Well, his new album Perpetual Flame has just come out. Which I have to say is most excellent.
He is here in the humble state of Virginia to play in the Jaxx NightClub.
I cannot wait, to go over and rock out today. I will try and get pictures with him, or someone!
I have been following Yngwie's music for about 4 years now. I first heard his name when I was like 12. Didn't hear an actual song from him, napster liked to cheat back then. I saw a video instructional of him too, but I did not know who it was. It was this video of Trilogy suite.
I figured that everyone played like that back then and thats how guitar teachers...taught. I always was intrigued by this video, he was so flawless. I thought, man, I wish he became some big star(little did I know... he was one)
So then I see him playing in G3 with steve Vai and satriani. Whom I knew of Vai about the same time as I saw that trilogy suite video. I loved Vai, he was the greatest guitarist on earth to me! even more than Van Halen or SRV. I just was fascinated. so there was this fat guy named yngwie malmsteen. THROWING KICKS! He was a real rock n roller. I could tell. And his guitar looked all scalloped like it was over used from his speedy sausage fingers and just turned into some caved in piece of work as a fender.
Holy crap could this guy play. He played Evil Eye. Which changed my life. I remember one day playing LAN starcraft with friends. hey...look up Yngwie music. and wowee, it sounded awesome.
Forever then. I got all I could, found Cd's in stores, I just needed to watch this guy play. I wanted to learn everything I could, every yngwie song. i learned Srv before then. I love Blues. Always will. but this was new and exciting. It was something that touched my soul and really helped me express my anger that I had through the years. It helped me express the tears I shed, It just blew me away.
I don't rate guitarists. but Yngwie is one Cool guitarist. he just was so different, he really means every note he plays. Alot of critics say he "just plays fast" Just plays phrygian dominate scale. Well. Sure he does that, but SRV didn't do much other than blues. And Steve Vai has his similar licks. And so does Satch. But thats why I love em. They Do Their Thing.
Believe me I've heard every rumor, and story about Yngwie's reputation. And I just find them hilarious.
Heres evil eye from alcatrazz days.
Enjoy. To me evil eye, was like how Demons Eye was the pivotal song for Yngwie.
Also some pre week preperation was playing to his first three solo albums. over and over.
also, if anyone feels to input, I wonder if you will go see his tour, if you have, lets hear the report!
Yngwie is so silly. Also, he is frozen in time and locked up in his own habits. He stopped thinking. He played so much he basically can't improvise anymore and just throws out the same stuff over and over no matter what the setting or the context. It's not about still doing the same thing. It's that he doesn't even listen to himself. He ruins his greater moments by following them up with fast runs that are just stupidy timed.
Anyway, best non-jazz non-classical guitarists are clearly Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth. Others are just far behind, no matter how good and flexible some of them are.
But, Yngwie has the best vibrato ever on guitar. Donno if he still has it, though.
It's easy to forget why Yngwie was/is so great with all the fast guitarists of today. Hearing a song of his once in a while reminds me that his sound is just really good. Saw him live 2 years ago, it was a 5 hour show in the pit though and by the time all the other bands were done I was pretty tired, still I'm glad I saw him at least once.
edit: O man evil eye is still a really good track haha. Too bad not all his songs are that memorable.
I love Yngwie. I've not seen him live, however. I must say I'm much more partial to Satriani.
Oh, and as we're on the topic of guitarists, here's a fun fact many of you may have not known - Steve Vai was at Blizzcon '07. lol. Apparently his kid is a WoW fanatic or something.
On October 28 2008 01:28 BlackStar wrote: Yngwie is so silly. Also, he is frozen in time and locked up in his own habits. He stopped thinking. He played so much he basically can't improvise anymore and just throws out the same stuff over and over no matter what the setting or the context. It's not about still doing the same thing. It's that he doesn't even listen to himself. He ruins his greater moments by following them up with fast runs that are just stupidy timed.
Anyway, best non-jazz non-classical guitarists are clearly Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth. Others are just far behind, no matter how good and flexible some of them are.
But, Yngwie has the best vibrato ever on guitar. Donno if he still has it, though.
Malmsteen was at his best with his first solo material, when he was ~21. Pretty awesome what he accomplished so young. Unfortunately he's done nothing new since then, just more of the same. I find him very tasteless, he just throws in super fast scale runs or arpeggios any time he could be doing something interesting. He's a one trick pony, but he did take the Blackmore and Uli Jon Roth neoclassical style to the next level.
Malmsteen, in my opinion, is probably the most technically skilled metal guitarist... but he doens't have much substance. I put him in the category of "shredders," "wankers," whatever you want to call them.
Sure, they are fast, but they don't bring much to the table musically.
On October 28 2008 03:54 Mikilatov wrote: Oh, and as we're on the topic of guitarists, here's a fun fact many of you may have not known - Steve Vai was at Blizzcon '07. lol. Apparently his kid is a WoW fanatic or something.
lol, his kids have wow character names in real life. Julian Angel Vai and "Fire".
On October 28 2008 04:07 Phoned wrote: ...but he doens't have much substance. I put him in the category of "shredders," "wankers," whatever you want to call them.
Sure, they are fast, but they don't bring much to the table musically.
Don't underestimate his innate talent. And don't compare him to many of those people in metal that try to copy him. His success just damaged his ego so much that he can't think straight anymore. Yngwie thinks he's the greatest guitarist on the planet. That's why he doesn't even try to improve.
It has nothing to do with him not having substance.
Or maybe it's all just an act since he knows that doing what he does now will sell him the most CDs. If he had more substance then people wouldn't buy his CDs. Because then it would be too difficult to appriciate.
i'm probably one of the biggest Yngwie fans you'll ever meet, but this album sucks ass. Tim Owens??? give me a fucking break. that guy has been thrown out of every single band he's ever been in.
On October 28 2008 01:28 BlackStar wrote: Yngwie is so silly. Also, he is frozen in time and locked up in his own habits. He stopped thinking. He played so much he basically can't improvise anymore and just throws out the same stuff over and over no matter what the setting or the context. It's not about still doing the same thing. It's that he doesn't even listen to himself. He ruins his greater moments by following them up with fast runs that are just stupidy timed.
Anyway, best non-jazz non-classical guitarists are clearly Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth. Others are just far behind, no matter how good and flexible some of them are.
But, Yngwie has the best vibrato ever on guitar. Donno if he still has it, though.
shawn lane had such incredible technique but, unlike yngwie, he never played more notes than he had to, never played endless lines of shit scales over and over, didnt overplay at all (check out powers of ten, time is the enemy).
allan holdsworth is just hands down one of the best guitarists in this world without a doubt
i also suggest guthrie govan, although he hasnt been around as long as holdsworth or shawn lane he has a really great style. i personally like his blues stuff more than his shreddy wankery stuff though
of all the dead and gone musicians, shawn lane is the one that i miss the most
I scored a couple of his signature picks last night. my throat is destroyed through all the shouting. And my ears are blown up. I decided to man through it and not use the ear plugs. im pleased with my decision. the show was like an hour and a half.
There was one russian band before yngwie. Sounded Hardcore. Guitarist had like a 7 string, he was okay, used too much wah, and wasn't entirely clean, but he was good. The singer was funny to look at, he dressed like joker. Yeah...thats about it.
Yngwie is SO! cool man, he is so awesome on stage. Brings such a great charisma. He started out with death dealer, which is on his new album. EFF this song is awesome. I was literally like 2 feet away from his guitar. And man those things have such a tone and shine to them. The cool thing was me and yngwie had this like 2 second moment. he had this freakin intense stare, he was hitting the low notes. and he was staring right directly at me and he raised his fist like a viking, And I was doing the same right at the time. And then he turned away and did more playing. It was the single greatest thing ever.
And blackstar, He does listen to himself. You don't know what you are talking about. He's matured quite alot over the years. He isn't there to just wank. He composed everything. He makes sure everything is spot on. The vocals were great, the keyboards had slight problem at start and he was making gesturing to raise those up. And when he played the Fugue piece. He was actually kinda pissed the orchestra track wasnt being played loud enough. he had to turn his guitar down.
He broke a string during red devil, AND KEPT TUNING THE GUITAR, AND IT sounded like EVEN BETTER THAN IT ORIGINALLY DID! it was intense. So say what you want blackstar, I can understand why you say it, but like...its an empty thought. sorta expected more out of someone with a great song of Yngwie's(not the effin Radiohead crap) as their name. hahaha, Im just kidding man.
But yeah, a funny little story before the gig, an indian guy was holding out his acoustic and playing, some scraggly guy took it, started playing. the indian guy was like wow. you are fast man. he wasnt really playing that great, but it was allright at least.
So he was about to put it away, and I asked if I could play. And Im not bad. I can play all sorts of yngwie stuff. and satriani stuff. but yeah it was pretty cool, the indian guy was a real chill guy just goin yeaaaah man, thats some smooth playing.
Also some big guy stood RIGHT in front of me before yngwie played. And man this guy was huge it was difficult to see, but after the first band played, he snatched some yngwie picks and gave one to me and my brother. Cause we didn't complain, but then later my brother gave me the spot he was standing cause it was better. I appreciated it.
But yeah, it was an awesome concert. Unfortunately my brother put his camera back in the car when they were all saying they would take away them if seen, blah, they got cell phone snapshots. And I could take a picture of the picks. I'll just take a picture now. What the crap, its saying I need to change batteries!? What is this crap! I just put BRAND new ones in! Oh this just. Whatever, screw u guys, YOU GET NO PROOF I DONT CARE IM JUST GOING TO GO ROCK.
Yeah, Yngwie is obsessed with pitch. He has perfect pitch and one of the great things is that his guitar is almost always well in tune. He doesn't need to think. He hears and knows. I think he can even adjust intonation inaccuracies because of the scalloping. Many people have a hard time listening to guitar period because it's never perfectly in tune for every note you can play.
But his note choice, it's just gone. He doesn't consider his phrasing. It's all instincts and reflexes for him now. Look, there is a big difference between a musician that's very critical about all elements of his play and a guitarist without musical substance, like one guy claimed. It's like he has 40 versions of that run originally from Far Beyond the Sun. But he plays it in almost every solo. And he ignores the build up of tension, the harmonic contect, etc etc. And be barely uses the dimension of rhythm. Sure, he's playing metal and catering to baroque. But even if you do it seldom, he has little rhythmic creativity. Maybe he does do it on his recent studio stuff. But it wasn't in his improvisation repetoire when I saw him 4 years or so ago.
And this for a guy who claims he studies Bach and Vivaldi and claims to know all music theory there exists.
Unless he totally changed since 3 years ago. But then he would no longer be Yngwie.
He has like 1000 versions of far beyond the sun, they are always different. And I disagree he doesn't consider his phrasing.
Pretty much everytime I've heard it, its like hearing it for the first time, every section I anticipate. And last night was effin awesome. Some nights may be better than others, but he's been so ON this year.
Maybe you have forgotten about something called "soul?" And maybe even something called Rock n Roll. Cause when you know how to play your own music, its second nature, its like your child. Its not like you have to think. "oh I gotta switch to A minor and then --" no you just let the music carry you.
Rhythmic creativity? What the eff, you base everything off of some gig you attended four years ago, and state that like thats how he is every single day. get over it, see him again!
He isn't just a guitarist, and especially not one without substance. he's a composer, lyricist producer, bassist, even played cello, engineer, mixer. You probably know that. Everything. And like, its great that he still has musical inspiration flowing and working continually, and probably will still do for the rest of his life. hence why his album is called Perpetual Flame.
He has a good musical vocabulary, he never said he knows every musical theory that exists. He only said he was well educated.
He is still the same Yngwie though. he's made changes in his personal life, like drinking smoking, other things. And he's been somewhat of a health freak as he states, and is super busy with interviews and other things and can barely find time to buy shampoo.
And he looks so cool on stage, he really gives it his all every gig. Whether or not that translates into perfect sound or feedback, whatever. He still goes in there with everything he has. Thats heart.
"Evidence of substance in music? What does that even mean?"
Uh, you read what he said wrong, he was asking for evidence that I was there.
I have to agree with BlackStar there. In my opinion, his soli are all so similiar and being a guitar player, I can tell you that he's using the same runs over and over again, just in different keys. I prefer Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and Michael Romeo.
On October 28 2008 07:59 AmorVincitOmnia wrote: i'm probably one of the biggest Yngwie fans you'll ever meet, but this album sucks ass. Tim Owens??? give me a fucking break. that guy has been thrown out of every single band he's ever been in.
On October 28 2008 07:59 AmorVincitOmnia wrote: i'm probably one of the biggest Yngwie fans you'll ever meet, but this album sucks ass. Tim Owens??? give me a fucking break. that guy has been thrown out of every single band he's ever been in.
Also, what does 'soul' in music even mean? Emotion?
Music doesn't have a soul and music doesn't contain emotions. Music is all about different ways to organise sound in terms of harmony, melody and rhythm.
Even people don't have souls, while they do have emotions. Yeah, he can produce a song in a couple of minutes that's better than many other people in the business can. That's why I called out that other person. But that's not the issue here.
I don't say that like many other people Yngwie should try something totally different. But there is a reason why so many other musicians do that. They know they are humans. They know they need to refresh and reinvent themselves.
If you play guitar yourself you know it's a big problem for guitarists. The way they need to play is very mechanical, very much movement oriented instead of sounds/note oriented. Yngwie's solo playing for a long time has definitely degraded because of stagnation.
Now maybe last year or two he totally changed. I know he lost life and adjusted his life style. But if he did you would probably complain because you like the old Yngwie more than the new one.
Yngwie has been playing the exact same stuff for years. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But think about what kind of attitude a musician must have to be able to do that.
I am just giving a fair analysis of Yngwie's strong points, weak points and limitations.
And no, you are misunderstanding. Someone claimed Yngwie is just a 'wanker' and his music has no 'substance'. I think both you and I defended the musical integrity of Malmsteen. And now he's asking for 'evidence of substance'. So I ask what he even means by that. Is he just going to say: "His music has no soul." which of course is a totally meaningless and subjective statement. Or is he going to make a musicological argument? I mean, I would say music by definition has no substance but music. It's just that. And that's what makes it the most amazing artform. It excels at being abstract and still very emotional. And how would a 'musical proof' look like? I know about Schenkerian analysis and all that stuff. But how do you proof something about the quality of music?
On October 28 2008 07:59 AmorVincitOmnia wrote: i'm probably one of the biggest Yngwie fans you'll ever meet, but this album sucks ass. Tim Owens??? give me a fucking break. that guy has been thrown out of every single band he's ever been in.
Baby, don't fear the Ripper.
Baby, take my hand
Tim Owens fucking blows
I know. You know what doesn't blow? The album you named yourself after. That album is 100/10.
imo all these metal shredders have speed and technicality but they lack texture. if you dont know what i mean, check out some jazz guitarists, or better yet some jazz sax players like my namesake. another beef i have with yngwie is that he has no rhythm and is all about speed (most of the time). i could listen to john coltrane fiddle around with one lick forever, he knows when its time for speed and wankery and when its time to be swingin'. yngwie on the other hand, could play every scale and every chord that exists in music theory and still be boring as fuck.
i think alot of the problem with these metal shredders and what not is that they persist with the idea that musical technicality and musicianship only applies to how fast you play a string of scales, and are ignorant of all the other wonderful things that make great musicians great. being the fastest is great but playing fast all the time is fucking brain numbingly boring. coltrane could 'shred' faster than any guitar player ive seen, but you hardly ever see him do it because it sounds like ass all the time, its just used to build up tension for the release.
try some joe pass, ditch yngwie, and i guess if you want a decent rock style shredder, try al di meola
On October 29 2008 09:41 BlackStar wrote: HooHa!, I am talking about his improvised solos.
Also, what does 'soul' in music even mean? Emotion?
Music doesn't have a soul and music doesn't contain emotions. Music is all about different ways to organise sound in terms of harmony, melody and rhythm.
Even people don't have souls, while they do have emotions. Yeah, he can produce a song in a couple of minutes that's better than many other people in the business can. That's why I called out that other person. But that's not the issue here.
I don't say that like many other people Yngwie should try something totally different. But there is a reason why so many other musicians do that. They know they are humans. They know they need to refresh and reinvent themselves.
If you play guitar yourself you know it's a big problem for guitarists. The way they need to play is very mechanical, very much movement oriented instead of sounds/note oriented. Yngwie's solo playing for a long time has definitely degraded because of stagnation.
Now maybe last year or two he totally changed. I know he lost life and adjusted his life style. But if he did you would probably complain because you like the old Yngwie more than the new one.
Yngwie has been playing the exact same stuff for years. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But think about what kind of attitude a musician must have to be able to do that.
I am just giving a fair analysis of Yngwie's strong points, weak points and limitations.
And no, you are misunderstanding. Someone claimed Yngwie is just a 'wanker' and his music has no 'substance'. I think both you and I defended the musical integrity of Malmsteen. And now he's asking for 'evidence of substance'. So I ask what he even means by that. Is he just going to say: "His music has no soul." which of course is a totally meaningless and subjective statement. Or is he going to make a musicological argument? I mean, I would say music by definition has no substance but music. It's just that. And that's what makes it the most amazing artform. It excels at being abstract and still very emotional. And how would a 'musical proof' look like? I know about Schenkerian analysis and all that stuff. But how do you proof something about the quality of music?
I really respect your analysis(even though I didn't want this to become that type of thread at all), which I have done as well, maybe I have not written it down here exactly, but I do look at the hard concrete notes. And everyone has their opinion of what quality is, or what it should sound like, the music speaks in different ways to people.
I think yngwie continues to make the music his way because thats what he likes to do, he wants what makes him feel accomplished. I think he just is really passionate about making music that moves him and challenges himself and also is sort of a revelation to him. Thats probably a small bit of the attitude behind him, he figured out a long time ago that he never is 100% happy when someone else gets in his musical making process. Now, he probably referred to the odyssey album, which I have to say is one of my favorite albums of his. Or also Steeler. He wasn't getting the feel of that stuff. although I like the steeler album too, its alot of fun.
People have souls though. Come on, thats ridiculous, don't be so robotic. You know you feel it whenever you hear something moving. I know we can get into some big ole debacle about souls and God or whatever, But lets not. This is NOT the place for lame boring robotic, we are just multi celled organisms that just reproduce crap. And to define soul, cause I guess you asked for that, its like a separate entity of the body. Its like our actions feelings thoughts. Its the spiritual part instead of the physical part. Whether you believe or not about all that stuff, but it certainly carries people far when they really really want it, just look at Steve Vai and Satch, and SRV, and Jason Becker, you know the list.
And as a guitar player, well, its my blog. why don't I talk about that a bit!?
Yeah I started off playing stevie ray vaughan and like some of the popular stuff at the time. And really learned quite a bit of the blues. I always loved rock, like eddie van and Steve Vai when I heard of him. So I learned just about the formula of most of SRV's songs, you can pretty much figure out the rest.
Learned alot of theory while I was taking lessons for about 2 1/2 years. During then,. I played in the jazz band of the music store, learned alot of chords and playing in the pocket. improv. helped alot.
Then I started wanting to learn yngwie stuff, and -even though my guitar teacher wasn't really much of that kind of player, he could pull it off though. And yeah, eventually had to move and such.
Now, could I expand myself and play other stuff...yeah... I could, but I really like this classical stuff, because its challenging and you can basically make any sound you want.
I like both old Yngwie and New Yngwie for the record. The first four or 5 albums are awesome. And also the later albums are awesome.
Tim ripper owens is a great singer too, he's perfect for this album. hes got a good aggressive voice. I never heard of his stuff before this.
On October 29 2008 11:55 JohnColtrane wrote: imo all these metal shredders have speed and technicality but they lack texture. if you dont know what i mean, check out some jazz guitarists, or better yet some jazz sax players like my namesake. another beef i have with yngwie is that he has no rhythm and is all about speed (most of the time). i could listen to john coltrane fiddle around with one lick forever, he knows when its time for speed and wankery and when its time to be swingin'. yngwie on the other hand, could play every scale and every chord that exists in music theory and still be boring as fuck.
i think alot of the problem with these metal shredders and what not is that they persist with the idea that musical technicality and musicianship only applies to how fast you play a string of scales, and are ignorant of all the other wonderful things that make great musicians great. being the fastest is great but playing fast all the time is fucking brain numbingly boring. coltrane could 'shred' faster than any guitar player ive seen, but you hardly ever see him do it because it sounds like ass all the time, its just used to build up tension for the release.
try some joe pass, ditch yngwie, and i guess if you want a decent rock style shredder, try al di meola
All good players, I wouldn't ditch anyone I consider my heroes though. I still love SRV even though I don't really learn his stuff anymore. never really got into al di meola, I know hes a great guitar player and does amazing stuff on it.
Coltrane is awesome. I loved playing his stuff....Didn't he do Cold Duck Time? Jazz is great stuff.
Ritchie Blackmore is one of my favorites, I started listening to him after I knew alot of yngwie's stuff. He's great, hes got speed, feel, and just pulls out exotic stuff out of nowhere! I love his solo in the california Jam of 74, in mistreated. Wowee. Great song.
On October 29 2008 09:41 BlackStar wrote: HooHa!, I am talking about his improvised solos.
Also, what does 'soul' in music even mean? Emotion?
Music doesn't have a soul and music doesn't contain emotions. Music is all about different ways to organise sound in terms of harmony, melody and rhythm.
Even people don't have souls, while they do have emotions. Yeah, he can produce a song in a couple of minutes that's better than many other people in the business can. That's why I called out that other person. But that's not the issue here.
I don't say that like many other people Yngwie should try something totally different. But there is a reason why so many other musicians do that. They know they are humans. They know they need to refresh and reinvent themselves.
If you play guitar yourself you know it's a big problem for guitarists. The way they need to play is very mechanical, very much movement oriented instead of sounds/note oriented. Yngwie's solo playing for a long time has definitely degraded because of stagnation.
Now maybe last year or two he totally changed. I know he lost life and adjusted his life style. But if he did you would probably complain because you like the old Yngwie more than the new one.
Yngwie has been playing the exact same stuff for years. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But think about what kind of attitude a musician must have to be able to do that.
I am just giving a fair analysis of Yngwie's strong points, weak points and limitations.
And no, you are misunderstanding. Someone claimed Yngwie is just a 'wanker' and his music has no 'substance'. I think both you and I defended the musical integrity of Malmsteen. And now he's asking for 'evidence of substance'. So I ask what he even means by that. Is he just going to say: "His music has no soul." which of course is a totally meaningless and subjective statement. Or is he going to make a musicological argument? I mean, I would say music by definition has no substance but music. It's just that. And that's what makes it the most amazing artform. It excels at being abstract and still very emotional. And how would a 'musical proof' look like? I know about Schenkerian analysis and all that stuff. But how do you proof something about the quality of music?
People have souls though. Come on, thats ridiculous, don't be so robotic. You know you feel it whenever you hear something moving. I know we can get into some big ole debacle about souls and God or whatever, But lets not. This is NOT the place for lame boring robotic, we are just multi celled organisms that just reproduce crap. And to define soul, cause I guess you asked for that, its like a separate entity of the body. Its like our actions feelings thoughts. Its the spiritual part instead of the physical part.
He was saying that thoughts, feelings and emotions are all in the brain, which is true. When someone feels different emotions you can see it in a PET scan. Drugs that change your mood effect the brain, I wonder why?
Unfortunately I missed out on the buckethead concert here. because I chose yngwie's concert. But Oh well, I don't exactly know all of buckethead's songs, maybe next time though.
Funny thing about buckethead. I actually got that word filtered out on this other forum I went too.
I drove the creator mad, by always asking if he could get buckethead on his show.
lol about the forum censor. Good to see other Buckethead fans around. He does have some stuff that is a bit "out there," but he also has some great songs.
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