What are your thoughts, feelings on YNGWIE MALMSTEEN?!
Question: It is common knowledge he is a great guitar virtuoso... but do you like it? What do you think about his classical music interpretations? Does classical music fit into metal music?
Answers: It is common knowledge he is a great guitar virtuoso... but do you like it? What do you think about his classical music interpretations? Does classical music fit into metal music?
For the most part, I'd have to agree with Fonzie T.
Seen him live in '85, and a couple times in the early 90's as well...and he put on great shows each time. But as a guitarist he has no emotion/feeling, and relies on flashy/speedy fretboard techniques and repetitive scales that really don't impress me all that much anymore. Since his arrival on the scene over 25 years ago, there have been dozens of guitarists that do it better, and many actually can do a lot more than shred the same pentatonic, Lydian minor, and Hungarian minor scales over and over.
As far as his classical interpretations are concerned, well I guess he really pioneered that sort of thing when it comes to early 80's metal, along with people like Uli Roth. But keep in mind that Ritchie Blackmore was the Godfather of classically inflected rock music, and I'd much rather listen to his more current output with 'Blackmores Night', than anything Yngwie ever did that was classically related.
And yes, I feel that classical music does fit into metal music...but at times it gets a little stale. It was done to death in the 60's and 70's with bands like ELP, Procol Harum, Deep Purple, and several other lesser knowns...and eventually people got tired of it. I feel the same thing has happened with much of the more recent classically influenced metal to a certain degree. It's really hard to keep things sounding fresh, when all these bands keep drawing from the same classical pieces over and over.
Perhaps if some of these metal guitarists would delve into some of the more obscure composers like Modest Mussorgsky, Antonio Salieri, Andrea Luca Luchesi, or Joseph Haydn it might hold my interests for a little longer...I guess I've grown tired of hearing metal interpretations of Bolero, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) time and time again.
he is along the lines being within the metal spectrum, because he turns it up to 11 and plays with hard rock musicians...he showcases his knowledge of scale modality and fleet fingered-ness, and has commonly been the object of jesting due to that one incident on the airplane...
i like what he does, its original. I think it does class as metal
Yngwie rocked his way into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame as Guitarist Of The Year somewhere back in the 80's, I believe.
Crashed his Jaguar into a tree in 1987 and nearly died of a blood clot in his brain. During that time he found out his mom died and his manager had swindled him out of his life savings just to highlight a brief history in time. Had one of the worst streaks of bad luck ever to follow a man. Nerve damage to his picking hand once. Broke his hand once. Made somewhat of a comeback in about 2002 when an airline passenger threw water on him after making a slanderous remark about homosexuals.
I interpret his interpretations as quite interpretable to my ears.
Classical music fits into metal when Yngwie says it does!
Oh man.... he is one of the greatest guitarists ever!!! the speed he has in his fingers is f.....g awesome.
I like classical mixed with metal. Super cool stuff man.
Well, I had the opportunity to see him play. It is more fun to watch than to listen to, unless you are trying to learn guitar.
Reminds me of health food that's good for you. Yeah, it's good, but you don't like the way it tastes.
Classical music definitely fits into metal. And I don't think you would have the "High", or "pure" metal, notably mid 80's-era European, without classically trained guitarists. All the best metal guitarists can play classical. It is a discipline that contributes to the way the solos come out, even if the don't actually play classical music.
Randy Rhodes, Eddie Van Halen, two landmark musicians who destroyed the idea that rock guitar needs to be blues-based. And up until then, with few exceptions, that's all it was. Even Black Sabbath was rooted in blues-based guitar playing.
Metal has split into a thousand genres now, with the most popular arguably being the worst, as far as talent goes. Anyone can de-tune their guitars to subsonic levels, and scream through a distortion box. These more modern types of "metal" have no place for anyone with legitimate playing ability. The music is designed to cover up mistakes and forgotten lyrics during shows.
If classical-guitar-inspired, classic metal is a full course, healthy meal... then, modern "grunting" (death, industrial, hardcore, whatever) metal is french fries and brownies.
No. Don;t like him. I respect his ability, but he comes across as totally soulless. It's all about speed w/ him.
hes cool and i have almost all his cds and i like it