When did you decide you didnt want to be Yngwie Malmsteen ?

Dominic

Neo classical guitar is a gimmick and he was very good at that trick ..........it's not a serious approach to guitar playing or a serious approach to classical music.............it is the musical equivalent of watching somebody play a good game of Tennis using a frying pan as a racket ( Ille Nastase does exactly this in exhibition matches and that is what it is EXHIBITION GUITAR )

axisus

I never wanted to be Yngwie, but I did want to be Joe Satriani. Still do, although I can't play a single track of his.

I remember hearing See the light on a radio show when they interviewed Jeff, just when the album came out. I was blown away, it was the most exciting guitar song ever! I rushed out and bought the album, although nothing else moved me as much as that track. When he wandered away from the blues and into more poppy stuff I lost interest completely in him. I still love to see videos of him playing See the light live, he really goes for it! Incredible guitarist.

prowla

I can't say I ever aspired to being Yngwie; I always liked Blackmore and Schenker, who draw on the Germanic/Bach roots, but Yngwie was just speed at the expense of feeling.

I can hear something and go "Wow - that was fast!" and then never be inclined to listen to it again.

ICBM

Before even hearing him. When I did, he was worse than I had imagined.

The performance where he solos over a classical orchestra for about ten minutes, too loud and with no variation, dynamics or feeling for the music at all is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

I still find it plausible that he’s a very highly developed piss-take, like Sacha Baron Cohen doing Borat but as a metal guitarist.

joeyowen

Nunogilberto said:

When I saw the G3 Live In Denver DVD where he blew fast triplets over very single song they played - I lost interest pretty quickly to be fair...

Exactly the same

My brother had that DVD when I was little, and I remember Vai and Satch being a bit much, then he comes on with shredshredshredshred and I found it funny

VimFuego

I was never into guitar names, and I never really liked that 80's hair metal and certainly had no burning desire to play it, so I'd never actually heard of him before taking up the guitar many years later. I guess I'd decided not to be him long before I'd ever heard of him.

fastonebaz

@Lebarque obviously all the Vai bashers have not listened to Feathers, Salamandars in the Sun, Rescue me or bury me, Christmas time, Whispering a prayer, Frank etc etc to hear the beautifully well composed melodies and phrasing way over and above speed.

When Yngwie plays i marvel at his talent of speed picking across alternate strings although it does give me repetitive strain injury in my ears mostly.

EricTheWeary

There used to be a very small guitar shop in Shrewsbury that sold Hotlicks videos and they always seemed to have Yngwie’ s on their little telly. Mixture of unfathomable lessons and live footage. 
I saw him live many years later and he was tremendous fun, I enjoyed it massively more than I thought I would. I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to be him though. 
If I was going to listen to him I’d probably put on the very young Yngwie in Alcatraz where at least you’ve got some songs. 

p90fool

I remember reading about him in a magazine in the 90s and was never curious enough to have a listen, he just looked and talked like a dickhead. 

I'm less judgemental in my old age, but I have still never heard him play. 

Is he any good? 

Sassafras

I know he likes his food but eating your own guitar is gluttonous by any standards:

Grunfeld

When I heard my mate's wife typing. 
She's a secretary and she types very fast for a living.
And the sound was uncannily like Yngwie.
I stopped putting the speed graft in after that because the end result was so at odds with what inspired me about music.

AlexC

The moment I heard him. 
All about being fast.  Very little about songs, melody or that thing called ‘soul.’

Telejester

In 1990 myself and 4 mates were outside the kings hall in belfast where yngwie was doing a show that night. I kid you not when I tell you that ticket sales were so appalling.....we got in for free !

The kings hall is a big venue and when we got to the where the show was, it was about 1/3 full.......cringe.  Yngwie came out as yngwie does and he was shite. During black star he bum noted all over the place and we were just looking on stunned. Every song sounded the same, same old E harmonic minor up and down the neck piddly piddly and Yngwie getting on like a complete arse. People were heading for the door and we left about halfway through the show..........grim doesnt come close to describing the experience.

prowla

Sassafras said:

I know he likes his food but eating your own guitar is gluttonous by any standards:

I'm sure there are more amps there than speakers!

merlin

Yngwie Maelstrom, there, I said it. 

prowla

This video is brilliant; I don't know if it's intended to be a parody, but it is funny!



There's a bit where he flicks his hair and another were he has them stacked 7 deep and plonks down a vintage strat at the front and it just sort of slides down towards the floor and makes a little clunk.

Vibetronic

Yngwie's great, but like Danny said, hasn't got masses of good songs (or rather, has been writing the same one for 30 years). So's Jeff Healey, but I don't think either of them is better than the other...way too different. I love fast guitar and I also love the way JH played...it's all good music. Seen both live - Jeff Healey at the Colston Hall in Bristol, and Yngwie at GIT in London. 

prowla

This is good too - apparently he calls his preferred guitars "Number 1", "Number 2", "Number 3", and so-on; I laughed when he'd done one, two and three and picked up the next one and said "I call this one Number 4"!

prowla

A Ritchie Blackmore interview where he's asked about Yngwie (at 1:19) and comes up with a rather tongue-in-cheek response.

Jez6345789

fell asleep on the 2nd track not woken up to the magic of Yngwie yet doubt I ever will.....
Each to their own....