Nuno Bettencourt explains what’s underrated about Tom Morello’s guitar playing – and why it “pisses me off a little bit”

Tom Morello and Nuno Bettencourt perform live
(Image credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia / Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Resurgent Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt has shared some choice thoughts on what he admires about his friend and guitar contemporary Tom Morello as a player – and what he’d like to see more of from the Rage Against the Machine legend.

Bettencourt and Morello were speaking at a press conference ahead of the Best of Blues and Rock festival 2023 in São Paulo, Brazil, when journalist Igor Miranda asked Bettencourt what he admired about Morello.

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Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.