Matteo Mancuso - The new era of world guitarism made in Italy or rather in Sicily

[Winemaker]

Matteo Mancuso (born 22 November 1996) is an Italian jazz and rock guitarist and composer originally from Palermo, Sicily. Mancuso is known for adapting an almost flamenco right-hand technique to the electric guitar and for improvising solos without the use of a plectrum. Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, Joe Bonamassa and others have praised it publicly, with Vai calling it "the future" of the electric guitar.

In 2023 he released his first studio album, The Journey.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteo_Mancuso -

Below is the link to his YT channel.

Matteo Mancuso

Thanks for checking out my channel! I'm a guitarist from Sicily (Italy) and i just love playing guitar! click the links below to visit my Instagram, Facebook and my Official website. available for booking, get in touch! Management: [email protected] ðð»Pre-order my album "The Journey"...

www.youtube.com

For those who love Jazz, Fusion and progressive rock, you can't miss getting to know this stratospheric guitarist.
Let me know what you think.

Here, however, an interview in Italian...

Note the technical and artistic level of the two musicians who accompany him
Riccardo Oliva (bass)
Salvatore Lima (drums)
The two of them are also from Palermo.

 

[Winemaker]

This is his latest creation:

 

[AdrianusG]

This is his latest creation:

Yes, he is amazing.

Perhaps you also know Alex Milella, also from Italy and also great, i have his album Light Shades (from 2004 I believe)
He has a newer album out as well, from 2013, but I haven't heard that one yet.

 

[Multicore]

Amazing is a good word for describing Mancuso's playing. A next level in virtuosoism for electric guitar, for sure. Not sure what you mean by "world" in the title.

The right hand technique is interesting and bears some comparison to that used in Portuguese guitar (e.g. in Fado) in which the down-beat treble is plucked upwards by the index finger and there's a lot of rapid flicking of the index finger.

Mancuso's technique I think extends a trend that's been going on since at least YJM to pluck very gently and rely on the amplification. Contrast that with for example blues or bluegrass guitarists. With only gentle plucking the guitar can be set up with straight neck and very low action. It also helps to balance the tone of a plucked note and a hammer-on or pull-off note. All of which serves the goal of Paganini-style velocity.

Musically I think Mancuso exceeds Vai, Meola, and Bonamassa, who are all top tier in that cohort of guitarists who were paid by the note but that I find a musical turn-off. Mancuso has more sensitivity to the overall composition and more confidence to express himself personally. And yet every time I listen to Mancuso I end up putting something else on.

 

[Winemaker]

Amazing is a good word for describing Mancuso's playing. A next level in virtuosoism for electric guitar, for sure. Not sure what you mean by "world" in the title.

The right hand technique is interesting and bears some comparison to that used in Portuguese guitar (e.g. in Fado) in which the down-beat treble is plucked upwards by the index finger and there's a lot of rapid flicking of the index finger.

Mancuso's technique I think extends a trend that's been going on since at least YJM to pluck very gently and rely on the amplification. Contrast that with for example blues or bluegrass guitarists. With only gentle plucking the guitar can be set up with straight neck and very low action. It also helps to balance the tone of a plucked note and a hammer-on or pull-off note. All of which serves the goal of Paganini-style velocity.

Musically I think Mancuso exceeds Vai, Meola, and Bonamassa, who are all top tier in that cohort of guitarists who were paid by the note but that I find a musical turn-off. Mancuso has more sensitivity to the overall composition and more confidence to express himself personally. And yet every time I listen to Mancuso I end up putting something else on.

I find it like a mix between Metheny, Holdsworth and in some ways De Lucia - Vicente Amigo. I also like that metal influence, which seems to clash with the guitarists mentioned above, but overall it fits really well. Currently for me it is number one, much more harmonious and pleasant than Guthrie Govan.

 

[Multicore]

I find it like a mix between Metheny, Holdsworth and in some ways De Lucia - Vicente Amigo. I also like that metal influence, which seems to clash with the guitarists mentioned above, but overall it fits really well.

I agree on both points. Jazz-rock really kicked off with Mahavishnu which brought all the bombast, noise and guitar technique, such as it was then, from rock, heavy and psychedelic. But then there was ECM/Jarrett chamber jazz and McLaughlin was playing nylon string acoustic (with a pick?!) and Marsalis laid down the new jazz purity laws and a lot of players got back in their corners. Metheny's use of the Roland GR300 instead of distortion for soloing is, I'd say, an expression of that conservative stance. Mancuso has relied a lot on YouTube, which probably worked well for him in this regard: no gate-keepers and direct audience feedback.

With respect to metal features and specifically in the song you posted above the bass riffing is great but the bursts of pentatonic shredding are beneath him and I think he could and should find more unusual and personal tonalities.

 

[Ronin22]

Love him- he plays beyond his years. Does some nice blues as well

 

[Winemaker]

I agree on both points. Jazz-rock really kicked off with Mahavishnu which brought all the bombast, noise and guitar technique, such as it was then, from rock, heavy and psychedelic. But then there was ECM/Jarrett chamber jazz and McLaughlin was playing nylon string acoustic (with a pick?!) and Marsalis laid down the new jazz purity laws and a lot of players got back in their corners. Metheny's use of the Roland GR300 instead of distortion for soloing is, I'd say, an expression of that conservative stance. Mancuso has relied a lot on YouTube, which probably worked well for him in this regard: no gate-keepers and direct audience feedback.

With respect to metal features and specifically in the song you posted above the bass riffing is great but the bursts of pentatonic shredding are beneath him and I think he could and should find more unusual and personal tonalities.

Remember that he is still 28 years old, he has a long road ahead of him. All the guitarists mentioned became famous much later. She has a lot to learn but she has a lot of time to do it.
In my opinion the progenitor of all Jazz is Charlie Parker.

 

[Multicore]

Love him- he plays beyond his years. Does some nice blues as well

In which you see his left hand technique is more like a bass player's than anything. It's enthralling to watch. Alternating i/m plucking is the technique I most suck at, by far.

 

[Winemaker]

Here is his latest creation!!!
New album coming soon

 

[ahofer]

He’s fantastic, I really enjoy his playing, and thanks to his right hand technique and the unusual phrasing it facilitates, an original voice.

When you listen to him and Guthrie Govan it kind of spoils you for regular good guitarists. They are the Jordan and Lebron of guitar.* There’s been some Mancuso discussion over in the “Greatest Guitarists” thread, btw.

*I guess that makes Julian Lage the Steph Curry in this analogy.