Italian guitar virtuoso, Matteo Mancuso can’t seem to stop mesmerizing guitar lovers and music fans with his fantastic playing. One of his latest skill showcasing can be seen on the maestro’s social media pages as he was shredding on Steve Vai’s ‘Eugene’s Trick Bag’.
Matteo Mancuso Plays Steve Vai’s ‘Eugene’s Trick Bag’ Excited Guitar Fans
In the short video, Matteo managed to mesmerize many guitar heads and music enthusiasts as he played the tricking musical piece using his fingerstyle electric guitar technique, which is still uncommon for many to witness. Moreover, ‘Eugene’s Trick Bag’ which was a musical piece that Vai arranged specifically for the movie ‘Crossroad’ is not an easy one to play, especially using only fingerstyle considering some tricky arpeggio runs on it.
However, being widely known as a player who exclusively uses fingerstyle technique on his electric guitar, nothing seems to be too difficult for Matteo. The Italian guitar virtuoso just put on excellent playing from the first trill up to the final lick. The guitarist’s clean, fast, and agile finger-picking is certainly something to behold as it’s still uncommon to see any axeman pulling off such skillset even in this modern date.
‘Eugene’s Trick Bag’ itself is a pretty well-known track for guitar lovers, notably since it was being played in the guitar-based movie, ‘Crossroad’ in which Vai plays the role of a villain. The song is attractive as it combines classical elements with a few other elements such as rock and country as well. Being reportedly loosely based on Nicolo Paganini’s ‘Caprice No.5’, the song became one of the most popular guitar instrumental pieces to this date
Check out Matteo Mancuso’s rendition of Steve Vai‘s ‘Eugue’s Trick Bag’ :
Mancuso’s excellent playing has been attracting plenty of attention, not just from guitar fans and aspiring players but also from his fellow peers, including Vai himself. The world-renowned guitar master believes that his junior is someone who is leading the evolution of guitar music in this modern era.
Here is Steve Vai’s Recording of ‘Eugene’s Trick Bag’ which is available on his album “The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1”
The 26-year-old Italian virtuoso didn’t just play the renowned instrumental track by chance though as he purposely did it to announce and confirm his participation in Vai’s upcoming guitar academy program (Vai Academy 7.0). The regular event will kick start on January 2-5, 2024 and Mancuso will be one of the special guest instructors along with many top modern guitar virtuosos, such as the Polyphia duo (Tim Henson and Scott Le Page), Mateus Asato, Marcin, Yvette Young, etc.
Vai’s Guitar Academy has been one of the most famous camps in recent years, along with Joe Satriani’s, Paul Gilbert’s, and John Petrucci’s. Those maestros have consistently offered aspiring guitar players exciting insights, masterclasses, and jamming session opportunities that will certainly help them in their quest to become better guitarists.
