Not many players would be up to the task of shredding a solo-guitar performance on one of Felix Martin’s mammoth dual-fretboard guitars. Ichika Nito – social media electric guitar hero and two-hand tapping wizard – is among the elite few, and has offered up a thunderous playthrough that puts the axe through its paces.
Ichika’s quick-fire clip sees him float around the lower fretboard, combining ethereal picking patterns with two-hand taps to introduce some melodic intrigue, before a storming open-tuning chord on the second neck takes things to the next level.
The grand finale sees Ichika deliver a jaw-dropping display of complex chordal work that utilizes all 14-strings of the guitar.
FM Guitars – set up by LA-based tapping champion Felix Martin last year – specializes in building axes that seek to “open up many more possibilities” for players. As well as the 14-string iteration that Ichika can be seen wielding, Martin also offers 12-string and 16-string versions.
More recently, Martin broadened his horizons and announced his company had begun building 8, 10 and 12-string bass models that sport the dual-fretboard design.
As for Ichika, he was recently name-dropped by Marty Friedman in an interview with Ultimate Guitar, with the Megadeth maestro heaping praise on social media guitar stars for their role in saving the instrument from extinction.
Said Friedman, "The guitar just got a lot of life breathed back into it and that’s thanks to a lot of people just showing how fun it is and showing the great things that you’re able to do with the guitar."
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