Practice English Speaking&Listening with: FAQ125 - MEGADETH ARE BACK, NEW GUITAR PICKS, NAMM CONCLUSION, LEARN TO SOLO

Oh, A minor

Sorry

What's up everyone and welcome to FAQ 125

All the way over there

I just came home from NAMM and boy, oh boy...

It was so much fun

I don't know what it is about NAMM, I mean, it wears you out you're exhausted

You're tired all the time, just like a zombie walking through those hallways

But it's just so much fun.

But I'm really happy that it's over and that there's one year until the next one

So, I'm not gonna ramble on too much

Let's just get on with the FAQ and no

I'm not gonna destroy this beautiful t-shirt today, sorry

Cristian Lopez

"Hi Ola, can you show us how to pick fast on the low string?

"For example songs like Metallica Fight Fire With Fire or Damage Inc.

"I've been playing for 5 years and my hand always cramps or my picking falls..."

"Or my pick falls." Ok. "Thank you."

You are welcome.

Okay, let me grab one of these picks.

I have a bunch of picks here that I got from NAMM

You know, people walk around and give me shit. That's awesome, I love that about NAMM.

But I got like these weird picks that has a hole in them

I don't know if you can see that but it's like... looks like a guitar pick from the future basically

Can you see that?

Maybe there's a big one I can show...

Here's the bigger one

Looks like one of those, you know, ninja throwing stars or something like that

But there's a hole in them, so... I don't know what that does, but ok.

Let's try that. Looks like it's from the future anyway, so...

F*** no.

Back to my story, yes, I got a fair amount of guitar picks while I was at NAMM

And also this

This is a regular Jazz III Tortex that I stole

I'm sorry, I didn't bring any guitar picks to NAMM, so I had to steal this one.

I stole it from the Ormsby booth

I'm sorry, shit

Whoever owned this guitar pick, I'll send it back to you, ok?

Just send me your address. I'll send it back to you.

I'm sorry.

I also got this new Jeff Loomis sharp pick

Holy f***, that's...

Ooh, really digs in there, I like that. Okay...

John Petrucci new triangle guitar pick. Let's try that. What was the question?

How to pick fast on the low string, ok.

Did not like that. Ok, let's try this.

This is the Ultex John Petrucci. I know I like that one.

Okay, so about playing fast on the low strings...

I have a special technique for this that a lot of people are gonna be like...

'Ola, you're such a f***ing asshole, you look like a douche doing that'

Well, sorry. That's just how I play my tremolos.

Hello over there.

So what I do is that when I'm playing tremolo, I completely switch up my technique

And you can see it on my hand.

I do it like this. I kind of lock my f***ing wrist right there.

So as you can see, I'm going... I was just picking like this before, really backwards

But now it's like really super backwards.

You can see I'm locking up my wrist and then I go like this.

Just don't talk while doing this.

I'm playing so fast right now.

So it looks really weird.

And it's absolutely not the most efficient way of picking fast on the lower strings but...

That's the way I do it.

If I'm all warmed up and you know, It's longer into today wh-

What is the time right now? It's 8 a.m while I'm recording this, so it's really like early morning

I haven't warmed up or anything like that

But if I'm in the afternoon and I've been playing guitar all day, I can do that for hours almost and...

It's just a real good way for me to get my black metal going.

'Cry', that's a good word for black metal

Sly-Sound: "Hey Ola, good to see you still FAQing everything up.

"Question, how much of the gear you demo do you still own? Like, do you have a small warehouse full of crap?"

"Greetings from Canada."

Thank you so much.

Oh you can't see my game right now.

There it is. Look at that. That's a... it's the game.

Well, I don't have a warehouse, I did have a storage unit back before I had this office

The good thing now is that I have all my shit in that room over there.

Now, you know, I can keep all my stuff.

Before I had to send a lot of the stuff back because...

I mean for demos... It depends on the brand, but usually I just send it back.

I try to keep the gear that I like, like a lot, and that I would see myself using

But other than that I'm pretty good at just slinging things either back to the brand or just sell it basically

So there it is, Sly-Sound

Zagaroth DB87

"Hey Ola, hope you enjoy the Dream Theater concert. It is an absolutely amazing show.

"So good it's scary how spot-on John Petrucci was, incredible. Let us know how you enjoy the show."

Okay, so I want to the Scenes From A Memory Dream Theater show.

I went there with a paying friend and it was amazing, I must say.

It's been a while since I've seen Dream Theater now

I mean, back in the day I went to every show that they had.

But I think it was at the self-titled album, I saw that show...

I almost fell asleep watching that show and I was like 'Ok, I cannot watch Dream Theater anymore, i mean...'

Three and a half hours of Dream Theater even for me is a lot, and I'm a fan

So a long time since I went to my last Dream Theater, show went to this Scenes From A Memory one

And it was totally kicking all kinds of ass, I mean...

When they played Scenes From A Memory in its fullest...

I was basically singing through all of the songs, it brought so many memories back

Even at some points like, you know, in And Finally Free, the last song

I teared up

That album meant so much to me back when it was released

Because that's when I fell in love with Louise and I felt that it was kind of hopeless

Because she was already with another guy, so you know I... you know, I...

It just throws me back. Listening to all those songs man, they...

I mean, they mean so much to me.

So I was tearing up at the show.

And yes it is ok to cry...

If you're a person.

And it's totally ok to cry, ok? Especially on video.

To be honest that sounded a little bit weird, but let's just go

But let me say, yesterday I was at the Megadeth show in Stockholm...

Holy shit, I'd never seen Megadeth before

That was incredible. Even though it was a short show.

And you know, Dave Mustaine has been recovering from f***ing throat cancer, holy shit.

How do you recover from that? Well, ok, he's just going up on stage

and keeps on kickin all the kinds of ass. That's admirable if anything.

I mean, I have to applaud Megadeth sound guy. Holy shit.

It's probably one of the better sounding shows I've been to in probably like 10 years or something like that.

Holy shit I was impressed.

And incredibly tight...

And just all through super awesome

So this month I've been to Opeth, Dream Theater and Megadeth

And you know Opeth and Dream Theater were awesome obviously.

But Megadeth totally blew my f***ing brains out. Holy shit.

I have a much higher respect of Megadeth right now and also Dave Mustaine for just you know...

F***ing putting on a show this close to you know, his last treatment of f***ing throat cancer

Holy shit. So there you go.

Dream Theater, it was awesome. Megadeth, super awesome Thank You.

gerry diaz

"Hey Ola, do you listen to Ronnie James Dio? Can you do an Ola listens to Dio if you don't please?"

I'm not that much of an avid follower of the works of Dio

However, Dehumanizer by Black Sabbath is my favorite Black Sabbath

And Dio is singing on that one, and it's absolutely incredible

You know, I've heard a couple of Rainbow songs, but I mean...

Yeah, but Black Sabbath Dehumanizer is where it's at.

Rest in peace Dio by the way.

Vince 'Cocklan'

'Cough' not 'Cock'

"Hi Ola I was wondering what is the music that you have in the background of your videos?"

Okay thank you so much for that because then I can plug myself.

Yes, I'm using either my latest solo album Master of the Universe

which is an instrumental solo album

or some of my Feared albums.

and if you're interested in this you can support me by getting one of those albums

from either olaenglundshop.com or fearedband.com

Thank you so much

It all gets shipped out by my beautiful wife

when she's here and she packs... you know, all the CDs in that room over there

It's great and amazing.

Disiz Bestbro

"Seeing as how you don't know music theory or a ton of scales, how did you learn to solo?

"Are there any tips you can give for someone who is a decent rhythm player

"trying to figure out where to begin with learning to solo?"

This is a great question. How do you start soloing? I have no idea.

No, I do have an idea. What I did when I was, you know, starting to play guitar was...

Basically I was listening to Pantera and Dream Theater and trying to kind of mimic what they were playing

And you know, for the sake of playing lead guitar

It doesn't really matter if you're playing close to the original or not when you're trying to learn

I think it's really important to listen and try to learn by ear

It's such a strength to have to just hear something on the fly and then be like 'Oh, okay...'

Something I did when I was a kid was that when I was watching TV I would sit with the guitar

And whenever there was like title music I would try and play along to that, so I was kind of like 'Ok...'

You know, like I did in the beginning there

So I would like sit and try to figure out the time music on the TV shows that were on

Just picking out something by ear like that is an incredible skill

And something you definitely should practice

but I think it's more about just trying to find an easy solo that you can start with

And then just try to figure it out by ear.

If you have tabs, that's also great

I mean, nowadays you have YouTube videos where people are showing how to play solos really slow

There's a vast amount of stuff out there to help you out

Just check on YouTube, you know...

Find a solo that you really like, search on YouTube 'Song that I really like solo played slow'

You're probably gonna find something, I promise.

Kristoffee Arvee

"Hi Ola, I've seen you become pretty successful as a well-known musician and youtuber

"How long are hard did it took you to decide on whether to pursue this career

"during the time when you transition from corporate job world to music world?

"By the way, love your videos."

Thank you so much. Okay, so the transition for this wasn't really that quick to be honest.

I mean, I was doing a lot of this, the YouTube thing as a hobby when I had a day job

You know, I was making a little bit of money, but...

No way near anything to sustain, you know, and support my family and what needed to be...

You know, I needed a day job to have a full salary

And when I went to NAMM in 2012

That's when I discovered that you know, there was a lot of real people coming up to me and saying...

You know, appreciating what I'm doing

That was the point where I'm like, okay, maybe if I...

You know, do YouTube full-time...

You know, my output could be a lot greater than if I were just doing it as a hobby during weekends for instance

But if I would be able to do it full-time, maybe I can make it work.

So that's what happened in 2012

And then I got asked to join Six Feet Under, so...

I mean, that was just a lucky break, I didn't plan to join a touring band

But I did and I made money out of that.

So... you know, I was planning on doing the YouTube thing full-time, but it didn't... you know

But that's just not how it all panned out

I got to do both touring and YouTube

But I slacked a little bit on the YouTube thing because I was out touring a lot

So it wasn't really a very quick transition

I mean, I've been doing YouTube for a long time before I quit my day job

You know, I was already communicating on the Andy Sneap forum

And you know, spending a lot of time building, you know, my name way before this

So it wasn't like an overnight sensation, I would say

There you go, Kristoffee

Cepren Ayopobneh

"Hi Ola"

Spot-on by Ola by the way, cyrillic slayer

"Hi Ola, I need your help. I started teaching playing on guitar a girl, her name's Anna.

"But she won't not study section rhythm and share...

"She want..." Sorry

"She want immediately playing songs.

"Please, can you personally tell or write motivation words to her?

"If you will make it, sure it will conclude success.

Thank you, and hello from Russia.

Thank you so much. Holy shit. That was not easy to read, but thank you.

Okay, Anna...

Anna... Anna, listen to me

Don't stop

Do not ever stop

You will make it

You will become an incredible guitar player

Just listen to Cepreh Ayopnopbn

ElNicopewpew

"Thanks for being you and all the great content.

"Why aren't you coming to Larvik Guitar Festival this year?"

Okay, thank you so much

Yes, I had one clinic show for 2020 booked in

And that was the Larvik Guitar Show in Norway. I did it 2 years ago, it was amazing.

I was staying there with Louise and you know we had a spa...

And it was just... it was great and obviously the clinic was awesome because I'm awesome

But the main reason for me cancelling Larvik this year

is because that was the only clinic and workshop I had for this year

With all the things happening now...

I just feel that I cannot put on a good enough show

I just cannot practice and commit to a clinic show.

I mean, it's just one clinic show

I still have to prepare and practice as much for one clinic as if I would have done 10 clinics

So, I mean I'm just not there right now.

I really want to focus on what I'm doing here in the office this year

I don't want to travel that much this year because travelling disrupts everything I do

It stresses me out the absolute most

When I go out traveling or touring or you know, when I'm just out in the world

So for 2020 just want to sit here, be able to commit

And not stress out because I've been on the verge of breaking down because of travelling

Because it basically f*** up everything surrounding me.

So that's why I decided to cancel Larvik this year

The guys who are running Larvik are excellent people

And they were really understanding and nice when I told them about this

And I just want to extend a huge thank you to you guys. You guys are awesome.

And maybe we'll see you next year, ok?

Anecapap Xyokopoya

"I love the way how you trying to pronounce cyrillic names.

"Don't bother trying my name because not every Russian could. Cheers."

Well, I just did it and it was flawless. So, sorry.

Corey Fleming: "Hey Ola, love your channel.

"Knowing that Nirvana was such an important part of your musical journey

"What was it like for you to share the stage with Dave Grohl at Dimebash?

"Did you try its barbecue?"

No, I did not try his barbecue. Yes...

It was super awesome that he was on stage

I actually didn't see that he came on stage until I saw the footage afterwards

Because when we started playing the song, he wasn't there

But he joined in the middle of song so I... you know...

I was just in to do my own thing and I just didn't notice him joining

But that was cool seeing him afterwards in the video, so that makes me really proud and happy, you know...

Sharing the stage with Dave Grohl and also obviously all the other musicians that were there

It was... it was an amazing experience that I'm really proud of

You know, that I got a chance to pay tribute to Dime in front of a live audience

The camaraderie there was just something else

Everyone was awesome and everyone was having a good time.

Would love to do it again.

blerbele632: "Ola, will you play Me and My Sheep for Riff of the Day?

"That was the funniest and most unexpected song off of the first Feared album I bought

"when I was in high school."

Riff of the Day. Holy shit, Me and My Sheep, what?

Ok, Me and My Sheep the one and only Feared country song that we did.

I don't know if it's on Spotify, maybe I'll put it up there.

But it goes like this. Let's see...

Ok

I mean, it starts with a really cool lick that I stole from somewhere so here it is

Cool, so slow...

Easy

♫ Whoa what happened to my sheep? Oh, they're a bunch of whores ♫

I was walking down the farm that day

What happened?

Well, I just saw the craziest thing

Uh-huh

All my sheep was lying down on the ground and I thought damn that's weird

What happened to my sheep?

They are funny beasts

Vader Vigh

"Hi Ola, you gave me back my passion about play and record the guitar. I can't thank you enough.

"My question is there was ever a period in your li-"

I'm a guy, I don't have periods

"... period in your life when you thought you stopped to do music or to be in bands because of any reason

"I was disappointed many times about crew members who stole the money or just gave up.

"I couldn't find 4 other persons who works correct as a band.

"I tried it for 10 years, more or less success.

"I love all of your content, you are my new guitar hero. Thanks for everything from Hungary."

Thank you so much. That's a really nice thing to say.

And yes, I've actually had one of these moments

And that's when I had one of my previous bands

And I've talked a lot about this, especially during clinics.

It's that I had a band called Subside and we were playing for maybe 10 years

I mean, it was my first real band.

We were basically harvesting Stockholm with gigs

and we played the same venue over and over.

And you know, basically chasing a record deal and eventually we got a record deal

And we recorded an album and it was awesome and amazing

Ok. It was not awesome and amazing.

It was pretty okay for you know a shitty band

We released the album and the record company filed for bankruptcy

And basically everything halted and that totally sucked all the life out of me right there

You know, I was putting all my life into that album

I made... you know, cover artwork, I made you know, I mixed and mastered the album

I did all the websites, you know

I prepared everything for that and just spent so much time for that f***ing album

And you know, it all just went down the shitter

And I was just sick and tired of everyone I was working with at that time

So that's when I decided to create Feared

which is basically just me sitting at home writing music

So at that point I was feeling like 'Holy shit, people f***ing sucks'

I just want to do everything myself from now on and just...

you know, as soon as you get people into your life

That's when all the problem starts. That was my feeling back then.

I still kind of keep the same idea with me at all times

But it's more about finding the right people

Probably finding people that are better than you

Someone that is contributing just as much as you do when it comes to the music

and you know, everything surrounding a band and what needs to be done basically

So I think it's very important to find people that you can work with and then you stick with those people

And from there you go basically

And I totally understand what you're saying and I definitely know the feeling that you're having

It's not easy, but don't give up.

There are actually awesome human beings out there, I promise, I've seen one.

Aditya Sissodiya

"Ola, for us the people who've been following your channel who know and love you

"The thumbnail is hilarious.

"I don't know what impression of you it will make on someone just tuning in.

"Love your work Ola, godspeed."

Thank you so much, he's talking about my wife FAQ

where I had a thumbnail where I'm touching my wife's tit.

A lot of people found it hilarious and some people thought I was being disrespectful to my wife

I mean, if you've seen my channel...

You're bound to kind of expect stuff like this

So I'm not sure why you're surprised

And I think a lot of the comments, you know... people saying that I... you know...

My wife deserves more respect than me touching her on the boob

I don't think the people that are making these comments

are probably people that don't have girlfriends or are not married.

I mean, Louise and I are very open with each other. And I mean, we have a really awesome relationship.

I mean, I cannot be happier. You know, I rarely look touch her boobs and her ass

What the hell?

I mean, she touches my dick occasionally, what the hell?

I mean, who the f*** cares?

If touching my wife's boob is a problem for you

Then I feel sorry for you, just saying.

"Tjena Ola, can you tell us a little bit about Feared? The history, the members, the albums, etc.

"Also I'm guessing Feared isn't a traditional band in a sense that you have regular band practice and gigs ."

So, as I said earlier Feared was spawned from the ashes of...

you know, me getting a record deal with a previous band

And you know...

I had the idea with Feared that I would make everything myself, just write my riffs

and you know, do programmed drums on them...

And then I found Mario, the singer of Feared

He was singing for another band and I heard him live and I was like 'Holy shit'

That's an amazing voice right there.

I basically asked him 'You want to record some vocals?' He came to my place, we recorded some vocals...

And it became like the first demos of Feared

What happened then was like, okay, you know, the songs are really good

Let me try and you know, gather a band together. So I got a band together.

It was me, Mario, Christian on bass and Henrik on drums

Henrik was a left-handed player, but he was amazing, had an amazing groove

But whenever we played live it was a hassle

because if we were in between 2 bands, we had to switch the set over.

Oh... it was a hassle.

But we played a couple of shows in Stockholm and...

We were doing pretty good, I must say, and we had a gig at Pub Anchor

which is sort of like the place to gig in Stockholm when you're a smaller band

and eventually because of a tragic event we had to cancel

And after that, we didn't play at all.

So after that last gig I decided to just continue on with Mario

Just continue to write songs

You know, well enough for an album. We probably had 30 songs or something like that.

And then I joined the Six Feet Under in 2012 when I met Kevin Talley and

And he told me he was doing like session drumming. So I thought to myself 'Ok'...

Ok, maybe he can do drums for my Feared stuff

So from then on Kevin Talley has been playing drums on the Feared albums

For all the Feared albums basically

And that's basically the set up we've had since then

Jocke Skog been playing bass whenever and you know, we played live 1 or 2 times...

With another setup or group of members. We played in Germany...

We played at the Frankfurt Musikmesse I think was 2012 or 2013

We also played the Euroblast in 2013 or 2014 or something like that.

So we have played gigs

It's just not that often and you know, I'm not planning to tour with Feared

It's not a touring band in the sense, you know, because it would take a lot of effort for me to you know...

Find people that would put the same amount of effort into it and you know...

Practice with a band, it's a lot of work just to get going

And you know, when I'm out touring I can't do this, so...

That's a catch-22 right there. I would love to tour with Feared, but...

I just don't have the time.

And to be honest, I don't really want to tour that much. I want to be home with the kids.

And I love doing this, so I just want to be home

All the time.

So there you go.

MozWall_: "Hi Ola, how's it going with the Karate? Still practicing and were you a black belt?"

No, it's not going well

Back this past summer when I broke my thumb I was seriously...

You know, thinking like 'Ok, why am I putting myself through karate?'

I was actually injuring myself a couple of times, you know, with my lefs and I hurt my hand once on practice

I was like, I thought to myself

You know, when I broke this thumb I was like 'Ok'...

'Maybe I should protect my hands a little bit more' because...

After all, that's what I'm working with right there, so...

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to practice karate after that because...

You know, I'm a little bit of a wuss

I want to be a little careful with my hands, especially now when my thumb was broken

and I still have a lot of pain in it.

So... we'll see. Maybe I'll go back to it.

You know, I worked myself up to blue belt. So that's at least a cool color.

Topher Taylor

"Ola, How was your NAMM experience? Is there any gear you're looking forward to? Cheers from the US of A."

Thank you so much. Yeah, like I said in beginning NAMM is amazing.

Basically NAMM is just a big party

Even though I was not drinking

You know, it's a big party where you meet all your friends that you never see

It's very overwhelming because you meet all at the same time

So it's a little bit too much sometimes, you really need to step back and like...

You know, 'What the hell just happened?'

And a good thing about NAMM is that Louise now goes with me

And Louise is so amazing there. I mean, she basically takes care of me

while I'm... you know, I'm just being overwhelmed. I'm like here like...

All the gear and you know, all the people...

And Louise is... you know, she can pull me out of there and like...

Ok, let's take a breather for a second and go out and eat something or you know...

Let's go back to the hotel and chill for half an hour or something like that.

She's really good with that, she sees when I'm overwhelmed

She can just basically pull me out of there, so...

I'm really proud to have Louise with me

And it's also nice because a lot of people come up to her and you know...

Want to take her picture because she's the wife.

That's actually fun to see.

Gear-wise...

I didn't actually get to see that much gear. I wish I'd had more time for that.

I think the one piece of gear that I'm excited than most about is probably...

the Orange stamp terror or whatever... Terror Stamp... Terror Stamp.

which is basically like an Orange pedal amplifier

I don't know. I was a little bit excited about that.

The other things... I mean, there's a lot of cool shit at NAMM.

Yeah, it's hard to say

I was just happy being there sharing that with my beautiful beautiful wife

And that was the last question. Holy shit that...

Hi, what's up?

Thank you so much for watching this FAQ. Sorry for seeming like I'm a little bit tired.

But it's because I am tired, like a lot tired right now, but...

It's gonna be awesome.

What makes me really excited about me getting back home from NAMM

is that I finally get a couple of weeks of me working in my office

I mean, before NAMM it was the holidays, us moving in and all that

Now, it's my chance to you know, get back to work

To grind here in my room, and I'm really really looking forward to it

And I have some great content coming.

I just cannot wait to show you what's in store.

So there you go

Guys, thank you so much for watching my video and mwah

My beautiful youtube members, I love you

If you have any questions, post them in the comments section

Love you long time. See you next time. Bye.