Tak Matsumoto

Takahiro Matsumoto (松本 孝弘) is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer.

He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan by certifications.

Matsumoto continued his session work throughout the early and mid-1980s with acts such as Mari Hamada until deciding to jump on the emerging solo instrumental trend catching on in Japan at that time.

He recorded the solo album Thousand Wave and worked with future globe headliner Tetsuya Komuro as a touring guitarist for Komuro's band TM Network.

"99", a simple instrumental incorporating some blistering fretwork, is considered one of his finest works.

After his solo album, Matsumoto decided to try his hand at starting his own band.

With his session work behind him and a burgeoning production career, he started to search for a singer.

After being presented with a tape from an unknown session singer known as Koshi Inaba, Matsumoto was blown away.

Their first recorded session was a rendition of "Let It Be" and "Oh! Darling" by The Beatles, and even though the amp blew out, Matsumoto knew he had his new singer.

Matsumoto and Inaba formed the duo B'z and debuted in September 1988.

B'z has continued to be one of the most successful bands in the history of Japanese music, helped by the pairing of two very different musical directions.

Matsumoto always drew his tastes from blues, classical, and jazz, while Inaba preferred rock music.

Tak has ongoing friendships with musicians such as Barry Sparks, Marty Friedman, Billy Sheehan, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Martin, Jack Blades, Joe Perry, Pat Torpey, Steven Tyler, and Steve Vai, with whom Tak and Koshi recorded the song "Asian Sky" from the 1999 album, The Ultra Zone.

Billy Sheehan recorded tracks for 1999's Brotherhood album, as well as touring (along with Shane Gaalaas) as support musicians for 2002's Green Live-Gym Tour.

In 2002, Matsumoto contributed music to two songs ("Don't Stop Music!" and "Koiuta") on Misia's fourth album, Kiss in the Sky; she invited him to be a part of the album after discovering his solo work.

Matsumoto's 2003 solo album The Hit Parade was chosen as one of the Best Rock & Pop albums of the year at the 18th Japan Gold Disc Awards.

In 2004, he formed the "Tak Matsumoto Group" (TMG) with Eric Martin on vocal, Jack Blades on bass, and various guest drummers, namely Brian Tichy and Cindy Blackman, forging ahead with his own brand of musical genius.

Tak played guitar, produced the album, and wrote songs while Eric and Jack wrote lyrics.

In March, the single "Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~", was released.

The album TMG I, which made Tak go back and forth to the US for the recording, was released on June 23.

Tak said he had this project idea for a long time.

The album mixes rock and oriental sounds.

The album topped the Oricon Albums Chart in the first week.

Matsumoto energetically kept working; on July 18, 19 and 20, he had a collaboration concert with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall.

At this special concert, named Tokyo Special Collaboration 2004 Matsumoto Takahiro -HANA-, Tak played the B'z hit "Love Phantom" and the solo number "HANA" with only his guitar and Orchestra.

Soon after, TMG started its tour rehearsal.

From July 30, the "Dodge The Bullet" tour started at Zepp Fukuoka.

Chris Frazier who played songs on the B'z album Big Machine joined as the drummer for this tour.

TMG had 16 shows in 8 locations including the last show at Nihon Budokan on September 7.

In November, Matsumoto established his own label, "House of Strings", which emphasizes guitarists and string musicians.

He recorded again at a studio with songs played with an orchestra in July and released it as the first House of Strings CD with the same title on the album.

It is an instrumental album including Christmas numbers such as "Itsuka no Merry Christmas" and "Holy Night".

In 2005, he scored the soundtrack for the film Ultraman: The Next, while the next year wrote the music of "Real Face" for KAT-TUN.

According to Oricon, "Real Face" became the best-selling Japanese single in 2006.

He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winning several Japan Gold Disc Awards, he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Take Your Pick (2010), which he made in collaboration with Larry Carlton.

Matsumoto is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar.

Matsumoto was inspired to pick up a guitar at the age of 13 when he heard Eric Clapton's playing on The Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for the first time.

He reportedly bought his first electric guitar at age 15, a Japanese Gibson Les Paul, after hearing Deep Purple's guitarist Ritchie Blackmore play "Smoke on the Water on the live album Made in Japan. Matsumoto has said over the years that he has many favorite artists, from whom he has drawn much inspiration, from hard rock, particularly Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Van Halen, and Michael Schenker. He has also cited a love of classical music, which was the catalyst for the incorporation of strings into many B'z compositions. He has also worked with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra for many years, and their work often appears on many of the earlier B'z albums.

Matsumoto attended jazz school, but when he started working as a session musician and supporting tours like TM Network, his musicianship was cemented.

His exposure to a myriad of styles helped him to meld his own unique blend, incorporating elements of his jazz training, blues (his incorporation of the style known as "Kansai Blues" is well known), classical, heavy metal, rock, and ska.