Tak Matsumoto

Tak Matsumoto
B'z lead guitarist and composer
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	Rock, Hard Rock, Pop Rock, Blues, Jazz, Dance, Adult Rock, Metal
Years	1988–Present
Labels	BMG Japan (1988-1995) Vermillion Records (1995-Present) House of Strings (2004-Present)

Tak Matsumoto (松本孝弘) is a Japanese guitarist, composer, producer, and songwriter best known as one of the two members of B'z. He was born March 27, 1961 in Toyonaka, Osaka. With over two decades spent at the top of the Japanese music scene as its foremost guitarist, he is widely recognized and associated with guitar music in his home country and regularly tops polls in the Japanese music community as the country's greatest guitar ambassador. In addition to his many releases as B'z, he has also had a successful solo career in addition to working with musicians from all over the world.

General

Taks style is influenced by many famous artist from all around the world. His jazz education and devotion for blues helped him create his very own brand of music, now known as "Kansai Blues".  During 1980 he was working for the TM-Network as a session musician and his musical career began to grow. The starting solo careers in Japan enables Tak to make his move and release his first solo hit "Thousand Wave". After this episode he started his own band "B'z". In 2004 he formed the Tak Matsumoto Groud (TMG).

In November 2004 Tak Matsumoto established his own Label "House of Strings", a label for guitarist and all kind of string-artists. Earlier that year he founded the Tak Matsumoto Group.

Career

Tak's career started at the moment he entered High School and buying his first Gibson guitar. At that moment he went from listening to playing by practising for ten hours a day. For a while he kept impressing his teachers before becoming a session musician. After some session- and solo-work Takahiro decided to found a band. This project of him was come to flower as B'z. One as the most well-known Japanese Rock-Bands.

Solo Carrer

His time as a session musician was during the 1980s in collaboration with the TM-Network and Mari Hamada. This effort was to bloom into his outstanding solo-career that started with the emerging of many solo-artist all through japan in the mid and late 80's. During his session-musician time he was quite unhappy because all projects he worked on didn't have enough guitars in them. "Thousand Wave" and one of his finest work "99" with Tetsuya Komuro was his step-stone into a bright solo-career, but this also showed him that it still wasn't what he was looking for.

Even while performing with B'z Tak was never tired of trying out new solo projects. In 2002 he wrote and contributed two songs for Misa's album "Kiss the Sky". Misa had discovered his solo work and asked Tak to work with her. Busy as he is he had a concert with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall and later on recorded those songs under his own label to release them as the first House of Strings CD.

In 2010 after the B'z "Ain't no Magic" Tour he had some sessions with famous guitar-artist Larry Carlton. This collaboration work started in 2007, when Rick Gembar suggested to Larry Carlton to join Matsumoto. Both guitarists got together and it nearly took a year to get started. In 2008 Takahiro has already written some songs which he showed to Larry.

B'z

In the late 1980s Matsumoto decided to start his own band and started looking out for a vocalist. After receiving a demo-tape from a session musician named Koshi Inaba he set up a meeting recorded rendition of "Let it be" by the Beatles. During this session the amp blew. This doomed meeting was to bloom into B'z because even of that small incident Tak knew that he found his vocalist. The musical style of B'z is a various combination of many styled, mostly influenced by Taks love for Blues, Jazz and Classic while Koshi brings in the Rock'n'Roll.

Tak Matsumoto Group

All during 2004 Tak was working on his TMG project. Together with Eric Martin on Vocal, Jack Blades on Bass and Brian Tichy on drums, Tak Matsumoto kept on following his very on brilliant brand of music. Tak produced the album and wrote the songs while Eric Martin and Jack Blade wrote the lyrics. It lead up to "Oh Japan ~ Our Time Is Now ~". The recording was held in Taks studio in LA and therefore he went back and forth to record this album. After a couple of months, on June 23th the album was released, it mixed rock and oriental sounds and topped the chart on the first week.

Discography

Singles

'88~Love Story/Love Ya (1991) '88~Love Story Love Ya

#1090 ~Thousand Dreams~ (1992) #1090 ~Thousand Dreams~ LIFE

THE CHANGING (1999) THE CHANGING ONE FOR THE ROAD THE CHANGING (ORIGINAL TV STYLE) THE CHANGING (VOCAL & GUITARLESS STYLE)

Live Life (2013) Live Life -Instrumental- Live Life -Vocal-

Albums

Thousand Wave (1988) Thousand Wave Touch Operation SPAIN "99" So Long Vampire Hunter "D" Play It So Loud Teaser Take Five No Way Out

Wanna Go Home (1992) Wanna Go Home 99 Long Distance Call Love Ya (Interlude) Air Port Life II '88~Love Story Love Ya #1090 ~Thousand Dreams~ Jammin' of The Guitar Speed Wanna Go Home (Reprise)

Thousand Wave Plus (1996) Thousand Wave Touch Operation SPAIN "99" So Long Vampire Hunter "D" Play It So Loud Teaser Take Five No Way Out '88~Love Story Love Ya

KNOCKIN' "T" AROUND (1999) THE CHANGING ~Electric Lady Mix~ Nothin' But the Blues HEAVEN SAKURA GO FURTHER two of us Kamisama he Fuyu no Hi Ai~Ai~Ai~ Zero Yori Zero Kara Believin' You

DRAGON FROM THE WEST (2002) SACRED FIELD FIGHTING BULL DRAGON FROM THE WEST NOTTEKE Riverside Blues Trinity

Hana (2002) Koi Uta #1090 Sen Mu Ichiya Hana Machi Midousuji BLUE Shu ~Asayake~ Little Wing Romeo & Juliet hallelujah ENGAGED You Know.... 2011

House Of Strings (2004) WHITE CHRISTMAS Itsuka no Merry Christmas sasanqua~Fuyuu no Yuu Koi Uta #1090 Hana Ai no Mama ni... BLUE BLACK JACK SACRED FIELD~RED SUN~GO FURTHER Theme from ULTRAMAN Strings Of My Soul LOVE PHANTOM HOLY NIGHT

Theatre Of Strings (2005) My Favorite Things Over the Rainbow New Cinema Paradise Moon River The Godfather (Waltz~Love Theme) Enter the Dragon Theme Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Mission Impossible Theme Top Gun Anthem Scarborough Fair Canticle Emmanuelle Theme When You Wish Upon A Star The Magnificent Four

Strings Of My Soul (2012) #1090 Sen Mu Ichiya The Moment Live Life TRINITY BLUE Hana Koi Uta sasanqua~Fuyu no Hi THE WINGS SUKIYAKI featuring LARRY CARLTON MY FAVORITE THINGS Romeo & Juliet 99

Untitled 2014 Solo Album (2014) To Be Announced

Collaborations

Rock'n Roll Standard Club (1996) —ROCK STANDARDS ALBUM— I GOT THE FIRE FOOL FOR YOUR LOVING CAUSE WE'VE ENDED AS LOVERS INTO THE ARENA ROCK AND ROLL, HOOCHIE KOO MOVE OVER LIFE FOR THE TAKING SUNSET WISHING WELL COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN MISTREATED

Ihoujin (2003) —1ST COLLABORATIVE SINGLE— Ihoujin (featuring ZARD) Ame no Machi wo (featuring Akiko Matsuda) Ihoujin (VOCAL LESS) Ame no Machi wo (VOCAL LESS)

Imitation Gold (2003) —2ND COLLABORATIVE SINGLE— Imitation Gold (featuring Mai Kuraki) Watashi wa Kaze (featuring Yuri Nakamura) Imitation Gold (VOCAL LESS) Watashi wa Kaze (VOCAL LESS)

The Hit Parade (2003) —COLLABORATIVE ALBUM— Katte ni Shiyagare (featuring Koshi Inaba) Ihoujin (featuring ZARD) Namida no Taiyou (featuring Rina Aiuchi) Sonoki ni Sasenaide (featuring Yuuka Saegusa, Kitahara Aiko and Takaoka Ai) Imitation Gold (featuring Mai Kuraki) Minato no Yoko Yokohama Yokosuka Ame no Machi wo (featuring Akiko Matsuda) Paper Doll (featuring Fayray) "Ichigo Hakusho" wo Mou Ichido (featuring Akane Sugazaki) Foggy Night (featuring Yumi Shizukusa) Shoujo A (featuring Azumi Uehara) Byun Byun (featuring Daria Kawashima) Purple Town (featuring Shiroi Takei) Toki ni Ai wa (featuring Keiko Utoku) SPINNING TOE-HOLD Hitori ~I Stand Alone~ (featuring Jeffrey Qwest) Watashi wa Kaze (featuring Yuri Nakamura)

OH JAPAN ~OUR TIME IS NOW~ (2004) —TMG 1ST SINGLE— OH JAPAN ~OUR TIME IS NOW~ TRAPPED OH JAPAN ~OUR TIME IS NOW~ (KARAOKE) TRAPPED (KARAOKE)

TMG I (2004) —TMG 1ST ALBUM— OH JAPAN ~OUR TIME IS NOW~ Everything Passes Away KINGS FOR A DAY I Know You by Heart I wish you were here THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH Signs of Life RED, WHITE AND BULLET BLUES TRAPPED My Alibi WONDERLAND TRAIN, TRAIN Two of a Kind NEVER GOOD-BYE

TAKE YOUR PICK (2010) —STUDIO ALBUM WITH LARRY CARLTON— JAZZY BULLETS Nite Crawler 2010 THE WAY WE WERE Islands of Japan Neon Blue Tokyo Night hotalu East West Stroll Easy Mystery ao Take Your Pick A girl from China

Live Tours

Logo	Tour	Notes	Home Video
	Rock'n Roll Standard Club Band Tour	Tak's first solo tour outside of B'z. The tour came in support of Tak's solo album, Rock'n Roll Standard Club, on which he provided his own take on a number of rock classics by the likes of Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin, the Michael Schenker Group, Rick Derringer, and Deep Purple. The live tour consisted of songs not included on the album itself, with further classics such as "Mama Kin" by Aerosmith and "Back in Black" by AC/DC also being covered. B'z support members Takanobu Masuda and Kaichi Kurose joined Tak for the tour on keyboards and drums, respectively.	TV Documentary
	TMG LIVE TOUR "Dodge The Bullet"	The sole live tour by TMG, Tak Matsumoto Group, an international rock supergroup consisting of Tak alongside members of fellow rock acts Mr. Big's Eric Martin and Night Ranger's Jack Blades. The tour saw the group touring for a month and a half in the summer of 2004 during Tak's break from B'z duties, with the setlist consisting mostly of songs from the group's only album, TMG I. Notably, the encore also included covers of two classic numbers by Night Ranger and Mr. Big. Concurrent Events: SUMMER SONIC 04
	Tak Matsumoto & Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra Special Collaboration 2004: "Hana"	A special groundbreaking three-night engagement between Tak Matsumoto and the world-famous Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. The sold-out shows featured Tak playing guitar affront a full orchestra as they performed orchestral arrangements of Tak's compositions both of the solo and B'z varieties. The arrangements were later recorded and released on Tak's solo album of the same year, House Of Strings. Concurrent Events: THURSDAY LIVE at hills Bread Factory "WEST COAST NIGHT vol.2", THURSDAY LIVE at hills Bread Factory "OOM NIGHT", 12th Seigaku Alumni Festival: Tak Matsumoto Live Concert	TV Documentary
	Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto LIVE 2010 "TAKE YOUR PICK"	The tour for Tak's collaboration with American jazz legend Larry Carlton in support of their joint album TAKE YOUR PICK. The tour held Japanese dates from June to September, followed by two dates in Taiwan and Hong Kong later in October. Many of the performances were held with two per day at select venues. All songs from the joint album were played during the setlist, followed by an encore consisting of Larry's well-regarded classic "Room 335" and Tak's most well-known solo effort "#1090 ~Thousand Dreams~".
	Tak Matsumoto Solo Live Tour 2014	Tour in support of Tak's as-yet-untitled 2014 solo album. It is the first true solo tour by Tak. The tour is set to span one month, from May to June, and again sees Tak playing double shows for many of the venues as he did in 2010.

Guitars

Not just that his first guitar ever was a Gibson, he also had the privilege of becoming the first japanese signature artist for Gibson. After being introduced by Steve Vai, a long term and good friend of Matsumoto, he got his first Signature Model in 1999. He sure made up for that Honor by snatching the most signature models made by Gibson. Until now he has a total of seven. While most of the Gibson Signature models are only available in Japan, Epiphone took up the effort to produce the models for the US market.
TODO: List of other guitars Tak owns/plays.

Hardware

Over the years Tak Matsumoto has collected and received many different Hardware-Setups for his Live-Concerts and recordings. Commonly known are his Signature Guitars which he plays during Live-Gyms since 1999. In 2013 Dunlop has awarded him his own Dunlop-Cry-Baby as a Signature Model named Tak Cry Baby.