The next big name in acoustic guitar may be a mononym. Marcin, as he is known, is just 23, but he’s already on track to break into the mainstream in the same way as his acoustic predecessors Paco de Lucia, Tommy Emmanuel and Andy McKee.
Born Marcin Patrzalek in Poland in 2000, the last Year of the Dragon, he’s on fire in 2024, the current Year of the Dragon. In addition to winning two European talent shows and cruising into the America’s Got Talent semi-finals in 2019 with his ninja-like chops and expressive stage presence, Marcin has racked up an incredible 1.73 million YouTube subscribers and earned a signature Ibanez model that has become one of the brand’s most popular since it was launched in 2022.
Now he’s truly going big with his Sony Classical Masterworks debut, Dragon in Harmony, released this September 13. Marcin has always excelled at creative arrangements of cover songs, and this new wide-ranging effort finds him tackling everyone from Nirvana and Mozart to Miles Davis and Led Zeppelin. The album includes guest spots from fellow Ibanez endorser Ichika Nito, who contributes electric guitar to “I Don’t Write About Girls,” as well as from Portugal. The Man, who appear on “When the Light Goes.” An undercurrent of electronic beats adds a modern quality to the 14-song affair, which is co-produced by Marcin and Dan Book (Shania Twain, Blink 182).
Marcin is a truly unique figure. Traditionally trained, he started playing classical guitar at age 10 and studied flamenco under Spanish maestro Carlos Piñana. But Marcin is a born non-traditionalist. Not only does he choose to perform standing up, he’s downright flamboyant, using his whole body energy to command his instrument and the stage. His modern percussive mastery combined with his classical/flamenco background makes him a singularly disciplined gladiator.
But he’s not caught up in the typical trappings of guitar idolatry or gear geekery. Marcin is all about maximum radical self-expression, and it’s making him much more than a new guitar star. He’s crossing over to a general population that simply appreciates accomplished original artistry and, of course, the circus-like nature of his high-wire act on six strings. He got great public exposure over the 2023 holidays when the Phoenix Suns brought him on as their one-man half-time show. He’s sold out the Troubadour in L.A. and New York’s Gramercy Theatre, and took over Times Square on July 19 as part of the TSQ Live summer events series. And more recently he blew away Wyclef Jean with his tapping skills (watch the video below).
Will he make a significant, lasting impact on the culture? Time will tell. In the meantime, there’s no doubt that he’s one of the most compelling players pushing the envelope right now. Guitar Player caught up with the young phenom to learn what’s behind him and his acoustic percussive fingerstyle virtuosity.
You cover such a wide range of material and musicians. I’m curious to know who your guitar heroes are.
I was never — and am still not — a guitar geek. I’m not very deep into the guitar community, even though it’s been very kind to me. But I don’t come from the same mentality as a lot of guitarists who chase after guitar legend status because I don’t come from a place where that was very established. In Poland, admiration of the guitar legends hasn’t been much of a thing, and the classical genre I come from doesn’t have much of that anyway. Guitar is such a forgotten, underappreciated instrument because it’s not in the orchestra, and it’s not much of a solo instrument showcase. You would not expect a guitar concerto to be popular. Guitar is not one of the cool instruments, even in the very uncool classical world. So I was in a very weird surrounding of people and influences, and I honestly never wanted to be like anybody else.
Even though Michael Hedges is the prototypical OG of the percussive style,
I hadn’t heard of him until maybe two years after I was already playing like that. His style seeped into the other players that I saw online. The one who truly resonated was Mike Dawes. Watching Andy McKee and the Canadian guys on the CandyRat label was obviously a huge deal. They were cool and getting the views, but I didn’t necessarily want to be like them. When I saw what Mike was doing, I thought it was an evolution, and he was a bit more to the side of that little CandyRat corner, which I liked. I took technical influences from all of them, mimicking what they were doing on the guitar. But sonically and in terms of approach, I was not trying at all to be like them, because it’s just not who I am.
"Guitar is such a forgotten, underappreciated instrument because it’s not in the orchestra, and it’s not much of a solo instrument showcase."
— Marcin
There is no substitute for classical training. That’s how Ralph Macchio’s character in the iconic movie Crossroads beats Steve Vai’s devil, you know?
Yeah, Paganini’s Caprice No. 5. I appreciate the analogy. I will agree that the core discipline of classical techniques is unparalleled with other styles. Even when an electric player does something that makes people freak out thinking it’s so new, usually it’s already happened in classical music. Not that players like Mike Dawes or Andy McKee are attempting to go in that lane. They have their own imaginations and styles, and they stick to that.
Are you a Paco de Lucia fan?
Yes, absolutely. That’s maybe the only guitarist I would say was ever like an idol to me. I stay away from that word, but that’s the one name in the guitar world I can mention. But not because of technique or anything other than his mentality, which was to bring flamenco — a niche genre with a traditional, local way of playing the guitar — to the mainstream and the public. That is a sign of a truly groundbreaking musician, and that’s what I love doing. It’s my mission. Paco de Lucia brought palmas — the percussive hand-clapping rhythms of Spanish flamenco — to the masses, and that’s what I’m trying to do with percussive playing.
You’ve certainly got a large audience paying attention.
Well, the album starts with a double entendre, “Guitar Is Dead.” And that’s kind of the intro to the real first song, “I Killed It.” It’s essentially a cheeky response to purist or obsolete thinkers saying that players like me, Tim, Ichika or any of the young players trying to change things in the guitar world are somehow destroying the legacy of the guitar. We’re doing bad things, unthinkable and unlistenable, and that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s not how you play the guitar. We are basically killing the guitar.
But if they’re saying that evolution is a bad thing, then the guitar is dead. I don’t know what they want us to do. Play Cmaj#11 in a different position? That’s not evolution. So either they are saying that guitar is dead because I killed it, and I’m the culprit who is messing it up for everybody. Or I’m saying I killed it because I’m doing something right. I’m pissing off the right people.
"I don’t know what purists want us to do. Play Cmaj#11 in a different position? That’s not evolution."
— Marcin
Being classically trained but focused on evolution, what are your thoughts on Segovia?
That’s his voice in the sample on “Guitar Is Dead.” He’s the originator of the current classical guitar style. Everything that’s happening in guitar is technically because of him. I saw a clip of a biopic called Andrés Segovia at Los Olivos. He’s just sitting there in a beautiful house talking wisdom and one of the things he says is, “Guitar is a very complicated instrument, being the only stringed instrument that is really polyphonic. It is impossible to compose if you don’t play it and play it well.”
The concept is that the guitar is the only stringed instrument capable of composing layers. Violin or cello cannot. Piano can do it, but it lacks articulation. It’s a very static instrument. Guitar is light, fluid, nimble, and it is polyphonic, which makes it very special. He’s saying that when composers try to create for guitar, they cannot do justice to the instrument unless they also play it. He said a lot more, but I couldn’t put a 40-minute sample on my record.
The single “Classical Dragon” is a smoking duet. How did Tim Henson from Polyphia end up as a featured guest?
Obviously, Polyphia is a big name in the world of guitar — maybe the biggest if you look purely at the guitar community. I felt they were the most exciting band or artist when I looked around a few years ago. I saw that Tim followed me on social media, so I sent him the track, not expecting anything. But he responded very quickly and positively. It’s a very guitar heavy song, like a guitar feast!
Henson also has a signature Ibanez. Is that how you got involved with the brand?
No, I’ve actually been working with Ibanez passively since 2018 and actively since maybe 2021. I started on an AE900 that they sent me before we modified that into my signature MRC10. It’s great that Tim is with Ibanez, and so is Ichika Nito, who plays on my album as well. It’s like the new wave of guitar is heralded by Ibanez.
Your guitar has a little scratch pad on the top. Did you pick that up from Mike Dawes?
I guess you could say that, at least the concept of it. Mike’s guitar is different
in that it’s made by a small company [Cuntz]. It’s not very accessible. Like my music, I wanted my guitar to be widely accessible. Accessibility and ease of use are important to me. People think there is a big barrier of entry to playing in my style because it looks intimidating to do what I do, which I want to say is kind of a plus for me. I’m not going to lie. It is a vastly different way of playing the guitar, but with my signature Ibanez, you get a very accessible instrument to start your journey with percussive playing and finish it. You can go forever.
"People think there is a big barrier of entry to playing in my style because it looks intimidating. It's kind of a plus for me. I’m not going to lie."
— Marcin
The scratch pad is just a piece of unpolished spruce. There’s nothing fancy about it other than the shape, which I love. Before I had my signature model, I was adding tape and using glue to affix a scratch pad. We also reinforced the bracing — there’s a plate that supports the body — so when I slap my hand down to create a kick drum sound, it’s nice and tight and doesn’t resonate. There’s no note associated. The plate also protects the top from breaking.
And I wanted the guitar to be very easy to play. The action is so easy that you can execute everything you need to do on the fretboard with just your fretting hand doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, leaving the other hand free to do whatever else.
Those are the main modifications we made from the AE900. I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, as that model is not even for sale anymore. My signature model is on the higher end of production guitars, so it’s not perhaps something you would purchase on a whim. But I’m working with Ibanez on some cool stuff for the future.
We’ll keep our eyes out for that. What’s your pickup and signal chain?
My pickup is a Fishman Rare Earth Mic Blend. It’s a dual-element pickup consisting of a magnetic soundhole pickup with a microphone attached. I split the signal and send it out through a stereo jack. The magnetic pickup focuses on the strings. The microphone catches some of the string sound as well, but it’s mostly the body percussion and everything else. I use the same Boss OC-5 Octave pedal that everybody else seems to be using now, in Poly mode to add low octaves to the lowest notes I play on the bottom two strings while the top strings remain pure. Onstage, I use an audio interface to throw the signals into a laptop running Logic Pro, where I add some compression and a little ambience. I don’t use any of the electronics when I record. For that I simply throw a single Manley microphone in front of my guitar.
"To see the acoustic guitar and the percussive style being considered a cool lane to pick — that’s been the biggest blessing for me."
— Marcin
Are you beginning to see your influence in young players looking up to you and trying to cop your style?
Yes, and my style is difficult, but my greatest joy is seeing that mission fulfilled step by step by young people picking up guitars. Kids pick up the guitar to do something cool. You want to be good at something — look cool, sound cool — and you want to have your own thing. To see the acoustic guitar and the percussive style being considered a cool lane to pick — something unique where suddenly you’re not an outcast anymore — that’s been the biggest blessing for me.
Kids tag me in their videos when they play my songs and my arrangements.
I’ve seen the growth with my own eyes for the past few years. The biggest development is rhythmic. I used to see a lot of them missing that key element, but now they play like they know what they’re doing. They understand the core concept of this style.
In addition to being a blessing, that’s also kind of a kick in the butt to keep evolving and not stagnate because there are other players chasing me. It’s a beautiful thing, the changing of the guitar status quo. We’re having a real moment, and I’m very lucky to be trying, at least acoustically, to spearhead the way forward.
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