My
name is Fredrik Pihl and I live in Sweden. I picked up the guitar
when I was 12 years old, but didn’t really start to practice
seriously until I was 18. I was watching a Guns N’ Roses
concert with some friends and I made up my mind that I wanted
to start playing. I went to a school where I learnt some basic
chords and songs, but I quit after a year and decided to study
on my own. I learned how to read tablature and bought some Metallica
and Iron Maiden books, and started to learn some songs.
In
1998 I started taking some lessons again, and during that time
I discovered some great players like Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman,
Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai. That’s when I started to practice
and build up my technique. At that time I was basically a Yngwie
clone. But I realised pretty quick that there is and will always
be just one Yngwie Malmsteen.
My
biggest turning point was when I went to see a clinic with Swedish
guitar maestro Mattias IA Eklundh. He was playing those impossible
things on his guitar and it really inspired me to practice even
more. During the following years I got to know Mattias pretty
good and I took several lessons from him as well as attending
his annual Freak Guitar camp. IA has helped me in many ways and
there are not enough good words to say about him.
At
Freak Guitar camp 2001 I met my very good friend Christian Johansson.
We started an instrumental project called In Focuz. Christian
is a great player and I always get inspired when we play together.
Around
the year 2001 I found out about many new great players that inspired
me a lot. Allan Holdsworth, Shawn Lane, Brett Garsed, Michael
Romeo, Steve Morse to name a few. But the one who really made
me dropped my chin when I first heard him was the incredible Ron
Thal, aka. Bumblefoot.
Ron is still my biggest influence and I got to meet him for the
first time at Freak Guitar camp 2005. I learned a lot of things
from him, and I consider him to be one of the best players ever.
And he is also a very nice guy. Other players that had a huge
impact on me are Dave Martone, Guthrie Govan and the incredible
Frank Zappa among others.
In
January 2004 I teamed up with a local metal band called Indemnity.
I hadn’t played in a band for a very, very long time, so
I felt it was time to do something about it. Playing together
with the guys in the band is really inspiring and challenging.
We recorded a demo cd called 16 hours of darkness, which can be
downloaded at the official Indemnity website. www.indemnity.se
Right now we are writing some new material and are about to record
a new demo cd soon.
Currently
is endorsed by Vigier guitars, Curt Mangan strings and The light
pick.
