Instrumental guitar music has been in a rude state of health over the last decade, partly thanks to the work of American trio Animals As Leaders. The 2007-formed project, which sees extended-range guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes throwing all kinds of brain-bursting time signatures at drummer Matt Garstka, is themed around the concept of two guitar virtuosos using seven, eight and even nine-string instruments to cover the higher and lower registers, eradicating any need for a bass player. And though their early albums were more rooted in futuristic tech-metal, they’ve been adding more elements of jazz fusion into the mix since third record The Joy Of Motion, released in 2014.
As easy as it is to be dazzled by their time-warping riffs and hyper-intelligent leads, the real magic lies in how the pair are able to effortlessly support each other through each frame of their cascading musical conversations. They’re very much a double act who refuse to be distracted or consumed by the complexity of each other’s musical creations – instead focusing on how to bring out the best in their co-guitarist and fill out more space than any trio before them.
Abasi and Reyes have also kept busy outside of the band – the latter in his own solo project Mestis and the former with
his own guitar company Abasi Concepts, as well as touring with Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Nuno Bettencourt as part of Generation Axe.
As Tosin recently explained to TG: “Ultimately, the six-string can be the core of how you understand an eight-string, especially if you retain standard tuning. We often tune our eight-strings to drop E, so you can still perceive it as a six-string in standard tuning. All scales and shapes repeat per octave, so it’s good to acknowledge the repetition within the fingerboard.”
The history of seven-string guitar can be
