What is wrong with Yngwie Malmsteen?

[{D|aBo|uS}]

Hi everyone, I've been reading your posts for a long time, but now I've decided to register. Here is what I wanna talk about :
For a couple of month, I've been hearing more and more people saying that Yngwie Malmsteen sucks. In my point of view, Malsteen isn't playing original, wierd stuff such as Satriani or Vai, but he is definitely awesome! I understand that some people dislike his style (fast music scales and classical music), but those who tell that is not good are far from being able to play like him (actually, I am one of those who try to play like him).

Anyway, I just wanted to have the opinion of other musician on Yngwie Malmsteen's style.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

he is a badass, but it all sounds the same.

 

[{D|aBo|uS}]

I agree that it often sounds the same, but still, I think he's good

 

[TekChef]

To say he sucks would be very, very stupid-he is a original in the instance that he is the one who really got the NeoClassical thing going. No one can deny, the guy can play and has a developed style.

The only beefs I have with him is that he is a subpar songwriter, and his solos tend to sound the same. He has not develop much past his neoclassical shredding, while most of the other masters of the instrument have learned more styles and grown as players.

but again..to say he sucks would be a dumb statement.

 

[FrostbittenGrimness]

I agree that he is quite talented. BUT, his playing is 99.99% shredding over a scale he has already played 10 times on the same album, or he is playing a riff that sounds exactly the same to another riff that is on a previous album, with the exception of one different note.

Herman Li is a great example of another guitarist, who shreds as fast, if not faster the Yngwie, yet has time for slower melodic pieces.. Thats one huge let down I see in Malmsteen..

He focuses ONLY on going as fast as he can... Which, gets VERY boring after only one listen of an album..

 

[ADS]

I dunno if you guys remember, but a long time ago, I think sometime after the release of "Marching Out", Yngwie was in a bad car accident that caused a lot of damage to his hands (and other stuff). When it happened, no one was even sure if he'd ever be able to play again. Well, obvously he got through it and came back... but to me, he was just never the same after that. He seemed to lose something from that point on, and even though he's still amazingly talanted, nothing he's done since then has had the innovation, impact, versatility and just plain "awe" that his first two releases had.

He's still an idol to me, but I'll take "Rising Force" and "Marching Out" over his newer stuff any day.

 

[TwilightSymphony]

There's a reason why Ritchie Blackmore calls Yngwie, "Paganini." Niccolo Paganini was considered the fastest violinist who ever lived - so fast in fact, that many people thought he had sold his soul to the devil to be able to play as fast as he did. He certainly never tried to deny it, either. It seems that Yngwie is trying to be this century's Paganini.

To say that Yngwie is lacking in technical ability is ignorance, plain and simple. When he first hit the US scene in 1983, nobody else, with the possible exception of Ritchie Blackmore, was playing the type of classical music-influenced Rock material that Yngwie was (remember, Randy Rhoads had passed away the year before) and even Blackmore wasn't playing that way all the time - he also mixed in Blues, Rock and even Country guitar playing techniques into his playing.

The problem that I notice with Yngwie is that his playing has been in the same style since the 80's, much like Ace Frehley's (Kiss) guitar playing has been since the 1970's. It's the same scales used ad infinitum on virtually every song and this goes back as far as his first album (maybe even further - if you have the Steeler and Alcatrazz albums that he appears on, you can tell us).

 

[FauxPerspicacity]

but at least Paganini could write

 

[xOrdinary_Storyx]

if you wanna look at it from a technique standpoint, malmsteen is one of, if not the best. but it can get so damn boring. and if it dosent interest me, i personally dont care how good he is.

 

[demondeath]

he just likes to fly fast and dont stop.

 

[bobvex]

Yngwie = Recycled Phrigian modes and Harmonic Minor scales over Eb Minor songs.
ie vivaldi regurgitator

 

[97reb]

Yeah, the basic theme here is - being really really fast is okay, but do a little something different every once and a while. That accident of his maybe should have awakened him to try different styles, speeds, scales, modes, time signatures, anything.

 

[TheMonkeysAteMySoul]

I don't like yngwiyiohajcdfnawj however you spell it, his playing is dull, its just a loud of 'look how fast I am' playing, he has no emotion in his playing, and I don't think that doing the same thing as ritchie blackmoore but faster really counts as inovatin, not to me anyway

 

[Iced In Flames]

Some of you people are retarded.

He started the whole Neoclassical thing as it was stated. NO ONE could play like him when he was in Alcatraz and Steeler.

Unoriginal? I think some of you guys need to look at yourselves. He has ton of original ideas. Yeah when you play as much and as long as he has they do indeed sound similar tho.
Where can I buy all of your cds at by the way?
I'm sure is soooo much better than Yngwie.

 

[Bryant]

Most replies on this topic are actually reasonable. Yngwie is very good and very bad. Yngwie is the best at what he does. Many have tried to duplicate what he does and they have failed miserably, but on the same token, Yngwie has lacked the ability to re-invent himself. His stuff is old and tired. He is still the best at it, but it is too repetitive.


Bryant

 

[Iced In Flames]

He should have also stuck to metal as well and not wrote those poppy songs like he did in the late 80's. Those were really bad.

 

[TheMonkeysAteMySoul]

Where can I buy all of your cds at by the way?
I'm sure is soooo much better than Yngwie.

that is the worst argument ever, so I can't criticize yngkdbhs if I can't play better than him, do I have to like everyone who is more succsesfull than me? thats like, if I was going to have heart surgery
Doctor - 'there we are, good as new'
Me - 'but Im not sown up properly, my stomach really hurts and that looks like my liver in that tray over there'
Doctor - 'well Id like to see you do a better job, I don't see you performing any operations do I?'

 

[{D|aBo|uS}]

Well, I guess that everyone agree on the fact that sadly, Malmsteen has not evolved so much in his way of playing music. It is beginning to sound familiar. The thing is that those who say that he sucks are saying that he because of that point! It is not because he is starting to play repetitive stuff that he is not a good guitar player. As I said, If you don't like him because you think that it all sounds the same, fine! But don't say that he is not good : that's not because he always plays the same stuff that this stuff is easy to play. What he does is incredibly hot, but it is sad to see that he cannot do new stuff.

 

[Iced In Flames]

that is the worst argument ever, so I can't criticize yngkdbhs if I can't play better than him, do I have to like everyone who is more succsesfull than me? thats like, if I was going to have heart surgery
Doctor - 'there we are, good as new'
Me - 'but Im not sown up properly, my stomach really hurts and that looks like my liver in that tray over there'
Doctor - 'well Id like to see you do a better job, I don't see you performing any operations do I?'

Everyone can be a critic. But you have nothing to back it up with. I can say all day that every guitarist sucks ass even if I cant play better than them. But then there is no substance to it. You criticizing Yngwie(Learn how to spell the mans name) means nothing if that if you're arguement.

 

[FauxPerspicacity]

I think Yngwie should do what most performers in the classical genre do: play other people's music. For instance popular violinists are often good at violin but they never write their own music they just play classical composers' music. Yngwie is good at playing but he can't write very well and he often uses classical motives to begin with as in Paganini and Bach.