Mika Tyyskä: mr fastfinger, who is running the show!

A great interview with Mika Tyyskä by blind summit... here's a little snippet.



Mika Tyyskä says:

First of all designing and planning this album was very inspiring. Seems that this little sensei character is a endless source of fun ideas and potential projects. I didn’t really come up with an actual concept story for the album. Decided that the tracks would simply illustrate the character and his world. Tell little stories instead of one feature lenght story.

Mr. Fastfinger Band Live at Magnusborg Studios 1 - Exploding Solo


I’m a great fan of instrumental music. In addition to guitar music I listen to a lot of film soundtracks, ethnic music and classical, and so on. For this album I wanted to bring all kind of elements that I inspiring.

I work on music pretty much the same way as I do when working on graphics. I love mixing techniques, mixing styles.

I worked with real drummer and bass player to get the human touch, and warmness to the tracks. Getting musicians to play on the tracks not only gave me better sounds but they also brought the music to the next level. In addition to live drums I also like to use a lot of percussion. There are layers and layers of percussion loops going on in many songs. Vintage and analog type of synthesizer sounds seem to fit Fastifinger’s world perfectly. Also used some ethnic sounds from sample workstations.

Mr. Fastfinger Band Live at Magnusborg Studios 2 - Wax on - Wax off


A lot of time was spent on recording the guitars. I wanted to make sure that there was always interesting stuff happening for the listener. I didn’t want the whole album to be just high speed guitar freak soloing. I believe in good melodies. There needs to be colors and contrasts, shapes and patterns just like in visual arts. For the guitar tones I worked long and hard. Different tones, effects and playing styles keep the listener awake and interested. Everything always depends on the song and it’s mood. If you know the story your trying to tell, it’s much easier to find the right tone and playing style that supports the scene.

Even did some mind tricks there. With the solo on "Creatures of the Midnight" I was very lost at first. Tried all effects and everything, but I could get the right feel there. Then remembered a Mark Knopfler concert I had seen on TV few days earlier. Felt that his playing style could fit the mood. There was no time to call Mark. So I pretended I was him, throw away my pick, focused on finger picking and recorded my magic solo. I don’t think the solo sounds at all like Mr. Knopfler, but it was very inpiring to try this approach on this solo.

Mr. Fastfinger Band Live at Magnusborg Studios 3 - Humble Moves


What comes to the overall album. I was very interested in getting the album in right balance. I wanted to have the focus on rocking music, but keep it versatile and multi layered. I wanted each song to be different from each other. Pull different influences, feelings and ideas to the tracks. To me there’s nothing more boring than albums with all songs sounding exactly the same with each other. The right song order is also essential for the overall listening experience.

full shredding interview