Guitarists love inventing recent methods to play, and regardless of the entire improvements that’ve already been made, there are nonetheless new strategies to uncover. Simply have a look at Columbian progressive/tech-death steel axman Sebastiside, whose “hybrid rasgueado” rhythmic method is astounding everybody who sees it.
In a brand new interview with Guitar World, Sebastiside – whose actual title is Sebastian Garcia – reveals that his initially wished to be a lead guitarist. Early into his profession, nevertheless, he realized that he’d be higher suited attempting one thing else: “I couldn’t shred like Rick Graham and Stephen Taranto [The Helix Nebula], and possibly due to that, I targeted on my rhythmic taking part in.”
Influenced from artists akin to Caligula’s Horse, Plini and Karnivool, he ultimately moved to Australia and started honing his craft whereas educating. His debut EP, Reincarnate, arrived in August of 2023, and his ground-breaking methodology shines all through it.
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Sebastiside’s “Hybrid Rasgueado” Approach
Within the movies under, you may see Sebastiside demonstrating his “hybrid rasgueado” method (which primarily sees him sweeping his fingernails throughout a number of strings so shortly that it creates a condensed and muted staccato sound). In a manner, he’s fusing conventional rasgueado fingerpicking (usually related to flamenco music) with the distorted tones and irregular slapping of djent and different prog/tech-death steel practices.
“With chords, you might have dominant chords that create plenty of stress, and tonics for the discharge. It’s like telling a narrative. I attempt to do the identical with my rhythms,” he tells Guitar World, including: “So if you happen to’re taking part in eighth notes, utilizing triplets, syncopations, or polyrhythms provides stress and curiosity to your story.”
Concerning his incorporation of slapping, particularly, Sebastiside displays: “I spotted there have been hybrid choosing parts – you may use your thumb to slap and your fingers to tug on the opposite strings to create a robust percussive impact. So I used that concept to mix hybrid choosing with rasgueado.”
By holding the choose between his thumb and index finger (as is customary), he’s ready to make use of the remaining fingers for raking (principally, scrapping strings simply earlier than the notes ring out or are bent). Per Guitar World, he routinely plucks a be aware “on a low string” after which “rake[s] along with his pinky, ring, and center fingers.”
“It may be used for chords and rhythm taking part in and leads,” Sebastiside explains. “It has limitless rhythmic potentialities. . . . You can also make music with only one riff when you might have sufficient variations. [It’s about] enthusiastic about riffs in a really melodic sense.”
If that weren’t sufficient, he additionally bucks developments by endorsing the advantages of cheap and second-hand guitars.
He mentions:
I wished a guitar to play extra trendy kinds of music, however they’re very costly to ship to Colombia. I discovered a seven-string Legator Ghost on Fb Market, which I traded for an outdated Laney tube amp head and cab plus money. . . . [Cheaper guitars are] a lot simpler to play. The strings really feel free and the pickups are delicate so this makes the taking part in expertise very totally different from my common guitars. I get plenty of new concepts each time I play a kind of guitars. . . . I really like the problem of constructing an inexpensive guitar sound good!
Again in 2022, Sebastiside garnered consideration for giving Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” the prog rock remedy and for demonstrating the virtues of taking part in “trendy steel” on a $200 guitar. So, he’s been displaying the world his abilities for a lengthy time.
You possibly can take a look at Sebastiside’s “hybrid rasgueado” method under, and make sure you tell us what you concentrate on his taking part in and his stance on cheaper guitars.
Sebastiside – “Strive This Rasgueado Train”
Sebastiside – “Hybrid Rasgueado Tutorial”
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Take a better look and pay attention.
Gallery Credit score: Jake Richardson
