7 Things I Learned From Mateus Asato

If you’re here reading this, you’re probably as curious about Mateus Asato’s playing as I am.

The dude is a monster playing, very lyrical and extremely musical.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet him over the years in both Malaysia and Singapore via his first 3-day guitar camp (yes, 3 entire days with the master!) , his guitar clinic, a concert and casual hangs over food. All in all, if you’re wondering whether Mateus is a cool dude & all around nice guy – he is.

Here are 7 things I learned from Mateus:

1. Focus on a style of music every day
   
   When he was at Musicians Institute, Mateus dedicated a day for country guitar, another day for rock, another day for R&B – that kind of thing. So he would saturate his listening for those styles that day. This prepared him for his session guitar work in the future.
   
   
2. Make your soloing sing
   
   A lot of guitarists nowadays are very technical, but not everyone can make their guitar sing. Mateus listens to vocalists and emulates their singing in his playing. The next time you hear Mateus play, try to see if you can catch this in his playing.
   
   
3. Expand your musical horizons
   
   Don’t be stuck in one style. Part of Mateus’s appeal is his ability to combine different influences into one unique style. He’s constantly listening to new music so this helps him grow.
   
   
4. Jam and create your own licks and ideas
   
   Mateus works on making great sounding music and you can see this on his IG and YouTube videos. If you wanna sound better, follow his lead and keep posting your own musical ideas and grooves on your social media. It’s helps people find out about you too!
   
   
5. Invest in developing your social media mastery
   
   Mateus developed his reputation from his prolific use of social media. If you wanna get the attention from the world, study what he does on social media. I know I’ve learned a lot from his work. Mateus posts on IG, FB and YouTube. Check them all out!
   
   
6. Focus on musicality
   
   Technique is a never ending rabbit hole of work. You can practice forever and never reach the technical level you want. Instead, at whatever level you are, focus on being as musical and expressive as you can. This will make your playing resonate with others, not just guitarists or musicians.
   
   
7. Learn more chords & understand how harmony works
   
   Mateus uses beautiful chord voicings from open chord shapes to jazzy chords. Those yummy colors are a part of what makes his playing unique and mesmerizing. Learn chords from any source you can & apply them into your own music. You’ll be glad you did!

And that’s some of the best tips I learned from Mateus Asato. I hope they were helpful to you.

If you wanna something that levels up your jazz chords skills, check out Yummy Jazz Guitar Chords, an instructional video for newbies to jazz guitar chords & don’t wanna waste time with information overload but just get what works, in a systematic way.

If you can understand Malay, you might dig my popular Kelas Asas Gitar Neo Soul. It summarises the best things I learned from Mateus. Lots of neo soul & R&B style licks and chord vocabulary that you can use in your playing immediately. Good sounding stuff, practical stuff.