Thanks to his sonic adventures with celebrated progressive group Animals As Leaders, and courtesy of his business ventures creating some of the most forward-thinking electric guitars on the market with Abasi Concepts, Tosin Abasi is easily considered one of today’s most formidable metal players.
He is, however, by no means exclusively a speed demon and, thanks to a new social media post, has proven that his chops go far beyond the mind-meltingly insane fretboard explorations he’s known for. In said video, viewers can bear witness to his supremely sweet set of extra-curricular fretboard skills, characterized by jazz-y, blues-infused constructions.
And, in an effort to make his playing as eye-catching as it is ear-catching, Abasi opted for an axe that he's not been seen wielding before – St. Vincent’s recently unveiled Ernie Ball Music Man Goldie signature guitar.
Playing over a backing track composed by blues guitar hero Josh Smith that Abasi dubs “iMessage Notification Blues," the Animals As Leaders man brings a decidedly bebop-flavored solo to the table, combining clever string-skipping octave lines and ascending-then-descending chromatic passages.
St. Vincent – aka Annie Clark – was clearly as impressed with the post as we were, writing, “AMAZING!” in a comment.
Likewise, Clark wasn’t the only one to wax lyrical about Abasi’s quick-fire clip, with Tomo Fujita commenting, “Lovely phrasing!”, Josh Smith writing, “Yes!”, and the official Music Man account stating the obvious by writing, “SO good!!!”
Now we just need to see St. Vincent go to town on an eight-string Abasi Concepts Larada Master Series. Heck, while they’re at it, they might as well swap signatures and meet up for an all-out jam session. What a video that would be...
Abasi has been particularly active on Instagram in recent months, and recently announced that Animals As Leaders have finished tracking their new album by way of a tap-heavy teaser clip.
