is a Japanese musician, best known as the leader and bassist of the rock band

L'Arc-en-Ciel L'Arc-en-Ciel ( French: 'The Rainbow', stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitari ...

. He was formerly known by the stage name tetsu and he started using his birth name professionally on December 1, 2009. While in L'Arc-en-Ciel his name is styled as tetsuya, whereas in his solo work it is styled as TETSUYA. He also does backup vocals in L'Arc-en-Ciel and has composed many of the band's songs, including " Link", " Ready Steady Go", "Finale", " Driver's High", " Stay Away", " Pieces" and " Good Luck My Way". In 2001 he started a solo career under the name TETSU69 (1969 is his birth year). From 2005 to 2006 he was a support member of Morrie's solo project Creature Creature.

Playing style

Tetsuya plays with a melodic style. Many of

's songs involve him playing counter melodies with guitarist

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

while still holding a groove with the drums. Tetsuya's composing can be seen as more "poppish" as compared to Ken's who has a heavier and sometimes

bluesy Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afric ...

approach. He frequently uses slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs in his playing. He plays with a pick most of the time, but uses finger style occasionally when the song calls for it, such as in "

Winter Fall "Winter Fall" is the ninth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on January 28, 1998. It debuted at number 1 on the Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and inform ...

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Jojoushi is the twenty-eighth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel, released on May 18, 2005.JaME
Retrieved May ...

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" and "Mirai Sekai". In a few songs he can be heard using the slap style of playing, such as in the L'Arc songs "The Nepenthes" and "Twinkle, Twinkle". Tetsuya has also used distortion, such as in " Stay Away" and "Butterfly's Sleep". Tetsuya primarily plays a 5 string bass since L'Arc-en-Ciel's 15th anniversary, but is known to occasionally use 6 strings. Such as in "

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", "Time Goes On", "Get Out from the Shell" where he plays lead melody. In "Perfect Blue" he used a 6 string

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sc ...

(an electric guitar between the range of a bass and standard electric guitar). Tetsuya also uses a guitar/bass double neck in the song "Trust". Even though Tetsuya is endorsed by

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under severa ...

and has several signature models, he has used his Zon bass for most of his recording work. Tetsuya is an avid collector of basses and guitars, owning over 120 basses and more than 20 guitars. Tetsuya now also endorses Lakland basses and his signature model is the US Series 55-69 tetsuya. He was seen using variations of this bass at the band's recent 20th anniversary concerts in aid of the great Japanese earthquake and tsunami tragedy.

Discography

;Singles ;EP ;Albums ;DVD / Blu-ray ;Other releases

References

External links

TETSUYA Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetsuya L'Arc-en-Ciel members Ki/oon Music artists Japanese rock bass guitarists Japanese male singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese male rock singers Visual kei musicians Japanese alternative rock musicians Musicians from Shiga Prefecture 1969 births Living people Male bass guitarists