Gitar Plus interview - October 2012
Thanks to Bumblefoot for providing the picture
Original interview in English (Interview by Pralim Mudya):
Gitar Plus: Talk a bit about “Silhouettes”, how do you describe the album,
musicwise and guitarwise?
Fredrik: It's a quite hard album to define. I wouldn't really call it a guitar
based album as such, even though there are plenty of guitars on it.
I would rather describe it as a dark instrumental album with influences from
progressive rock and metal, jazz/fusion and modern classical music.
Gitar Plus: What’s your formula for recording guitar in this album? What is the main element of your sound?
Fredrik: For recording the guitars I was mainly using my Rocktron Prophesy preamp lined out to a small 1*10 cab. Sometimes I used Impulse responses that simulated other cabinets as well depending on the sound I was aiming for.
Guitar wise I used my Vigier guitars / fretless guitars. I've been a Vigier endorsed artist since 2007 and they are the best guitars I've ever played. All guitars are equipped with various models of DiMarzio pickups (I am a DiMarzio artist too). For the acoustic parts I used a Washburn acoustic guitar and a 12 string Ibanez guitar.
Everything was recorded in my old home studio, with the exceptions of my guests on the album.
Gitar Plus: How do you approach when constructing the compositions? What has been your biggest challenge when recording it?
I wrote the majority of the music in my head. Many guitar players let their fingers write the music rather than what they hear inside their heads.
I use to work like that too in the past so I am no exception. But for the last years I write most of the music in my head with all the
arrangements etc. I knew what I wanted the different instruments to do in order to get the atmosphere I was aiming for within the songs.
It was a big challenge music wise. I had written some music in the past for a album that was more of the typical guitar hero music that we all have heard a million times before. But in the end I wasn't satisfied so I threw all the old song ideas away and started from scratch.
I wanted to focus more on the music itself and the feeling and atmosphere. The first song I wrote was "memories". From there on I kept writing songs in the same genre. I studied many new areas of music and harmonizations. It was a big challenge but I learned a lot along the way.
Gitar Plus: Guitarwise, do you have one or two tracks which you are really particularly proud of?
Once the album was done I felt quite satisfied but I will never feel totally satisfied with my playing. There's always room for improvement.
That is what keeps me going. But if I had to choose my favorite songs of the album it would be "The demonic masquerade" and the title track "Silhouettes".
Gitar Plus: Thinking back, which guitarists had the most impact on you when you first started playing?
When I started out my biggest influences were bands like Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden and Metallica. Later I got drawn into guitar music such as Yngwie Malmsten, Steve Vai etc. I started taking lessons from Mattias IA Eklundh around 1999 and we became good friends.
I also got lessons from players such as Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal and Dave Martone that improved my playing a lot. Ron and I also became friends and I'm glad to say that he and Mattias IA Eklundh are both playing on my album along with my friend Lalle Larsson who is a virtuoso piano and
keyboard player.
I also like players such as Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Guthrie Govan, Frank Zappa and Brett Garsed. Also other non-guitar players such as John Coltrane, The Beatles, Charlie Parker, Arnold Schoenberg etc. The list could go on forever...
Originally posted in Gitar Plus magazine - Indonesia, October issue 2012
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Gitar Plus: Talk a bit about “Silhouettes”, how do you describe the album,
musicwise and guitarwise?
Fredrik: It's a quite hard album to define. I wouldn't really call it a guitar
based album as such, even though there are plenty of guitars on it.
I would rather describe it as a dark instrumental album with influences from
progressive rock and metal, jazz/fusion and modern classical music.
Gitar Plus: What’s your formula for recording guitar in this album? What is the main element of your sound?
Fredrik: For recording the guitars I was mainly using my Rocktron Prophesy preamp lined out to a small 1*10 cab. Sometimes I used Impulse responses that simulated other cabinets as well depending on the sound I was aiming for.
Guitar wise I used my Vigier guitars / fretless guitars. I've been a Vigier endorsed artist since 2007 and they are the best guitars I've ever played. All guitars are equipped with various models of DiMarzio pickups (I am a DiMarzio artist too). For the acoustic parts I used a Washburn acoustic guitar and a 12 string Ibanez guitar.
Everything was recorded in my old home studio, with the exceptions of my guests on the album.
Gitar Plus: How do you approach when constructing the compositions? What has been your biggest challenge when recording it?
I wrote the majority of the music in my head. Many guitar players let their fingers write the music rather than what they hear inside their heads.
I use to work like that too in the past so I am no exception. But for the last years I write most of the music in my head with all the
arrangements etc. I knew what I wanted the different instruments to do in order to get the atmosphere I was aiming for within the songs.
It was a big challenge music wise. I had written some music in the past for a album that was more of the typical guitar hero music that we all have heard a million times before. But in the end I wasn't satisfied so I threw all the old song ideas away and started from scratch.
I wanted to focus more on the music itself and the feeling and atmosphere. The first song I wrote was "memories". From there on I kept writing songs in the same genre. I studied many new areas of music and harmonizations. It was a big challenge but I learned a lot along the way.
Gitar Plus: Guitarwise, do you have one or two tracks which you are really particularly proud of?
Once the album was done I felt quite satisfied but I will never feel totally satisfied with my playing. There's always room for improvement.
That is what keeps me going. But if I had to choose my favorite songs of the album it would be "The demonic masquerade" and the title track "Silhouettes".
Gitar Plus: Thinking back, which guitarists had the most impact on you when you first started playing?
When I started out my biggest influences were bands like Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden and Metallica. Later I got drawn into guitar music such as Yngwie Malmsten, Steve Vai etc. I started taking lessons from Mattias IA Eklundh around 1999 and we became good friends.
I also got lessons from players such as Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal and Dave Martone that improved my playing a lot. Ron and I also became friends and I'm glad to say that he and Mattias IA Eklundh are both playing on my album along with my friend Lalle Larsson who is a virtuoso piano and
keyboard player.
I also like players such as Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Guthrie Govan, Frank Zappa and Brett Garsed. Also other non-guitar players such as John Coltrane, The Beatles, Charlie Parker, Arnold Schoenberg etc. The list could go on forever...
Originally posted in Gitar Plus magazine - Indonesia, October issue 2012
Back
