Video: Tosin Abasi Shows Rolling Stone Magazine How to Shred

Rolling Stone’s got a new weekly series called “Young Guns” in which they’re “exploring the most notable guitarists from the next generation of legends.” The RS staff is doing a fine job spreading the love amongst genres — so far they’ve featured Gary Clark Jr., White Denim’s James Petralli and Scale the Summit’s Chris Letchford, among others — and they’ve just released a quick written piece and accompanying video featuring Tosin Abasi, unquestionably at the top of (or close to) the “next generation of legends,” if he hasn’t reached that status already.

The written portion is definitely worth a read, as both Abasi and co-Animals as Leaders guitarist Javier Reyes share a good bit about their formative years of learning to play guitar (Reyes: “When Nirvana and Soundgarden came out, I was probably the only kid I knew that was bummed out. That music killed guitar playing. I remember watching music videos with Rudolf Schenker from the Scorpions or Angus Young from AC/DC just going nuts, and thinking that was the coolest stuff in the world. But then Kurt Cobain came out, and all that stuff was over. The only bands that were still doing solos were Pantera and Dream Theater, so that’s what I gravitated to.”). But the best part is watching Abasi play circles around video host Matt Sweeney — who filled a similar roll for Vice’s Guitar Moves series last year — tapping, shredding and dancing his way around the fretboard while Sweeney does an admirable job trying to keep up at first, then just throws in the towel and watches Tosin do his thing. I’d do the exact same in his shoes.

Also: though Tosin can’t recall the name of the VHS tapes he shredded along with as a child, I’m almost certain he’s talking about Doug Marks and his Metal Method series, apparently still a thing. I had those videos too! One of us was clearly more devoted to the cause… you choose which.

[via Gear Gods]