Mateus Asato

Mateus Asato is a Brazilian guitar player who has been considered by the media one of the "most influential guitar players" of this modern era. His name is included on Guitar World Magazine’s list of the TOP 10 Guitarists of the Decade (2020), #3 TOP Guitarist Right Now (via Total Guitar 2020), and his latest appearance was on Guitar World Magazine in 2022, being on number #14 of the list of ‘Hottest Guitar Players In The World’.

Asato has worked with some of the greatest names of the music industry nowadays, from all different styles, such as Bruno Mars, Silk Sonic, Jessie J, Tori Kelly, Selena Gomez, Carrie Underwood, Elevation Worship, Planetshakers, Israel Houghton, Oficina G3, Joe Satriani (G4), Extreme, Sandy, Resgate, DJ Snake, The Band Camino, LANY, Polyphia, Kiko Loureiro, The Technicolors, Fresno, Jesus Molina, Anomalie, Kinga Glyk, Tiago Iorc, Luan Santana & many others.

His musical journey started when he was 9 years old, taking the first steps on how to play acoustic guitar. One year later, Mateus found out through electric guitar his biggest passion in Music. His first influences were mainly Brazilian guitar players such as Juninho Afram (Oficina G3), Kiko Loureiro (Angra, Megadeth), and Edu Ardanuy (Dr. Sin) - and then his tastes got incorporated into the Worldwide 80s/90's Guitar Heroes like Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert & John Petrucci. Asato grew up playing in his local church (First Baptist Church in Campo Grande MS), which gave him a solid music background as a preparation for the future of his career.

Around the Fall of 2013, Asato joined the guitar program of the Musicians Institute (GIT) in Hollywood, which provided him with two years of intense musical growth and recognition around the campus especially in the social media world.

A couple of days after graduating, he not only got the award of "Outstanding Player of the Year" at GIT but also got his first job's offer as a musician: an audition to play guitar for the American singer-songwriter Tori Kelly.

Working with Tori Kelly was his first gig in the US - which made everything more special. You can see Mateus’s work alongside the singer-songwriter from 2015 until 2020, including three American tours [special mention to The Acoustic Sessions Tour (2019), which Tori had Mateus Asato as a duo/guest featuring], performances at the biggest TV Shows, Festivals & Music Awards in America, and runs overseas. It was around mid-2017 when Asato got invited to tour with Jessie. He was her official guitar player for an entire year, being able to perform at some of the most legendary festivals in the UK and Europe. Jessie had also invited Mateus to perform with her every time she’s been in Brazil since they met, which included two shows at Rock In Rio (2019 & 2022) - a bucket list for every musician from Brazil.

It seems that every step was meant to be in Asato’s journey as a sideman.

At one of these festivals in Europe with Jessie J, Bruno Mars started a conversation with Mateus, which left him extremely surprised and without any idea of what the future was holding. One year after that, Mateus was sharing the stage in Las Vegas with Bruno Mars & The Hooligans for the first time (as a sub).

The year 2022 was fully committed to Bruno’s dates. According to Asato, the highlights of that busy schedule were the epic 2022 Grammy performance with Silk Sonic and the 3 sold-out shows at Tokyo Dome in Japan with Bruno Mars.

Besides his successful résumé as a sideman, Mateus Asato also manifests his art through his project, which became his main focus. Asato has toured in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea with his instrumental trio. He’s currently finishing the final details to release his debut album, after so many years of waiting and not being able to give his commitment to it. Asato also believes in the power of teaching - and one of his biggest goals is to have a source of online lessons. As an instructor, he’s been part of major camps of the scene - including Guitar Universe 3.0 (hosted by John Petrucci) & G4 Experience (hosted by Joe Satriani).

VIDEO

Martin Miller & Mateus Asato - Viva la Vida (Coldplay Cover)