Yngwie Malmsteen

[dargormudshark]

I do not share your opinion.

I can mention two guitar players in the 70s technically as good as Yngwie or Dimeola:

Steve Howe
Allan Holdworth.

The only thing Steve Howe was good at was fingerpicking until Going For the One, Holdsworth didn't have as much talent when he was real young like Yngwie and Becker.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

Gather round it's story time

Once upon a time there was a kickass guitar player named Yngwie and he kicked ass, and he still does. The end.

Good story.

 

[DoktorShred]

For the record i think romeo wanks more than yngwie

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

For the record i think romeo wanks more than yngwie

As much as I've been defending Yngwie, I have to disagree. Have you seen both live? At Yngwie's shows, half the concert is him, on stage alone, shredding.

 

[ABQShredHead]

Hendrix was in general an awful guitar player... but he had a really different approach as to how to play it.

That's just not true at all.

 

[The_Children_of_Decadence]

Yngwie is the man

 

[Black Rose Immortal]

Yes malmsteen can play the guitar very fast, but to me he's not one of the greats because he doesnt appear to be at one with his instrument. He has no style or flare, he just kinda plays the guitar like its a tool.

 

[Asgath]

Yes malmsteen can play the guitar very fast, but to me he's not one of the greats because he doesnt appear to be at one with his instrument. He has no style or flare, he just kinda plays the guitar like its a tool.

Thats the point I'm trying to get at.
Of course he has melody, I was exagerrating
I'd say he was still one of the greats. But he just shreds constantly, when he played live with G3 most of the time he just shredded and tried to outplay Vai and Satch, sure, it sounds cool, but sometimes it would have been nice is he played more to compliment their styles, instead of just doing his same old thing.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

Yes malmsteen can play the guitar very fast, but to me he's not one of the greats because he doesnt appear to be at one with his instrument. He has no style or flare, he just kinda plays the guitar like its a tool.

No style? I can hear one note and say, "Yep, that's Yngwie." And he plays with so much fire and aggression, it's just great... I can't understand how people can listen to Yngwie and only hear speed. If he only had speed, he would've faded out long ago, but he's still going today.

I'd say he was still one of the greats. But he just shreds constantly, when he played live with G3 most of the time he just shredded and tried to outplay Vai and Satch, sure, it sounds cool, but sometimes it would have been nice is he played more to compliment their styles, instead of just doing his same old thing.

Even though I'm obviously a big fan of Yngwie, even I was wondering what the hell he was thinking on that tour. His sets rocked, but he wasn't too great in the jams - then again he never really plays with other guitar players. Still, I found it pretty disappointing.

 

[Liquid Shadow]

Yeah...his G3 set was awesome, but he wasn't that great in the jams.


But to say that he isn't at one with his instrument...wow. I couldn't disagree more. I don't have time to go into why (like anybody cares anyways), but I'll just say that he plays with more passion than anybody else even comes close to in the genre.

 

[iishrak]

Twenty years ago , Yngwie made the ALBUM that revolutionized the guitar world: Rising Force.

Lets face it, mow hes a fat man and he has lost his magic, but he will be a guitar legend forever.

I advise you order the concerto suite DVD (japanese import, but it's region 0 so it'll work on any DVD player), and watch that a couple times. http://www.guitar9.com/concertosuitedvd.html

Once you've done that, you should go and buy Marching Out and Trilogy. Think about the influence those albums had on bands like Sx.

Fire&Ice, Magnum Opus, and Attack! all have "the magic" too.

Let's not, of course, forget the concerto suite in eb minor!

 

[iishrak]

For the record i think romeo wanks more than yngwie

I think we can all agree that NO ONE wanks more than Vai.

 

[Liquid Shadow]

For the Love of God is such a wanky song. Vai can't even contain himself in a ballad.


No wait....



Vai doesn't wank very much at all compared to other guitarists. He does do a lot of very fast playing, but he knows when that works and when it doesn't. Otherwise in songs like For the Love of God there would be Yngwie type runs all over the place. But there aren't. He uses speed when speed will work, and holds himself back when it won't.

Ever heard of Michael Angelo? You think Vai wanks more than him?

 

[dargormudshark]

I don't vai wanks very much at all. Satriani hardly ever wanks. I try not to wank too much in my solos, but I kind of do it anyway.

Have you heard of this Matt Moliti guy all he does is wank, he isn't even good at it! just screwing with you matt

You're right Liquid Shadow Michael Angelo does wank alot and so does my guitar teacher, Rusty Cooley, he has gotten better about it though.

 

[iishrak]

You guys should get the live in astoria DVD and a stop watch and tally up how much of that concert consisted of steve vai making amelodic bar noises!

Seriously, the guy is totally complacent. He hasn't made a genuinely new album in years (not since alive in an ultra world, which is his best since P&W) and he spends his entire live sets making insane bar noises and tapping harmonics with his boothell or tounge or whatever.

It's impossible to compare Yng and Vai side to side. They have completely different styles of music and one of them seems to be in a happy complacent retirement.

BTW, Satch has made 2 and a half good albums. Surfing with the Alien, Crystal Planet and Flying in a Blue Dream (shoulda hired someone else to sing. That's why it only gets half credit).

 

[Liquid Shadow]

I have that DVD.

Do you know what that stuff is called? Showmanship. Part of the attraction to seeing Vai live is the great show that he puts on. During the actual melodies and solos of the songs, he isn't tearing through scales as fast as he can, so he is not a wanker in my book. When he starts doing those tricks which are A PART OF THE SHOW, that just makes it entertaining to watch. It doesn't qualify him as a wanker. Somebody who can't write a melody to save their life and runs through scale excersises and calls them solos is a wanker. Steve Vai is the farthest thing from that you will ever find. I doubt if you even understand Vai's music that much at all if you make assumptions like that about him...

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

I thought Vai's DVD was amazing. Some of it was showoffy tricks, which are fun! What's wrong with the crazy stage presence? And most of it was great music, anyway.

Satch wanked left and right when I saw him with DT, but he gained my respect right back on G3. Even though I don't dig his songs very much, I think he's one of the best instrumental guitarists out there.

 

[The Yngster]

I thought Satch put on an amazing show at G3, he wasn't quite as flashy as Vai or Yngwie but he put on a good show and I generally get into his songs nicely.

 

[Luis]

iishrak: Just let you know that I have five discs of Malmsteen (Concerto Suite and Trilogy included) and i have watched that DVD many many times.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Yngwie is too mechanical to comprehend the subtleties of playing melodically such as someone like Santana, who is imo the king of voicing.