its actually not that difficult to learn the picking style if you already play with your fingers, double thumping can be learned in a few days but it gets a bit more complicated when you started adding more fingers and trying to change strings, but to combine that with scales and hammer ons would take a lot longer to get fast at
There's a great deal of ambience to almost everything that Tosin plays. It's interesting to watch his left hand. He allows notes to ring out, or almost crossfade. Great chord choices too. Exotic but still familiar.
The video really inspires me because, like you said, Tosin's choice of chords is just so ambient and emotional imo. What he's conveying in those passages (esp the one at 1:34) is exactly what I'd want to convey to a listener through my playing
@@jinxie1080 Yeah that sort of rolling, almost rasgueto technique, when combined with unison notes, is very information dense without being busy sounding. Beyond his technical playing, the thing I really like about his compositions are how natural they sound. But that I mean that he clearly has the patience to sit with a piece and examine the changes and the motifs so the end product sounds like it was there all along (ie, a part of nature).
You know I have the same bending thumb, and a lot of people told me its not normal, and just now i realize....i should exploit it by practicing this technic
@@gonzar86 the thumb is just a better pic, double thumping is still my fav. The one thing am working on right now. Probably hard to believe I play acoustic guitar.
@@gvnotes well it might be a better pick but you have to treat the nail just right. plus since I'm not tosin or knoplfer I can do a lot of things with a pick that I cant with my thumb, but its all just practice i think
@@gonzar86 Yeah. We all have difference in our body parts, some thumbs can take the digging more than the other. And if one is short on a side then will probably be compensated for on the other, so you never miss a thing if you're hard working. Hope I'll upload a cover or something where I do mostly thumping this week I think.
His bandmates have said before that he’s really difficult to work with actually. They get it done and have a working relationship but Javier has said Tosin and Matt are very egotistical.
@@kalmath_ Try to find the full interview with Herman Li. It’s not like Javier trashed his bandmates, sounded like it could’ve been a lot worse. Herman asked Javier what it’s really like being on tour with them. Javier was like hmmm did you really ask me that? He said they both can take things hard at times and they can be very “special” was the word he used. Didn’t go into much detail.
Agreed! Especially given how unbelievably good Kiko is. There's a video -- I think on Kiko's channel -- where Tosin and Kiko are having a conversation while playing, and Kiko starts unleashing bits of his true abilities and the vast extent of his musical knowledge. You can tell Tosin is blown away and completely captivated. It's been really nice seeing these two share their knowledge and abilities with each other!
@Franco I can’t remember which interview it’s from. Tosin was gonna scrap all the stuff he had because he didn’t think he had anything to offer musically and was considering quitting entirely. Misha basically said “don’t do that” and helped tosin turn all his ideas into the self titled album.
Hendrix changed all of them after him, he invented a stance and attitude towards music. Tosin Abasi didn't invent shit and he is not pursued by anybody but his fans. Maybe you should focus your attention in something else than music.
I really love his style. It’s so explorative and inventive, and he really does his best to leave no stone unturned in terms of challenging the listener’s expectations: odd time signatures, interesting chord voicings, unconventional right and left hand techniques… he clearly does his best to keep progressing. Amazing player. Also, his thumb looks almost unnatural with how severely it is angled. I’m becoming convinced that this is a secret weapon with regard to his thumping prowess.
That's one thing I noticed with some of my favourite players, that all do something weird that looks unnatural. Like Shawn Lane had this freakish speed and in his case, his eyes looked weird as a result when he was playing, you'd see him concentrating as his blink rate would appear extremely odd. With Dimebag Darrell his insane fingering looked like a weightless spider floating across the fret board. James Hetfield and Zakk Wylde have these insane picking techniques, James for rhythm and Zakk for solo work, and Zakk has this really wide vibrato. Even a lot of classical guitarists, musicians in general really, have this unnatural look when they reach a certain level, the harp and the stringed instruments especially. It's fun.
@@ShinyShinyIsAlwaysBeingSerious Super fun! Yeah it seems that some players-particularly the successful ones-develop some idiosyncrasies that are very characteristic of their style and interpretation of the instrument.
@@MrKittles1123 another one that springs to mind is Marty Friedman's bizarre pick hand angle. And yet he's a master. Ola Englund has an odd pick hand angle too, but the man is a beast at rhythm playing.
@@dylanadams1455 Facts! Idk how Marty does what he does with his hand like that, but the results are pretty hard to argue with. As far as Ola, I was just watching some of his stuff the last couple days and didn’t even really pay much attention to his actual technique, but it definitely crossed my mind that he is a pretty tight rhythm player for sure. I’ll have to look closer next time.
They’re music is amazing but watching Tosin just chilling and watching his fingers/hands do their thing…wow! Effortless and smooth. Thanks for sharing.
Tosin's thumb is so accurately perpendicular in that bend, set-squares are designed by taking him to the factory and referencing him… Dude can even define tan90°… finally mathematicians can take some rest.
I loved that album and saw them play through 1&2 live in NYC. Wasn't a fan of the 3rd as I felt it lacked a cohesive feel, but there were gems there for sure. 4th was what I expected the 3rd album to be and now I'm really looking forward to their 5th after the release of their single 'Monomyth"
@@forextroll YoOoOo! I see you fam! I got to see them for the 3rd in Las Vegas. I knew about the 1st album, but the 2nd is what really got me into them. It’s cool hearing your perspective though because I I fuckin’ loved the 3rd album, but The 4th, I wasn’t feeling as much. I’m forever a fan of whatever they do for Metal and Guitar Culture though. I’m really looking forward to 5.
Weightless was my first AAL album, and I also think that at this point in AAL's career has become somehow overlooked, anyway it's such a masterpiece I love the production and the heaviness of it. 💣🎸
It’s their worst album by a mile, that’s why. Only animals album I dislike. I remember being pumped for weightless after hearing their first record in 2010 and I was super disappointed
Wow. Ya know, I’ve certainly heard of Tobin but never really listened to him. Now I see why he’s shared the stage with the likes of Petrucci, Vai, and others. New fan here. Love the slightly unorthodox style.
The thing I love is how he manages to turn technique into song. He has some technique, and suddenly, thousands of ideas just emerge, ideas that make full use of and rely on absolutely every miniscule movement his hands are capable of. Also seeing Tosin at least slightly struggle with "that one part" from "that one song" (the woven web) was... Delightful
Tosin teaching is just a few words about a concept and then several minutes of him blowing your mind with no explanation. I don't think he can stop playing. How does he ever handle the business end of things?? Best "god-level" guitarist of the 21st century hands down.
Without doubt the most unique player and creative force to exist in the last 15 years. It’s so advanced it almost seems like unplanned and unorganized noise
imagine being so good at the guitar, you can casualy pick any instrument in the world and get something like this on your first try. The level of skill and knowledge is incredible and hard to obtain, but so is the freedom to fully express yourself with those skills
so strange seeing Tosin using a ukelele
I feel ya man
hahaha😁
Funny man
Nice!
💀💀💀💀💀💀
One of the most humble aliens with one of the most humble humans.
what.
@@longbottomleafresearch5296 Tosin being the alien, and Kiko being the human
@@tajwareatswatermelon oh cause he's inhumanely good. right...not a very inspiring way to put it
@@longbottomleafresearch5296 it's supposed to be funny but ok...
@@longbottomleafresearch5296 You must be a banger at the parties
There's about 20 years of technique to learn here in 4 minutes.
Well then no excuses for people to get as good as him in 4 mins
Sure
It's easy
its actually not that difficult to learn the picking style if you already play with your fingers, double thumping can be learned in a few days but it gets a bit more complicated when you started adding more fingers and trying to change strings, but to combine that with scales and hammer ons would take a lot longer to get fast at
I'm here for the secrets that I still won't understand.
The 6 string looks like a toy now.
Exactly
@@tajwareatswatermelon but literally not about that
@@TheSadistNat1on he mentioned in the end that the guitar is “great”, I think my man was just being sarcastic af haha
Also it’s super weird watching Tosin play such a basic guitar, just doesn’t look right. But the sound is On Point
@@tajwareatswatermelon I think it goes to show we can do a lot with a basic 6 string. Since he also plays a 6 string classical for Brain dance.
Such a legend. All he does seems so .. weightless
🙌🏼
I see what you did here
@@gorsedh I'm thoroughly at home in this comment section.
@@forextroll must be a brain dance to pick up all these references
@@gorsedh Nah, they come like water from a Ka$cade
There's a great deal of ambience to almost everything that Tosin plays. It's interesting to watch his left hand. He allows notes to ring out, or almost crossfade. Great chord choices too. Exotic but still familiar.
So true!!
The video really inspires me because, like you said, Tosin's choice of chords is just so ambient and emotional imo. What he's conveying in those passages (esp the one at 1:34) is exactly what I'd want to convey to a listener through my playing
@@jinxie1080 Yeah that sort of rolling, almost rasgueto technique, when combined with unison notes, is very information dense without being busy sounding.
Beyond his technical playing, the thing I really like about his compositions are how natural they sound. But that I mean that he clearly has the patience to sit with a piece and examine the changes and the motifs so the end product sounds like it was there all along (ie, a part of nature).
The real secret is the crazy angle that tosins thumb bends
Alien thumb you mean 😁
You know I have the same bending thumb, and a lot of people told me its not normal, and just now i realize....i should exploit it by practicing this technic
@@gonzar86 the thumb is just a better pic, double thumping is still my fav. The one thing am working on right now. Probably hard to believe I play acoustic guitar.
@@gvnotes well it might be a better pick but you have to treat the nail just right. plus since I'm not tosin or knoplfer I can do a lot of things with a pick that I cant with my thumb, but its all just practice i think
@@gonzar86 Yeah. We all have difference in our body parts, some thumbs can take the digging more than the other. And if one is short on a side then will probably be compensated for on the other, so you never miss a thing if you're hard working. Hope I'll upload a cover or something where I do mostly thumping this week I think.
Tosin looks genuinely good, soft hearted and so relaxed... damn, we need more humans like him... unless he's an alien?
🥲
Well said man! Such a humble soul
His bandmates have said before that he’s really difficult to work with actually. They get it done and have a working relationship but Javier has said Tosin and Matt are very egotistical.
@@vestmentofflesh Erg... do you have some link towards it or what ? I believe you, but I'd love to read about it
@@kalmath_ Try to find the full interview with Herman Li. It’s not like Javier trashed his bandmates, sounded like it could’ve been a lot worse. Herman asked Javier what it’s really like being on tour with them. Javier was like hmmm did you really ask me that? He said they both can take things hard at times and they can be very “special” was the word he used. Didn’t go into much detail.
I love hearing Tosin talk technique. Also that room's natural reverb is off the charts!
I know!
It's great hearing Kiko Loureiro in the background. Hearing how much respect and admiration these guys have for each other is rather inspiring.
Agreed! Especially given how unbelievably good Kiko is. There's a video -- I think on Kiko's channel -- where Tosin and Kiko are having a conversation while playing, and Kiko starts unleashing bits of his true abilities and the vast extent of his musical knowledge. You can tell Tosin is blown away and completely captivated. It's been really nice seeing these two share their knowledge and abilities with each other!
Ah, OK. Just like that eh? (puts guitar down, walks into the sea)
I still can’t believe that misha mansoor had to reassure this guy to make the first AAL album
@Franco I can’t remember which interview it’s from. Tosin was gonna scrap all the stuff he had because he didn’t think he had anything to offer musically and was considering quitting entirely. Misha basically said “don’t do that” and helped tosin turn all his ideas into the self titled album.
@@drummachine5787 Yeah Misha was a bro for sure.
@@drummachine5787 I don't what I'd be doing with music if it wasn't for AAL
@@gigabrad4570 Metallica
Dude is the Hendrix/Eddie Van Halen of this generation. Doing things on the guitar which change the game. Not easy to do at this point.
Nah
@@saxon8981 what a well written rebuttal
I dont know whether I agree or not.
@@brendangibson8200 Thanksgiving
Hendrix changed all of them after him, he invented a stance and attitude towards music. Tosin Abasi didn't invent shit and he is not pursued by anybody but his fans. Maybe you should focus your attention in something else than music.
He's pretty good at guitar.
I’d say decent
he should join a band or something
I heard leaders with animals or something is looking for a guitarist. Idk, never heard much of the band.
Average
I mean he's good.. He's no Slash or Kirk Hammett though...
I really love his style. It’s so explorative and inventive, and he really does his best to leave no stone unturned in terms of challenging the listener’s expectations: odd time signatures, interesting chord voicings, unconventional right and left hand techniques… he clearly does his best to keep progressing. Amazing player. Also, his thumb looks almost unnatural with how severely it is angled. I’m becoming convinced that this is a secret weapon with regard to his thumping prowess.
That's one thing I noticed with some of my favourite players, that all do something weird that looks unnatural. Like Shawn Lane had this freakish speed and in his case, his eyes looked weird as a result when he was playing, you'd see him concentrating as his blink rate would appear extremely odd. With Dimebag Darrell his insane fingering looked like a weightless spider floating across the fret board. James Hetfield and Zakk Wylde have these insane picking techniques, James for rhythm and Zakk for solo work, and Zakk has this really wide vibrato. Even a lot of classical guitarists, musicians in general really, have this unnatural look when they reach a certain level, the harp and the stringed instruments especially. It's fun.
@@ShinyShinyIsAlwaysBeingSerious Super fun! Yeah it seems that some players-particularly the successful ones-develop some idiosyncrasies that are very characteristic of their style and interpretation of the instrument.
@@MrKittles1123 another one that springs to mind is Marty Friedman's bizarre pick hand angle. And yet he's a master. Ola Englund has an odd pick hand angle too, but the man is a beast at rhythm playing.
@@dylanadams1455 Facts! Idk how Marty does what he does with his hand like that, but the results are pretty hard to argue with. As far as Ola, I was just watching some of his stuff the last couple days and didn’t even really pay much attention to his actual technique, but it definitely crossed my mind that he is a pretty tight rhythm player for sure. I’ll have to look closer next time.
The brain dance intro is one of my favorite guitar pieces
This feels like more of a science lesson than anything.
i could listen to hours of Tosin abasi jams and not get bored
They’re music is amazing but watching Tosin just chilling and watching his fingers/hands do their thing…wow! Effortless and smooth. Thanks for sharing.
Seeing him with a 6-string is like watching an adult play with a fisher price toy
Tosin casuallt playing Micro-Aggressions five months before it was released and not even thinking twice about it is such a refreshing thing to see
Dude, uh, I started playing with a pick...oh, and my other two fingers at the same time. (my brain can't function like that)
tosin casually leaking "Micro-Aggressions" at 3:00
Tosin's thumb is so accurately perpendicular in that bend, set-squares are designed by taking him to the factory and referencing him…
Dude can even define tan90°… finally mathematicians can take some rest.
This comment is off-tangent😂
Love watching these videos with new stuff and come back a year later and see it was a riff off the new release
that thumb will haunt my dreams
To be able to sit with him and learn must be an amazing experience. Sick stuff man!
Treats a trip around the world like a brisk walk in the park.
I love this dude. He inspires me everyday. To give up.
It’s cool seeing him play the riff from An Infinite Regression at 1:34 . I feel like that album doesn’t get enough love as a whole.
I loved that album and saw them play through 1&2 live in NYC. Wasn't a fan of the 3rd as I felt it lacked a cohesive feel, but there were gems there for sure. 4th was what I expected the 3rd album to be and now I'm really looking forward to their 5th after the release of their single 'Monomyth"
@@forextroll YoOoOo! I see you fam! I got to see them for the 3rd in Las Vegas. I knew about the 1st album, but the 2nd is what really got me into them.
It’s cool hearing your perspective though because I I fuckin’ loved the 3rd album, but The 4th, I wasn’t feeling as much.
I’m forever a fan of whatever they do for Metal and Guitar Culture though. I’m really looking forward to 5.
Weightless was my first AAL album, and I also think that at this point in AAL's career has become somehow overlooked, anyway it's such a masterpiece I love the production and the heaviness of it. 💣🎸
It’s their worst album by a mile, that’s why. Only animals album I dislike. I remember being pumped for weightless after hearing their first record in 2010 and I was super disappointed
@@GeorgeZimmermen I highly disagree.
Wow. Ya know, I’ve certainly heard of Tobin but never really listened to him. Now I see why he’s shared the stage with the likes of Petrucci, Vai, and others.
New fan here. Love the slightly unorthodox style.
Hes getting better everytime i see a new clip of him
Tosin: what is this a guitar for ants?
you can see he's physically struggling with the tiny ass lute
Tosin & Kiko... Great combo
The thing I love is how he manages to turn technique into song. He has some technique, and suddenly, thousands of ideas just emerge, ideas that make full use of and rely on absolutely every miniscule movement his hands are capable of.
Also seeing Tosin at least slightly struggle with "that one part" from "that one song" (the woven web) was... Delightful
The Brain Dance is probably the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard. All hail Tosin
Totally agreed, that song never fails to inspire me
It's like Snow (Hey Oh) but for the 23rd Century
I can't decide between Brain Dance and Rain by Unprocessed... Damn, they are both beautiful.
The best part of this is his pure happiness. Like he is learning about it while playing.
when you are so head of the game, u dont even give a shit holding on to ur so-called *secrets*
3:10 when you forgot your delay pedal so you just become the delay pedal
He teaches his secrets because he knows nobody can do them
I never would've thought that having your thumb at 90 degrees in the wrong direction could work so well
Tosin teaching is just a few words about a concept and then several minutes of him blowing your mind with no explanation. I don't think he can stop playing. How does he ever handle the business end of things?? Best "god-level" guitarist of the 21st century hands down.
This is amazing, he looks so tranquil & it doesn’t even seem like he’s trying!
having fun with his ukelele
Enjoy him while he's here. We've lost holdsworth, Shawn lane and so many other virtuosos. The fact we get to witness such an innovator is awesome
I will never forget stumbling across Shawn Lane, having my mind blow, only to realize he had passed...
I love Tosin, his music brings pure joy to this world
This! Took the words right out of my mouth
@@Fraeg Shawn lane is my personal favorite amongst the greats. Tri tone fascination blew me out of the water when I was a kid learning to play
His underwater tone will remain a mystery for 3.5 generations
Yeah man. Awesome!!
Bro he leeked micro-agressions
I can't for the life of me comprehend wtf is he doing
I wonder how many other people will be able to play like this in our lifetime
pure dizziness lol
I like how the first secret is the major pentatonic scale.
The Brain Dance is my favorite Animals as Leaders song
Brilliance and beauty.
Tosin is magnificent as always, but that guitar is mesmerizing :-)
Without doubt the most unique player and creative force to exist in the last 15 years. It’s so advanced it almost seems like unplanned and unorganized noise
So advanced most people can't even understand it and don't appreciate how insane a guitarist he is.
The real secret is “hours”. Hours and hours, everyday.
@@wipsypap you can even practice for 10.000 hours and still get nothing improved. You need to think of what you are practicing.
brain dance is my fave song ever
his thumb scares me
This man single handedly reinvented what it means to play guitar 🎸
i come back to this vid every once in a while to remind myself how bad i am at guitar
holy shit, that’s how he plays An Infinite Regression??? i thought he would have used some kind of time modulating pedal to get that intro
My guitar is looking at me, all jealous like
I wouldnt be moving the camera either if I was him.
Thats monstrous skill
Casually rocking the Grove Street drip too
Tosin is outta this world.
Tosin plays with 2 extra strings just because his hands could wrap around a 6-string neck trice over
"You ever use pentatonics?" 4 seconds in and it's already a no for me. Guess just they'll remain secrets to me after all
Excellent.
idk if I learned much honestly but that was super pleasing to watch
I'm convinced you need a hitchhiker thumb to do that wild technique
That first Brain Dance phrase is so beautiful
Nice early taste of micro-aggressions
His thumb curves into a fuckin right angle
Man …. And some days i can’t even tie my shoes!
What a MONSTER, my gosh
Finally! Now it all makes sense!
Met him at the generation axe tour 2018, tosin is a stud! Very chill dude! 👍
this is the strangest high quality tosin video on the internet. Not sure if he's being held hostage or he just has a really unknown new friend.
Man I laughed so hard
Btw it was Kiko who’s recording the video at John Petrucci’s guitar universe 3.0
@@tajwareatswatermelon thanks for posting! haha
I’m soo amazed at how effortless he has made it look;) love this dude
absolutely amazing, Master Tosin
I love how very very nice and very very cool he always seems to be.
I listen to The Brain Dance quite often
I watched the whole thing not knowing it was Kiko lol, i was thinking man this student has a really nice Ibby!
my biggest red flag is thinking i can learn any of this
Just a guy casually creating new ways to play an instrument.
his brain is huge omg
He's like. You just do this and proceeds to melt my face
Damn, that treble is amazing!
imagine being so good at the guitar, you can casualy pick any instrument in the world and get something like this on your first try. The level of skill and knowledge is incredible and hard to obtain, but so is the freedom to fully express yourself with those skills
His right hand technique is just mesmerizing to watch
The depth of his knowledge is mind blowing
I'm thinking of having somebody hammer my thumb joint the wrong way after this video, curse my straight thumb
48 people can only count to four.
the dude has long skinny fingers, my short thick sausage fingers will never pull any of this off
Tosin teachin’ Kiko new techniques…
I love how Tosin has come full circle like 'Yo! I just realized I can use a pick on these arpeggios!' lmfao
What song is that
@@stronk9760What?
@@stronk9760 It's a new song on their upcoming 5th album most likely.