Smooth fingerstyle, emotive phrasing and expert control of dynamics – Mateus Asato is a shred-rock neo-soul virtuoso for the social media age, and every guitarist can benefit from learning his tasteful techniques

Mateus Asato is was born in Brazil in 1993 and now resides in Los Angeles where he studied at the Musicians’ Institute. He gained widespread recognition via his Instagram account, through which he has garnered over a million followers.

He blends elements of rock, blues, and soul and has a precise technique with blinding alternate picking, smooth fingerstyle, emotive phrasing and expert control of dynamics. In this lesson we will focus on Mateus’ more shred-rock moments as seen on his social media accounts, while also including some jazzier, neo-soul approaches.

Lick 1 uses first-finger slides to move through scale positions. You can apply this manoeuvre to any scale or mode but here we are using the Dorian mode, which is a favourite of Asato.

To think of Dorian, visualise the minor pentatonic (1-b3-4-5-b7), then add the major 2nd and major 6th intervals for the complete (1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7) scale. Add to this the interesting rhythmic interplay of the four-note phrase played in a triplet feel and you have the beginnings of an improvisational concept which can be applied elsewhere.

Asato’s shred-rock style picking is up there with the best of them and lick 2 focuses on alternate picking through three-notes-per-string scale shapes. Slow the lick down and focus on hand synchronisation. 

Split the lick into four-note fragments and check which fingers coincide with downstrokes and which use upstrokes. Make sure your guitar pick doesn’t get caught on the strings, or hit the wrong one. Instead of digging in, use the very tip of the pick to glide across the string.

Example 3 uses a clean tone, double-stops and harmonics for Mateus’ cool neo-soul style. The double-stops must flow as seamlessly as possible so be mindful of which fingerings offer the smoothest transitions. You can play this with a pick or fingerstyle, so feel free to experiment.

The Storytelling Licks (Performance Only) - YouTube

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Our fourth example uses hybrid picking to play smooth arpeggios with a clean tone. Hybrid picking is a combination of picked downstrokes and plucked notes using the second and third fingers, shown as ‘m’ and ‘a’. This lick also finishes with some sweep and alternate picking for that Asato flair.

Finally we switch back to the distortion channel for sweep picking and tapping. Matteus is a master of the fretboard and these ascending four-string arpeggios show how he might play through a scale. All the notes are in A Dorian but offer a different sound than a scalar approach offers. Use flowing pick motions and slowly build your hand synchronisation for a fluid result.

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

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 5, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 6, Reverb 3

Mateus plays a Suhr signature guitar and Suhr tube amps and uses a variety of tones from mellow jazzy clean, crunchy clean break-up and high gain shred. Most recently he has released a comprehensive plugin/guitar VST with Neural DSP which encompasses his signature tones, amps and effects. Use a cleanish basic tone then add distortion when required, plus reverb.

Example 1

This lick is based in A Dorian (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) and uses picking, pull-offs and slides to shift through the scale positions. Use your fourth finger to play the first string and your first finger to perform the descending slides. To add interest, the four-note melodic phrase is played through a triplet rhythm. 

Example 2

Use strict alternate picking for this D Dorian (D-E-F-G-A-B-C) based lick. The first section is divided into eight-note phrases connected by a first-finger position shift each time. The latter part of the lick focuses on string skipping and finishes with a unison bend with vibrato.

Example 3

This A Dorian (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) based lick begins with some smooth double-stops connected with slides , hammer-ons and pull-offs. Next play the open first string then use hammer-ons and slides to connect a ringing A minor and G major triad. The final bar is played with ringing natural harmonics.

Example 4

This lick is based in B Aeolian (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A) with a focus on hybrid picking. Begin by ascending with five-note arpeggio shapes which connect to three-note groupings. Use pick downstrokes where indicated and follow the ‘m’ and ‘a’ directions for second and third-finger plucks.

Example 5

Based in A Dorian (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G), this lick mostly uses sweep picking starting with four-string arpeggios that move through scale positions a note at a time. Use smooth downstrokes and hammer-ons to connect the notes, finishing with an E Minor descending and ascending sweep, followed by a tapping finale.