Inside with Andreas Oberg v1
Inside Series with Andreas:
In an interview with Andreas on October 28th, we explored his current activities and guitar-playing insights. “Right now I’m moving to a new apartment in Stockholm,” as he was waiting for some friends to help him move his furniture. Asked if he was moving much studio recording equipment, he clarified, “I don’t have much equipment in the apartment. It is really very spare. When I need to record I go to friends who have studios set up or rent a studio. I’ve never gotten into computer-based studio recording apps like Pro Tools myself. I leave that to the engineers.”
What he did move, very carefully, was his amp and five guitars: 2 Benedettos, 2 AJLs and a nylon acoustic guitar that Andreas really likes and picked up in Brazil (no guitar luthier name on it). “I like the nylon for certain sounds, and sometimes when I need one in the studio I rent one.” His last album had a couple of very sweet pieces with Andreas on nylon.
Andreas, while in Stockholm, has recently been working on composing and playing for commercials. “I am getting more and more into composing, and I have a contract with Match Music—a label for Universal—that produces commercials.” He composes in a number of style modes for the commercials, and sometimes plays piano as well as guitar. “Some of the stuff I’ve written for piano and then I have a pianist perform it.” The commercial pieces are about 2 minutes long, and then Andreas edits for length. “I’ve been playing hundreds of gigs over the years—constant travel. It is fun to play. The travel is not as attractive. I come to the US every second month.” His next gig is at Birdland for the 10th Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival, from November 3-8.
Andreas has been doing a lot of crafting on his upcoming album (no working title as of yet), and will be laying it down in a New York recording studio this month: November 18-22. The album features two original pieces from Andreas, composed years ago. “I’ve chosen all the repertoire for the album. It’s an awesome group I’ve pulled together for the album. Bill Cunliffe is doing the arranging. John Patitucci is on base, with Lewis Nash on drums and David Kikoski on piano.” Andreas notes he may do some guitar dubbing with rhythm guitar overlaid with the melody and solo.
In talking about his early playing, Andreas noted, “I started with some classical guitar, but the improvisation really appealed to me. I liked songs that were fast to very fast. I never sat down with a metronome to work on playing dexterity. I mainly practiced with no background, no backing track. I first came into high-speed playing when I was 17. For me, it was a matter of learning to relax, which I pass on to my AGU students.”