What's up everyone? And welcome to S--
FAQ, FAQ 171.
Almost said SWOLA, but we're not doing the SWOLA today.
This is an FAQ.
171.
Hope you're having a good day.
I took out my M-II ESP.
Ooh.
I like this guitar, it's a good one.
We're gonna head straight into the questions, thank you.
Starting from halo0919.
"FAQ: Hi Ola, greetings from South Wales.
Can you recommend a budget or mid-ranged price camera
that is good for recording gigs?
My son's band is looking something that will have good quality video and audio
for social media uploads.
Also, any plans for Feared or The Haunted
to tour in the UK anytime soon? Thanks."
Thank you so much for that question.
Very nice.
In regards of Feared and The Haunted in the UK.
Feared, very small chance of ever touring.
It's not a touring band.
UK, definitely, there's definitely a chance.
But I think we have to release an album
before that might happen or...
Before we have a chance, even.
So, in regards of a budget
uh... camera.
I don't have too much experience with smaller budget cameras.
However, I can recommend
a camera that is called the Sony Cybershot, so...
I have a camera here.
This right here is the Sony... I think it's Z-1 or something like that
which is uh...
basically an updated version of something called the Sony RX-100.
Even though this is definitely not considered being a budget camera
it's probably like 1,000 euros or something like that.
Their previous models, the RX-103 and 4.
You can get those for a pretty good price, so...
I looked up the RX-100 III.
I don't know when this is from, like 2015 or something like that.
You can get this for like 500 euros.
That's basically the only budget--
Or like budget camera I can give a tip of.
And I can definitely recommend these.
I'm also using one for... a previous one of these for my livestreaming.
And it's a really good solid, small compact camera.
I'm using this particular one just for vlogging now.
And when I just wanna make a quick shot, I just bring it out and I can hold it in my hand.
I can have it on a gimbal...
It's just really easy to carry around and...
This one shoots in 4k too, 4k25
which is my main output form when I do videos.
You know, have y-- have you-- what?
No. Have you ever considered using your phone?
Because an iPhone like this, like, you know, the...
...past 4 years worth of iPhone,
they're really good, man.
The cameras are really good and the audio capturing, at least for shows
is really good on the iPhone.
I brought this a fair bit of times
and you know, when I take out the camera on a gig, I film a little bit.
I'm actually quite surprised of how good the audio is
when you record something with, you know, your mobile phone.
It's probably more likely that you already have an iPhone
or like a Samsung or something like that
that you can already film with.
You just need to have like a tripod that you can fit it on.
And then you can film using your phone, basically.
I think that would probably be your best option right there.
Because then you don't have to go out and purchase a dedicated camera.
Just saying, phones are really good nowadays, man.
But this is also really good.
JSG1138
"How can I get that guitar wall? Did you make it yourself?"
Great question, he's talking about this guitar wall.
And I did not make the wall myself.
However...
These panels that it has,
that's basically just store panels.
So, as you can see here, these are I think 6 store panels.
With slots in them.
It's basically panels for guitar stores.
You can get these, like if you wanna have like a store-front panel.
There's plenty of stores that are selling these.
I bought six of them for this wall, put 'em together
and then you can buy these guitar stands that you basically fit in these.
So you know, this is not a fixed set of guitar setup right here.
I can move 'em around as I want.
It's really cool and it makes the wall look really f**** sick, just saying.
So these walls or...
I think it's called slat walls or something.
You can get those.
You can buy those, just put 'em on the wall, man.
Doesn't it look great?
No? Hello, camera.
Freddie's Overbite.
"I know I'm probably late to the party, but has anyone ever noticed that
if Ola got all his hair cut off and was slightly balding
he woud look like Leon Kowalski from Blade Runner?"
Oh shit, we need to figure this out.
Brion James, Brion James.
OK, yeah, I hear you.
Yeah, I can see it, look at that.
That does look like me, you're right.
Shit.
Oh my god.
No.
You know what? He looks way more badass than me.
Look at this face right there, that's a face of...
I don't know.
It's a face.
This particular picture right here is from Blade Runner.
And... yeah, man.
I can see the resemblance.
OK? I can see the resemblance, thank you.
Brian Rockwell
"FAQ: quarantine presented the opportunity for me to grow my hair out
for the first time in my life.
Also, I just got a Judas Priest tattoo
and a Van Halen tattoo during the same session.
Does that make me a super cool metal dad
that the youths are too lame to understand
or just a super lame old guy?
Asking for a friend."
Now, these are the legit questions.
Holy shit, no...
Obviously you're cool as f****, man.
But that's also me, I'm 40 years old, I'm...
I'm not young, you know?
I think you're cool, man.
But you know, the younglings, they probably think you suck, just saying.
But that's OK, we don't care, man, we don't--
You just stop caring when you're old.
Brandon Jackson
"FAQ Ola, do you ever have off days?
What I mean is yesterday you felt like you made some progress
on something you were working on
and the next day or session you all of a sudden feel like you can't play anything right
much less a milestone you were proud of achieving a few days ago.
I try to play a little every day
and sometimes when i pick it up, I'm just off or something.
It's really frustrating
and I'm also coming back to seriously playing after years of not really playing much.
Thanks to your channel I got excited about playing guitar again.
Thank you for the cool content and motivation."
Thank you so much, very kind words.
Yes, I absolutely have these off days.
And they come quite often.
I must say.
They do come very very often.
But what I do at that time is that
I acknowledge that it's a shit day for me.
And then I just go do something else.
Like, sometimes if I'm sitting writing a solo
I'm just like 'OK, I'm not getting anywhere with this'.
I go do something else.
I probably sit and write emails or something like that.
Or if you feel completely uninspired,
go play a videogame, man.
Do something that makes you happy.
You know, spend time with the kids or your dog, or something like that.
That usually helps.
If I feel incredibly unmotivated when I'm doing something
then it's not the time to do it.
So I quickly realize that OK, this is not the time
I go do something else
and that's how I become very effective and very efficient
with what I'm doing, and you know, a lot of people are saying that...
It seems that I'm working a lot.
Yes, I am working a lot.
But I'm also trying to work very efficient as well.
Which means if I recognize a situation where I'm not motivated
I just do something else for a while, come back, do it later.
So it's just to have more...
Irons in... you know, have more...
...iron in the oven. Is that an expression?
Just to have a lot of things happening at the same time.
Does that make sense? Great.
I'm pointing at you with a file, just saying.
Cristian Cayita
"FAQ: is there any video footage of your first live gig?
Your hair is having an amazing day, by the way."
Thank you, what a nice guy.
Not on the fly.
But I do think there is some old Feared live videos.
Like this one for instance.
From 2008.
March 21st 2008.
This is me in the non-lit area.
And this was the first Feared show.
That we did.
So...
This was really good and way before HD, man.
This is not high-definition at all.
Our drummer was left-handed, that was Henrik.
And then we had Christian on bass.
It's Mario and then me.
I'm playing a Dean Cadillac, I think.
And probably an Engl Savage, because that was the main amp I was using a lot.
I mean, Feared was a live band back in the day, believe it or not.
Nowadays we just do the albums and that's it, basically.
You know, I'll put a link to this video in the description, you can check it out if you want.
Uh... great.
Oskari Karsikas
"FAQ: is it possible to get a headless Solar at some point
or should I just go and buy a Strandberg?"
Just go buy a Strandberg, OK?
ThaBatPope
"FAQ: Hi Ola, you beautiful bastard,
do you have any advice for a beginner songwriter that ends up hating or being embarrassed
by everything that they come up with?"
Excellent question.
And a problem that I can definitely recognize myself in.
You know when you sit and write something and you feel like 'Holy shit'.
'This is really awful'.
That happens a lot, I can tell you that.
But it happened way more back in the day
when you know, I hadn't practiced as much on songwriting.
But today
you know, from having all these years of me trying to write riffs,
It's making it a lot easier for me to recognize if a riff is good or bad.
But I can give you a great tip
on how to get over this problem.
Even though you think you have shit riffs,
I think it's really important to just go with it.
Let it be a shit riff for a while.
You need to have those shitty riffs to have the great riffs.
OK? So...
A good way of doing this, this is something I've been doing for the past 2 years
since I started SWOLA.
Is I just write something every week.
Doesn't matter if it's shit, I'm gonna put it out there anyways on the Sunday with Ola.
And there's been a lot of times where I've uploaded a Sunday with Ola
where I feel like 'Holy shit, this sucks'.
This is really terrible.
Anyways, I get it out of my system
and it's out there, people can say whatever they want about it.
But at least it's out of my system and then the next SWOLA
I might come up with something really cool.
So you just have to understand that to create those great riffs
you have to write the shitty ones as well.
So, they're still very important.
My recommendation.
Do these Sunday with Ola Riff Challenges every week, man.
It just pushes you to write something.
Just get it out of your system.
Good, huh?
Wooblidoo
"FAQ: Can we get an amp shootout with some bass amps?
Please and thanks."
Great idea.
Bass amps.
Fuck no, thank you.
Plisskenation backfromthedead
"FAQ: Hey Ola!
"Why do so many companies elect to not put fret markers on their pro models?
I want a pro model, but I'm not that great and need reference points.
Plus, it's part of what makes them look cool and the brands different
Jackson sharkfins, Ibanez sharkteeth, Gibson blocks.
So often I see a guitar that has everything I want, except for that."
That's a legit question, I think I've answered this before.
For instance, this guitar doesn't have any fret markers
except for the Solar inlay at the 12th fret.
A lot of people are asking 'Why don't you have fret markers?'
Well, the thing is that we do actually have fret markers.
It's just on the side of the guitar, they're called side-dots.
And in my opinion, when you play guitar
you sit and play like this.
And...
You have the guitar in front of you like this.
I don't see the fretboard.
I'm not sitting like this playing.
When you play guitar and you stand like this,
you're just gonna see the side of the guitar,
you don't sit like this playing, right?
So you still have the side-dots
and that's the navigation for you right there.
I'm just saying, this is how I think.
I mean, I sit with the guitar like this.
And I see the side-dots and that's enough for me.
Just saying, I don't sit watching the fretboard like this.
Maybe I did when I was a beginner.
You know, I don't know.
I don't know.
I just think it looks sicker when there's no fret dots or fret markers.
I like the side-dots.
That's where it's at.
You can still manage, you know, you have the side-dots.
Just saying.
For me it's just a matter of making the guitar look cooler, in my opinion.
I think a blind fretboard looks way cooler
than just having a bunch of fret markers, just saying.
Very subjective, thank you so much for the question.
Karl Blanchette
"FAQ: Ola, have you ever shat your pants in an hotel room?"
OK, next question...
Alright, next question.
"So Ola, what's the story with the hotel bed?"
OK, OK.
So, in one of the previous FAQs we talked about shitting the bed.
And I said that it might have happened or not.
It has happened.
I have shit the bed once.
You know, it's not really a common thing that I shit the bed.
I've done it once.
It wasn't really a shit anyways.
I was in Colombia,
and I think it was a clinic tour in Colombia, and I was in Bogotá.
And there was something I had eaten for dinner
and then I had the clinic, and then I went to the hotel
and you know, I went to bed.
And I'm like 'OK, I'm just gonna fart a little bit'.
You know, the fart was something else.
So, it wasn't a complete shit in the bed.
But it made brown stains in the bed.
Just saying.
Fortunate for me
it was a king-sized bed, so I just laid on the other side.
F**** disgusting.
But there you go.
You wanted the dirty news, there it is.
You know, that's probably gonna end up on Ultimate Guitar or something.
They just take everything I say and write it up there.
Just saying.
They're cool though, I like Ultimate g--
badblood44
"FAQ: Ola, during live shows,
what would you estimate your overall accuracy to be?
What I mean is
how often do you play an incorrect note
or miss the timing relatively to the rest of the band.
I imagine the mistakes are few and far between
and the audience can't even tell they're made.
But as the player,
I must imagine there are a few minor gaffes
you'd prefer to have a do-over with. Thanks."
That's a great question.
And maybe not a lot of guitar players answer this question,
but yes, there are definitely a lot of mistakes while playing live.
For me, not so much the timing queues
in regards of playing with a drummer,
I think I have a pretty good relationship
with whoever drummer I'm playing with in terms of rhythm.
I think the parts where I f**** it up
is if I like miss a note or a bend
in like a solo or something.
Usually people don't notice.
I notice it and you know, I just laugh it off.
Because you know, it happens.
It happens, but no one's gonna notice it anyways.
I think that as a band we probably make more mistakes together
than me making mistakes live.
But then again, I've also always prepared a lot to play live, so...
I overprepare before we go to a Haunted gig, so...
I overpractice so I won't make the mistakes.
And that's the way to do it, man.
And also a very important thing that I do before I go and do a show
is that I always play every solo before I go up and play it onstage.
That reminds myself
and it's a reminder for myself every day
about the solo, so...
I don't get surprised when I actually play the solo live later.
So that's a trick I do, I just play through all the solos
of all the songs before the gig
and then there are no surprises when I'm playing a gig.
Kinda cool, huh?
jshoenfe
"Next FAQ: Ola which Macbook are you using
and what are you using as a DAW?"
OK, so.
This is a Macbook Air right here.
This is a M.1 Macbook Air.
This is basically my 'bring everywhere' computer.
It's lightweight.
It does everything, I can edit 4k videos on this thing.
I can record shit on this thing.
It's a really good computer.
Using Logic and Final Cut Pro
I can vouch for the M.1 Macs.
They're really good
with those programs, I mean, they're catered for those apps.
Which are Apple apps.
I'm using it here to read the questions,
I can bring it into a room just for recording or something.
But I'm also using this Mac Studio
that's basically my main computer right now.
That I use for main editing and recording in here.
But then, if I wanna record something in the other room
I just bring this and hook it up to my Apogee Element interface in there
and just record on there.
It is really good as a mobile setup. You just walk around with this.
Wherever I need to record, I just bring in this
I plug in whatever interface I have there
or like one of these, the UAD Arrow.
I just bring it there and record, it's very mobile, very awesome.
And then here for this room where I sit and edit the most and I record the most,
and write music and mix and all that,
I have this Mac Studio that's doing the job really well.
And I'm using Logic Pro X for DAW.
OK? I've been using that since like 2006 or something like that.
And uh...
Yes.
floridian thrasher
"Possibly important question: was there any jobs before music
you had to work your way up and buy your gear?"
Yes, obviously.
I started doing this in 2012.
I quit my last real serious day job as an accountant
to focus on my YouTube channel
and eventually Solar Guitars and all my endeavors and all that.
But up until that point I had been working probably 12 years at regular day jobs.
Making money, paying rent, all of that, you know...
Putting all my extra money aside to buy shit and equipment.
A lot of people might be jealous of all the stuff that I have
but you have to take into account that I have been working for a lot of years
I have collected a lot of things throughout the years
and also this right here
is not my stuff.
It's my company's stuff.
So all the things that are in here
those are not my pr--
These are not my private guitars, except for--
Except for my Dime 3ST
the Dimebolt over there,
the Washburn guitar over there,
the Dime guitar over there, and also my Fender stratocaster that I bought for my birthday.
In here, those are the only guitars that I personally own.
And some of these are guitars that I've had for a long time.
Not the Fender stratocaster, but at least these.
And the Dime 3ST.
So a lot of people are thinking like 'Oh, Ola is very rich'.
And you know, 'he buys whatever he wants'.
But you have to understand that the company and Ola Englund are 2 different entities.
I have a regular salary that's pretty normal, I would say.
And then this...
This is just the company's stuff.
Now the best part about this is that
since it's my company,
I get to play all this shit.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
And that, my friends, was the last question for this FAQ.
If you have any more questions,
please put them in the comment section of this video,
also if you wanna support me,
olaenglundshop.com
Buy a t-shirt or something.
Thank you for watching.
There's a burp coming, but I'm--
Goodbye.