Guitar Heroes: Mikio Fujioka (藤岡幹大)
- The American Guitar Academy
- Jul 4
- 6 min read
It was many years ago that I discovered the music of Babymetal - I believe it was around the time they were touring Europe after the release of the first critically-acclaimed album. At the time I did not quite gel with the idol-esque vocals with the metal soundtrack, though one thing that stood out to me immediately was how insanely talented the backing band, referred to as the ‘Kami Band’, were - my eyes and ears were drawn to them every time, especially during live performances. Whilst the musicians in the Kami Band were constantly revolving, at the time the main proponents were all Japanese musicians. BOH was on bass, Aoyama Hideki on drums and rounding it all off was Takayoshi Ohmura and, the subject of my blog post today, the late and great Mikio Fujioka - I did not know the names of these musicians at the time.
Fast forward a few years, and I was deep in the otherworldly music of Allan Holdsworth when I came across a cover of his tune ‘Road Games’ by a Japanese guitar player. I was enamored by his smooth, technical playing that projected endless talent and skill. I was also impressed by his own interpretation of the song, Holdsworth left some big shoes to fill, and the simple fact that he just looked so happy playing the guitar - it was infectious. I wondered what else this guitarist had done in his career to find that he was one of the guitarists from the Kami Band, was a Holdsworth fan like myself and had, unfortunately, passed away only a few months before. The more I researched, listened and learned from this player, the bigger a fan I became. Today he is one of my favorites, and is a constant source of inspiration.
Mikio Fujioka (Allan Holdsworth) - Road Games
I have the pleasure of working alongside Naoki Kobyashi, a talented tutor and world-class guitarist himself, who worked closely with Fujioka up until the week before his passing. Naoki was kind enough to join me for dinner one evening, where we talked about Fujioka - consider this blog post an interview as well as a Guitar Heroes blog post.
Recommended Listening
For a long time, I have been a fan of guitars made by the famous Japanese brand ESP. Fujioka was an endorsed artist with ESP and had two signature models - a six string and also seven string variant. I have owned a couple, though unfortunately I had to move them on for various reasons. The video that caught my attention, for the seven string specifically, was the one I have linked below. It turns out that this song was written for a Young Guitar special edition called ‘バカテクぎたー’ - translated as ‘crazy guitar techniques’. The song is a short piece, but serves the context of the book well. It is called ‘メタル練習曲’ which means ‘metal practice song’.
Mikio Fujioka - メタル練習曲
Another of Fujioka’s significant influences was the inimitable Jeff Beck. One song that caught my attention was the song ‘Harmony X’ - a homage to Beck with all the seemingly impossible harmonics (I just can’t figure out how he is doing it?!).
“he [Fujioka-san] was very versatile, of course! He had very accurate technique, so he could authentically play whatever he wanted”
When I sat down with Naoki, he explained that although Fujioka was able to shred extremely well, he never relied upon that. He did not have to and I think there are far too many guitarists around that based their identity of playing quickly - speed was not the only trick in his arsenal.
Here is a video of him performing the song live with the KARI band (仮Band):
Mikio Fujioka & 仮BAND - Harmony X
Interview with Naoki
I recently wrote a blog post on meeting your heroes, and sitting with Naoki allowed me to get closer to meeting Fujioka than I thought possible since his untimely passing in 2018. In a way I feel like I have met him, and he sounds exactly like I imagined him.
Naoki and Mikio Fujioka met at MI Tokyo in the early 2000s where Fujioka started teaching after graduating in MI Osaka shortly before. One of the most prominent facts Naoki repeated, and this is something I have read online as well as observed through videos, is that he just loved to play the guitar!
“I worked with him up until the week before he died. There were always lots of smiles and he was very happy - like a comedian!”
When I lived in the United Kingdom, I was going through a process of trying different drive pedals to pair with my Line 6 HX Stomp (to save on DSP if you are interested!). I had won a guitar pedal in a competition that I did not like, so I sold it and bought the J Rockett Allan Holdsworth pedal - this sounded great but not quite for me and so I sold it to a collector in the United States. I used the money to import the Caesar X drive pedal from Masatone here in Japan - the signature drive from Mikio Fujioka. He had such a great tone, but I liked the pedal for the features it had (the drive section is called ‘Allan’ - can you guess why?). It remains on my board to this day! This drive pedal is but one small part of the whole picture of his unique sound.
“His playing was very impressive, but he had his own style and signature tone. He always sounded like himself.”
Not only was Fujioka one to deeply enjoy playing, he also took it very seriously. I think it is the mark of a great musician when they have endless fun doing what they do, but know when they need to focus and work hard.
“He was very serious about his music - he sent me an email and asked to collaborate. We worked on music theory columns and books for Young Guitar - he was always emailing me and asking me to check the work.”
Some guitar teachers teach purely because they are lazy, or don’t have the ability to perform for whatever reason (this does not apply to any of us at The American Guitar Academy!). As we have discussed in the past, a highly proficient guitar player does not make a great teacher. The best of them teach because they enjoy it, just like I do. Fujioka was just like that, according to Naoki. He loved to teach because it was another way he could express himself with the guitar.
“He was the most likable teacher - students loved him and no one ever said anything bad about him. He had both humor and the ability to demonstrate his ability.”
The best teachers also have the skill needed to break down what they are playing. Explaining concepts that might come naturally is extremely difficult, and not everyone can put those impulses into words. With my limited Japanese skill I can sometimes follow many of his lessons on YouTube, purely because of how effectively he could break them down.
I also recall a video I had seen of Fujioka teaching a student at MI Tokyo, and the culmination of the lesson was a jam between teacher and student. In my opinion, the level of respect that he showed to the student was commendable; instead of playing at an unattainable level, creating an impossible standard for the student to match, he played with them, hovering at the fringes and allowing the student to push themselves just that little bit more. To paraphrase Paul Gilbert, it is not about having a competition but rather a guitar conversation.
“He liked to have a drink and have a good time with friends. My best memory was watching him play with [visiting] artists at MI Tokyo. People would come to watch him play as well as Paul Gilbert”
What Have I Learned?
I have learned a number of important technical lessons, from both observing his playing, watching masterclasses and reading his instructional material. One of them, and it is something I like to pass on to my more advanced students, is learning to shift your licks and ideas by an 8th note, giving your playing an entirely different feel each time. I have also discovered a multitude of new ways that I can approach playing something like a pentatonic scale or a simple riff.
From a more holistic perspective, I have a greater acceptance of my own playing. I try to enjoy everything that I do and channel some of the same energy that Fujioka had when he played live (it also helps that his face is on the drive pedal I used on my pedal board - almost like a divine intervention… or divine supervision?!).
Final Thoughts
When this world-class musician unfortunately passed in 2018, it seemed to have impacted people all over the world. Not only were people that I know personally and in the music industry affected, but many news outlets and music blogs published their own tributes.
“[Takayoshi] Ohmura and other great guitarists were influenced and taught by him”
Prominent figures in the Japanese guitar scene played a part in the popular ‘My Little God’ (he was known as ‘小神’ or ‘ko-gami’ to friends and fans alike) tribute show, an event held shortly after his passing, and still have elements of his playing present in theirs.
I urge you to check out some of his playing, with Babymetal, TrickBox, 仮BAND and everything else. It seems like an insurmountable task to find something of his that does not impress you in some way!
