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Matteo Mancuso began playing the guitar at age 12 in Palermo, Sicily and for the next eighteen years, has basically not put the instrument down.

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Playing classical or electric, his one of a kind technique and use of his fingers instead of regular picking is what sets him apart from others.  His impressive tone, original sound and humble demeanor puts him on another level.   Even groundbreaking artists like Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai and Al Di Meola have been singing his praises.

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We had the chance to speak with Matteo to preview his upcoming show. 

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Greg Drugan:  Hey Matteo, thank you for taking some time with me today.  How’s the weather in Saint Lucia?  I’ve never been to the Caribbean before. 

 

Matteo Mancusco:  Yes, I am in Saint Lucia.  This is the last day, we played yesterday and we have one extra day off to enjoy the sea. 

 

GD:  You are getting ready to do your first headlining tour here in the United States.  Are you bringing a band with you or are you just bringing your guitars?

 

MM:  No, no I am bringing a band.  I always play as a trio- guitar, bass and drums. It will be the longest tour we’ve done so far so it will be very special to us. I’ve been to the States quite a few times but most of the time it’s been for the NAMM show in LA. We were able to do a couple of gigs around the LA area but that wasn’t a proper tour. So this is the first big tour that I am doing in the States. 

 

GD:  Have you ever been to Ohio before, or no?

 

MM:  No, no.  I’ve never been to Ohio before.  I’ve never been to a lot of places I want to visit.  I’ve been to Nashville one time last year.  I’ve been to New York and LA.  I’ve been to Orlando one time for the Steve Vai Academy last year and to Atlanta for a couple of days as well. 

 

GD:  If you have some time, you should check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It’s a fantastic museum.  All of your heroes and everyone that’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is there in Cleveland.  Check it out if you get the chance.  

 

MM:  Great!  I will try but I don’t know if we have the time to do that. But I will try to check it out, of course. 

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GD:  I read that you first started playing guitar at the age of 12.  What drew you to that instrument as opposed to something else like drums or piano?

 

MM:  I began to be interested in guitar because my father is also a guitar player. Guitars were always at home so it was easy for me to start because there were a lot of guitars available. I was born, luckily, in a very musical family.  I have one older brother and one older sister and they both play an instrument. They are all interested in music, even my mother is very passionate about music. So I grew up in a musical family and my father is an exceptional guitar player. He was my first guitar teacher.  So I started playing when I was ten years old and now I’m twenty-eight. The journey was amazing, I had very good teachers.  I started studying classical guitar in high school and then I did go to the conservatory in Palermo.

 

I’ve had a really good musical experience so far. I got really lucky because every teacher I had was very prepared. Even if I was a very good student, especially for classical guitar.  I consider myself an electric player and I really wasn’t into the classical world back when I started. I chose electric guitar because you play more with a rhythm section and that’s not the case with classical guitar.  You play a lot of times alone, just with your score. That’s one of the reasons why I play electric guitar most of the time. 

 

GD:  Do you play any other instruments besides guitar or do you concentrate on that primarily? 

 

MM:  I learned to play flute, traverse flute in high school.  That was only because you needed to be able to play two instruments in high school.  At least in Italy.  That was fun.  It was way easier to read with a flute, than with a guitar. It was fun, but I am not playing the flute anymore. I don’t have time to also study the flute.  But it was joyful. It was fun to play another instrument besides the guitar. 

 

GD:  Sure!  Do you like a band like Jethro Tull who play the flute and then you have Martin Barr who is a great guitarist as well?

 

MM:  Jethro Tull was my introduction to the flute in a rock setting. I love them, yeah. 

 

GD:  Your fingerstyle technique is very unique.  How did you develop that?  It seems like it’s something that you developed on your own accord. 

 

MM:  Well, it’s a mix of doing things on my own and extrapolating things from the classical world. I started playing with fingers from the start. I was never able to learn how to play with a pick, simply because I didn’t like the feeling of having something in my hand. I began to play with this bass like technique simply because it was the most comfortable way to play for me at the time. One of the reasons was from seeing my father play classical guitar with his fingers at home.  He can also play with a pick but he was playing a little bit of classical guitar back then.  I just thought that every guitar was meant to be played like that. Not knowing you use a pick with electric and fingers for classical. So I just kept playing with this finger style technique. Then I discovered the pick but it was too late to start again. I didn’t want to relearn some of the things. 

 

Then of course, I borrowed some things from the classical world. I always say I didn’t “invent” this technique. I just borrowed some elements from classical world, some bass technique, some flamenco elements.  But it’s not something that I invented. It’s rare to see this kind of technique on the electric guitar. That’s true, but I’m not the only one. 

 

GD:  Exactly. Who were some of your musical influences growing up?  Who did you enjoy listening to as a youngster?

 

MM:  I started as a rock and roll oriented player. Thanks to my father who was more like a listening guide rather than a teacher. He was introducing me to a lot of classic rock stuff like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple.  My first guitar influence was Jimi Hendrix. I started out as a typical rock and roll, classic player.  Then I discovered a lot of different music, thanks to my friends and the musical high school, the conservatory.  I really listened to a lot of different stuff and most of it was guitar oriented. In the first years, I got to know a lot of people from the ‘80s like Eddie Van Halen, Adrian Vandenberg, those type of guys. Then more people from the fusion world like Al Di Mola or John McGlogthin or Frank Gembal, a lot of players that I discovered through my journey.  I started out as a rock player then I began to get interested in jazz when I was more into high school, maybe sixteen. 

 

GD:  Who was the first artist you saw in concert and how did that impact you?  Was it your father or was there a big name act that you saw?

 

MM:  Well, I consider my father as a big name. So maybe the first concert I saw was my father playing. To be honest, I don’t really remember. But because my father was playing a lot of local gigs, the first musicians I got exposed to were local musicians.  Palermo is not a big city so there are not a lot of big concerts.  Every now and then but not like you were in London or Rome.   I think most of my exposition to music in general came from YouTube and internet in general. Most of my music consumption came from the internet. I came to know a lot of players, a lot of digital music thanks to the fact that I had the internet available. That’s a big part of my development, I should say. A lot of this stuff I came to know from the internet so it was a really big part of my development compared to the live stuff. 

 

GD:  So you primarily play the electric guitar but do you still play the acoustic on occasion?

 

MM:  I play some acoustic a little bit. I play a lot of gypsy jazz guitar because I got a gift from Yosh Stefan who is an incredible German player. I play this guitar, really a lot at home and I play some classical too.  I really like to write songs with classical guitar.  The guitar I play most live is the electric guitar. I always bring two guitars with me right now for my concerts.  I have a Yamaha Pacifica.  That’s kind of a Strat with a whammy bar, and a Yamaha Rock Star. Those are the two guitars I play live, most of the time.  

 

GD:  You mentioned a lot of your influences and you kind of blend them seamlessly together. Jazz, rock, and classical music as well, how do that without losing coherence?  It’s amazing and I love your music. 

 

MM:  The honest answer was that I was always curious about learning different styles. With years of learning many different things, that all comes with one style that let’s say I developed.  You need to come up with something different.  Let’s say, a different way to play the same thing. I think I was trying to figure out a way to do a lick or a solo with my finger style technique because of course I was copying a lot of stuff from big players.  That helped me to achieve a creative way to look at the guitar in my own way.  That helped me achieve the style that I have now.  

 

GD:  Is there anyone that you may want to collaborate with in the future.  I know that you have played with some people.  Did you end up playing with Steve Vai?

 

MM:  Yes, I played with Steve Vai last year in Florida, thanks to the Steve Vai Academy. He organizes it every year. He invited me to do the 2024 one and we played together on the last day and it was wonderful.  Before the Steve Vai Academy, I never heard Steve Vai play live. So it was amazing even for a fan like myself. Playing with him was spectacular as well. I’ve played with a lot of incredible musicians this past year. I had the chance to play with All Di Meola, I played with Tony Emanual a couple of days ago. 

 

GD:  Is there someone that you would want to collaborate with or play with?

 

MM:  I would love to, not necessarily collaborate with but if they would want to that would be wonderful. But just to see them live would be priceless. That would be Eric Johnson.  He is one of my favorite players and one of my biggest influences. Steve Lukather is an incredible player.  I got the chance to meet him last year for a Leslie West event.  We didn’t get the chance to play together but I did get the chance to see him live. It was wonderful and he’s an incredible person as well. Steve Lukather, I mean he’s one of the best players in the world.  And some people that aren’t necessarily guitar players but I’m a big fan of Jacob Collier for example.  I think he’s one of the geniuses of this century and I would love to collaborate with him.  

 

GD:  You will be playing the Kent Stage on June 1st.  What can fans expect from your show?

 

MM:  The show will be centered around the first album. We have a couple of tributes that we do as well. I have a tribute to Jeff Beck and I do a tribute to Allen Holdsworth. I do some tributes to some of my favorite guitar players during the concert. I still don’t know if we will add some new songs. I have some songs ready for the second album but I still don’t know if I will be able to play them live. That’s because a lot of people are doing a lot of videos at the concert.  I don’t want to spoil anything that will be on the internet.  People record all the time and that’s fine to me.  I record some videos too when I’m at a concert.  But some people record the whole concert and put it on YouTube. That’s one thing I don’t necessarily like.  I’m ok if you want to record one or two songs or some solos. Most of the people that are coming to my gigs are guitar players so I get that they want to do some videos.  The whole concert is not really good to me. 

 

GD:  I agree. Record a song or two to get the idea then stop.  That’s interesting.  I think it started with comedians who have a no cell phone policy because they may want to try out new material. It’s like the same thing, you want to play a new song yet you don’t want it out there for everyone to hear it because you still might make some tweaks to it or whatever.  I agree.

 

MM:  Of course.  Also, I don’t want to spoil the songs. When it comes out, maybe there’s some videos before the official video and some people already listened to the songs on YouTube and it’s not going to be good for the surprise. 

 

GD:  Thank you so much for your time.  Enjoy the weather there in Saint Lucia.  I will definitely be at The Kent Stage on June 1st. I’m gonna get the word out and we're going to pack the place for you. 

 

MM:  Thank you.  Thank you so much!  Have a good day! Caio! 

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You can catch Matteo Mancuso on his first American headlining tour on June 1st at The Kent Stage.  

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Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased here. 

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