Bill Barnes of Jazz.com Rave Review for AGU

But the website that I find the most intriguing is from Sweden’s fiery young guitar phenom, Andreas Öberg. Andreas Guitar Universe is a user-friendly interactive site offering a fast-track, streamlined method incorporating Öberg’s aggressive technique with a common sense, ear-oriented approach to playing. “I want you to learn to play what’s in your head, not just what’s in your fingers,” he says in one of his lessons—and quite convincingly shows us how its done, no tricks, no secrets.

I love his logical, no-nonsense approach—utilizing the fretboard much the same way the Gypsy players do, relating modal phrasing to the underlying chord structure without being overly concerned over positions. “I try to get the students to hear everything they play and learn how to visualize the whole fretboard instead of just learning different positions.” This site is also unique for its comprehensive instruction on Gypsy jazz, blues, funk, rock and special techniques like harp harmonics, bass line-chord comping and sweeps. Barely in his thirties, Öberg hasn’t accumulated the same decades of road work as Bruno or Elf, but in terms of knowledge, technique and versatility, he is very much an old soul and his playing speaks volumes—solid technicality seasoned with street-smart, monster chops.