The Modern Guitar Discussion w/ Tosin Abasi, Tim Henson & Misha Mansoor 

The fact that this video wasn't titled "The League of Extraordinary Djentlemen" is a loss for all humanity.

Let's all appreciate that we have Beato, Abasi, Hensen, and Mansoor along with their opinions in the palm of our hands for free.........

"Boomer bends" is at 24:48. Just in case you were searching for it as well, fellow youtube traveller.

Tim is practicing guitar out of nervous energy. Wonderful.

This was such a good hang☺️🤘🏿

So much talent in one room shouldn’t be possible to contain

I love how Tim breaks the fourth wall by looking into the camera. Makes me feel included in the conversation.

I love Misha's take, "I don't think I'm a good musician". It's not up to the player to decide if they're a good musician or songwriter, that's up to the listener. The musician is just doing what they enjoy doing.

Rick is like a cool uncle that everyone wants to hang out with!

"The St. Anger snare, I love it!" Misha's reaction was GOLD.

Dude, I fucking love Misha. He is so down to earth. "I hate jamming. I can't improvise and I can't improvise hanging with you guys" Lmao, this guy is the best.

I agree with Tim. i make music because i want to listen to something that doesn't exist. Always been like that. There's music going in my brain always and sometimes i want to hear what it would sound like in real life.

It is *SO* liberating to hear these virtuosos humble themselves. Knowing that only Tosin has ~some sort of idea~ of what he's doing after the fact, that Misha is terrified to jam because he can't improvise, and that even Tim's popularity was preceded by his originality stemming from not fitting in is really comforting. It's also crazy that Rick started producing at 37 and got his chops up and got through the industry so fast at that age that he can just call up these 3 and do a chat!

He shall now be called "Rick Fury", cause that guy has brought together the Avengers of prog!

Tosin is seriously just the nicest, most humble, down to earth guy and he's a fucking guitar god. I just love that about him.

Around 21 minutes, Tosin correcting his joke under his breath saying "major third" is the most musically nerdy thing, and I love it 🤣

31:39 I think this phenomena is called the 4 minute mile. In 1954 an athlete by the name Roger Bannister intended to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. He was told by his doctor not to try to do it otherwise his heart would literally explode. Ever since he broke that record it has been broken by over 1,400 athletes. When humans see other humans pushing the limits beyond and beyond it empowers them to see possibility and therefore like you guys are saying rise the bar higher and higher.

Man those three guys must be so hyped to meet Rick beato

It's great the level of respect these guys have for each other. Next to those 3, you wouldn't put Rick in the same class guitar-wise, yet on a Jazz level, a theory level he's head and shoulders above them and they know it. When Rick talks, every one of them listens intently with 100% attention on his words. Love the respect they show one another!

Tosin seems like the most chill person to hangout with, hes just happy to be there

What Tosin was getting at is you can teach and learn technique, skill, fundamentals, and approaches. But you cannot really teach creativity and vision. You can kind of lead someone in the direction of vision and creativity, but the rest is for them to discover. Not being locked into a predefined rulebook of process, yet having the skill to master a process allows for the development of a unique process that can lead to a unique vision.

If Tosin was holding his guitar, Misha wouldn't be in the camera's frame.

I gotta admit…… My expectations of this conversation were way low compared to what I got from it. I thought this was gonna be a whole bunch of heady mumbo jumbo, but this was a cool hang with a bunch of really cool dudes that just so happen to be top tier musicians. You guys should consider doing this more often. Pick a few topics to riff on and just capture the magic. Love all of you guys already, but this video leveled up the respect and admiration to another level. Thank you for doing this Rick

25:20 "Originality is a byproduct". Wow...this hit me hard. Also, I just realized how much time I wasted obsessing about music theory instead of just playing. This is one the great advantages of modern media, it has plenty of bad sides but it also allows podcasts like these to spread the wisdom. Thank you :)

I think Tim was just writing the next polyphia album on that guitar he's holding while everyone else talked.

"I just want to hear all the things I like in one thing." Tim so casually and so totally nails why I enjoy making music.

I would pay money to hear these guys talk to each other once a month. Just love this entire discussion.

Being in the age range of Tosin and Misha, I totally understand the "getting old" bit. Especially discussing influential music with younger guys. ESPECIALLY the downloading bit hahaha. Oh the Kazaa days. I also enjoyed how Rick and Tosin kept pulling Tim into the conversation - hes clearly very introverted but had a lot to offer when directly engaged. Good stuff.

I am freaking out right now

If Misha hasn't started a podcast yet he should, I could listen to him talk about anything for hours

I've always been, and heck, probably always will be a bedroom artist - but - this video (for me) emphasized one thing; knowledge doesn't always trump creativity. I think I've gone down a rabbit hole, these past few years, being obsessed with all 3 of these artists and my presumption that they're all Rick Beato equals in terms of music theory. This has forced me to try and obsess with the textbook rather than my feelings. It's refreshing to hear that its okay to not understand what you're doing and just accept that it sounds good no matter how simple or complex it may be. I think the majority of us normal people have been missing that reaffirmation.. Loved this Rick. Thank you Tosin, Tim and Misha

You know, I forgot how starved I am of some quality conversations, interesting characters and great musicians. Too much that surounds us on daily basis is mediocre at best and plain stupid. I love this!! How cool is that You brought together people that influenced me in my journey thorough music! Thank You very much for this video!!

Rick…hearing you say you started mixing at 37 just made me almost cry. I’ve been playing with daws for years, but really started learning when I was in my early 30s. Makes me feel like I’m not behind. ❤️❤️

3:00 "I'm still starving, please buy my products" Tosin killed me xD

"i learned protools on my own, at 37 years old" - rick beato giving us 30 year olds hope

Would love to see more of this style of content with you guys. It's cool to just listen to you guys sitting down and having a conversation with minimal editing.

First we get an extended Pat Metheny interview THEN this line-up! Rick you are the absolute best!

Misha: You have a really strong ear. Rick: Huh? Such a really cool and relaxed conversation with a good Dad Joke thrown in to keep it down to earth.

Been watching your channel for a long time. Its amazing to see all these guys in one room. Tosin is a awesome guy in real life, chatted with him after a show in Little Rock.

Fantastic. Three of my all-time favourite guitarists in the same room, discussing incomprehensibly important assets to legends of our generation and those to come. I wish I was there to attribute and ask further questions. Aptitudinal!

28:26 Its fun that Tim says that where Tosin has been talking about Porsche. Because the founder of Porsche was motivated to build cars because he couldnt found the one he liked. "If i cant find the car I want, I'll build it myself - Ferdinand Porsche Pretty ironic lmao

Rick knew exactly when to speak and listen during this discussion. He’s immensely knowledgeable, but humble. Again, thank you, Mr. Breato. 👍🏻

Absolutely loved this! Thank you so much for doing this whole discussion. It felt like I was sitting right there and listening to all of you. Very very interesting conversations.

Thank you for making this interview happen it was very inspiring to me! It was really nice to just listen and hear all the perspectives!

“ I feel like if there’s no gray area there is no discovery.” Tosin Abasi. Wonderful thought.

I've never heard of these guys, just checked out Tim Henson, OMG! Goose just pissed off all my neighbours as I had it playing so loud 10pm UK time. I'm 65, thank you for opening me up to some amazing new music.

Shout-out to Misha for the Carpenter Brut shirt and Tim for never ceasing to play his guitar during the whole talk.

Great content here. Love hearing the next wave of musicians talk about where music is going. Also, Rick is such a great interviewer. So supportive and reassuring, able to keep the conversation moving, and always with something interesting to add.

This was a great gathering. Tosin is an awesome nerd. His thing about humans tapping into what others have experienced ties into a concept coined as morphogenetic field, with ideas like our brains are not so much generators of consciousness as they are receptors of consciousness, taking straight from the source (where creativity originates and things like instinct come from, where experience is recorded). Rupert Sheldrake and Bruce Lipton are excellent spokesmen for this concept.

I wish this was a Podcast! Literally the only one I’d listen to.

Still can't wrap my head around how insanely cool everything that you do is, gathering those masterminds in one spot just having a great time, what a joy to watch and listen to all of you talk

In fact, there IS a "law" (the "Rechtsfahrgebot"), that tells you to use the right lane, if it's free, so people can pass you on the left lane :)

the most important part i took from this, is that most of us dont know what we're doing but its ok cause some of the best dont aswell... made me feel at peace with my lack of knowledge, and also thinking about the random stuff that i come up with from time to time that amaze me yet i dont know how i came up with it

Glad you are giving a platform to these kinds of guitar players. Too many people are stuck in the past. I love classic rock and old school metal as much as anyone, but I can only heart Eddie Van Halen and Megadeth stories for so long.

I really enjoyed listening to this discussion. Thank you for getting the guys together and hosting this!

This was such an amazing video to watch. The way I see it, as an artist who has never had nor wanted any fame, money, recognition, or anything of the sort from the things that I create, it validated a lot of the concepts that I've always felt throughout my life. I'm 36, started playing guitar when i was 12, dropped it during my early 20's due to personal issues, and at 27 decided to start learning production techniques only because I could never be in a band or follow the traditional roadmap of being a musician. Spent years learning how to use Ableton Live just to get the ideas out of my head. I don't listen to radio, don't watch the news, and am minimally social, and still create when I have the time. I feel artists base their work on monetary or social success, and it's a real shame to feel that way. True success comes from within and I encourage everyone who has a creative spark in their soul to not stop doing what they do, because the world would be such an awful place if we all felt that we sucked, or noone ever validated or praised our work.

Been listening to Misha the longest but holy crap Rick these 3 (and their bands) are my life’s playlist. Thank you so much for this content!! Wish Aaron Marshall and Plini were here lol

Dang, it's interesting to hear Tim's experiences. I resonate more with Misha and Tosin's experiences - the Metallica stuff, downloading songs that were purposefully mislabelled off Limewire etc and I'm two years younger than Henson.

Rick, thank you so much to share what you sharing in your channel. You give us access to thoughts and way of considering music that I could never had so deeply. Thank you

Tosin is beyond an articulate thinker and speaker. Next level.

From an older musician like me (67 years old) this video is fun and informative. Enlightening dialogue among generations. More videos like this please.

Damn, Tosin is so knowledgeable. Absolutely brilliant video, so enjoyable.

Rick, this was such a great conversation. Thank you for bringing these guys together to reflect on where we currently are.

Grateful to live in an era where the world’s great guitarists seem like smart cool guys and not total dicks!!!

Really enjoy Tosin and Misha's perspective on guitar and music.

I really appreciate all the praise that Misha puts on Matt. I truly love watching and listening to Matt crush drum parts. Truly exceptional drummer and really makes that trio.

There are some gems in here, and unexpected ones too. When they talk about originality and Tim uses the analogy about shopping, light bulbs went off for me! A fascinating conversation.

More of this please, this was truly amazing to watch, thx for the upload

Loved hearing everyone's input. 28 years old and I can't believe Tim hasn't heard the black album. Top 10 Rick vid of the year

it always impress me how tosin is so well spoken and eloquent, like, he's got such a unique vocabulary

Misha and Tosin. Y’all my spirit animals. We like the same age and all grew up playing guitar and so much of what they talkin about is exactly my feelings and views. Then you hear Tim who’s younger and his perspective is so different , love this. Very cool guys.

This is one of my favorite videos on this channel. Absolute gold.

This is a fascinating conversation, I'd love to hear an even longer more in-depth version! Love it!

Love you all! This is such touching recognition especially from Misha who's programming inspired me to play this way. Love your channel Rick!

It's so wild to see the different personality types. As a guitar player, this is one of the dopest videos ever. 😁

This was a great video. loved to listen to the way all of these guys think about music and outside of the music world for comparisons or parallels. It is awesome when you find that you think alike in many ways and very differently in others with people you tend to look up to. Excellent Video Rick. you should definitely do more stuff like this. this is a Gem.

What a great convo! Can’t believe I’ve been listening to all these guys for over 10 years.

I can’t believe you pulled these three guys into a room. This is so awesome, their talent plus yours is incalculable.

Loved this conversation. They explored all the elements of feel, technique, theory and instinct, and laid bare the exploration of sound and creativity as an awesome human endeavour! Nice work!

This is such a fantastic interview! I learned so much and everyone in this interview is so talented in their own unique way, love it!

That's one of the best interviews out there. Thank you, Rick!

What's amazing is when someone like Misha, who doesn't use tons of theory in writing, can come up many different things that sound novel. I find music theory really helpful when trying to come up with new, interesting chord progressions, etc.

Appreciate it guys 🙏🏼Rick you’re an amazing ambassador of modern music. Bridging the gap for so many. I always enjoy learning from your sage like wisdom. As any good lick would demonstrate: your simple presence, efficiency, timing, and feel added incalculable value to this conversation

Great conversations on music theory, practice, and audio production from a breadth of generational experience. I was 21 years old in 2000, studying music: audio technology. We had the old Tascam tape reels and analog board. Next year, the college purchased a Mackie HDR 24/96 with digital/automated fader board and software. We were discussing the changing evolution of music production and the concerns about future employment in the studio. It took 4-7 students to run a session. In 2006, I built my first home/virtual instrument's studio. I used a sample library, sound card, and midi keyboard from E-MU/Proteus. The virtual instruments weren't very polished, but for what I was doing, it was amazing. Now, my PC and equipment is far more powerful than what we had then, which is incredible. It's an entirely different world than it was 20 years ago. Today, I can produce excellent quality music with my home studio that costs less than $10,000 and I don't need other engineers. Such an amazing time to be a musician and producer.

this looks to be one of your greatest videos yet. pioneers of "guitar music" i love these guys!

Another home run. Rick, you are influencing the music world in so many great ways just by opening up all these spaces for discussion of things that have nowhere else to happen - but are *hugely* important for musicians and fans. Thank you for what you are doing.

I literally just discovered Polyphia 12/30 and now listening to 4 of the coolest dudes ever. Can’t wait to check out the rest of Periphery and Animals. Great convo Beato!!

This was as edifying as it was interesting and entertaining. Love all you guys thankyou so much, from one artist to the next

Rick, you're my personal music professor. I've learned more from you than anyone else. Thank you. 🙏

This was awesome hearing a younger generation's perspective too! I have to agree with them in regards to hip hop stars versus musicians. Everyone of them are awesome and glad to hear their perspectives! Rick crossing over generational lines too! Rick, this is why you're so damn cool! Everyone is comfortable with you and you keep it real!

Great chat with some interesting people. I love mishas attitude towards originality and making music, really genuine.

Thank you Rick! Thank you Tosin and Tim! I thought I had stopped progressing as a guitar player until seeing your techniques about six months ago when I crawled out from under the rock I was living. Your playing and work has reignited me. I love what you are all doing. Keep rockin'. -Meesh

I loved this conversation so much. It speaks to so many things I've noticed from technology, how people will write in the future, and specifically Tim talking about how he just wanted to write music that HE wanted to listen to. I feel the same way and can't find the music I want to listen to, so... at some point I'll start writing that music. One day. Maybe... ...with my brain.

I watched a video of the Polyphia guys playing with someone like Satriani at a NAMM thing I think. It was clear they were uncomfortable and didn’t really play well trying to improvise with him. I believe it because that was waaaay out of their wheelhouse. As an older guy it’s easy for me to look down my nose and “judge” with my arms closed that they can’t play like the old guys. These guys come from a different place musically. But at least they’re trying to create and make something that is unique to them and the place they come from. Great interview.

Rick, tosin, and misha are so cultured and experienced! it's fun to watch your minds operate :) thank you for this

Thank you for coordinating and doing this. Amazing conversation. Makes me want to write music way more than trying to just learn other songs :)

I could watch stuff like that for years. Just inspiring, down to earth top talent just chatting. Great stuff

Misha's smirk when Tim says, "…that 'boomer-ish' sound." 😂

Great video brother. So much raw talent in the room. Should do another, I would listen to you guys chat guitar and music for hours..

Just wow. I've sat on this video for a year now, and not watched. I'm a drummer, you guys are guitarists, so I didn't prioritize listening to this. Now that I've branched out and started producing in StudioOne, and Superior Drummer 3, I'm not being so close minded and gifting myself with this. So much of what you guys are discussing I'm fully in sync with, and agree with. The talks about the advent of social media, and music production simplification, and the effect it has on musicianship is freakin spot on. If you'd have told me just 1j0 years ago, that I'd have the ability, in my house, 24/7 access, to do for myself, breaking a song down into individual stems, pull out the original drums, and replace them with my own performance, and have it sound so good, it doesn't sound out of place on that song, but it's clearly me, and my style being represented, plus I recorded it at 3am, with the whole famly asleep, and didn't wake up a soul. I'd point out just how broke I am, and how much that gear costs, and laugh at you. Well, here I am. I've gotta couple grand in my ekit, maybe a grand in software, and maybe half that in my PC. I don't even have an interface anymore. Mine died, and I didn't bother replacing it, since I've got midi over USB. For guitar, I LITERALLY, have a qtr to 3.5mm cable, plug directly into the mic on the pc, and run it through freakin Tosin's or Tim's rigs in Archatype, and make it sound great! I do still firmly believe in the requirement of raw talent, and a great ear though, so I don't think I'm able to make it sound just as good as they do, but I can get a sound I'm happy with, and it's done well enough to make people enjoy the listen. I've got some videos up on here, of when I first started trying to record myself, and you can hear jsut how far away from "good" I was. I wasn't even passable back then. I'd classify my ability as "laughable at bestt" back then lol. Now, if I put my mind to it, stay on track, not getting off into no man's land on a freakn snare drum bottom head mic sound for 12 hours, but know when to move on, I can make a very good performance, sound like it's been professionally produced. I'm not sure I could ever make a living doing it, but that's not my goal anyway. My goal is to make myself a record of me playing the songs I've love throughout my life, in order to remember specific times and what I felt like in those times. I want to have something to show my kids, family, friends, whoever, that I found the thing in my life that I am good at, and I accomplished something. Not much. I've been in lots of bands, and some have been on the cusp of success, major success anyway. But I'm a drummer. I'm just there to make a beat, and sometimes, I've got a second or two to show off, but for the most part, I'm in the background. In the covers, I bring the drums up slightly louder, and place myself a little more out front. that's all me, is it selfish? Of course it is, but I never try to outshine the original drummer, and I never try to perfectly emulate them either. I just play songs I love, with my voice, and my feelings. They are in no way meant to be "better" than the guy who wrote the original, in fact they're usually worse lol. I mean to pay the drummer I'm covering a compliment. Because if I play his song, it's because he's got my respect, and has been an influence on me in my journey. With all that long winded, barely coesive mess, what I'm trying to get across, is how this new music frontier has benefited me, and what I"ve utilized the new wonderful tools for. I don't want fame, or money. I've been close enough to getting both, that I know I don't need all that. I jsut want to be happy with the time and effort, and money, I've invested in my music throughout my life, and having a tangable thing, I can listen to, and let people hear, that shows that, is the goal. You wanna hear something I've done recently? Anyone who comments yes, I'll drop a link to my drive, where I've got a folder with my stuff in it. Mostly covers I've done with no video, and jam sessions, with my "musical soulmate" where we'll go for 20/30/40 minutes freestyling just off the cuff. Some of the crap we pull off, seems impossible to not have been rehearsed. That's why I call him what I do, because of the prog elements we can pull out our asses, with no prior discussion, and nail.