Opeth Lesson and Interview

[@Dragslo]

The solo on Grand Conjuration is fantastic, it felt like a wave in my ears hearing that bend =D

[@amaltoadie]

I love Mikael can have some of the heaviest riffs and then some of the most classy riffs I've ever heard in one song and make them fit together perfectly.

[@ElectricFarmerCh]

On the Deliverance dvd Akerfeldt mentions that he practised classical guitar as a teenager, you can tell this by his style of writing.

[@WybjornVR]

+Zach Hartwell I know these comments are extremely old but they both play PRS's. No one else does birds on the frets and you can see what they recorded with on their site.

[@creativesoundmusic]

I love both eras, yes they are very different but I think both are incredible for different resons

[@Nycthemeral]

Yep! He joined Opeth just before recording their latest studio album.

[@LearningandDevelopement]

God I can just imagine meeting these guys that would be the coolest thing in the world or jaming with them would be even better

[@13Danjiri]

@Soilwar Agreed. There are echoes of the late, great Joe Pass, who's seminars consisted of, "I don't know what these chords are! You just go like that! And that's it!" Poignant comments from a jazz guitar icon.

[@TheDrumminMan08]

@NapoleanXV I'm about 90% sure Fredrik does but Mike just plays and writes by ear for the most part.

[@lorononsanno]

I love you Mike don't forget me, remember me screaming during the concert in Rome (Alpheus) that I love you forever and ever. I'm not gay. I have grown with your music. Daniele from Roma

[@Stratophony]

thing about Opeth is that they've paved their own way to a songwriting process that eliminates whatever "rules" people may feel the need to think music has. Ex: The Outro of "Burden"... where the guitar is slowly being untuned. That shit was subtle, but fucking amazing. Made the best song of the album, all that much better. Now.... had some other band, [insert whatever band you wish here], done it. They would have just looked like damn fools.

[@zachhartwell]

yea mike has a custom 24 i think and frederik is either playing a SC245 or 250. i think frederik usually plays an ESP maybe?

[@TOOLbassplayer]

DADFAD is actually Open Dm tuning. D Open is actually DADF#AD

[@Jack_95]

Are most of the songs on Ghost Reveries in D,A,D,F,A,E tuning? because aswell at this song, Reverie/Harlequin Forest is, The Baying of the Hounds is and beneath the mire is.

[@Madruffles]

Hmmm. I saw them 3 weeks ago and they were both using PRS. Mikael has an old strat that he likes to use for recording though.

[@abyssa]

yeah I didnt notice the head, Mik's looks like a custom 24

[@TOOLbassplayer]

Both are playing PRS. The headstock is the easiest clue. PRSs are Les Paul style guitars...

[@opethas1]

@WallysaurRex he's saying about an album of them..It'a called "Odessey and Oracle"

[@maxgreene8285]

jeff loomis knows theory, but u are right about song not being connected. Theory helps to write and to figure things out on the guitar.

[@Birdbomb88]

I get it from the cd that comes with guitar world magazine

[@toolfan92]

@jordaniac89 guitar is one of the instruments which dont require theory to compose well, drums and bass being the others, thats why its so awesome :)

[@Thiefofalways23]

I think Watershed is a very cool album. It is quite a bit different than their earlier stuff. I think that with this album, Mikael was kind of branching out and testing the waters. I think if one is looking for a sound reminiscent of Orchid or My Arms Your Hearse, you'll be disappointed, but if you take it for what it is, you'll enjoy it.

[@GodinSDXTguitars]

Burden is a mainstream-ish song, but it has an incredibly original and very mature sound to it and it still is Opeth, therefore it rules. Although since I am a fan of Progressive Rock I would have liked it even if it wasn't Opeth.

[@nugma]

@Neltheros He sortof does, though.

[@Deferreon]

anyone knows how I could get Mikael's Distortion? where does he get his?

[@shnookyx69]

@opethas1 i'm pretty sure it's, "...it's one of the coolest licks i've done, i think. It's so simple, it's basically if the guitar would have been in a standard tunning, it would have been a blues lick..." and it's like a lot of people here have said, he might not know theory in a classical sense or w/e but when you listen to a lot of stuff and write as long as he has been or just hold a guitar for that long XD you learn what standard tunning and "bluesy" is anyway

[@n0cturnalsurfer]

i love Akkesson's reaction at 5:19

[@KryticalError]

i'm seeing them this weekend. i should scream, "YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB, FREDERIK!" - maybe the guy just needs some encouragement. lol.

[@NicholasDellOrto]

@jordaniac89 Interestingly enough, Brent Hinds went to a fancy music school when he was growing up.

[@5urg3x]

Wish you would have fixed the audio with vegas or soundforge or something..it's too low and fuzzy.

[@manosarrr]

thats a watershed promotion video i think when this interview was done watershed wasnt released yet

[@betonomobmotan]

@AmericanMizfit hendrix wasn't self taught, actually he was very well-versed in music theory

[@brandon5pennies]

these are definitely paul reed smith they're custom 22s or 24s i think 24s and if not mistaken maybe 10 tops?

[@RichardSchouteren]

yhanks for sharing dude

[@mikeischangingplaces]

@jordaniac89 music theory, at least from a jazz theory point of view, is about putting names to whatever you're doing, and communicating about music. not knowing theory means that Mikael Akerfeldt and Akesson say "arabic sounding scale" instead of "harmonic minor", they hear it but they don't know the word for it. There is no downside to learning music theory, it helps you understand what you're doing and helps you describe it to other musicians. "knowing" theory won't make you a musician

[@SoullessPerfection]

I think the tuning is the chord Dmadd9?

[@ndsinister]

hey thanks alot for sharing this, where did u get that???

[@opethas1]

at 7:30 mike's saying something but i cant hear it well does anyone knows...?

[@opethas1]

@WallysaurRex he's saying about an album..

[@NapoleanXV]

@TheFriedTurtle DADFAD tuning. Open D minor

[@DoCWaSaBe]

i dont mind both, i love DT and opeth just as much and they are total opposites in musical knowledge, admittedly DT pull off very impressive stuff but opeth comes back with amazing composition

[@mooseface13]

When mike says the tuning, he says DADFAE correct?

[@dajdostih]

What is the song that they play on the video???

[@GodinSDXTguitars]

He definitely does not have an entire genus to himself, he is still a human being, but he is a genius. You should check out Edge of Sanity.

[@Tkot2326]

@jordaniac89 You have your terminology mixed up. Technical knowledge refers to how well they know how to play their instruments. I think we can all agree that theirs is quite advanced. What you wanted to say was "theoretical knowledge", which refers to their understanding of music theory.

[@manosarrr]

1.51 the begining of heir apparent i think :P

[@joskun]

what harmonics did Mikael do at the start? how do you do that?

[@alkalinetrio751]

OPETH!!!!!!!!!

[@WallysaurRex]

what did he says about the zombies?

[@jd36]

@SoullessPerfection D minor add 6 and 9. Not far off.

[@RichardSchouteren]

totally agree. MAYH kicks ass

[@Hailstonedpikachu]

i'm pretty sure the grans conjuration isn't on watershed, so why do they start talking about watershed then go into the grabd conjuration?

[@Marol2137]

I thought that so when i first heard it. This Album needs to listen it many times to discover its hidden beautifulity :D More melodic, different Michael vocals but still very good music. As good as Ghost Reveries IMO

[@WallysaurRex]

@opethas1 I love that album. Time of the Seasons the greatest

[@DanielAbbasi07]

Yeah, I agree. Fred is a fucking beast

[@fawkes78]

where is this video from ? it looks like a dvd or something

[@abyssa]

Mik's guitar is a PRS but Freds looks like a less paul

[@Deferreon]

DADFAE tuning? what tuning is that.. well, it cant be D open because d open would be DADFAD?

[@PatternsInTheIvy2]

I know Michael uses a Boss GT-6 live for his distortion

[@RhysAngulatta]

yea he was filling in for chris amott before he decided to go back to the band :P

[@casaroli]

@jedivolt they dropped out to play in dream theater. they don't have a degree! they dropped out in the 1st year

[@MagrisTheBomb]

I don't blame Dick here for thinking Watershed is a weak album in his opinion. The song writing of pre-Black Water Park and Post-Black Water Park are completely different. It's almost listening to two different bands. Some people may think GR and WS were their best albums while others may think MAYH and SL were their best. You can't compare the two eras. It's completely different genres and style of music.

[@selibucaz]

@jordaniac89 i think i remember reading mastadons one guitarist actually said in some other interviews he knows a lot of theroy from the 11 or so years of banjo lessons and 9 or so years of guitar lessons lol, and that he just feels like messing with people/ dosent feel like explaining. lol

[@98723123]

@jordaniac89 i gues thats coz all about soul if you understand what i want to say ;)

[@LearningandDevelopement]

The song Blackwater Park is pritty heavy as well

[@Evraem]

Excellent comment!

[@TamitShah]

mastodon and opeth should tour

[@pwn00bz1337]

Which pixel is Opeth?

[@AmericanMizfit]

@igotwoodhaha Not really. Look at Hendrix. He was self taught and he wrote some pretty complicated shit...

[@DesertGn0me]

Was this recorded on an Etch-A-Sketch?

[@metfan4l]

doesn't know shit about theory or tuning and still is a musical genius.

[@23-infinitymusic46]

Dat audio quality.

[@LearningandDevelopement]

Its off Ghost Reveries

[@YtseJam16]

LOL Akesson's sitting there looking like a zombie until Akerfeldt says "The Zombies" at 2:00 :P

[@peavelSD]

@fsbfsbfsbfsbfsbfsb yeah, you are right, i didnt know unison is a standard word in english, i always thought it belongs just to music language

[@MagrisTheBomb]

Mikael is up there with Maynard James Keenan for me. ;) But I like Maynard a little bit more. Only a little.

[@VerdugoX2L]

3:14 - 3:25 LMFAO HAHA!

[@Khachik2003]

wtf from oracle and odyssey is hippee album

[@HanafiElSha7toor]

That explains all the devil intervals in their songs O.o

[@Birdbomb88]

your welcome

[@Thomas_Hogsplitter]

@jordaniac89 yay, good thing I had a bad teacher, I learned how to read tabs and I play fast, but I did'nt get any of the chords and scales stuff XD I hope it works haha

[@Hedon11]

i always the the image tha the other band mates that play with mike in these playing interviews get really pissed cause they never know when mike starts to play and what he starts to play and just when the other dudes are going to play it too he stops all of sudden

[@Stillillgal]

im sure he knows...he just dont know he knows

[@21Fixxxer]

@Neltheros man i heard him say that oon a clinic he did im my city... I really cant understand how all these great musicians who compose so great and technically difficult music dont know theory.especially when you play a shitload of arpeggios and scales like jeff I cant imagine ho w you can play all these withouy knowinh even the basics

[@azrael666ethereal]

Well the core of Darkthrone has always only ever been two member, Nocturnal Culto (Vocals/Guitar) and Fenriz (Drums/Vocals)..the rest that have been in DT were just session.. They remain jusy two guys now and never play live....

[@peavelSD]

first he says: "i don't know shit about theory" later on you can hear: "i sing unisono"

[@98723123]

@Tuscopa

[@LearningandDevelopement]

I think Mikael is a genus the only Death Metal I listin to is Opeth but I think I like it bc they have prog rock in ther music

[@joesdmf]

haha i wish i hada seen this when i was learning the song, it would of helped a good bit but o well i knw the song but good video

[@KryticalError]

yeah. i'd save up for that. without hope to ever sound like akerfeldt sounds; i'd still buy that bitch!

[@n0cturnalsurfer]

i know mikael has a huge interest in psychedelic music, i wonder if he dabbles in the subject matter..

[@DarthDanno]

this comment is dead on.......i saw them live and although he has a LOT of skill, he does not yet feel too accepted by the fans yet, as Peter leaves big shoes to fill

[@petter656]

Nah, it's d minor add 9. The E is the 9th, not the 7th.

[@jordaniac89]

I think its crazy that all these great prog metal players admittedly don't know any music theory. I know mastodon say they don't know any theory either. I guess that just shows amazing music isn't always about technical knowledege.

[@RobertoReyesChHC]

what the fuck he doesn't know anything about theory or tuning? that's fucking amazing!

[@thinsulite]

Akerfeldt listens to a LOT of stuff. Don't think for a second he listens to just metal. He's a prog head, not a metal head.

[@HellsMascot]

Actually, Mikael doesn't know much about theory. He uses his ear to get what he wants.

[@jacksonthrasher]

@jordaniac89 maybe that's how they come up with all that weird shit dude

[@sumsar01]

well one of the guitarist from mastodon have a college degree in music so i hardy believe he doesn't know any music theory

[@silverstaralchemist]

PRS Single Cut...