instead of copying them

[When he learned he couldn’t be Eric Johnson or John Petrucci, Mateus Asato decided to be someone else – himself]

"I could never replicate my heroes – Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and John Petrucci. It was just so hard. It upset me that I couldn’t, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, is this a curse?’ But it forced me to go another way. I decided to understand the essence of my heroes instead of copying them.” --Mateus Asato