So I just saw Yngwie...

[Squ]

Man, that guy is fast. While I don't want to set off a shred vs. don't shred argument in this thread, I will give my opinions of the show.

 

Yngwie Malmsteen can fucking play FAST. I would have been happy with the show myself if the set was about a 3rd of how long it actually was. After a while, it just all blended together. They were a 5 piece, Yngwie, Bass, Drums, Keys and a singer. The singer was very much a typical epic metal singer. All the backing musicians were good, and the drummer was loving the double bass pedals.

 

Highlights of the show? Mostly his moves. He shreds as fast as he can in every song, so it's not like that was special at any one point. He played with his teeth, behind his head, with one hand, tapped, shreded, played with his left hand over the neck instead of around it, swung the guitar around his body while he let it ring, flung tons of guitar pics into the audience, throw the guitar up into the air (always caught it), and swung it around by the neck. One cool move was in the middle of some wicked fast shredding he'd silence his whole rig by just pulling back the volume real fast. His rig by the way consisted of 8 full stacks, with 23 heads, everything marshall. It seemed like only 6 heads were on though, which makes perfect sense, this was a small venue (Berklee performance center, Boston). He also had this classical guitar on a stand so he could play it then quickly switch back to his electric, since he didn't have to take it off.

 

Let's see.. other things...

He switched guitars almost after every song. Always strats, always in yngwie yellow. Whenever he went off stage he was brushing his hair. He was wearing platforms. His guitar tech always had to tune the guits and attach more pics to the mic stand.

 

Also:

He covered "Demon's Eye" by Deep Purple

And cannot play the blues to save his life. Well, you know, he does his own type of blues. Which is a whole lot of notes. I'm not the biggest Yngwie fan, but it was worth my $20 to see it all.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the show, and I do mean that sincerely.

 

Just curious- did he play the classical guitar with his fingers, or a pick?

 

I felt bad for a friend of mine- who idolized Yngwie- when a show years ago left her very disappointed and disillusioned, largely due to his attitude and ego and sniping remarks over the mic about his bandmates and sound-person.

 

I'll give in and say that yes, he can really play. Without any sniping remarks of my own thrown in. But I dragged my heels in the process...

[Tedster]

Originally posted by Squ:

Yngwie Malmsteen can fucking play FAST. I would have been happy with the show myself if the set was about a 3rd of how long it actually was.

Actually, that's what it is. A long time ago, he played a lot slower, and did a five hour set. Someone said "It's WAY too long! You've got to cram all that into an hour and a half". So he just sped everything up.

[Tedster]

BTW...Squ...I'm quoting you in my new sig line, hope you don't mind... It was a better line than "Website temporarily screwed up"

[picker]

You gotta give the guy his props, which is to say he CAN play fast and has some showmanship. But I get a little bored when "guitar wizards" like Yngwie have done everything that is possible on a guitar in the first half-hour of a two hour show. I suppose it's a matter of taste, but I kinda lose interest when they start doing they do the same tricks the second time. To be fair, I felt the same way when I saw Phil Keaggy do his solo show with the acoustic guitar and Lexicon Jam Man. He's great, but after an hour and a half of it I got restless...

[Dr. Ellwood]

It's just that there is a NEW Blues now, it is Yngwie blues, that only last for 16 seconds!

[Tone Taster]

I like his video where he plays the "slow" version of the exercises.

 

But, Yngwie, no doubt has some of the cleanest picking at some terrifying speeds

 

I believe him and Mac alpine are neck and neck in this regard

[skipclone 1]

He`s coming here next month but I can`t make myself go. The way you described the singer alone, plus a really long show-nope, can`t do it.

[Dr. Ellwood]

Originally posted by Caputo:

I like his video where he plays the "slow" version of the exercises.

 

But, Yngwie, no doubt has some of the cleanest picking at some terrifying speeds

 

I believe him and Mac alpine are neck and neck in this regard

How would you compare his playing to our own Aldo Vaccaro from Toronto Canada?

[Guitar55]

I always like to divide the number of notes played in a concert by what I paid for my ticket to see if I got my money's worth. Sounds like you got a real deal!! :-)

[Squ]

He did indeed use a pick on the classical. But he must have done some finger picking because there was plenty of counter point going on at some points.

 

Here's a quote from the singer: "So I've been taking some lessons from the maestro. Yngwie doesn't have an hourly rate, he charges by the note. So I own $200,000,000"

 

Also "I'd like to thank the girls who are here to support their boyfriends who are trying to be as good as Yngwie"

 

Very funny stuff. There was a line at the guys room but not the girls room. WoO!

[Tone Taster]

Originally posted by ellwood:

Originally posted by Caputo:

I like his video where he plays the "slow" version of the exercises.

 

But, Yngwie, no doubt has some of the cleanest picking at some terrifying speeds

 

I believe him and Mac alpine are neck and neck in this regard

How would you compare his playing to our own Aldo Vaccaro from Toronto Canada?

That's tough, because Aldo, is all tap, while Yngwie's more picking

 

I guess in regards to composition and note choice, it seems like Aldo has alot more going on harmonically

 

It seems like all Yngwie plays are Harmonic minor, diminished, w/a few pentatonics

[Dr. Ellwood]

I think the tap thing is a passing thing that will eventually be relegated to a novelty and not really a very useful tool.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Originally posted by Tedster:

A long time ago, he played a lot slower, and did a five hour set. Someone said "It's WAY too long! You've got to cram all that into an hour and a half". So he just sped everything up.

Dammit! Ya beat me to it!

[JimK]

The thing about Yngwie is he doesn't play too many chords. I saw him two years ago with Satch and Via on the G3 tour (also in Boston). When they all jammed at the end, Yngwie would walk around, drink beer, snarl at the crowd, do anything but play rythm until it was his turn to solo again. Some of this might be due to ego, some of it might be due to the scalloped fretboards on his guitar making it harder to play chords.

 

He's worth seeing once in a life-time, and he's not bad in a 45 minute G3 set. Beyond that and he becomes boring. I also saw him open for AC/DC about 20 years ago: same moves, same tricks, even the same songs I think (they all sound the same after a while).

[GuitarWolf]

Originally posted by ellwood:

I think the tap thing is a passing thing that will eventually be relegated to a novelty and not really a very useful tool.

Were talking about two-hand tapping here right!?!

 

If so, then where are you getting the idea that tappings a novelty? Its been around and going strong ever since Eddie, which we all know is a pretty freaking long time. You can hardly call something thats been around that long a novelty.

[Tedster]

At first I considered it a novelty. But...

 

I think tapping, like anything else, is a tool in how to coax things out of the guitar. If a guitarist only uses it as a gimmick, then he/she is missing the point. If it gives you something new to work with, then so be it.

 

I'd reckon that when guitarists first shifted from using their fingers on gut strings to using a pick on steel strings, someone said "It's a gimmick. It will pass".

[Hardtail]

Ying-Yang has great technique and speed without a doubt.

 

However, his compositions are just uninteresting to me and after awhile, it gives me a headache.

[Gifthorse]

Yngwie made me shit my pants when I first heard him when I was 11 or 12. I never cared too much for his music with the exception of a few songs. I always just listened to the solos.

 

He is an innovator no doubt. People rip on him and say he has no emotion, that is BS. He sounds EXACTLY like Yngwie. I mean he is doing what he does and it is intense whether you like it or not. Personally I could give a rat's ass about him now. The stuff he solos over is easy to improvise over. He just plays minor arpeggios up the neck with harmonic minor and diminished. That doesn't mean he isn't great at that.

 

Personally for chops I think there are plenty of guys playing more difficult stuff. Most of Yngwies hyper speed is centered on fairly easy patterns played fast. Not as hard as it sounds. I learned alot of his licks when I was a teen and with alot of practice I could play them up to speed with him very accurately.

 

A player like Allan Holdsworth is technically light years ahead of Yngwie. Yngwie would be the first to admit it I am sure. Allan's stuff is hard to copy. I have never been able to copy any of his stuff. His approach is not of this planet.

 

As for your remark (Caputo) saying Tony Macalpine and Yngwie are some of the cleanest pickers around... There are SOO many shredders now I think it is impossible to say. I saw Tony Macalpine do a clinic like 15 years ago and he really used too much distortion. You couldn't hear him well because he had too much compression from all the gain. His technique was decent but it didn't blow me away like when I saw Albert Lee a couple years later.

 

Thats all I remember.

 

To me for rock Eric Johnson is probably the guy I would say was the cleanest picker because of WHAT he is playing fast and the tone he is playing through. He is just a master of those pentatonic runs with 3 notes per string and they really take a hell of a stretch.

 

But you know, there are guys in every city with technique like that, they just aren't famous.

 

Brett Garsed and Wayne Krantz are 2 more technical gods!!

[Gifthorse]

Oh yeah and Scott Jones too..

[Rhino Madness]

When I first heard Yngwie, I was mesmerized! It was fascinating but also sounded all the same to me. But I was drawn to try and pick up some of his technique.

 

Only once I was able to actually play some of his licks, I became so much more aware of all the different little ideas he was throwing around and I could differentiate and recognize the solos on his songs. I discovered that what I thought to be a one-trick pony was actually a monster player able to pull off so many different techniques so effortlessly and say something with it. So I guess what I'm saying is that it's an acquired taste and it's not everyone's cup of tea to dissect his work and spend the time to absorb it.

 

His first few records display an impressive depth of technique, musical vocabulary AND emotion (yes, I said emotion ). His later output is very uneven with many forgettable records and a few strong ones in between. For the most part, IMHO, his influences are not as discernable and his playing is not as inspired as it once was.

 

As far as his live work, he unfortunately still plays seemingly only to impress the kids, as if he still had something to prove. Even though you can still feel a ton of energy in his playing, I believe that his live display of skills often pales in comparison to the depth he can display in the studio.

 

I like Yngwie but, as in all things, YMMV.

 

Rhino

[Caevan O’Shite]

I've gotta say, when I checked out some Yngwie Strats with the scalloped fretboards, I didn't think it was hard at all to play chords or anything I normally played on them. I actually liked the scalloping, really, and I'm NOT even remotely a shred guy.

 

He just doesn't do much riddum, kinda like B.B. King. If I won't slag B.B. for that, then I guess it'd be pretty unfair of me to rip on Yngwie for it!

[skipclone 1]

Originally posted by Caputo:

Originally posted by ellwood:

Originally posted by Caputo:

I like his video where he plays the "slow" version of the exercises.

 

But, Yngwie, no doubt has some of the cleanest picking at some terrifying speeds

 

I believe him and Mac alpine are neck and neck in this regard

How would you compare his playing to our own Aldo Vaccaro from Toronto Canada?

That's tough, because Aldo, is all tap, while Yngwie's more picking

 

I guess in regards to composition and note choice, it seems like Aldo has alot more going on harmonically

 

It seems like all Yngwie plays are Harmonic minor, diminished, w/a few pentatonics

I posted a message to Aldo about the tapping issue and he said he plans to post more music with standard picking styles-although in his case it`s probably a pretty high standard...

[Guitar55]

Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

He just doesn't do much riddum, kinda like B.B. King. If I won't slag B.B. for that, then I guess it'd be pretty unfair of me to rip on Yngwie for it!

But when B.B. is not pickin', he's usually singin'.

[skipclone 1]

I wouldn`t mind trying one of those strats at some point-haven`t done it yet.

[s mel gibson1642606968]

Originally posted by JimK:

The thing about Yngwie is he doesn't play too many chords. I saw him two years ago with Satch and Via on the G3 tour (also in Boston). When they all jammed at the end, Yngwie would walk around, drink beer, snarl at the crowd, do anything but play rythm until it was his turn to solo again. Some of this might be due to ego, some of it might be due to the scalloped fretboards on his guitar making it harder to play chords.

 

He's worth seeing once in a life-time, and he's not bad in a 45 minute G3 set. Beyond that and he becomes boring. I also saw him open for AC/DC about 20 years ago: same moves, same tricks, even the same songs I think (they all sound the same after a while).

I saw that same G3 line-up back then here in Vancouver, B.C. and I agree, 45 minutes of Yngwie was OK. Any more would've been too much. As for not playing 'riddum', it's just as well don't you think? Too many guitars(3) is a bit crowded. One of their final jam songs was Neil Young's "Rocking In The Free World". It was a fun night.

[Mass Effect]

Saw YJM last night in Nashville. Liked him better than I thought I would. I guess my favorite parts were when he played some classical type stuff with the keyboardist only and later the whole band did a bit of a blues jam. The rest of it was entertaining but not the best music I've ever heard.

 

Counted 16 Marshall heads and cabinets on stage. He must have thrown out enough picks for everyone in attendance to have two. He did all the tricks mentioned in this thread and even strummed a few chords with his butt. The singer was good but I swear he looks just like the guitar player from Spinal Tap.

 

Got there early enough to hear the opening band, Orange Sky, play a couple of songs and I wished I had shown up earlier. They sounded pretty good.

 

Overall it was a good show. Glad I went.

[fantasticsound]

Glad you enjoyed it, Haga.

 

As it turned out, not only did I have to watch Lilly, but we ran into an old friend on the way out of her aftercare. He was the magician at Opryland for 11 years until it closed. We ended up staying, so while I missed Yngwie, I did get to see a great show.