Maybe I should work out more
Hello everyone and welcome to my new FAQ video
Which is basically recorded at the same time as the last FAQ video
but with a different shirt and I let my hair out
So ...
Reason why I did this is because I went to Indonesia for another QC of a Solar Guitars batch
And I wouldn't have the time to record another FAQ video, so that's why I'm doing this
It's just so you get your dose of Ola Englund on Sundays.
And also, before I start, I just want to say
What the f*ck?
50 million views on my channel right now
Unbelievable, thank you so much. I really appreciate it
I've also seen a huge increase on the subscriber part of my youtube channel, so thank you so much guys
I f***ing love you, okay? Alright, question one.
"Ola, show us some scales that you like the most. If you don't want to do this, please tell me
"so I can stop to making that question in every duck video" Okay.
I don't really play in terms of scales or modes
I've talked about this before. Let's see. Is there any audio in the house?
There is audio, ok.
By the way, I f***ing love this guitar, this is the new E 1.6 ETC
and it's a f***ing riff-machine. Goddamnit.
Oh, the question! Oh, right.
"Show us some scales that you like the most"
I mean, I'm a big fan of just the regular pentascale, to be honest.
That's all I use basically. If I think of anything that's like "okay, this song is in D minor". Okay, then I know
And basically, you know, you can play the pentascale on different places on the neck, but ...
So, I just go for the standard one
And then the one next to it,which is
And then I work in between those two and that's all I need basically, so ...
Yeah, now I'm just rambling. Okay.
"Ola, I have a two part question: how did you learn English?
"It's better than many of the native speakers I live near
Ooh
"Did you learn English because it's the language of the internet
"because you like learning languages or some other reason?"
I've talked about this before.
In Sweden, they teach English from, like ... I think my son is already reading it, and he's in first grade.
So they're starting very early to speak English and, you know, when I was a kid I played a lot of games
You know, Monkey Island and games like that and I had to learn English that way
because otherwise I wouldn't understand what they were saying in the game
So, you know, I played a lot of video games back in the day
And I had to learn English because no one was helping me out with that
So yeah, it's a mix between, you know, schools being really awesome in Sweden
and, you know, me just playing video games a lot.
"When did you quit your normal day job?
"I guess it was a big decision, considering you being a father and a husband
"Was there a certain opportunity that opened up or was it a 'win or lose' thing? Tjenamors."
I've talked about this before as well
But the point where I made the decision that I would quit my day job
was when I went to Namm for the first time in 2012
and I was totally not expecting the response of the people there when I went there
because it was the first time I was out in public, you know, meaning the audience, you know, that ...
my YouTube audience is like, you see all these millions of views and it's like 'okay'
they don't really seem as people, but when I went to Namm everyone wanted to take a picture with me
And they thanked me for my videos and stuff like that
So that was the point when I went like 'holy shit, okay, this is for real'
and this is the time for me to put my whole hearted focus on this YouTube thing
And that's what I did. I quit my job one week after when I got home from Namm
and shortly after that I joined Fi- Six- Fi-
Fit Six Thunder.
shortly after that I joined Six Feet Under
That's where everything kind of blew up in a way
"Hey Ola what were the things that held you back the most in achieving your goals
"and how did you get rid of them?"
Okay, boring question.
"Ola, can we make some music collaboration sometimes?"
Of course.
No.
No, no, no, it's not gonna happen.
I'm just being real here.
"Hey Ola, I watched till the end. My question is: what effect did you use for the intro to Forever Old?
"I like the effect in general and the fact that you can hear the plucking of the strings too. Thanks, Feared rules."
Oh, horns up.
That intro is kind of weird, I think what you're hearing is a mixture of two different guitars
The plucking you hear is the acoustic guitar, and then you have an electric guitar
a clean playing electric guitar going through ... I'm not sure exactly what the plug-in is
But it was a plugin from a brand called Camel Audio, and I do not have it anymore
I had it back in a day, and then I screwed up the license somehow, so I don't have it anymore
But it was a really cool effect
Camel audio, I don't remember the plugin. Too bad.
"Hag Ola, greetings from good old England.
"My question is: my young brother has a terminal cancer, his name is Steven, he loves your videos
"and only has one bucket list item: he wants to learn a few chords to any Feared song
"so he can learn to play on his Solar I bought him. Can you recommend an easy riff or riffs he can learn
"just so he can have a go before he loses the use of his hands and his mind
"He's been given six to eight months to live and I would love to see him fulfill his wish.
"That's my question, sorry if it's not a proper question"
Shit.
If you're for real, I'll gladly have a short little Skype lesson with your brother if that's fine
But if that Skype lesson won't happen, I'll show you the main riff from the song Lord's Resistance Army
and it's in drop, okay? So, it's
It's very easy.
Yeah, hope this message gets to you. I want to take that Skype lesson.
Okay, I just wanted to make this short little update video here from Indonesia
But I reached out to Scott and he told me more about his brother Steven and since I recorded the FAQ video
I've already sent a bunch of merch to Steven, tab-books, CDs and t-shirts and stuff like that
I received an answer and it was ...
And he was really happy.
So, Steven, if you're watching this, good luck on those riffs man, I'm watching you, okay? Take care.
"Hola Ola, how do you deal with pre-stage nervousness? In my case my hands get cold and sweaty" Okay.
I've never really had a problem with stage fright, because I've always been prepared when I go on stage
The only times I get nervous is when I know I haven't practiced, okay? Or practiced the set.
Those are the times when I get like real stage fright
But if I just come prepared, I don't have that problem. So that's a tip for you. Just over practice, okay?
"Hi Ola, do you have any good advice how to learn the different notes on the fretboard?
"I have try, but it ended in disaster. It is too confusing for my brain."
I personally do not know the notes on the fretboard by heart
if I just pick a note like this
I'm not sure what tone that is to be honest. I have to count it out.
But I do have ways to find out, you know, if it's a C or a D.
So you have the octaves
And in that sense I can always find that D if I want to find the D
That's the way I navigate through the fretboard, so I know that 'ok, this is D here'
So, you know, I can find my way around the fretboard and I do not memorize the fretboard
that doesn't make any sense for me, but then again, I'm not a professional guitar player
"Hola Ola, I've noticed you have the best vintage games playing on your monsters"
What?
Your monsters?
Your monitors!
Okay.
On your monitor. He's talking about my screen, not monsters
"Do you choose a certain game for each video or is it random?"
I pick the videogame videos that I have for my FAQs
I pick games that I played when I was a kid, or you know, up until this point
So it's basically just, you know, showing a bit of my favorite games that I played in the past
And yeah, I think it's a tribute to, you know, all the awesome games that are out there
Like this one, Golden Axe, awesome game.
"What's the biggest challenge you face starting your own guitar company
"and are things going like you expected or better?"
The biggest challenge is ... You know, everything before actually launching the brand
I mean not knowing anything and ... I learned a lot I must say, throughout this whole process
But what you're not seeing ... you're obviously seeing everything after launch
but before the launch I was stressed out. I was scared, shitless.
I had no idea what was gonna happen, how it would go. I was a nervous wreck basically.
Like, in 2017 before the launch.
It was really scary and now, after the launch, I'm just very relieved
and I didn't expect it to go as well as it did
but even if it's going really well, I still want to be cautious and careful
So I don't do any early mistakes with the brand, because at this state and at this point for the brand
What the f***? Okay, that pick disappeared into oblivion.
Yeah, one little mistake right now can totally, you know, f*** up the brand, so I don't wanna do that.
So I'm being very cautious about how I go about the next batches and all that
and just, you know, I'm a cautious Swede, that's what I do.
"Hi Ola, in your personal opinion, which Legend of Zelda is the best?"
I have two favourites, I played a lot of them
but I think A Link To The Past and Ocarina of Time are my favourites
with that said, Breath of The Wild, super awesome as well. What was the one for Wii?
I don't remember the name, that was a good one too. But yeah
My favorites are definitely A Link To The Past and Ocarina of Time.
"Hey count dracOla"
That's funny. Funny guy. Sinisa Vuco, funny.
"Don't remember if this was already asked but do you ever listen to other music besides metal?"
This was asked and I answered it in another video
If I do listen to something else it's usually like singer/songwriter stuff
I think I've already mentioned Tim Christensen, a Danish guy that I really enjoy
Me and my wife love his music.
Other than that no, I don't really listen that much to music anymore to be honest
I mean, I kind of enjoy not listening to music, because I'm working with it all the time
"Hey Ola, why would anyone buy a Solar Guitar instead of any other brand?"
Charbonneau Guitars ...
Ooh
Maybe it's a competing brand
I'm gonna stay away from this question.
"Where do you stand on a bucket list perspective?
"I see a lot of people who are very happy with their lives and have no big aspirations for the future
"other than continuing to be happy, and I'm left here pretty happy
"but always feeling uneasy because I have dreams and goals I'm still far from accomplishing
"Do you have that anxiety about fulfilling some goal
"or achieving something as an artist, an entertainer or anything else?
"Does having a family attenuate all of that?"
Well, to some extent. You know, getting kids is attenuating that
because it's like ... for me at least, when you get kids it opens up us such a different spectrum
you get such a different view of life in general
And, you know, there's so much love suddenly, where before you were just really focused on your thing
And you know, maybe you had a girlfriend that you loved, but when you get kids
That's like when you discover love for real, at least that's how it went for me
And it's like, that's the most important thing in the world and then everything else doesn't matter really
But I still think it's very important if you have dreams, to try and fulfill them
You know, you can set up a really unreachable goal, but that doesn't matter
as long as you have that goal, every step on the way, you know, it's gonna be fun usually
Even though you just have one life, It's a pretty long of a life. I mean, you can ...
You know, there's a lot of people that started their careers when they're 50 or plus
So, there's still a lot of time left
But in that sense you're not supposed to be slacking, you have to hustle, because that's how you get shit done.
Did I answer the question?
"Why does everybody swear by analog compressors even when they speak of building a studio on a budget?
"I think vsts are just fine. What are the benefits of going analog?"
I'm not gonna argue with you, I agree. I mean, I do not have any outboard equipment that I don't need.
I mean this, this is a reload box to just make the signals perfect, I mean, I need it.
and then I have an audio interface and that's it.
I do not have any other outboard gear or compressors like that and I mix everything in-house, in Logic
And yeah, it's just the most convenient way and I think it sounds good.
Right?
Good enough at least
if you are getting into the analog world, yeah, good for you, you're goona spend a lot of money.
"Bik Boi Ola, what do you think about prog bands like Leprous, Haken or Agent Fresco?
I haven't listened that much to Haken or Agent Fresco
But Leprous I listened a lot to the past year, and it's ... yeah, it's a trip for sure.
I'm very happy about finding Leprous, they're amazing basically, I cannot recommend them enough
It's ... Listening to their music is like ... it's going on a journey somehow
If you haven't checked out Leprous, do yourself a favor, check out the latest two albums man
They're amazing.
"Hello Ola, hope all is good. Most people make music for all the wrong reasons
"My question to you is why do you make music? What made you love it?"
I think ...
You know, the music that I make, when I write it, I love writing music
But if you come to a rut or, you know, a time where you feel like nothing is happening
I think it's very important to, you know, put that aside, put the songwriting aside, do something else for a while
It's perfectly fine. I mean, you cannot love it all the time, and if you're you're writing while you're not loving it
it's gonna show in my opinion
So I mean, I still love making music, but I'm not gonna force it out
So, whenever I have like a a moment where, you know, the riffs are just flowing
that's the best part about writing music and I write music for myself.
It's a cliche to say it like that, but the music that I write is for myself in a way.
I mean, I enjoy it and I think it's the most honest way of writing music
rather than trying to write a hit song or something like that
So ...
Oh, that was the last question
Did I mention that I love this guitar?
Okay, that was the last question actually
If you have any more questions, ask them in the comment section of this video, okay?
Guys, thank you so much for watching. I love you. See you next time, okay?