Mateus Asato

As one of today’s standout electric guitar players, Mateus Asato is usually heralded for three aspects of his playing: his emotive melodic phrasing, effortlessly flawless technique and a jaw-dropping ability to combine the two. As such, given the virtuosic nature of his playing, you’d expect that Asato draws from...

By now, we’re accustomed to Mateus Asato completely reimagining well-known tracks by treating them to his own trademark style of neo-soul excellence. In the past few months alone, Asato has effortlessly conquered The Beatles’ In My Life, Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, demonstrating that – even with a self-imposed social media exile – his chops remain up there with the very best.

In the past few months, Mateus Asato – despite being in the midst of an indefinite Instagram hiatus – has slowly but surely been ramping up his content output. After appearing on Annalé's Goodbye, the neo-soul master then released his own song The Cure, and covered both The Beatles’ In My Life and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Modern virtuoso Mateus Asato has returned to share yet another tasteful guitar cover of a classic tune, applying his signature feel onto Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears. The cover, though uploaded to Asato’s YouTube channel earlier this week (18 February) was actually shot back in...

Mateus Asato is the master of the concise electric guitar instrumental, and when he's inspired to lend his skills to renditions of classic songs it's always nothing short of sublime. As Tears For Fears gear up for the release of a new album (and we have a new interview coming soon on that front), Mateus has given one of their best-loved songs his treatment with a GLS T-style guitar for those chiming bridge single-coil tones.

Despite being in the midst of an indefinite Instagram hiatus, Mateus Asato has been keeping himself rather busy in the musical world. In a bid to maintain his unrivaled neo-soul skills, Asato recently cropped up on Annalé's new single, Goodbye, and dropped a track of his own, titled The Cure.

When supremely gifted guitarist Mateus Asato announced he was talking a break from music and closed his Instagram account in early 2021, we wondered when and how he'd return. Well, the good news is he's back with a relative flurry of activity. Following a performance of his new composition The...

The social media scene has been that bit darker since Mateus Asato announced his indefinite Instagram hiatus. However, fans of today’s premier neo-soul navigator now have reason to rejoice after he posted a quick-fire clip of Hallelujah – which he dusted with a healthy dose of Asato magic.

Soft rock is having a moment right now. That's not to say that fuzz pedals the world over have been decommissioned and melted down into penny whistles but there's definitely a mood in the air – perhaps with the arrival of John Mayer's Sob Rock? – that electric guitar culture is keeping it mellow.

Footage from Martin Friedman’s April show in Japan, with Mateus Asato joining the set remotely, has made its way online. You can watch it below. The show, held in Osaka, was part of a concert series to celebrate the launch of Friedman’s latest album Tokyo Jukebox 3. During the set,...

Earlier this year, former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman set out on a Japan tour in support of his latest solo album, Tokyo Jukebox 3. The run included a show in Osaka, which saw a guest appearance from social media sensation Mateus Asato. Of course, with the limitations of the pandemic,...

One month after announcing a break from music and social media, Mateus Asato has lent his six-string chops to LA-based musician Annalé on her new track, Goodbye. A reworking of her Korean-language single of the same name, Goodbye – alongside Asato – also features Filipino actor/singer-songwriter Iñigo Pascual and Malaysian music production group MFMF. Take a listen below:

Mateus Asato recently stepped away from Instagram for a 'virtual hiatus' but returned the YouTube channel recently to pay tribute to Daft Punk after the French duo announced their split and thank them "for being a soundtrack for most of my childhood" and repost this short but very sweet 2020 cover of the guitar solo from Digital Love.

Update 22/20: This story has been updated to reflect the Jackson Audio’s new name for the pedal, the Asabi. Mateus Asato – who will be making an appearance at Guitar.com Live later this October – has teamed up with Jackson Audio on a brand new dual-drive pedal, Asabi Overdrive/Distortion. One...

“Instagram helped musicians to get better at business, at making flawless performance videos (after uncountable takes)… I got lost inside the boxes of 15-60-second videos”. Mateus Asato, perhaps social media's biggest breakout guitar star, has removed his Instagram account and announced a break from music, due to the “overwhelming” pressures...

Instagram has been huge for musicians – a direct forum to share with fans, and to perform and gain new followers. But now Mateus Asato, a wonderful player and one of the social media platform's most successful guitarists, has decided to step away from it. He's also taking a break from music in general for a while. But why?

If you've ever found yourself scrolling through the guitar goldmine that is Mateus Asato's Instagram profile, you've probably asked yourself how one mere mortal could possess such prolific powers on the guitar. The neo-soul sensation, known for his hypnotic mastery of the fretboard and colorful jazz-inspired constructions, recently sat down...