Switching Styles is excited to introduce the amazing musical work of FreddeGredde.

Started by Fredrik Larsson, FreddeGredde is a stage name for his musical work. FreddeGredde is a Swedish musician known for his medleys of nostalgic cartoons, television themes, video games and so much more.

Introducing FreddeGredde

For this Swedish musician, it seemed to start at a young age with influences from family members including his father, who always encouraged Fredrik to develop his talents. With a childhood surrounded by music, it was just natural to dabble in it. Growing up, he never took music lessons though his brother ended up taking music lessons. Regardless of the lack of lessons, his love for music didn’t falter because of that. In fact, it worked out for the best that he never took lessons, as he wanted his music done his way and not dictated by another person.

“I don’t like being told what to do and what is the right or wrong way. When I learn things, I want to experiment and do it at my own pace. I might not play in the traditional ‘proper’ way, but I do believe it opens for more creativity and originality if you figure things out on your own.”

Starting on YouTube, Fredrick simply posted a couple of videos that just happened to gain a lot of popularity. Fur Elis was his first video on YouTube, back when YouTube was relatively new itself. He noticed a gap for guitar covers of Fur Elis. There weren’t renditions of the entire song, just sections. Over the years it’s slowly gained nearly 3 million views.

Being on the internet as a musician has opened a lot of doors for him, as it has for many other musicians. The dream of making it big is no longer only in the hands of labels. All someone needs now is a microphone and a computer to create any kind of music they want at a professional level. Creation, distribution, promotion, performing, are all accessible and free. The internet provided a huge contrast to the music industry where producers and labels have quite a bit of control including the profits. They were the only option musicians had due to the limited access to technology. In the 50’s all the way up to the 90’s label companies were the only ones with the ability to make albums and promote the musicians.

Fredrick doesn’t agree with the traditional model of musicians making it big saying there are a lot of horror stories from musicians. This kind of profit-driven model seems to be an aspect of all industries. Using the internet allows musicians to have complete control over their music, in every single aspect allowing for more musicians to follow their passions.

FreddeGredde Music Career 

On his YouTube channel, he has quite the range of medleys. The process of making a medley, once it’s decided upon, is a lot of improvising. It starts with testing random notes, and cords to find something that sounds good. The melody comes frost and then the lyrics come at the very end.

For Fredrik, the melody itself is the most important part of the music whereas the lyrics are not as vital, “I like to hear creative and experimental details, something that shows that the composer tried something new. But of course, it also needs an emotional component, like a chord change or melody that attempts to move you. Otherwise, it’s kind of pointless.”

There are also original songs uploaded to FreddeGredde’s YouTube. These allow him to compose something entirely new whereas covers and medleys are taking songs that are already there and putting them into a different context. These original songs fill up three of his albums including  Thirteen Eight (August 2011), Brighter Skies (July 2014), and Eyes On the Edge (May 2017).

First time I see my 3 albums together like this, and it makes me oddly proud! Somehow I've made so much original music through the years. :O pic.twitter.com/IGNzVauEKD

— FreddeGredde (@freddegreddet) May 25, 2017

Of these, his Brighter Skies album is his favourite as it was an album full of music that he personally enjoyed without worrying about how it would be perceived. tracks 1, 2 and 7 are his favourite within the album as “There’s a lot of things going on in them, new themes introduced and subtly returning in different ways like the songs are their own
adventures,” he explains.

As a project, FreddeGredde has been successful over the years. With 248,784 subscribers, 6 albums (3 original, 2 medleys, and 1 cover), and over 30 published videos, his music has spread across the world.  Starting on YouTube in 2008, he has created over 30 songs.

A sample of FreddeGredde Music

Here are just a few highlights from his amazing collection of medleys.

 

 

 

Let me know what you think of FreddeGredde in the comments below!!