Mikael Akerfeldt's favorite musicians

[biggsy]

tommy emmanuel = australian eomfd

he played a few songs at my school once at an assembly, trying to get kids to join music classes etc. i was mc at the assembly so got to chat to him for a minute afterwards, was a really nice guy.

 

[HemeHaci]

i think he means technical playing for the sake of being technical, rather than trying to make good sounding music. i dont think hes saying that being skilled is bad, but just the music is just wankerish. if you get me

If I understand you correctly, he means a guy like Herman Li? Then I guess it's OK.

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

I meant that you see or hear him play and you don't even think about his technique. He's very musical that's all I'm saying. If you know Rusty Cooley you'll see what I mean, he is the opposite to Tommy I would think.

I have no fuzz about technical players at all, but many of them tend to forget about the sounds from the heart. I too need a certain technique to play our songs as good as possible, but I don't find it (great technique) to be a critera as much now as I used to. What you're playing is more interesting to me than how you play it.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Slaydon]

Hey Mike, I know this may not be in your league but I'm curious; do you or have you ever listened to Blue Õyster Cult? Because they have become one of my favorite bands since I started listening to them only last year. I see some resemblance with Opeth even in some of their songs. They were one of the first groups to incorporate gothic themes in their songs, maybe that's why. That's all.

Cheers!

 

[HemeHaci]

I have no fuzz about technical players at all, but many of them tend to forget about the sounds from the heart. ... What you're playing is more interesting to me than how you play it.

These distinguish a musician from a regular bum, I agree completely.

And also skill is important to a degree as you put it so I guess it's settled.

 

[biggsy]

i dont mean to be obtuse but surely learning technique would also close doors regarding what you can/can't do. i mean, learning rules etc could seriously pigeon hole someone into thinking theres only one way to play, hence fucking their creativity and musicality or whatever. i dont play any instruments by the way, just curious.

 

[HemeHaci]

^What you say can not be proved to be wrong as far as I know but it is I guess an extreme condition. According to common sense the more tools you have the more options you have as an output. That also applies to music, for example a guy who only listens to Black Metal would not be able to produce versatile music same goes for guys who listen to pop or rock or any genre solely. You can extend this to playing styles you possess. Skill is I think absolutely a requirement, although it may seem funny if you cant play more than one note per second that you will most probably be hindered by your skill (yeah extreme example), and if you can play like John Petrucci then you have the option to play some stuff you contemplate in your head which is quite impossible for an ordinary player to play etc

Mikael's success is I think also based on the myriad of different albums he listens to, so he brilliantly avoids monotonity (I am definitely giving credit to his God's gift awesome talent, dont get me wrong).

 

[hexwind]

I What you're playing is more interesting to me than how you play it.

Cheers
Mike

No fucking comment.

 

[To rid you disease]

i dont mean to be obtuse but surely learning technique would also close doors regarding what you can/can't do. i mean, learning rules etc could seriously pigeon hole someone into thinking theres only one way to play, hence fucking their creativity and musicality or whatever. i dont play any instruments by the way, just curious.

technique hasnt got anything to do with rules.

 

[Antyman]

I think anyone could learn to be just as good as Kirk Hammet. Having that said, I find Kirk one of the most emotionless players in the world.
wah wah doodle doodle down the fret and up again!

 

[To rid you disease]

only like 2-4 out of the 30ish solos on kill - ajfa (the only metallicas cds most ppl on this forum care for) got wah-wah in them.

 

[Lateralus14]

I think anyone could learn to be just as good as Kirk Hammet. Having that said, I find Kirk one of the most emotionless players in the world.
wah wah doodle doodle down the fret and up again!

You obviously haven't heard a lot of solo electric artists (or metal for that matter lol). Or were you refering to post-AJFA, where Metallica sucked? Either way, he's most definitely not emotionless on their first 4 albums. But w/e, it's pretty much trendy and cool to bash accomplished bands so no point arguing.

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

Yes, I am a fan of BOC, but I don't have everything with them. I guess my favourite album with them is "Secret treaties". They're labelled satanic pretty early on.

 

[Sad Madrigal]

I really like pre-AJFA solos especially the ones in RTL and MOP.
But if you guys wanna hear a better guitarist listen to Marty Friedman's work with Cacophony and Megadeth.
This guy destroys Hammett.
And yeah, Blue Öyster Cult are awesome especially Agents of Fortune but it needs more cowbell.

 

[Slaydon]

Yes, I am a fan of BOC, but I don't have everything with them. I guess my favourite album with them is "Secret treaties". They're labelled satanic pretty early on.

Yeah, that's a good album. Not my favorite, but one of their five best definitely. "Astronomy" is one of my top 10 songs. My favorite album is actually "Spectres", closely followed by "Agents of Fortune" and then "Fire of Unknown Origin". ST comes in fourth. Tyranny and Mutation fifth.

I thought you might like them.

 

[Lateralus14]

Basically all the solos in RTL own. Escape isn't that hot but w/e. Sanitarium, Orion, The Four Horseman, eh, too many great ones to name.

 

[Lateralus14]

What's a good Tommy Emmanuel album to start with. I listened to some random clips and liked it.

 

[ingenkommentar]

Mikael, do you like Dungen?

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

Yes, I do. Mainly because Reine Fiske is playing with them. Gustaf's got the late 60's sound nailed down and he knows how to write songs that sounds like they're written 40 years ago.

With that said, I remember being at a party with him and he took the piss out of metal music which made me fucking furious. I couldn't stand the guy all because of me being sensitive about a "poser" like him laughing about MY metal, haha!

Anyways, I had to own up, and I do like almost everything they've done. A song called "Vem vaktar lejonen" is hard to not like....for me anyways.

 

[HemeHaci]

^What about Dream Theater?

And also, I know you like the old stuff but, anything new but I mean really new not imitated versions of old stuff that you like and recommend? I would like to try them out.