and fuzz pedals on Archetype: Gojira have been by my go-to tone for any sort of simple, not-too-notey riffs, so I pestered Neural and they did everything on my wish list. 

“We wanted to put a new take on some of the features, too. The octave on my plugin has an octave up and down, which is what I’ve been using on the Quad Cortex for live, and we made a few changes to the fuzz, getting it to break up in the right places. Now I have everything that I need for my sound all in one plugin.”

And which is your main guitar for playing live these days? 

“I’m using my true temperament Strandberg Sälen, but I’ve just put some Fishman Fluence Open Core pickups on my through-neck signature which are sounding awesome. 

“Most of the players I admire use Fishman now, and I play this ridiculous space-age looking guitar, and Fishman are the most space-age pickup company, so it makes sense. All the main rhythm tones sound clearer, brighter and spankier, and all the clean tones are just as warm and round. It just feels better.”

• Mirage is out now.

Ernie Ball Music Man has introduced an aesthetic expansion pack for the Kaizen, equipping the ultra-futuristic electric guitar with its finest finishes yet.

The flagship Kaizen first debuted back in 2022 as the NAMM show’s standout surprise release, bringing together the modern ergonomic design nous of Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi and the craftsmanship of Ernie Ball Music Man.

It wasn’t until April this year that a six-string version of the seven-string prog metal machine finally arrived, but while the smaller stringed format appeased many expecting Kaizen fans, it didn’t do much in the way of increasing the aesthetic options on tap.

In fact, only four colorways were made available: Chalk White, Apollo Black, Mint and Indigo. Fine finishes indeed, and certainly contemporary in their sleek Apple-esque vibe, but perhaps a tad vanilla for those wanting something with a bit more pop, or something slightly more traditional.

Now, in order to give the Kaizen a broader appeal among players, Ernie Ball Music Man has introduced five all-new colorways that take the template to new heights.

The highlight is, without a doubt, the limited-edition Honey Suckle. Available only as a six-string and limited to 25 units, this particular model is the most conventionally styled Kaizen yet, with an irresistible cherry-esque burst finish to contrast its space age ergonomics.

As an addition, the Honey Suckle variant is also the only Kaizen to date to feature a roasted maple neck, which not only adds to the vintage vibe but also potentially points towards the brand's future intentions. All we're saying is, more maple neck Kaizens would be fab.

Some sparkle has also been injected into the Kaizen range in the form of the frosty Radium and Ember Burst, with the hair metal-y Kryptonite and (dare we say Barbie-esque) Bleeding Heart models capping off the flat finish options.

Unlike the Honey Suckle, those four finishes are available in both six and seven-string formats, and otherwise stay true to the original Kaizen template. That means they have custom designed alder bodies, roasted figured maple necks, a 24.75”-25.5” multi-scale design, and an “Infinity Radius” that is said to enhance the visibility of the ebony fingerboard.

Tones come by way of a Music Man Custom Wound HT bridge humbucker and neck mini humbucker, which are at the mercy of a three-way selector switch and volume and tone knobs.

Other appointments include Steinberger locking tuners, 24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets and a five-bolt sculpted neck joint.

Price-wise, all new models weigh in at $3,799, save the Honey Suckle, which has a price tag of $3,899.

Head over to Ernie Ball Music Man for more information.

Dream Theater’s Dreamsonic tour – for which they recruited Devin Townsend and Animals As Leaders – recently came to a close, and to commemorate the occasion Tosin Abasi gifted John Petrucci an electric guitar from his brand, Abasi Concepts.

But this wasn’t just any electric guitar: instead, this was Abasi’s radical Emi 8 model, which revived the artwork of one of Trooch’s most iconic instruments – his Picasso-esque Ibanez JPM100 P1 signature guitar.

The JPM100 was first introduced in 1995, discontinued in 1999, and was notably the only John Petrucci Series production model. It arrived initially with five different color schemes, but arguably its most iconic variant came strapped to the P1, which saw action on Dream Theater's Images and Words record.

Fans of the finish will also associate the guitar with Rock Discipline – the Dream Theater virtuoso’s classic tuition tape from ‘96, which saw Trooch wield the technicolored six-string for a series of in-depth lessons.

It’s not an exaggeration to say Rock Discipline – and, by extension, that quirky JPM100 P1 – had a formative influence on countless players (Abasi Concepts COO Ivan Chopik counts himself among that crop), so to see the finish in 2023 makes us very nostalgic indeed. 

What’s more, to see it attached to the okoume body of an Emi 8 – one of today’s most ergonomically crafted and radically designed eight-strings – somehow seems even more fitting.

On Instagram, Abasi shared snaps of the guitar and wrote, “@johnpetrucciofficial has always been a massive source of inspiration for us @abasiconcepts, so we decided to pay homage to the [Greatest Of All Time] by recreating one of his iconic guitar finishes from the past with this sick one-off ēmi 8.”

Chopik went into further detail in a post of his own, revealing they tapped the artist who painted the original guitar, Dan Lawrence, to transform the Emi 8.

“Life definitely came full circle in this very cool moment,” he wrote. “@johnpetrucciofficial has always been a massive source of inspiration to us at Abasi Concepts (for me starting with Rock Discipline about 20 years ago), so we decided to pay homage to one of his iconic guitar finishes with this incredible one-off ēmi 8.” 

We haven’t yet seen footage of Petrucci play his new Emi 8, but now he’s got his hands on the spiritual successor to his JPM100 P1, perhaps a Rock Discipline sequel is in order?

What's more, the two Abasi Concepts leaders have stressed this is just a one-off, but we can’t help but harbor slim hopes that the other JPM100 finishes will also get resurrected.

All we’re saying is the artwork of the two-tone JPM100P3 – which saw action on Falling Into Infinity and Liquid Tension Experiment – would be the perfect follow-up model.

Head over to Abasi Concepts to found out more about the standard Emi 8.

While on the Dreamsonic tour, Petrucci and Abasi shared the stage to serve up spellbinding harmonies on Dream Theater's The Spirit Carries On.

John Petrucci, Tosin Abasi and Devin Townsend form the line-up for a dream prog metal guitarist roundtable in Rick Beato’s latest interview – and they offer the most insightful discussion on the 'digital modelers versus real amps' debate we've heard in a long time.

The three guitarists are currently in the final throes of a tour together as part of Dream Theater’s travelling prog metal festival Dreamsonic and stopped in to chat with the YouTube veteran. As you might expect, the conversation inevitably turns to tone – and, in particular, the limitations of digital products.

“The biggest challenge for the digital products is not the tone,” says Petrucci [around 34 mins]. “It's not the things like gain and overdrive and stuff like that, it's how the amplifier physically pushes air through the speaker, it's the feel thing… It's all happening very randomly, nothing happens the same.”

In particular, it’s what Abasi – who has recently equipped his backline with Bad Cat tube amps – later labels the ‘chaos element’ that is missing when it comes to a modeler’s output. 

“If you're playing through an amp with a lot of distortion and you play an A [chord] and then you play that same A again, the way that it interacts with the amplifiers components and comes out the cabinet and the speakers is totally different,” explains Petrucci.

“It's a totally different moment in time, but with the digital products they can never randomize that again… That's always the missing piece to me: that randomness and the way that things are happening in physical space that you can't reproduce.”

Petrucci, perhaps unsurprisingly given their close working relationship, credits Neural DSP with getting closest, but posits the solution to the random element may lie in AI.

Abasi, agrees, for the most part – later labelling the “violent” experience of a loud amp as “quintessential to the electric guitar”. However, he also notes the present period is “a golden age” for guitar software and notes that, sometimes, the reverse is true – that players who have developed their ear on optimized modeling tech can sometimes find the real-life alternative disappointing.

“In the early Fractal days, it'd be idealized versions of like a 5150 or like a Mark IV,” recalls Abasi. “And then you get the real amp and you don't sound as good, because it's all compressed in the modeler… so, the chaos thing you were describing, where there's an unpredictability [that can play against you]. There's a life to real amps – for better or worse – meaning they're harder to play through in some ways.”

Petrucci says he increasingly believes the answer ultimately lies in focusing on IR developments and speaker/room emulation – as evidenced by his recent Tonemission IR launch. However, even that still has its limitations, as Townsend astutely notes. 

“Your IR is pretty much 99% of what you had in your rig,” observes Townsend to Petrucci. “So then I guess the experience of playing the live amplifier, it's an intangible part of that process that you find inspiring?”

“It is inspiring,” reflects Petrucci. “It's really inspiring because it's reactive. Everything digital is recreating something. They're all moments in time but real life is happening right now. So [with] real amplifiers, everything's random: how the notes interact, what's going to happen… the resonance of the stage and the room, the house, and how loud it is. Those are all things that are unpredictable… [they’re what] make it reckless and rock and roll and cool, and it makes your performance different every single night.”

Watch the full fascinating interview above and subscribe to Beato’s channel on YouTube for more tonal geekery, before you bone up on Petrucci’s new software brand – its first launch replicates his exact signal chain.

It takes a truly exceptional talent to catch the attention of the guitar industry’s most well-respected players and be hailed as the future of guitar before they’ve even released their debut single. Matteo Mancuso is that talent. 

The young Italian was catapulted in front of a global audience earlier this month with the arrival of his first-ever studio single, Drop D, setting the guitar world alight with hypnotic phrasing and an unorthodox technique like no other.

But Mancuso has been around for quite some time prior to Drop D’s arrival. Even without a formal release to his name, the Yamaha Revstar loyalist has managed to amass huge audiences on YouTube.

And, unlike some other aspiring players, Mancuso’s audience includes some very famous faces: Joe Bonamassa, Al Di Meola, Steve Vai and Tosin Abasi have all tipped their hats to the young player, waxing lyrical about his technique, tone and style.

What is it about his approach that has arrested their attention? Well, his technique, for starters, is unlike any other electric guitar players’. With an approach rooted in fingerstyle, Mancuso channels the right-hand technique of a bass guitar or classical guitar player, positioning his four fingers over the strings.

It’s a position that lets Mancuso flirt with the speed of light and easily experiment with off-the-cuff note delineations while he solos, but also one that allows for a supremely dynamic touch.

Paired with his silken left-hand ability and incredible ear, it adds up to a unique sound that you won't find anywhere else in the electric world.

But for Mancuso, it wasn’t about fashioning a new approach just for the sake of it – it was about learning what he thought was the norm.

“I started playing with fingers when I was around 10 years old. That was my first approach,” Mancuso explains. “I never played with a pick because I often saw my father playing a lot of classical guitar with fingers back then, and I just thought every guitar was meant to be played like that.”

His own classical training further embedded these norms, though despite being a fan of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and AC/DC at the time, such training merely pushed Mancuso towards rhythm playing.

In fact, he didn’t want to be a lead guitarist at all to start with. “I didn’t like most of the classical repertoire, and always playing solo guitar was boring to me,” he admits. “I wanted to play with a rhythm section.”

Since no other player was applying the classical technique in an electric context, Mancuso was forced to diversify his influences, looking for technical and musical inspiration from two different pots of players.

The usual suspects are all cited by Mancuso, who namedrops “Eric Johnson, Scott Henderson, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Eddie Van Halen, Greg Howe and many more” as players who have helped shape his mesmeric lick arsenal.

Technique-wise, it’s a slightly different story: “I don’t know any player that applies my fingerstyle technique to electric guitar,” he says, “but there are some electric players that use fingers in a different way.

“One of the first that comes to my mind is for sure Mark Knopfler, but also some modern players like Andre Nieri from Brazil, who uses only fingers for some of his lines.”

Tom Quayle and Claudio Pietronik – key champions of hybrid picking – also get a nod.

The lightbulb moment for Mancuso came when these two worlds collided with his classical training.

“I started to apply some rules on my right-hand technique, based on what I learned from the classical world. It really helped me a lot in terms of technique and economy of motion,” he says. “Also, studying other instruments’ solos inspired me a lot in terms of finding new solutions for the right hand.”

To that end, saxophone players in particular helped train Mancuso’s ear, which is geared towards conjuring spellbinding lead licks akin to Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley that simultaneously incorporate Van Halen-style two-hand tapping flair or Bonamassa-informed pentatonic assaults.

As Mancuso puts it, “Studying other instruments' vocabularies forces you to find and explore new possibilities.”

Anyone hoping to channel Mancuso’s style will no doubt be intimidated by the thought of having to master total control over each right hand extremity in this way, but for the player himself, technique isn’t even the biggest obstacle – it’s tone.

“One of the biggest challenges for me is to have an even sound with all the fingers of the right hand,” Mancuso notes. “My sound is a mix of nails and flesh, so I have nails like classical players but I keep them very short.

“I believe you need to have nails for fingerstyle guitar, otherwise the sound would be too muddy and dark, but at the same time you need to take care of them. If a pick breaks, you can just take another one, but you can’t do the same with nails.”

But don't let that put you off. As Mancuso explains, his style helps unlock “unusual note jumps and arpeggio patterns” and is the perfect opportunity to expand your vocabulary while “finding unorthodox ways to look at the guitar”.

The fact his first single has caused such a stir is borderline unprecedented, but it makes the words of Vai, Bonamassa, Abasi and Di Meola all the more understandable.

“I blanked when answering who my new favorite guitarist is... here he is, Matteo Mancuso,” Bonamassa once said. “I have not seen anyone reinvent like this since Stanley Jordan.”

Di Meola, who has played live with Mancuso, went one step further: “An absolute talent; his improvisational ability is light years ahead. It would take two or three lifetimes,” he said, while Abasi called Mancuso “a virtuoso beyond virtuosos”.

Vai – who also included Mancuso in his list of five players taking the guitar to the next level – offered perhaps the most remarkable piece of praise: “The evolution of guitar is firmly secure in the hands of these kinds of players.”

How does it feel to receive such accolades? Well, exactly as you'd imagine: “It feels amazing, of course!”

“I remember that the videos of Joe and Steve talking about me came up on the internet during the pandemic,” Mancuso recalls. “If I have to find a positive thing about that period, it's that I had more time to make new videos. I like to think that maybe because of that, they discovered me.”

But with that praise comes an added layer of responsibility, according to the up-and-coming guitar star, who has used the words of Vai, Bonamassa, Abasi and Di Meola as extra motivation in his music.

“It feels so unreal to hear these legends talking about my playing, but at the same time you feel more responsible,” he concludes. “It was also motivation to give 100 percent on everything I do.”

• Matteo Mancuso’s debut album, The Journey, is available to preorder now ahead of its release on July 21.

Tosin Abasi was once the poster boy for Axe-Fx and amp modeling, but recent years have seen the eight-string virtuoso turn to real amps and fully loaded pedalboards. In fact, the Animals as Leaders mastermind has been so convinced by the tonal benefits of tubes that he re-recorded latest album Parrhesia with real amps, despite having already tracked the entire thing using plugins.

So, any further sonic switch-ups from the pioneering player and gear savant will be watched with considerable interest, and for Animals as Leaders’ current tour with Dream Theater and Devin Townsend, Abasi has overhauled his tube amp backline.

The Abasi Concepts leader is now using a Bad Cat Amps Lynx – a high-gain, EL34-loaded head and combo designed for highly articulated distortion tones, with a built-in noise gate. This is paired with an unreleased pre-production model named “Jet Black” for a stereo rig.

“When I plugged into the new Bad Cats I didn’t have to look for my sound first – it was immediately there,” says Abasi of the new setup. “I hadn’t heard such clarity and definition before.”

“Working with Tosin is simply inspiring,” adds Peter Arends, CEO of Bad Cat Amplifiers. “His creativity, musical abilities and innovative playing are recognized and admired well beyond any rock genre. We share a passion for creating new sounds without preconceived ideas and we certainly won‘t stop here.”

The Lynx’s high-gain credentials initially made us wonder whether Abasi had ditched his Pathos distortion pedal, which he previously ran into a cleaner Morgan backline. But a closer look at the new Jet Black reveals a built-in tremolo circuit – normally a surefire sign of a cleaner amp – which could potentially still play host to a drive pedal or two.

Given that, we’d wager the Jet Black is simply a new Bad Cat amp design rather than any kind of Abasi signature amp. But a model that combines the best of both amps? Now that would be a smart idea.

However he’s configured his backline, Abasi’s tones are currently sounding mighty fine indeed – as evidenced when he joined John Petrucci to lock fretboards for some spellbinding harmonies on Dream Theater's The Spirit Carries On during their joint tour.

Last Friday (June 16), Dream Theater kicked off their Dreamsonic 2023 tour, for which they’ve recruited the supporting services of Animals As Leaders – and it wasn’t long before the two bands’ resident electric guitar heroes were sharing the stage.

On paper, a tour that includes both John Petrucci and Tosin Abasi is absolutely ripe for awe-inspiring guitar action, and those in attendance on the first night got exactly that when Abasi joined Dream Theater for a set-closing rendition of The Spirit Carries On.

With their two Ernie Ball Music Man models in tow, the pair were also joined by Abasi’s fellow support act Devin Townsend, who opted to abstain from guitar duties, instead sacrificing the six-string spotlight to Trooch and Abasi.

Abasi and his radical Kaizen model, which he developed with EBMM back in 2022, spend much of the time locked into rhythm duties, while Petrucci – with his guitar “high and nerdy” and knee up on a foot rest – takes his Majesty signature guitar for a spin during the song’s guitar solo.

The Abasi Concepts creator soon gets in on the lead action, though, sonically aligning his own outro melody with that of Trooch’s, resulting in a goosebump-inducing harmonized exchange between the pair.

It turned out to be a hair-raising finale to the 11-song setlist, which had previously seen Dream Theater perform songs such as Solitary Shell, The Alien, Sleeping Giant and The Count of Tuscany.

Indeed, the Kaizen proved to be the perfect sonic foil for the Majesty, both of which were wielded with utmost efficiency as their respective players squeezed out lashings of vibrato and feel for the mesmerizing curtain closer.

“Touring with @dreamtheaterofficial is sick enough but getting to share the stage, harmonizing with @johnpetrucciofficial is beyond words,” Abasi wrote on Instagram after the show. “You guys gotta make to sure come out to this tour.”

Unsurprisingly, a handful of guitar stars were just as enamored with the team-up as fans were: “Ahhhhh yesssssss this is so amazing,” commented Nita Strauss. “Beautiful,” wrote Rick Beato.

Fortunately for those with an eye on attending a Dreamsonic 2023 show – and for those eagerly following developments online – the whole performance wasn’t just a one-off. According to Setlist.fm, Abasi and Townsend have both featured for the finale for all three shows so far.

Now we just need to see Trooch cameo on an Animals As Leaders track and take a swing at some thumping lines. There are still 26 shows left of Dreamsonic 2023, so never say never.

For a list of upcoming tour dates, head over to Dream Theater’s website.

Abasi Concepts – the brand founded and headed up by Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi – has expanded its Emi range of instruments with the Emi 6.

Fans of the brand might get a sense of déjà vu here – this is, after all, the same model that Abasi himself showed us during last year’s NAMM show, but now the long-awaited six-string version of his Emi template has received an official release.

Famed for a boundary-pushing playing style that is reflected in his unique approach to guitar design, Abasi has once again leafed through the annals of guitar history for his latest model, returning to a flagship Fender aesthetic for another none-more-Abasi creation.

Whereas the brand’s early Space T tipped its hat to Leo Fender’s Telecaster single-cut, the Emi 6 instead doubles down on a decidedly more Stratocaster flavor thanks to a double-cut design.

Not only that, the Emi 6 further distinguishes itself from its more modernistic Emi 7 Master Series predecessor by reverting to an orthodox six-string configuration and a body topography wholly reminiscent of the Strat.

That means there are three single coils neatly organized along the lines of a standard Strat, with a five-way blade switch charged with navigating the trio. A two-point tremolo and streamlined two-knob control circuit also make the cut.

Despite these comparisons, though, it's safe to say the performances of an Emi 6 and Strat couldn’t be more different, no doubt a result of Abasi’s borderline surgical approach to ergonomics.

Highlights from the spec sheet include an “Oviform+-” neck profile, which is likened to an asymmetrical teardrop shape, as well as the seamless set-neck construction joint.

In terms of build, a korina body and neck form the core of the Emi 6, which also flaunts a 20” radius roasted fingerboard – composed from ebony or maple depending on the finish – with Jescar stainless steel frets. The heavily contoured guitar also accommodates a Gotoh 510 bridge and a trio of Fishman Fluence single-coils.

Black and Latte are the finishes on offer – the former has the ebony ‘board, the latter uses maple – and each example arrives with Hipshot locking tuners.

The presence of korina on this spec sheet is particularly notable, given that the rest of the Emi line – and, indeed, the rest of the Abasi Concepts catalog – offers okoume alternatives.

Owing to the fact quite a lot of people have been itching for the Emi 6’s release since last June, it’s no surprise that both models have, unfortunately, already sold out.

For those waiting on a restock – or if you're simply wanting to stare and marvel at Abasi's latest beauty for a while longer – head over to Abasi Concepts.

Not so long ago, the idea of having two bass players in one band was thought of as a joke. Tell that to Toby Peterson-Stewart, who has been playing in the dual-bass progressive instrumental trio The Omnific for over seven years.

His latest solo release, Endless, sees Toby trade licks with six-string bass mastermind Jacob Umansky. “It started with a two-riff idea that I sent to Jacob on Instagram,” says Toby. “He added another riff and before you knew it, we had a song.”

At around the one minute mark, Umansky offers up a series of blistering picking-slap-hybrid licks that lean on a guitar technique invented by Animals as Leaders founder, Tosin Abasi.

“As far as instrumental progressive metal songs go, I think the structure and the harmony of the song is pretty digestible” says Jacob. “But technique wise… we really threw the kitchen sink at it.”

“I used a technique called selective picking, which is something I've been working on," says Jacob. "Tobin Abasi has made lots of videos on YouTube where he breaks it down. Essentially, I’m plucking an open string, hammering on the 3rd and root and then creating dead notes in-between with my thumb, index and middle fingers. The longer phrases are slapped using my open strings and hammering on the G minor pentatonic scale.”

Of the collaboration, Toby added, “Jacob definitely went in hard on that section! Those kinds of techniques naturally come out as you’re composing a song with two bass guitars, but I love that we brought it back to something really simple in the bridge, which is just straight eighth notes holding down a metal groove.”

As we have learned, Peterson-Stewart is no stranger to recording with two bassists. “I know from playing with Matt in the Omnific that you can easily end up with too much mud in the low-mids or not enough clarity in the top-end when you’re writing for two bass players. There’s a lot to consider in the mix because there’s so much space for things to happen.” 

When talk turns to gear, Toby calls on a tried-and-tested combination of Dingwall basses and Darkglass effects.

“I love the versatility of my Dingwall NG3,” he says. “You get so much clarity no matter where you are on the fretboard. That bass guitar has inspired a lot of song writing.” He’s also an effects fan, telling us: “I had Jacob use his presets with the Neural Parallax, which I think really complimented the Darkglass B7K that I went through.”

Toby previously posted a playthrough video for his track D.H.D., which will also appear on his debut EP Break A Leg. Proof that not every spotlight was meant to be shared, we’re told that D.H.D. stands for "dumb heavy djent”.

Endless is available now and is set to appear on Toby’s upcoming solo album, Break A Leg.

Tosin Abasi had a very productive 2022, with the introduction of several new guitar models from his own Abasi Concepts brand, a Los Angeles-based company helmed by himself and COO Ivan Chopik. Abasi Concepts revealed a new double-cutaway model called the ēmi, and at NAMM 2022 they showed 6- and 7-string prototypes and announced an 8-string version as well. 

The ēmi 7 Master Series is the first model to reach the market, and it’s been an overwhelming success, with the guitars selling out almost immediately upon release from production. We were fortunate to receive a very cool test sample featuring a Capri Orange finish.  

Features

The ēmi’s design is sort of a hybrid between the sleek, classic curves of a SuperStrat and the more radical contours of a modern ergonomic axe. The body is made of okoume and features deeply beveled edges along the bass bout as well as a generously deep belly contour on the back, resulting in a light, comfortable overall weight. 

Although the body has a uniform color, the top’s flat section has a matte finish while the beveled section is glossy, and the sections are divided by a sweeping, curving white pinstripe. 

The roasted figured maple neck is glued to the body, and the joint is seamlessly and smoothly contoured like a neck-thru-body design to provide unrestricted access to the entire fretboard. Our example had an ebony fretboard, but a roasted maple option is also available.

Neck specs include a 25.5-inch standard scale, 24 medium jumbo Jescar stainless steel frets, a flat 20-inch radius and a teardrop-shaped “oviform + -” neck profile that’s slightly asymmetrical with the top of the neck (behind the bass side strings) thinner than the bottom side of the neck (behind the treble strings), resulting in a neck shape that easily fits into your hand without feeling like a skinny neck. 

The ēmi 7 model features a non-locking, floating vibrato; and in this case, it comes courtesy of a Gotoh 510 unit with steel saddles and block.

Other hardware includes Hipshot Grip-Lock tuners with round, knurled Industrial Metal buttons, Tele-style knurled metal dome-top black chrome knobs and an easy-access truss rod adjustment wheel located above the 24th fret.

Electronics consist of a pair of Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi signature white soapbar pickups with ceramic 8 (bridge) or alnico 4/5 (neck) magnets, a five-way blade pickup selector and master volume and master tone controls.

Performance

The ēmi 7 is unapologetically built for both comfort and speed. The guitar is light but exceptionally well-balanced, staying steadily in perfect playing position whether seated or standing up. The 7-string neck is outrageously playable and very easy for 6-string players to navigate without having to stretch awkwardly.

The Gotoh vibrato delivers rich, full-bodied tone and stays perfectly in tune. My only critique is that while the bar can be raised generously, it only allows the high E string to dive a full step before the block’s movement is impeded by the body cavity.

The Fluence pickups provide three distinct voices: aggressive humbucker with fat mids, passive brilliant and scooped, hi-fi single-coil. Voices 1 and 2 are switchable via the push-pull master tone knob and are engaged in the blade switch’s 1 (bridge humbucker), 3 (bridge and neck humbucker) and 5 (neck humbucker) settings, while voice 3 is engaged in positions 2 (bridge and neck inner coils) and 4 (neck outer coil). 

The tones range from big beefy mids with tight bass and sweet highs to sparkling, snappy single-coil tones reminiscent of hi-fi Strats and Teles. The voices are all highly attractive across the full range of clean to high-gain amp settings, delivering outstanding clarity and expressive dynamics. 

The ēmi 7 Master Series has its own distinctive voice that is very musical and attractive, and it’s highly recommended if you’re looking for a new sound that stands out from the crowd.

Specs

• PRICE: $3,799
• TYPE: 7-string electric guitar
• BODY: Okoume
• NECK: Roasted figured maple, set
• SCALE LENGTH: 25.5"
• FINGERBOARD: Ebony, 20" radius
• FRETS: 24, Jescar stainless steel
• PICKUPS: 2x Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi humbuckers
• CONTROLS: 5-way pickup selector switch, volume, tone
• HARDWARE: Gotoh 510 vibrato, Hipshot locking tuners
• FINISH: Capri Orange
• CONTACT: Abasi Concepts

NAMM 2023: Ernie Ball Music Man has bolstered its Kaizen electric guitar range with the introduction of a long-awaited six-string version of the radical Tosin Abasi-designed instrument.

At last year’s NAMM show, the Animals As Leaders guitar titan and Ernie Ball Music Man announced their surprise partnership by releasing the fruits of their collaborative labor – the Kaizen – which was introduced exclusively as a seven-string machine.

The reaction to the forward-thinking creation was overwhelmingly positive, though fans of standard six-string guitars – and those who weren’t particularly taken by the seven-string design – all had the same question on their minds: will a standard Kaizen ever get released?

Well, those guitarists have now got what they wished for, with the arrival of the latest Kaizen model.

Despite arriving with one less string, the Kaizen retains the majority of the flagship model’s appointments, including the multi-scale design that ranges from 24.75” to 25.5”. 

Once again, the custom-designed alder body is paired with a roasted figure maple neck, which in turn is topped with an Infinity Radius ebony fingerboard. According to the brand, the strategically crafted conical radius also utilizes uniquely placed dot inlays to increase comfort and enhance visibility of the ‘board.

The same hardware can also be found, with the Kaizen’s multi-scale design playing host to a modern Music Man tremolo system – an unusual spec for multi-scale guitars that also offers spring dampeners that work to alleviate unwanted noise.

Steinberger Locking Gearless tuners also make the cut, as does a set of Music Man Custom Wound pickups. Specifically, the Kaizen features a HT Bridge humbucker and Offset Mini Neck humbucker, both of which are wired to a three-way selector switch, and master volume and tone knobs.

When the model arrived last year, Abasi said the Kaizen reflected his desire to keep “pushing the instrument forward”.

“Part of the reason we did this is encapsulated in the name, 'Kaizen'. I think a lot of the time, people look at the guitar as fixed. That is totally fine, but I am inspired by pushing the instrument further, and I think this was an opportunity to do that,” Abasi said of the collaboration at the time.

Both the six-string and seven-string Kaizens are available in four finishes: the standard Apollo Black, and the limited-to-60 Indigo, Mint and Chalk.

Because of the absence of that extra string, the latest Kaizen is slightly cheaper, ringing in at $3,799.

For more information, head over to Ernie Ball Music Man.

John Petrucci has announced the fourth edition of his semi-annual Guitar Universe camp.

John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe 4.0, to give it its full name, will take place from August 3 through August 6, 2023 at the W hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

This edition of the camp will feature an impressive list of guest instructors, among them Zakk Wylde, Tosin Abasi, Fredrik Åkesson, Lari Basilio, Tim Henson, Scott LePage, Jeff Loomis, Rena Petrucci, Plini and Jason Richardson.

Camp-goers can attend classes taught by each of these guest instructors, and witness special events – among them instructor jams and solo sets – at night. The final night of the camp, Petrucci says, will feature a set from his solo band.

Furthermore, the Dream Theater electric guitar hero says that players of all skill levels can attend the camp.

"It’s really important to me to feature guitar players of different genders and different styles," Petrucci wrote in a statement on the camp's website. "It’s important to show different angles, to not only have people whose music I highly respect but also a diverse, international presence as well. 

"The span of the players in this camp – stylistically, age, gender, nationality – represents a cross-section of the guitar community all in one spot. From jazz fusion and instrumental prog to death metal and shred, they all share a common sensibility towards playing guitar – highly energetic, acrobatic, on fire."

Even if you can't attend the camp yourself, these all-star gatherings tend to produce some fascinating musical moments that eventually make their way onto the internet. 

At the most recent edition of the Guitar Universe camp, for instance, Petrucci treated campers to a funk rhythm guitar masterclass while neo-soul A-lister Mateus Asato got his shred on. 

Similarly, this summer, a video of Steve Vai and Yvette Young jamming at the former's Vai Academy camp was posted by Young on social media.

For more info on the camp, and to register, visit John Petrucci's Guitar Universe.

In what was probably the biggest shock of this year’s NAMM show, Ernie Ball Music Man announced the Kaizen – an all-new electric guitar designed in collaboration with Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi.

Following June’s announcement, the guitar is now finally available for preorder – and with the news comes a fresh demo video from Abasi, who puts the radical new model through its paces in a new composition inspired by the guitar itself.

No stranger to innovative guitar designs himself – having launched his own brand, Abasi Concepts – Abasi was brought on board to help design a seven-string guitar that could cater to the modern-minded player.

With a decidedly Abasi-esque aesthetic, the radical double-cut – which is now available for preorder – boasts a wealth of forward-thinking appointments and is appropriately named after the Japanese word for “continuous change or improvement over time”.

It’s a sentiment that was at the heart of the guitar’s design, with the Kaizen aiming to meet Abasi’s own desire for “pushing the instrument further”. It's important to note this isn't an Abasi signature, but is instead a new Music Man model in its own right.

At its foundation, the Kaizen is composed of an alder body, roasted maple neck and ebony fretboard, and features a multi-scale design that measures from 24.75” at the high E to 25.7” at the low E. As such, it promises to provide robust string tension for thick, full rhythm tones and a traditional feel for lead playing.

When placed under the microscope, the Kaizen’s more exotic appointments can be found. The body – much like Abasi’s Larada design – has been purposefully contoured in an effort to provide “extreme comfort” and a well-balanced playing platform with “unrestricted fret access”.

Elsewhere, the neck has been created with an Infinity Radius – a strategically positioned conical radius, which is said to increase overall playing comfort while ensuring enhanced visibility of the fretboard.

It also comes loaded with a custom Heat Treated humbucker in the bridge position and a slanted neck mini-humbucker, both of which have been specially designed for the Kaizen. The HT pickups are a new-for-2022, patent-pending innovation for Ernie Ball, and promise to provide extra output, excellent touch sensitivity and a more powerful bass response.

Tying it all together is a modern Music Man tremolo system – an uncommon appointment for multi-scale guitars, which comes fitted with spring dampeners in an effort to alleviate unwanted overtones – and Steinberger Gearless locking tuners

Of the surprise model, Abasi commented, “I chose to collaborate with Music Man because I’ve been a fan of their guitars and artists for a while. 

“I see myself as a designer and love the act of creating new guitars,” he continued. “A parallel project looked like a fun and unique opportunity to do something new. I think the result is truly a blend of our ideas.”

Abasi added: “Part of the reason we did this is encapsulated in the name, 'Kaizen'. I think a lot of the time, people look at the guitar as fixed. That is totally fine, but I am inspired by pushing the instrument further, and I think this was an opportunity to do that.”

Speaking to Guitar World about the new model, Abasi reflected that he was like a “kid in a candy store” during the design process, and that although the Kaizen isn’t a signature guitar, “it’s got my DNA in it”.

The Kaizen is available in two finishes – Apollo Black ($3,999) and Spectraflare ($4,099) – with the latter limited to just 75 units worldwide. Additionally, each Kaizen comes with a G&G hardshell case. For more information, head to Ernie Ball Music Man.

Electric guitar pro Andy Wood has announced the third edition of his annual Woodshed Guitar Experience.

Set to take place at Lake Frances in Crossville, Tennessee from August 25 - August 28, the multi-day clinic will feature Wood and a laundry list of other guitar greats, including Tosin Abasi, Mark Lettieri, Greg Koch, Martin Miller, Nick Johnston, Brent Mason, Tom Quayle and Guthrie Trapp.

Spanning four days and three nights, the experience is limited to 125 guests, and features small-group lessons, gear talks, jam sessions and more. The guests are also treated, each evening, to full-length concerts by the artists.

“The Woodshed Guitar Experience is a real passion project for me and one of my favorite things I get to do as a guitar player,” Wood said in a press release. 

“Getting together with some of the best players in the business to teach a group of dedicated attendees of all skill levels brings me more joy than I ever thought imaginable. I am so excited to get together with everyone this year for what I am sure will be the best camp yet.” 

Woodshed Guitar Experience options begin at $2,799, and include housing, all activities, meals, and an open bar, plus shuttle service for attendees to their off-site accommodations. Players of all skill levels are welcome to attend.

Attendees are welcome to bring their own gear, but can also try out gear from sponsors of the experience – among them Suhr, PRS, REVV Amplification, Wampler Pedals, and Open Chord Music.

The first Woodshed Guitar Experience – which took place in August 2020 – was notably the first in-person guitar clinic of its kind after the onset of COVID-19, and featured Joe Bonamassa, along with Wood, Mason, Lettieri and Koch.

For more info, visit the Woodshed Guitar Experience's website.

In 2022 the art of eight-string guitar is in rude health. This was once an incredibly obscure instrument, with roots going as far back as 19th-century classical music. But since 2007, when Ibanez launched the RG2228, the first mass-produced eight-string, its popularity has grown and grown.

You can easily find an eight-string in most first-hand guitar shops. This popularity is mainly thanks to metal bands who called for lower and thicker tunings to take their imaginations to the extreme – foremost among them Meshuggah, math-metal pioneers from Sweden, and Animals As Leaders, masters of instrumental tech-metal from Washington D.C.

In both bands' new albums, the extended range of the guitar is explored by two guitarists: Märten Hagström and Fredrik Thordendal on Meshuggah's Immutable; Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes on Animals As Leaders' Parrhesia.

In conversation, Märten and Tosin reveal the secrets to mastering this instrument – and what it gives them in terms of creativity.

What have you both learned about getting more mileage out of an eight-string?

Tosin: “That’s an important question, because a lot of people might be looking at their guitars from a six-string perspective. Ultimately, the six-string can be the core of how you understand an eight-string, especially if you retain standard tuning. 

“We often tune our eight-strings to drop E, so you can still perceive it as a six-string in standard tuning. All scales and shapes repeat per octave, so it’s good to acknowledge the repetition within the fingerboard. 

“Imagine if you’re playing an A power chord on the fifth fret on your sixth string – with our tuning, if you barre all the way down, you have another fifth interval and a low octave. 

“It’s like drop D, because those three strings give you a functional chord. That helps retain orientation. You can use lower notes in the same positions, while also finding higher notes to create more width and distance.”

Märten: “We didn't have an engineering masterplan or any idea how to go about using eight-strings. With Meshuggah, it's always been about finding unique sounds. So we learned how to play eight-strings as we were learning how to compose with them. Our technique is something we manufactured as we went along. 

“The best advice I can give is find how the extended range can benefit your style. That's what worked for us. It affected how we attack the strings and how we write riffs. It was all about new atmospheres and avenues that weren't available on a six-string. Start thinking about what the extended range can actually enhance. 

“To be honest, we would have loved to continue using baritones and seven-strings. We didn't neccessarily want to add extra strings, but we knew we liked the tone.”

A lot of players find the jump from six to seven easy enough, but eight is an entirely different ball game...

Mårten: “I think the beauty of eight-strings is that it takes away the normal aspects of guitar playing – they can feel huge, like playing a piano. There are a lot of adjustments in terms of angles, like with your wrist and picking technique... all these small things you have to get used to. 

“As you said, if you play a six-string, everything will transpose pretty nicely onto a seven. Eights are a different matter. For me, it’s all about being comfortable with the tone. Sometimes I hear eight-string stuff and it sounds like someone’s just detuned something. And other times I will hear someone actually utilising what the instrument can do.”

Tosin: “It’s all about taking the chord voicings you know and adapting them to the eight-string, and using octave displacement. You can also have a lot of fun using the low E as a pedal tone in your riffs, using other chords to superimpose against it, like a G major. There are a lot of options out there.

“I like to make use of the full range of the eight-string, almost like a piano or harp. You get this huge spread that’s not possible on a six-string. Think of it as an opportunity to use three-octave chords. Other times, it’s fun to just turn it up and play your favourite Meshuggah riffs!”

Mårten, you were experimenting with eight-strings as far as back 2002 – they were the stuff of legend back then.

Mårten: “We started discussing different ways to come up with new things after touring the [1998] Chaosphere album. We wondered what would happen if we recorded three bass guitars, for example. Just to see how different the band would sound. 

“Randomly we ended up talking to a guy from Nevborn Guitars, who wanted us to try out their eight-string prototypes, though we were actually already working with Ibanez on custom seven-strings at the time. It was far from finished, but me and Fredrik found that his eight-string lent itself well to playing differently.”

In what sense?

Mårten: “We quickly figured out that powerchord chugging and riffing didn’t really work, it wasn’t as simple as transposing ideas down to the eighth string. The tone of the instrument lent itself better to the single-string stuff we’re known for. For us it was like, ‘Wow, this is a new tool that makes us sound different!’ 

“We sounded deeper and started to write unusual things that seemed to capture the imagination, with this whole other kind of sound. We then started write things for the eight-string before we even owned one. We would tune down our seven-strings, the entire [2002] Nothing record is an eight-string album recorded on seven-string guitars... which was a bitch! We would play four bars and then need to retune, again and again.”

Tosin, you launched your own guitar company, Abasi Concepts, in 2019 and with great success – most of your models are currently sold out. What have you learned about making extended range instruments along the way?

Tosin: “Manufacturing high-end instruments is a challenge. The standard that guitarists expect is very high, and it should be! We’ve created an eight-string design that feels more approachable and guitar-like than the others out there. That was the starting point: a guitar that didn’t feel like playing leads on a surfboard. 

“It had to encourage people to play complex things, sounding incredible both clean and heavy. It also had to look modern – it’s hard to introduce a new body shape that doesn’t turn players off, so we designed something that felt bold and noticeable but not too alien. 

“We’re trying to distill what makes a guitar desirable. What is mojo? Why would you choose an Abasi over something else? It boils down to wood selection, like more stable and lightweight roasted woods which translate as a guitar that feels more alive, and pickups like the [Fishman] Fluence stuff, where you get a noiseless single coil with multiple voicings. It’s been fun. Gary Clark Jr. bought one of our guitars [a six-string Space T] and we didn’t even know. I had to reach out to him afterwards!

Both of your bands are known for unusual time signatures – or at least odd-time riffs against steady 4/4 beats...

Mårten: “A song like Bleed [from 2008 album obZen] sounds tricky but it’s actually pretty simple. It’s triplets in odd groupings over a 4/4 beat, with added strokes to make the rhythm move. That’s something we do a lot in our riffs, it’s that the awkward, funky groove that comes out when we write. 

“The problem with playing triplets for seven-and-a-half minutes is consistency. Being technically able to play them in a relaxed manner for that long, as if you were playing an AC/DC song, is the challenge. So the hardest thing isn’t the timings themselves, it’s the parts that are like 92 notes in a row that never repeat, like we did on [2005 album] Catch Thirtythree. 

“It’s the faster songs that have 16 full bars before coming back to the one. It can be tricky for the mind, especially when they only change ever so slightly. It might sound like the same riff over and over, but there are subtle differences. You can easily get lost. It’s like, ‘Man, is this the one here or do we have another bar to go?’ Keeping track is the hardest part, but it’s often over straight 4/4... just like AC/DC!”

Tosin: “There’s a thing I do quite a lot which is play in 4/4 but I’ll make the end a little longer, maybe for another quarter note, so now you’re in a measure of five. But the general sense of the phrase feels like it’s in 4/4 and repeats evenly. 

“It’s all about arbitrarily extending or shortening the length of certain phrases. I like to do it because it rubs expectation. The evenness of rhythm is something so deeply intuitive that we all expect to be able to tap along or nod our heads. 

“But I love rhythmic and melodic surprises. I’ll come up with something that feels graspable, then I might add the complexity in, maybe every other repeat there’s one less quarter note than before or I might extend the phrase a few more notes into the next octave. It can technically be 4/4 but exploring these ideas means you can sound like it’s something way outside. The trick is to count in longer chunks.”

Both of you have new albums out. What gear are we hearing on the recordings?

Mårten: “In the studio, most of our albums have fallen back on Dual Rectifiers. Those are the go-to amps for us. This time I found the EVH 5150 III 100-Watt heads to be exactly what we were looking for. They had the gain, control and Mesa/Boogie-ness we needed, but with a more raw and unbridled kind of tone. They sounded less predictable, more organic. 

“Instead of the usual Fortin 33 pedal as a booster, I actually ended up using Misha Mansoor’s Precision Drive. That was suggested by our singer [Jens Kidman], as he had one. The gate on it isn’t really all that good, it’s cool for live use but in the studio it needs some work. 

“But the sound of the Precision Drive going into the EVH was super. I would use the preamp of the EVH’s second channel and run it through the power amp of a Mesa/Boogie Roadster, then out through EVH cabs. For the clean parts, I used my Roland JC-120 head.”

Tosin: “We began production for this album with my Neural DSP plug-in, but when it came time to mix we decided to take the DIs and see what kind of results we’d get by experimenting with real amps, cabs and mics. We started with my Morgan SW50R, which is a single channel tube head that I use as a pedal platform, with my Friedman BE-OD overdrive and the Bogner Harlow and Ecstasy Blue pedals. 

“Those were the main drives we were running into the clean head. The Friedman pedal into the Morgan was perfect for all the slap tones and articulate stuff, even some of the heavier stuff. For the lead tones, it was my Abasi Pathos pedal going into the Morgan. We also ran a modded Soldano SLO from the 90s, which added this great character in the midrange when blended in.”

And how about the actual eight-strings themselves?

Mårten: “I’d say 95 percent of the guitars were recorded with my M8M Ibanez Custom. It’s basically our signature M8M but with a bolt-on neck and it’s a little shorter in scale with a piezo mounted on it. It’s my favourite instrument. I use it as much as I can, but not live because I’m scared of destroying it. 

“For the clean parts, I used my Roland JC-120 head. I don’t know what Fredrik used because he recorded in his studio. He wasn’t around for any of this album and hasn’t been writing for years, he’s been busy doing his own thing. For the four leads he recorded at his place, I’m pretty sure it was his [signature] Ibanez Stoneman.”

Tosin: “We used Abasi Concepts guitars for nearly everything – the solo on Thoughts And Prayers was performed on an ESP. For some reason we weren’t happy with the tone on the Monomyth solo so the engineer suggested using one of his guitars. We went digging through and there was this Les Paul.

“I couldn’t even tell you what year it was from but it had this nice prominent midrange without being too bright, it sounded really smooth so I tracked with that. I’m pretty pragmatic in the studio – if my favourite gear is not doing what I want then I’m quick to find an objective solution. It’s kinda funny though, because you wouldn’t think a Les Paul would be anywhere near an Animals As Leaders record... but it happened!”

• Animals As Leaders' Parrhesia is out now via Sumerian.
• Meshuggah's Immutable is out now via Atomic Fire.