08 ICHIKA NITO

The virtuoso with a clean tone to die for

Anyone who had their mind blown by Eruption in 1978 should be equally amazed that it ultimately led to Ichika Nito. With his sparkling clean tone and sophisticated chord voicings, Nito is in another galaxy from Van Halen, but he expands the possibilities of finger tapping just as Eddie did. He often plays the instrument more like a piano, reminiscent of 80s genius Stanley Jordan. Like Mateus Asato, Ichika is rarely seen with a pick or a backing track, and his flawless technique is made even more apparent by his exposed clean tone. He shows that virtuoso guitarists can make original, beautiful music.