Biography
Takahiro Matsumoto, widely recognized simply as Tak Matsumoto, earned recognition as Asia’s foremost rock guitarist largely through the achievements of his band B'z, though his independent releases and joint ventures also strengthened that standing. His fixation on rock began upon entering high school, evolving rapidly from repeated listens to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin into acquiring a Gibson Les Paul and committing ten hours daily to practice. That persistence eventually produced results after several years, during which he first impressed instructors at a music school and later served as a session guitarist alongside the '80s heavy metal/AOR star Mari Hamada and the pop/rockers TM Network. Dissatisfied with those settings because the arrangements lacked sufficient guitar prominence, Matsumoto also found his initial solo outing, Thousand Wave from 1988, fell short of his vision. He therefore launched B'z alongside vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, forming a group that, while not the heaviest in style, achieved remarkable commercial reach by selling more than 75 million CDs across its opening two decades.
Matsumoto nevertheless pursued additional outlets beyond B'z, maintaining periodic side projects that yielded five full-length solo albums by 2008, each rooted in classic hard rock. His instrumental skill led Gibson to designate him a Signature Artist in 1999 on Steve Vai’s recommendation after B'z toured Japan with Vai, making Matsumoto the first guitarist from Japan to receive that distinction while ultimately setting the record with four signature models. Among his more distinctive departures from standard guitar-hero conventions, he issued the 2003 album Hit Parade, an instrumental collection of Japanese New Year classics featuring the country’s leading rock vocalists, followed in 2004 by the quasi-classical House of Strings, scored for electric guitar and orchestra in the manner of Deep Purple. That same year he assembled the Tak Matsumoto Group, enlisting Western players such as Eric Martin of Mr. Big on vocals, and released the album TMG I. Returning to classical territory in 2005, Matsumoto arranged four songs originally by other artists for the cover collection Theatre of Strings, which appeared on his own label.
Matsumoto nevertheless pursued additional outlets beyond B'z, maintaining periodic side projects that yielded five full-length solo albums by 2008, each rooted in classic hard rock. His instrumental skill led Gibson to designate him a Signature Artist in 1999 on Steve Vai’s recommendation after B'z toured Japan with Vai, making Matsumoto the first guitarist from Japan to receive that distinction while ultimately setting the record with four signature models. Among his more distinctive departures from standard guitar-hero conventions, he issued the 2003 album Hit Parade, an instrumental collection of Japanese New Year classics featuring the country’s leading rock vocalists, followed in 2004 by the quasi-classical House of Strings, scored for electric guitar and orchestra in the manner of Deep Purple. That same year he assembled the Tak Matsumoto Group, enlisting Western players such as Eric Martin of Mr. Big on vocals, and released the album TMG I. Returning to classical territory in 2005, Matsumoto arranged four songs originally by other artists for the cover collection Theatre of Strings, which appeared on his own label.
Albums
Singles
