“Learning licks is useful, but if you rely only on licks you will lose the connection between your mind and the instrument”: Matteo Mancuso's soloing skills are something else – these are his top tips for playing better lead lines

Matteo Mancuso.

Few emerging guitar players have impacted the music world quite like Matteo Mancuso – the young Italian virtuoso who has been tipped for greatness by the likes of Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Al Di Meola and Tosin Abasi.

Through a unique fingerstyle approach to playing and jaw-dropping soloing skills, Mancuso and his trusty Yamaha Revstar have taken the electric guitar world by storm, dropping a debut album, The Journey, that put his elite phrasing powers in front of a global audience.