People always use that quote but always miss the part where he says if you HAVE GOOD EARS you will know. A lot of people do not have good ears and if you don't have good ears don't be contempt with if it sounds good it is good because that only applies if you have trained your ears. Too many people do not hear their own mistakes and settle for mediocrity. Thats not what yngwie did. His definition of sounding good is everynote is perfect and clean.
@@preston2636 another truth is that most people aren’t trained musicians and thus they can’t really tell the difference between 90% accuracy and 100% accuracy and unless you’re playing to an audience of exclusively professionally trained guitarists it doesn’t really matter so yes as long as it sounds good you’re good to go
@@richbailey8174 his solos might sound very fast, but one thing is that if any guitarist develops a speed on guitar at his level, he/she would have infinite potential to make tasteful music. His technique is just top notch level. He might have shredded too much, which is why he doesn't sound that melodic sometimes.
@@siraj_a.r.411 His music is boring...simple as that...I have been playing for nearly 60 years and am a graduate of Berklee so I don't need lessons thanks....:)
Lol, to be fair it's not like any guitar tutorial videos offer any decent advice other than "practice." I mean, that's really the only way to get faster at playing. There's no "secret technique" out there.
Really.. Man you have no idea what your talking about! The man himself is not going just come out and reveal his secrets of his perfect playing?? Why would he.. stands nothing to gain. The main reason he won't slow it down.. is to make it hard as possible to pick up on his secrets and techniques he employs. Its absolutely100% All technique, and a very precise system. He picks 100% the same way every single time... However.. you need to know how he does this.. and why he does this.. for it to work? (its not so much a secret, just a every well thought out system that has definite rules). This enables him to perform lighting fast, perfectly ,every single time, getting the seemingly perfect order from chaos. No amount of practice is really going to help you.. unless you can figure out how he and the other greats do this??? that sounds like Secret Technique to me?
Exactly, he does have a special technique which he uses. One of his secrets to playing like this across string changes with smooth transition is to always end his last note on a string with an upstroke so that the pick is already in position to hit the new string. In order to make this happen with alternate picking, sometimes he has to use legato on one note before he changes to the other string to ensure the pick is always in the upstroke position before he hops to the new string to continue the lick.
But...he can play slow. And acoustic classical. and blues. So what? Idiotic comments are idiotic? Jealous people who can't play at all make dumb comments?
All 'shredders' have good technique. Very very few however employ this with enough tastefulness and soul to justify their abilities. Yngwie is a very rare breed indeed.
He is a legend and incredible, sometimes even to his own mind. And makes for a horrible teacher. Always explaining at lightning pace, "yeah, I play it like this".... and then playing it even faster lol
lets get real tho .. this guy is master-level professional, Top 1% etc.. he isn't gonna be giving out beginner-lessons unless he's completely broke and no one wants to pay money to hear his music. For someone to come to Yngwie and say "teach me", he's gonna assume you've reached a certain level of competency in your performance ability and understanding of music theory. There's no shortcuts to getting as good as this guy or other professionals.
his speed picking is just unreal dude... but i just hate watching his tutorial videos!! before RU-vid and the internet i bought all of his "guitar tutorial" videos! what a complete waste of money!! lol! for guitar beginners Paul Gilbert is the best teacher for me.
+Rohann van Rensburg Oh you got that right. Great comment. Troy Grady and his systematic analysis of Yngwie's picking and chunking, hands you the speed techniques of Eric Johnson, Michael Angelo Batio, Nuno Betancourt, Eddie Van Haylen, Malmsteen, Vai, Steve Morse and many more. Learning those techniques is way better than parroting riffs and solos or the muscle memory repetition licks so many fall victim to. It allows for diverse improvisation... or as YJM just said, a lot more things happen! It also affords combining those aspects of each of these master guitarists techniques, that can blend with your body of knowledge and ability. Nobody can pick up an axe and demonstrate such precision and speed without having already advanced to an intermediate level. You need to know your scales and pentatonics, as well as fingering position patterns first. Then these techniques make sense but whatever your level, the secret speed sauce, is in your picking hand but also, you've gotta have a sense of melody when playing slow. Crawling before running! Most guitarists learn by ear. Tablature doesn't include fretting like piano... How can it? Theres one middle C in a piano and 5 middle C's on a guitar. There's no way! There's no book or video for it, just practice. Sight reading on a piano helps but isn't necessary. That said. Picking and effective synchronization of your hands, at speed, requires confident picking techniques or else, outta sync you go, every time! Downward pick slanting, edge picking, sweeping thru one, maybe two strings... and chunking. Those are Yngwie's (And Eric's) secret weapons that fall into that "I don't know" category he mentioned. Regardless, it's getting your pick above the strings for string changes only on upstrokes, unless sweeping. Yngwie does this while almost exclusively using downward pick slanting. It's a hybrid of alternate picking and a devastatingly effective ability once acquired. Straight alternate picking like Morse or Batio, either requires the precise godlike "stringhopping" attack of Morse which, truly requires great aptitude to even hope to approach, or subtly alternating pick angles between up and down as Batio does. It's all about getting that pick above the strings without that up and down hopping motion. Get rid of that and all that's left is back and forth. Yngwie's picking hand looks like it's barely moving, Batio's is definitely moving. Every note is alternately picked except for Batio's sweeps which, are usually full on arpegios. Troy Grady's RU-vid videos are entertaining, well edited and extremely empowering. His Cracking the Code series one and two, did for me what 35 years of playing in bands could not. It advanced me beyond the wall I hit 30 years ago. It will advance anyone who has reached that wall and... it's fucking free! So my advice to all who think they've hit a wall and peaked is... It's not a peak, it's a ledge. The peak is still up there! Most beginners struggle with picking at first, then it becomes somewhat natural and from that point, for the most part ignored. Most are focused on fingering. Understandable! The common mistake is, most never really focus on picking after that! Till now, nobody's ever broken it down. Even Yngwie here focused on his fingering hand and when asked to explain his picking, couldn't (Or wouldn't) even answer the question of WTF is he's actually doing! Seems a bit arrogant but I think he assumes that if one isn't advanced enough to simply watch and comprehend? Going note by note is a waste of time...and it pretty much is. But Troy Grady Channel did answer it! You want a blast of mind blowing speed, to integrate into your shredding or melodiously "soulful-when-slow", picking? Plug in your axe and watch both seasons of Cracking Code. Then you gotta practice practice practice, because it's gonna feel weird at first. Don't let that stop you tho. This is over 40 years of guitar talking here kids. Had I known this shit back in the day? You'd know my name today. I didn't have anyone to point me in the right direction and kick me in the ass. You do. Take advantage of it. Have a great day!
Say what you want about Yngwie, but the guy knows his music theory forwards, backwards, sideways and upside down. His style may not be for everyone, but he is a genius none-the-less!!! ~Ken
Ellen Bultman Not really. He says at one point regarding A harmonic minor; "If you invert that from Am to Em, that would be Phrygian." This is not correct. If you invert the scale, or as we music teachers say, "Play the mode from the 5th of Harmonic Minor," you get what is called 'Spanish Phrygian' mode or 'Phrygian Dominant' scale which is a MAJOR scale, not a minor and works over the V7 chord in A harmonic minor. He knows limited theory, his technique is great though so I cannot take that away from him.
hmcccpp Sorry, the 3rd dictates whether a chord or scale is major or minor. Spanish Phrygian has a major 3rd, therefore it is completely major. The 6th and 7th degrees of a scale have nothing to do with that designation.
hmcccpp Sure but that does not change the fact it is a major scale type. Him not knowing that means he is not a theory expert like the original post I am rebutting said.
I'm not a guitar player I'm a pianist but what he said makes sense to me. It's just that most guitarists i see in the comments probably play by ear and just don't know enough of music theory and harmony to understand him better. just to summarize some of the things he said about his playing is that fast passages usually involve scales in different modes or repetitive patterns . To make these transitions-modulations between modes its almost necessary to know harmony of music. very often he uses diminished sevenths in the form of arpeggios. Of course, in the beginning he practiced them all at a slow pace and in the process he just grows up tempo. Now, in the video there are a lot of cliché things for him that is the reason he improvises so effortlessly.
Yup, most of his playing can be broken down into a handful of repeating patterns, not that it makes it any easier necessarily, but it is a lot more simple than people tend to realize.
If that's the case then the problem his really the TITLE of this video. Because he's giving absolutely NO CLUE whatsoever about how to play fast. And I disagree with most of the comments here saying that no technically gifted guitar player would give his secrets for free, that's false. Bernth, Ben Higgins, Steve Stine, The-art-of-guitar... And even well established shredders like Kiko Loureiro or even Steve Vai give more "secrets" away than this guy...
@@brunobailly7013 Learn the modes slowly. Gradually practice the modes more quickly as you travel up and down the neck. Combine the modes as your ear likes what it is hearing. That becomes your chosen style. Nothing beats knowing the modes and practice followed by practice followed by practice over multiple genres of music. Then maybe look at some violin or keyboard practical theory. Learn the insights given. Practice some more. But it seems to me, Yngwie is correct. Play music according to what sounds and feels good to you and your ear. I don't see how this is bad advice? He also hints at alternate picking style, the use of the legato technique, and how according to what sounds good to you this becomes your style and your speed. This is only my first listening tot his snippet of what this very skilled musician has tried to break down for the rest of us. But, I heard multiple really great method suggestions that if applied, could and would help any musician out in thinking on these suggestions. Ultimately each musician must judge for themself what sounds and feels good to play. I guess I'm just trying to counter the comments saying that there is nothing to gain from this video snippet. And I'll shut up now.. Thanks for reading if you did.
I know I sure do appreciate his commitment to his craft! Been enjoying his music since I was 16 or 17 myself. Now 48 and still cant get over how amazing he is
As soon as he started saying things like, inverting from Am to Em, and diminished whatever I just put my ukulele down and carried on watching 'Coronation Street'.
Like him or not, agree with him or not, the man stuck to his guns. In this day and age, that's a sure way to be inspired. With all of the distractions we all have to deal with, by sticking with what you TRULY want, Yngwie has shown it IS possible to achieve greatness. Good for him. Great musician!
Even after all these years and countless other technically extremely proficient musicians have come (and gone), Yngwie is still an absolutely amazing guitarist, instantly recognisable - an original.
It is true but even as a guitar player when I saw him last year the show was super repetitive. He also had his band shoved into the corner with him center stage which is fine I guess. Kinda a dick move but it is yngwie lol. I will say this though. He had so many heads and cabinets on the stage and I’ve never heard so much sound coming from the stage before. Usually you here the house speakers but his amps were so loud the stage sound was louder than the house system. Nuts
HIs style is very improvisational. And there is very clearly a blend between legato, alternate picking, economy picking and sweeping. Each support a unity of direction. Like he says, he listens when he's jamming alone. He will take the direction (or technique) as he prefers, not as is generally understood but according to his ear. In essence, he is a "tone chaser".
Yngwie is a riot. He to this day has the best, most economical picking hand in the business. That's the secret to playing with speed and accuracy. I love his style and tone too...
Late to the party here but his trick is he uses his thumb nail and the pick making his picking lightening fast, this "lesson" was pretty useless TBH, as usual he is just showing us how good he is.
Lol. To Sophon's comment above .There is some truth to this ...And his right hand is super efficient as some of you pointed out- it barely moves. Almost everyone says 'I am not into this Style - but he is amazing ' . Let me be the 34,465 th person to say that.
Thanks for posting, learned some stuff from this video. Great to understand Yngwie's approach to his guitar playing. I like the diminished scales as well. They're great to string other riffs together and are basically made up of only four notes so they can be played anywhere easily on the guitar.
His brain is wired differently than most. His technique and knowledge is so prodigious even he can't explain what he does. To accomplish that kind of muscle memory requires some kind of dedication to your craft. I've never followed his career much, but as a guitar playing fool myself I've learned never to doubt the mark this musician has made on the guitar world.
@@danielstrickland1013 Maybe, maybe not. A lot of players develop their technique just through learning songs and never really thinking about it. Alot of the django-style acoustic players have similar technique to Yngwie and they never really studied it, just grew up playing the songs.
Dude, it was the 80s. He didn't know all that he was doing and when he did, he hid it so no one could figure it out. Today you can know more about his technique than he does himself by watching a 20 minute Troy Grady video, and any 10 year-old kid can do what he does faster and cleaner because of the ease of information. Yngwie was a god then and no one can deny it, but today he's just a fat asshole with a fatter ego that still thinks he's on the top of the world when he clearly isn't
Regardless if you like his music or not, if you pay close attention to his picking hand, you will notice how fully devolved and synchronized it is with his left. Very small efficient movements, where no energy goes wasted. Using all kinds of picking techniques without even realizing it, pick slanting, rotational picking, angled picking, parallel picking, thumb and index squeeze etc.. Like he said, it is like knitting ha ha. Also, Incredible muscle memory where he rarely makes mistakes. I don't care what Yngwie says but that had to take stupendous amount of time to develop. No way he had any time for friends as a child.
Vibrato-George lynch Scales-Malmsteen Love it how he says' a bit like this' and he plays something utterly amazing and then he goes'like that' like it was nothing
***** What the actual fuck. Van Halen and Yngwie are completely different... Van Halen is well known for his awesome tapping solos and Yngwie is known for his badass super fast licks, sweep picking and legatos. Yngwie focused a lot in shredding music, bt Van Halen did not. Completely different. Period
***** The first solo I learned was Eruption by Eddie Van Halen when I was 14. I have yet to master any of Yngwie's solos due to the sheer difficulty involved. Comparing Van Halen to YJM is only showing your ignorance.
***** The fact that Van Halen started to shred before doesn't change anything. He never fully focused in shredding as Yngwie, that's all I said and it's true. Again, Van Halen is known for his tapping, but he never got into neoclassical shredding as Yngwie. Both of them were the first ones in their own thing. You're actually hating on music variety (and taste is subjective, you should know). We can all learn from both of 'em but you're hating on Yngwie for no reason, saying that he has no creativity, which is completely false (I love both, not a Malmsteen fanboy). If we're talking about taste and feeling, my way to go is BB King, and if we're talking about feeling in shredding, my way to go are Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai. But as you see it is completely subjective, they are not more creative than Eddie or Yngwie, just different.
***** I did. I played Eruption in my junior high talent show...was nothing special. There are plenty of kids far younger than I was who have mastered that solo. Just search youtube. Seriously, who are you to call someone you don't know a liar? EVH is awesome and very creative, and I loved learning his licks when I first started out. When I learned how to tap I felt like a god on the guitar. There is simply a huge difference between EVH and YJM. One you can learn when you start out if you put in a lot of work, the other you never really learn no matter how hard and how long you try.
Comprehensive understanding of theory, well thought out compositions, understanding of music history and his own contributions to it, and a perfect technique to express some of the most soulful playing in the history of this awesome genre of music.
For me the most amazing aspect of his playing, which is mostly overlooked rightly so for his solo's, is his rhythm playing. And in almost all of his "tutorials" it's glanced over or rarely spoken or played. I love his crunchy rhythm playing and his effortless style while playing it.
I always remember when he came out in the bands Stealer and Alcatraz. Everyone was blown away. Just a perfect blend of technique, classical scales, and heart wrenching blues runs. Just the best. Made me learn guitar and play for hours as a kid.
I was there. I was an up and coming shredder, on the road in a band. When Yngwie showed up, we were all blown away. People don’t realize how insane his emergence on the scene was. There are a million guys now. But, it wasn’t like that then. He was something very different. And he was so young. He elevated the instrument. He really did.
@@readmore4178 I had just started learning guitar and ppl were like you gotta hear this guy wingwang malmsteen! Lol. Those were the days. I was 13yo I think.
Rob Davis With that said... you can read the same thing in magazines like Guitar World, Guitar Player, Guitar For The Practicing Musician, and just about every other legit guitar magazine out there. Yngwie is widely considered one of the greatest guitarist of all time. His technique and influence is profound. Also... Tom Hess(a great player and teacher) has written a article recently talking about how important and influential Yngwie Malmsteen is in the advancement of modern rock guitar playing. Yngwie is very highly regarded by players like Guthrie Govan, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, George Bellas, Kelly Simonz, Zakk Wylde, Joe Stump, George Lynch, Gus G, Slash, Joe Satriani etc... So in my opinion and the opinion of many others I would say Time Magazine has it right. He's definitely one of the best all time.
Time magazine put Johnny Ramone on that list and they forgot Robert Fripp, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani. That list is complete bullshit. Yngwie is amazing and he belongs on a top 10 list but he does not belong with the likes of Johnny Ramone and Kieth Richards...he is waaaaay better than them.
Dingo D. Manhunter That's unbelievable that Johnny Ramone made that list. I Love punk rock, but to compare punk rock's repetitive power chord riffs to some of the real guitar legends is a joke. A good band with good songs doesn't necessary mean the guitar playing is new/innovative.
This dude is that calculus teacher that wrote crazy ass formulas all over the white board and would erase everything before you could start writing notes 😂😂 got to love his virtuosity
Yngwie was born with that ability,He cultivated it over the years. He's right about using your ears, that's the best way to judge your progress. Techniques can be learned,how well you use them is a matter of your inborn skill. Discovering how to play like yourself will make you unique.
He's so good that concepts aspiring guitarists study and break their backs trying to imitate are second nature to him. The criticisms from people saying "I prefer to listen to music" are jealous guitar players that can't admit that the guy is a guitar god, and they feel pathetic in comparison. Best guitarist ever. He's always good, always tasteful, I always want to keep listening. This guy has been touched by God.
Yngwie might not be the most likeable person (don't know him personally, but that's what press and journalists usually say...), but the man is undeniably a genius on guitar - a true original, highly knowledgeable about technique and theory, instantly recognisable (which *very* few are), and he sticks to his guns.
i see a lot of critical comments, all i have to say is i bet all those comments come from people that didn't heard him in the 80's when he came out and did what nobody else could do, when the best of the time played at 50 mph he came out playinh 100 mph with complete accuracy, new sound, clarity and melodic approach, in fact he introduced us to a new standard of greatness we didn't though posible until him.
This is VERY true. He created a new genre all by himself. It may have started with Ritchie Blackmore, but Yngwie, Jason Becker and Tony MacAlpine brought Neo-Classical into the spotlight. Without these 3, we wouldn't have Stratovarius (or the entire Symphonic metal movement), Kelly Simonz or any of the virtuosos that had influence from the movement Yngwie started.
I watched a vid where he spoke of America and his feelings about this country. He's more American than most Americans. He actually loves this Country. We all can be assholes occasionally. Yngwie's by no means immune. He's just a flawed human, just like all of us.
I've gotten that the pretentious thing is more of an act imo. I think it's part of the character he's developed as a performer because anytime you watch stuff with him 1 on 1 being serious, serious about music and the guitar, he comes off really nice and genuine imo.
Im 51 and have never got into his playing or style but the dude is a legend and one of the best to wvwr do it. Have to give him the respect he deserves. The dude doesnt even think about what he is doing he just does it. Says can look at what he does while he does it
All the DAMNN harsh comments if you don't like it get out and don't listen to it. He's just a human. But I must say the guy is excellent at what he does and that is playing extraordinary fast and clean! Enough said.
This is fascinating. To everyone saying he can't teach, how much teaching is there to "drill until you have dexterity?" He lays out his whole technique and all his tricks here. This is exactly how Yngwie plays fast.
Amen to that. The sour guys are hilarious like they want to be spoon fed and crying that they aren't. Well actually he gave a lot of info but the spoon feeding isn't good enough to their spoilt baby tastes 😂
Except he doesn't teach how to play fast. He even says in the video that he doesn't know and he doesn't pay attention. So since he can't teach it, he rambles about why he plays what he plays
He is a visionary - he said "I knew what I wanted to hear, so I worked on that until I got it". He was not focused on mechanics, he was focused on producing the sound he envisioned.
to be totally honest here...I am not a Yngwie fan at all, but..ive seen him in concert 3 times and every time I seen him live, he was amazing. just blazing up and down the neck, saw him with Aerosmith in Mass on Aug 31,1986 I was in the first row and I was floored. never seen anyone play that fast, and as I am also a guitar player, I appreciated that. even though its not my style, I still admired it. but he is also very smart. this is a great video.
Manuel Vásquez You r kidding correct? No soul, r&b , Blackmore, he is a technical wizard, but, no, show me 4 notes from Santana and YM might slow down..Gotta know when speed needs to slow fucking down! Wanna hear great guitarists, listen to Steely Dan!
@@linksayajin2958 You're using that terminology but technically Yngwie became popular 40 years ago lol He has a toxic approach to differences in musical tastes, that's all.
@@relentlessonslaught5827 well boomers arent from the 80s so his comment does apply. In all seriousness, music is about its methodical and compositional purpose as well as its appreciation. If the guy doesnt understand behind creating such pieces then he doesnt know what music really means; if you ask me,pity him
Also you have to realize there may have been many guitarists who are great guitarists before him but he was the first to do what he does.. To bring all of the technics together.. Sweeping,arpeggios,tapping,speed he mastered them all and all other shredders since can thank him
Yngwie was a major influence on my guitar playing. I never cared what anyone said about him like saying he was pompous, arrogant, etc. I just liked his style of playing and it helped me to be a better guitar player. I love how he mentioned that (Allan) Holdsworth is his favorite legato player because he is definitely my favorite. I can totally hear Holdsworth's influence on Yngwie in his instrumental song "Marching Out" from the album of the same name. I can never get bored of listening to that awesome song. I still listen to lots of Yngwie's songs even after listening to them for over 30 years. He is great, and he seems like a cool dude to me. :)
+John Jachens All the naysayers say Yngwie has no feel and just plays scales, without realizing that the pentatonic scale and the blues scale ARE scales, and in my experience, are confined to those shapes. Yngwie, Dave Murray from Iron Maiden (SERIOUSLY underrated legato player), and good ol' Vai were what opened my eyes and expand my playing to new levels. And yeah, Yngwie's cocky, but if you have the bitchin' chops he does, I think you have every right to be cocky. The best piece of advice I heard was from my high school guitar teacher, he said listen to as much music as possible, and take influence from as many players as possible.
Frapzoid Indeed. Even if you decide to use "incorrect" notes in a key, they have to be used in the right context. Guthrie Govan did a great video on this. :)
+Tom Cass You mean like Theloniious Monk? No as much as I love Jazz that man DID hit some awful sounding notes. No, I'm not talking accidentals. There is a time and place for accidentals. On the subject of Jazz, trust me it's a lot harder to play fast on a horn than to play fast on a guitar. I know this from experience. I have the same complaint about 50's Be Bop players who were trying to show off their virtuosity just like Malmsteen. I don't listen to rock anymore but I like Eric Johnson better than Malmsteen. Eric plays fast AND tasty. Melodic. Malmsteen sound like he's doing speed exercises. Each to his or her own. No problem.
+Chickenbeek I can't believe you just mentioned that floppy insert I was just thinking that was where I first heard him. Seems like there was something special about the insert too, like it was an HD recording of some sorts.
The best teacher doesn't show you how it is done; he inspires you to find it out on your own. The ears is the best advice you can get; what sound do you want to get out of your instrument? I think he's a great teacher, just not the one who can tell you how he does it ;-)
Yngwie I saw you many years ago, around the late 80's or early 90's in the tip of south texas. Very much enjoyed your performance. The talk was you played violin and then changed to playing guitar.
Yngwie is completely genious guitar musician. He improvises and feels music from inside, not concentrating on picking particular notes but creating a fucking crazy stream of ones which sounds just amazing!
buuut...do you think yngwie invented those scales...all musicians are thieves including myself, we didn't start classical music, blues, country we are the masters legacy's and no-one but no-one has ever been able to top the real greats"
