Was Yngwie Better At Guitar Pre-Accident?
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- "Was Yngwie Better At Guitar Pre-Accident?" Learn some great riffs by the viking and hear him play in various contexts and time periods throughout his career as we analyze his growth as a musician.
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Learn all of Yngwie's techniques and cool licks here! ruclips.net/video/Tl-hZWQvAwA/видео.html
Seems like if he did not play a strat, no one would have wanted one
Most definitely in the mid 80s! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you, let me know guys
@@diontillman3132 Yeah because Clapton, Hendrix, David Gilmour, SRV, etc never influenced anyone to buy a strat....I'm sure Fender would go out of business without Yngwie* lol
*Sarcasm
@@diontillman3132 whatts the matter with stratss? They are fair god guitars,
If his accident was that severe, and he was in a coma for a week, with any damage to his left motor cortex, then it’s miraculous that he plays at all. I’m glad he’s still astonishing us.
Absolutely!
Couldn’t say it better. Before the accident He was playing near the limit of human ability, and to still be in that neighborhood of capability after a brain injury is miraculous. If he was in a coma for a week, then he lost tissue/ connections. I wasn’t aware of his alcohol and stimulant usage, but alcohol is pretty toxic to the brain. I love him. He’s still a force and he’s out there doing shows and driving his Ferraris. Good on him
No matter what happened, he is proof that a man with such determination, will never let anything stop him from what he needs to do.
For the same reasons that he got up there and changed what guitar is inside millions of minds, he also overcame such damage from the accident.
Like him or not, there's not gonna be another Yngwie ever again.
Yup he rocks.
"He hit a tree with his Jaguar and broke the steering wheel with his head. He was in a coma for almost a week, then woke up unable to use his right hand. Doctors discovered that he’d suffered a concussion from the ordeal, which damaged the nerves running into his right hand."
If all this is true, it would be miraculous if it didn't affect his playing.
Absolutely. Amazing comeback for him. Thanks for commenting and for watching.
To many factors for you to judge his tone. The Venue, power & recording equipment.
Yes it's true and it did affect his playing.
I wasn't aware of this but if its true its miraculous he can play at all.
When and where did the accident happen?
His first 3 LPs are incredible. The influence he had on players is amazing.
True That! I can listen to those 1st 3 forever on a loop. After Fire and Ice I got burned out on him.
@gun_toting_lefty Same...after Fire and Ice I pretty much checked out but up until Odyssey...I loved his stuff. (I know Odyssey is a divisive album but I definitely still like it....Marching Out is hands down my favorite)
Yngwie's playing has evolved quite a bit since the mid-80's. He spawned a million "shred'/neo-classical clones, and he no longer had to focus on being "fastest", as he has mentioned in several interviews. Not to mention the simple truth of musical maturity and personal growth as a player. None of us are the same as when we were starting out or as we were in our younger playing days. Practice brings knowledge, knowledge brings wisdom, wisdom brings maturity. Basically the albums from "Rising Force" to "Magnum Opus" document that process. In any event, whether you care for his music or not, his contribution to music and the world of guitar is undeniable. Thank you for the video and all the best from the Bay Area.
MK
Saw Yngwie in 1986 and EVERYONE in that auditorium was blown away. Period. Twisted Sister opened for them and Dee Snider after he cleaned up, sat in the last row on the top of the chair and watched him play like a teenager. That's how good Yngwie was before the accident.. But he's still a great guitarist.
Wow, you are so lucky to have seen him pre-acc. Thanks for watching!
Lol! Standing there with makeup, and mascara running.
Twisted Sister Opened for Rising Force in 86? Wow....2 years after Stay Hungry they fell that far
@@shredguitar7680 Yeah, somehow, opening for Yngwie cannot be what that song "We're Gonna Make It" is about.
I saw Malmsteen play in Birmingham, UK, on the Odyssey tour in November 1988. It was probably about his 60th show after his accident. What I can say, because I met him before the show, is that he had been drinking quite heavily that afternoon before arriving late for soundcheck. I have no way of comparing his performance that night to a pre accident performance, but I recall his playing was very good and not like I have seem him play in later years. I’m certain that the accident changed his playing, especially his picking, but I wonder if Yngwie’s playing deteriorated through the late 80s and 90s more due to his use of alcohol.
Or a combination and age of course. Thanks for commenting!
Yeah, read his book. He talks about it a lot in there. When he first hit the US, pre and post accident, he was drinking *a lot*. Perhaps some of his best and worst performances were coloured by the timing of whether he was drunk or not. 🤷
Good thing is even if he lost 99% of his skills he would still be a monster lol
The difference of his playing is as clear as day. What was most shocking about Yngwie appearing on the music scene was not the neoclassical phrasing or the speed, it's the clarity and accuracy of his playing. MANY has duplicated his licks and speed, but not his accuracy. If you play guitar yourself you understand the level of difficulty to get to his level. Years and YEARS of going about it relentlessly. You might play his songs but you could never play it like he once did. Yngwie himself can't duplicate it.
He played incredibly well after the accident as well. His live performance with the Japan Philharmonic was some of the best guitar playing in history. It's only the last 10 years that he's gone downhill. Fair enough and understandable. Can't stay at the top forever.
It's subjective for sure. Thanks again.
Yeah his general studio production has been pretty terrible for more than 20 years now. Facing the Animal was his last great album, after which Cozy died untimely, and everything went south. Just when he thought he had a fantastic band, which he certainly did, he lost it all again.
Guthrie's last pub gig was far superior. I'm dead serious.
@@monsirto Guthrie 😂
@@douglasnisbet1189 Hold onto your hero there, champ. He's a sensitive little cunt these days, your Yngrid. 😘
His pre accident playing was the best he ever played. I'm taking about the Trilogy tour. He was fast, articulate, clean, aggressive and had an incredible tone. His tone was also surprisingly very clean (I mean not using a lot of distortion) and you couldn't notice if he even used reverb. After the accident all of that just worsened. The tone became too distorted and full of delay and reverb. He was no longer as articulate and smart with his phasing and he began implementing legato a lot more. I've always been blown away by his right hand technique, tho. However I think his super economy picking technique was more of a necessity cause he no longer could be as fast and picking every single note hard like pre accident. IMO is in the Leningrad video where you can notice how vastly different his playing changed compared to the Tokyo concert.
Without a question. 1985-1986 era Yngwie is arguably one of the most impressive guitarists to have ever graced the stage.
His solo on that Milwaukee Summerfest bootleg gives me the shivers whenever I hear it. He went from his usual ripping leads to almost clean with the same aggression and articulation not found in many other "virtuosos".
Yngwie was very focused and precise in the 80’s. He was building a reputation, you know. As he established himself, his tone and attitude really started to slip and by time we reach mid to late 90’s, he got sloppy whilst playing live with all that distortion he probably can’t hear the sloppyness. He has pretty much remained that way ever since.
He played in Japan with their philharmonic orchestra and he was excellent. He needs to drop the massive distortion and take more care in his playing.
I've seen him twice and I have to admit he seemed bored the first time and the the second time he arqued with the mixing engineer and lighting technician, I love the guy and for me he changed everything for me when I first started playing, he's a tremendous inspiration but like so many hyper talented people it comes at a price
I wish I could play like him on his worst days lol
It's nothing to do with distortion. Most things that Yngwie says are arrogant BS, but one thing he said in the mid 80s was that his guitar tone wasn't clean - it sounded clean because he had control. It's the lack of coordination between hands, the inability to silence strings etc that makes ham-fisted amateurs (and now Malmsteen's) playing sound more distorted. This was especially the case when people try to play faster than they can. Hence a lot of people tried to play Malmsteen riffs, the result sounded comparatively noisier and distorted and they concluded (erroneously) that Malmsteen had less gain. No, he had simply practised enough to play those riffs quickly and cleanly. Typically though, if they turned the gain down the fact their picking isn't even and their hands are not coordinated shows up as "missing" notes, it doesn't sound like Malmsteen pre car crash. Try it, get some guitar player to record themselves with a gain tone in a daw using an amp modelling plug in, then switch the plug in off and hear what their guitar signal sounds like dry. The instagram guitarists that play really clean tones should educate you that Malmsteen's tone in the mid 80s is not clean (and also how limited Malmsteen's technique is - they are better in pretty much every regard by a significant margin)
He has definitely more gain since 90's album but seventh sign and magnum opus were really excellent. Yngwie don't try to be as accurate as before and focus more on the show, that's why in my opinion his playing is faster now but sloppier
Less distortion? No, More is More dude!
He still on top level after the accident , but he changed technique , less right hand picking , more legato .
A valid point. Thanks for commenting and watching.
For me, post-accident is BETTER, more fluid, more human, less robot, improvisation is richer also.
EXCELLENT video! Your playing is outstanding. As a huge Yngwie fan since 1984, I suppose it is that old saying "it will never feel like the first time." In some respects, Yngwie is not quite as good, in some respects he is AS GOOD, and, in some respects, his playing is better (example: the orchestra album, Alchemy, and even World on Fire have amazing moments). I think the main "problem" is the fact that Yngwie has been obsessed with outdoing Yngwie LOL---he wants to play those old passages even faster...and it sometimes backfires (less articulation). I don't know; I am torn. I see some 2019 videos of Yngwie live and he is amazing...then there are others were he seems on auto pilot or worse. He was probably more CONSISTENT back in the day...and it was so mind-blowing and revolutionary back then, too. NOT that it should be about image, but Yngwie became (very) heavy (at least a bloated face and belly) from approximately 1998-2003 and his image took away somewhat from his playing; sad but true (witness the G3 video--yikes!). Then, Unleash The Fury came out and I thought the photos were old and photoshopped until I saw many other photos and videos live that confirmed the authenticity. But I am rambling...I have seen Yngwie 9 times live (twice in 1984, twice in 1985, once in 2001, once in 2013, once in 2017, once in 2018 and once in 2019) and I still get the same thrill from his playing and I walk away with that "Yngwie is God" feel...but, at the same time, he has become very "notey" these days and doesn't let things "breathe" as much as in days of old. I think THAT is what people miss the most.
Thanks for the kind words and for watching Vince! You have as good a theory as any there. You are so lucky to see him in several eras! I have never had the chance but I am not sure if I would not because, well, he doesn't seem like the same player with the same fire. Anyway, all the best for 2020 to you!
@@UptempoMusicLessons I would say if you are going to catch him live these days to avoid his solo act, but definitely go to anything like a G3, especially if Steve Vai is on the bill because those shows will have extended jams at the end and the friendly competition seems bring out the best in Yngwie. Particularly with Vai, he really seems to want to do his best. I don't know if that has anything to do odd meanderings that their careers did and did not take in the 80s when Vai was Malmsteen's replacement in Alcatrazz, and then got the call to join David Lee Roth's solo band after Roth's first pick, Yngwie had turned the gig down! I think that paved the way for an interesting bond and respect between them. I have been deeply into his playing style since I first heard him in late 1983 with Alcatrazz. Even in kind of a pop metal tune like "Island in the Sun" there something about his playing dynamics that came across as explosive and refined at the same time that had me instantly hooked. I think everyone who heard him back then asked the same two questions once they were able to retrieve their jaws from floor: Who the hell is this guy? And where in the world did he come from? Most beginning players at the time were learning basic stuff like AC/DC riffs, and hoping to graduate to playing some Van Halen or Randy Rhoads songs and solos when this absolute hurricane Yngwie Malmsteen comes along and just a little over a year later everybody is studying music theory and scales and trying to learn violin and organ pieces--Yngwie is responsible for a generation of rockers that actually WANTED to go to music schools and learn about proper harmony and how to connect scales and to endure classic ear training and some to even learn how to sight read! He spawned that as a movement AND as something cool. It was astonishing to behold. Eddie and Randy did things that made people woodshed to learn how to tap or to play classical guitar, but Yngwie made idea of proper music education cool!
his last blues album is f genius , same thing for world of fire
album: world on fire - song: In the machine -> headphones on vol 11
Agree totally,vince.lost a lil articulation and maybe improv creativity.but when the man is on he is still that man!that orchestra performance was breathtaking like when i was 12 and heard the rising force album ...and said :wtf is that?i want to do that!
Nothing can stop the Viking
His mind has always been faster than his fingers, the improvisational capacity he has is from another world. He never plays the same song exactly the same
...but he does play only one song.
@@monsirto no he doesnt
You havent work on any of his songs , try working on some of his songs correctly, learn the solos note by note, youll change your mind.
@tonyflorez703 no he won't bcuz he's jst a jealous lil troll boy who only wishes he could play like Yngwie...
As are all the haters...
Jealous lil cry babies...😢
No, don’t learn the solos note by note. Learn how to play arpeggios in that style, rather than trying to copy the solos. You’ll play more like him that way.
@@Gk2003m well said, he says "ITS NOT SWEEP PICKING FOLKS"
I saw Yngwie on the Trilogy tour third row at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland California, 12/19/86. I was 20 years old. Yngwie was at his peak during the Trilogy era.
Awesome! You are so lucky to have witnessed that. Thanks for sharing and for watching!
I think I saw that show. Saxon opened
Christian Powell Yes Saxon opened with another band Black and Blue.
Yep, that was the show. I miss the Kaiser. That was a great venue.
This is true he peaked in 86, the Trilogy tour was the height of his phrasing, feel, tone and technique. He did get most of his chops back years after accident but something was lost; I am not sure if its all related the the physical injury. FYI: I saw every live show he played in SoCal until the 90s. Including his first Rising Force gig; I did record it and many others and will post soon. Also side note Geoff Tate also peaked in 86; it was a special year for these special talents.
Does any guitar player play the same 20 years later !!
Dimeola, Mcglaughlin, Vai is still pushing the boundaries with his new string bending techniques. Thanks for the comment and for watching.
Ehhh yep, most of them.
No
@@UptempoMusicLessons naw vai di meola are actually worse today too lol.
Panos Arvanitis can play like him and better than him but Malmsteen is a guitar legend. That's a point.
Never mind his pre- and post-accident playing. I'll never play like he does.
He was better pre all around. His playing was more refined, and more varied. Plus he played a lot of his runs, including sweeps, on the bridge pickup, which is harder to play clean, than on the neck pickup. Neck hides imperfection and sounds more bubbly. Mentally, nowadays, actually since over 20 years, he just craps out some solo you heard a million times.
There's something to say for just getting old and maturing too. Speaking as as 51 years old guitar player, you just change as you get older.
My name is Richard. Hello pardon. Do you want me to tickle you? I have got a brown moustache. Would you like some of my pickled mussels?
So much bitter jealousy in the comments. YJM on his worst day is a better guitarist than all of us on our best day. Maybe his music or his fashion isn't everyones cup of tea, but the man is a bona fide guitar god.
Absolutely.
Speak for yourself some of us can actually play the shit out of a guitar like Yngwie. But yes people talking like he's not amazing are mentally handicapped
Yes he was I was listening to him from the start of his career not the same at all
His tone is dirtier and his picking is off after the accident as you mentioned but he's still a giant and I've been a fan of his when he was in Steeler.
Of course! Even his diminished form is still better than 99.9% of rock guitarists out there. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Yngwies best stuff is from 1983 to 1989.. Fire and ice was ok and The seventh sign was ok..and that's all I got into..oh yeah and the Japanese orchestra thing was cool..Yngwie did 1 good album with Ripper Owen's 2..
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I’ll tell you what think aboot Yngwie pre and post accident; I think he still rips, eh! As sweet as Maple syrup on Canadian bacon or hotcakes. As aggressive as the RMCP during Canadian winter. He never lost his Viking edge, I’ll tell you what!
I think he was better before. I've seen him several times before and after. As a guitarist myself it's very obvious. It's still amazing that he came back as fast as he did and released oddesy. He still plays incredible stuff that only a select few can duplicate. Everything gets worse with age.
Yeah. Exactly. His playing is very athletic, and age gets to athletes
I've seen Yngwie DOZENS of times from local bars to sold out arenas. I picked up the guitar because of him and I threw my guitar away because of him. My personal opinion is he simply gets tired of playing the same thing over & over (he has to play the classics for his fans). He's such a technical lunatic, I feel like he tries to improve on some of the older stuff each time he plays it. I'm not a "gear buff" so what I am telling you comes from what I can hear (and see) after listening to him since 1982.
Thanks for your perspective, some valid points!
George lynch does the same thing, I think it's is possible that Yngwie isn't quite as clean playing as he was, but I give him credit, his new CD is full of classic Yngwie shred fun
No.
Still a beast though.
But well never get 80s Yngwie back. His tone was out of this world too.made me change. My mind how i hear the strat
Everything changes my friend.
I knew something sounded off in 1987. Some of his finesse was lost after his accident.
Yup, pretty noticeable to guitarists. Probably not to most listeners though.
I would say after the90s i lost interest in his work his last great album to me was alchemy with mark boals
I agree
Have you ever thought a young yngwie might have been on some kind of recreational drugs to improve his performance.
I not saying he is but its just an observation that you see with many new artists on the music scene.
I don't know much about the car crash and the injuries yngwie sustained from the accident. Maybe he needs to slow down.
Finally you cant expect a 60 year old man to have the same musical techniques as a young 21 year old.
I understand you comparing 1985 to 1990s but as we age so does our technical abilities change.
I think yngwies arrogance towards music is the problem. He thinks he's still 21 and doesn't really care as much now he's hit the big time for so many years.
Well if he's not playing as well then. I'd be happy to play as well post accident. And remember he is older now , and yes it makes a difference
He has scars on his right hand. I think he ended up getting some surgery there. And he talks about how he couldn't hold a glass of water, let alone pick. There's a difference in his playing. Of course because he had to rebuild his entire technique.
I think also as anyone plays the same phrases over and over there becomes less wasted motion. Just like typing. You look at a beginner and their fingers are all over the place. As time goes by there is less motion. And age of course. You guys out there who are young, I'm telling you, enjoy your youth. Do everything you can because as you get older you will eventually lose it all. You'll have to work to maintain your technique. You might have to redevelop it and find new ways to play the same ideas.
One huge difference that I hear is in his tone. And I think this is everything combined. There's more compression, which of course will make picking easier because one can pick lighter and achieve the same volume. He's using different pickups. Remember when he played Fender amps for a second? That tone was not so great.
He played with more expression when he was younger. It's more mechanical now. Live Sentence, Marching Out, Trilogy and Fire and Ice are my favorites. Because everything is so lyrical. Also he doesn't really write songs as well. They tend to be vehicles for his lead playing. The harmonic ideas are the same so there's no sense of discovery. This also happens to everyone over time.
If you write songs you've experienced this. You get an idea for a riff. It's a smoking riff. You are happy. You come back to the riff and something is different. Because the initial inspiration is gone. Now you're trying to recreate consciously what probably was your subconscious talking in the first place. That's a very different feel.
He's done and said some hostile and arrogant things, which makes him less sympathetic. But there is no denying that he changed the way metal guitar is played. He opened so many doors harmonically and technically. I won't ever forget that. And I'm glad he's still alive. He's still out there playing and now he's more open about sharing his ideas. We all benefit from that.
I think these are tough samples to compare if seeking an answer to this. Those Alcatraz videos and early vids might be studio overdubs, and thats where his playing sounds most precise. Random recorded live videos with live audio are going to be a crapshoot audii quality wise and performance wise.
I love YM for the energy and attitude. Big fan! That said, he's not an emotional player and is therefore easy to replicate. It's the same with Matteo Mancuso when attempting to cover Jeff Beck. At the end of the day, the heart remembers and the mind forgets.
He seemed alright on his last tour, there were lots of videos uploaded by the crowd. Possibly it's just a function of how often he's playing. I suspect he's gotten a bit deaf playing with all those Marshalls, so his tone probably sounds right to him, but sounds a bit different to us.
Of course he was. Facts are, he can't play like he used to. You can say his playing has changed etc etc....but he simply does not play like he used for a simple reason. He can't. His ex band members pretty much admit it.
Talking about his tone, is very subjective... plus everyone's tone changes over time even if its subtly. Blackmore is a good example - check out how his tone has changed and even myself, I know the tone I have no is not the same as 30 years ago.
The real answer to this questions is a bit simpler... he still is a great player... he got an accident where de "doctors" said he would never play again, and he said: "fuck them" ;)
Very true. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Listen Cesário Filho from Brazil playing Mamsteen...check it out!!
idk if anyones still watching this but i think it might be as simple as "he just doesnt want to either" because if you check most live shows, theres barely anything he ever plays the same way. he does a ton of improvisation too
In the nicest way possible, he is getting older now. Obviously that isn't a good reason though because there are plenty of guitarists who still shred hard to this day.
Did Yngwie play better before the accident- I believe so. Is this because of the accident or 'other things'- who knows. From '84-'86 he was an actually demon and changed the game...NO question
I agree. Thanks for watching!
1/18/87 Lakeland Florida. I went to see iron maiden. Some guy I never heard of opened for them. Yngwie malmsteen rising force. I've still cant believe what I heard and saw. Absolutely the greatest musical moment in my life. Flawless, effortless. he would throw his guitar around, up in the air catch it and it seemed like he was showing everyone look it doesn't matter what I do with this guitar I cant make a mistake. Like magic! Yes he was unstoppable, until the accident
Of course Yngwie was FAR better way back in the early 80's than now, he is older and got very lazy not bothering to actually practice much - he just picks up a guitar and plays. Satriani, etc maintained their skills as they still practice a lot. Back in the 80's he glided around the fretboard much smoother than today. As he got lazy his playing became far more repetitive same old licks, riffs & runs. Currently he is playing with an absolutely awful live band the worst he's ever had and doing cheap ass home recordings with himself singing, it is kind of tragic to play out the latter part of his career like that but he calls the shots and made his own bed as they say. There are numerous videos of him recently playing pretty rough and messing up solos but very few if any from the 80's with him doing that.
You're not wrong, good comment. Thanks for watching and all the best to you in 2020!
I’m gonna remember him for what he was, he’s still great. Heck, he played the National Anthem in a foreign country after 9/11. He’s a legend in my book
Been saying that for years. It was night and day difference. Pre accident Yngwie was like no one else ever, untouchable...Post accident, his tone, articulation, improv skills, phrasing...it all changed for the worse. I still get the same excited feeling listening to the Alcatraz stuff and first two Rising Force albums...I never really liked Trilogy, but it was the peak of his playing for sure. Nothing since then had the same impact. I've been lucky to see him live before the accident. I used to live about ten minutes from him and visited pre and post accident, was cool to see him play in his home, I was around 16 then.
I saw yngwie with Steve vai in like 2018 and he sounded amazing. From the internet vids it sounds kinda rough but live it's pretty great
Interesting. Ya video is a little more honest I think than being there. Thanks for watching!
@@UptempoMusicLessons but definitely he was way better in the past.
I saw him with Vai and Satch in 2003. Vai and Satch somehow could not figure out what to play over teh cover of Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' In The Free World". Only Yngwie had his head wrapped around this simple tune. He played all the rhythm guitar, sang and was able to solo around it and all.
I feel like now he plays how he wants before when he was young he played with precision and super aggressive now he prob enjoys him self on stage more
His picking was surely faster and more accurate before the accident💯
His chops ,speed and accuracy were at his peak in 1994-1996 but his creativity and magic were gone after that 1987 accident.
Interesting take. Thanks for the comment and for watching!
I think another thing to note (albiet a bit more personal) is that he had a deinking problem especially during the kate 80's and early 90's that greatly affected the way he would play so that also could attribute to his sloppier playing.
I also remember reading his biography "Relentless" where he insists that his playing actually got better and attributes the sloppier playing with the aforementioned drinking
For anyone who has ears and basic knowledge of guitar that's obvious
the most important is that after his accident he lost his creativity not only his technique. Today he plays faster but he has never found his creativity
You're probably not wrong. Thanks for the comment and for watching.
I just hate the way his music is recorded now. It just doesn't sound as crisp as his earlier stuff
I wonder if the deterioration in Yngwie's playing after the accident had more to do with loss of motivation and less practicing than brain damage from the accident. If you watch videos of many of the guitar greats, their playing was better when they were younger and still were trying to prove themselves. In that stage of their lives they practiced all the time and guitar was everything to them. I think George Lynch, Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert are all guitar players that were better when they were younger because guitar was all they spent their time doing at that stage of their lives. Also, contrary to what many people say, I think Yngwie's sense of melody and feeling make him a great guitar player more than his technical ability. I feel that after the crash his guitar solos became less melodic and had less feeling. That might be because of motivation not brain damage. I think that before the crash Yngwie composed most of his guitar solos, thinking of them as a songs within a song. This led to better melodies and more emotion. But after the crash I think Yngwie stopped composing his solos and just improvised. So then the question is, was that due to brain damage or lack of motivation? I also wonder if the crash affected his songwriting. Would he have been a better songwriter during his career if he had not been in the accident? Again the question is motivation or brain damage. I would greatly appreciate a response from anyone that has any thoughts about this. Thank you UptempoMusicLessons for the great video. Thank you Yngwie for all of the incredible music!
Yngwie seems much better these days. In fact I think theses last 4 years he’s at his best.
Inspired by his tour with Vai, Bettencourt, Wylde.
I believe he was a lot better b4 the accident in regards to his songs melodic arrangements that supported a lot of good vocals. The albums that really showcase his best arrangements were: Trilogy, Odyssey, Eclipse, Fire&Ice, Mangum Opus, Facing the Animal. He had some really good singers back then such as Joe Lynn Turner and Göran Edman.
As far as i am concern the above mentioned albums all had commercial vibes to them and had his best playing which leads me to conclude this was because he was dealing with producers back then. The stuff that he his doing now sounds so much different and is significantly devoid of his melodic catchy beat approach of the 90's. This major fall off is a direct result of his self producing abilities which is not good and in my opinion started after his "Facing the Animal" album.😡
As far as his mind blowing technique it's all there but since he isn't creating those melodic catchy beat oriented songs anymore to showcase some really sweet Rhythm and lead guitar playing everything that i am hearing from him now sounds like arrangements created to showcase lengthly overindulgent unapologetic mindless guitar wanking.
You could very well be right about the producer thing. Thanks for watching and commenting.
IMO Biggest difference is not the fingers / technical ability, it's the ideas. If you listen to his playing on Rising Force, Marching Out and Trilogy, there are lots of different stylistic tropes, different ways of playing, whammy bar slurs, melodic devices etc. Post accident his soloing repertoire seems considerably reduced, much more just straight scale and arpeggio runs. Much of the invention is gone.
To put it another way, pre-accident he sounded like someone who learned to play from speeded up tapes of great players. Post-accident he sounded much more like someone who learned to play by practicing scales with a metronome.
Either way that doesn't take anything away from him. He's an incredible player that changed the world of guitar playing. Also, that vibrato....
Very true, all of what you said. Thanks for commenting and watching.
I think you need to get better videos for referencing. They stink! I've been listening to Yngwie since he was in Steeler and Alcatraz and seen him live since early 1986 He's a phenomenal guitarist...he was mind blowing back in those days....he was still great after the accident all the way up to the release of Fire & Ice which was 1992 and after that tour I stopped going to see him because he was already getting sloppy in his playing and his technique was suffering...One thing is improvising and not playing note for not like the album and that's fine....but when you're not using the same level of technique and your tone changes and there's too much distortion that's an entirely different thing. Nowadays when he plays older songs he plays a summary of it leaving out entire parts. Every album he released in the 2000's has been horrible and the crowds that come and see him have also drastically declined in that same span.
He records his albums and he plays all the instruments on them and also sings.....then he hires a local musician's to just play the parts on stage...there's no cohesiveness and it's just all about him...what's next no band and he just plays over backing tracks on stage by himself???
To be fair I just looked randomly at videos from the years before and after accident. Thanks for commenting.
I wish I had that problem, post accident.
Ha ha me too but it is fun to yenta it up about it. Thanks for the comment and for watching.
It is not a question of "was he". It is a question of "by how much".
- Have you ever heard about someone getting better than before, after a severe brain injury? - Me neither. I am just incredibly thankful that God has kept releasing his fury, for another 36 years! HAIL THE KING!
Some people become geniuses after so there is that lol.
I've gotta say, I don't really hear much of a difference in his playing. To be honest, it seems like he's even faster and better now than ever before. Yngwie himself said that he thought his playing was even better after the accident. As for any changes, I bet he's just improvising differently. It's just the way it is. Eddie Van Halen did the same thing I think it's a natural thing that happens with age. Just my 2 cents
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Even after the accident YJM is way better than his critics will ever be.
Regardless of injuries, it's a different man in a different context: Young and driven and something to prove vs older, crazy successful and self-indulgent. He's a viking, he can do whatever he wants. lol
It was noticeable on Odyssey though, and it never got better in my opinion. Sloppier and not as good ideas. Unfortunate. He is still a great musician though.
The biggest problem is that Yngwie stopped growing as a musician after "Trilogy". He just recycles the same scales and arpeggios over and over again. His phrasing is sooo predictable. He doesnt seem to pickup anything new from all the other innovative guitarists in the world today. The guy is just stuck in the same old tired rutt hoping it will continue to make money for him. He's just phoning it in today.
True, age probably doesn't help either. Thanks for the comment.
Yngwie was better before his last wife. He did great records after his accident, Seventh sign, Magnus Opus for exemple. For me Facing the animal is his last great record, but this is just my opinion. After 1999 absolutelly nothing good
Thanks for your opinion and for watching!
he was hungrier and more focused pre accident. plus he had better tone
i agree there is degradation in his playing / tone after accident … i think pain after accident, loss of mother, etc… drinking and drugs hurt him. i think he’s playing at the top of his game in recent years. last album was solid. just wish he would find a good singer or get one of his original singers along glenn hughes and play until fingers stop working. a bonus would be getting the johannson bros back. i know it’s a dream
Ya, the brothers are probably selling real estate by now lol! Thanks for the comment and watch.
I've been a studio/session musician for 30+ years and if there is any difference from one video to the next it is perfectly natural. If you had watched a video filmed 13 years before the first one it would have been different. A video filmed 13 days before or after either would have been different. No two performances are ever exactly alike. Consider also that the second recording was done after he'd been playing this song for 13 more years! Look at any musician and watch them play one of their "hits" after a few decades. 99% of them get more and more sloppy and change things up out of boredom and just plain experimentation. Also, he's 13 years older. I'm 51 now and can't sweep as fast and smooth as I could at 21. Your hands (and sometimes back) take a beating after playing for millions of hours decade after decade. Very few players, of any instrument, retain the same abilities as they age. For most of my career I have been primarily a hard rock and metal player. As I've aged and (hopefully) matured I've expanded my palette. So, while I can no longer compete with the likes of Jason Richardson for speed and technique I can play the sh*t out of some blues! ;-) I think Yngwie's playing has followed the natural progression of any musician who started as a teenager and is now nearing 60 years old! Stay safe everyone. Cheers.
Great and insightful comment. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, he was better in terms of technique. His technique was something out of this world before the accident! Clear as crystal! Despite this, his career was incredible and unique.
For me, he is the best shredder of all time.
That's a loaded question. Anybody with ears can tell he was better back then. Today, he's just a has been that's riding on his name. He can't play in time. He can't play in tune. He's turned to sh- and it's hilarious because he still thinks he's just as great as he was 30 years ago. 👎
It's tougher with age to play that way then say like Eric Clapton. Takes way, way more dedication and is predicated on hand speed which declines with age. I give him props for getting out there and doing what he loves though. Thanks for commenting.
It's not the accident,
The accident would make him stop playing totally and paralyzed if it really affected him
( Btw am a Radiologist)
it's age and the more u grow up u start to lose the flame and care less
Check michael romeo in the guitar chapter and now
Same sloppiness
Interesting perspective! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Phrasing. It's about about the phrasing. Pre car crash he has it. post, he doesn't. Currently, his playing isn't even worth talking about, more's the pity.
Ya, kinda see him repeating himself a lot and not doing the extreme picking he used to do. Thanks for watching and commenting!
its not the tone and playing differences its the recordings. One is clearly guitar and the next is the mic of the whole arena. You can clearly hear none of them are mic'd the same and recorded the same, one might just be a camera sound.
I think there is a difference but thanks for watching and offering your opinion. Cheers!
Let's be realistic nerve damage is serious and he's done a great job improvising, but it takes many years to come back full strength if at all. Age hasn't helped either. His A- game is better than 95% of all guitarists.
About the tone. Yngwie used a peddle that he always used, then lost it, and could never get that sound back. Along with changing of pickups etc...
The grey DOD pedal? I have one. I still don't sound like Yngwie lol.
I'm not sure about him playing,, I think it did affect him, he seems to be more obsessive (100 guitars which are exactly the same for example) he also seems very stuck in the time of his accident, hasn't evolved even in his look,,
I personally like the original tones he used more aggressive and still organic, his guitar had a more baroque violin character now he's very much more of a metal guitar tonality. he's still ridiculously amazing. I think maybe the "accident" affected him more mentally and that affects his perception of him self and his performance.
plus just a side thought
he sounded better playing the lower output dimazios than the high gain seymour duncans, that change may actually prove point though, a lot of people trying to play like yngwie use higher gain because it makes it easier and smoothes out the mistakes with distortion, so maybe now yngwie is playing more like the way other people play when they play his music
All good points! Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Yeah...wrong.
Alchemy was news to Metal Guitar,
A great record, Eclipse, and 7th sign are great song writing, yngwie has written well over 200 songs .
I don't think any of the things you mentioned were an issue.
Although his mother passed around that time and his Brother died a trajic death in a train accident in his 30s
So yngwie is like a lottery winner, and his fam is dieing around him .
It was in his book
Have you heard c'est la vie? The solo and rest of the song out is incredible. Definitely evolved
I think Yngwie has deteriorated over the years , the accident may of been a turning point but it was not obviously instant. Yngwie now plays with terrible tone and no phrasing it’s become all about speed at all times.
Yes, unfortunate but seemingly true. Thanks for watching and commenting.
TBH, Yngwie is 2022's Richard Benson. He could play at one time. That time is long gone.
Not aware of that person.
Saw him live pre and post accident. Everything through Trilogy was other wordly. Odyssey as an album was great, but you could tell his playing was different. However...Eclipse, Fire and Ice, Angels of Love, his recording with the orchestra and of course Alchemy all showed some amazing playing from him. He's still great, but I'd say he lost something in the accudent he never fully got back
Absolutely not.
Alcohol and coke fucked his playing and it took decades to do so.
His live in Leningrad was his peak and that was post accident.
However, he seemed to have a bit more of a cadenced style before the crash, he would explore more melodies and not always playing at the speed of light. You can see that on his live from Japan.
Yngwie write his best music when he was young beetween 1984 -1986 never be the same after Odyssey.
Fair assessment. Thanks for watching and commenting.
According to his Wikipedia webpage the maestro was in a coma for a week suffering nerve damage to his right hand and in my humble opinion since recovery he has been awesome all the way up to right now.
LONG LIVE THE MAESTRO!!!
I'd luv to have get whatever Yngwie lost.. 😅
Maybe he has become a bit more 'ham fisted' as a result of the accident... but who told him he could sing?! 🤣
Ya, not a fan of that lol!
I would say no, he wasn't even though it's regurgitated endlessly. IMO he kinda goes in cycles I think depending on how motivated/inspired he is....His most extreme works, technically are Trilogy(pre-accident), Fire and Ice...and Alchemy...which is really his most extreme technically to date. Some seriously inhuman capabilities on that album(Alchemy)...hell he even came up with a ton of new licks and phrases on that one and the album itself has some great writing and the other band members just killed on that one too....also his heaviest album as well. Alchemy is the pinnacle of his career to date IMO. (Honorable mentions go to Facing The Animal and the Live Album for that tour)...
Goodness! THE video I have waited a lifetime for after I have exhausted myself commenting elsewhere on this subject! I will try and do the Cliffs Notes version. First let's be clear that Yngwie is a composer and a musician first in his own perception of himself and then a he is also a guitarist. Because of that we have to evaluate him as both the composer/musician AND the guitarist before and after the accident. Second item is we must keep in mind his musical creation during his teenage years in Sweden were flabbergastingly prolific and that at least as far into his career as the Eclipse album we can find songs and instrumentals that were on demo and practice tapes from his youth before even Mike Varney had heard him! This distorts are perception of his musicality after the accident because it is quite possible that nearly everything he recorded into the early 90s could have been written before the accident. Third, the accident itself absolutely is the dividing moment of his career. I saw him very soon after that guest live with Dio to play "Man on the Silver Mountain" at the old Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California, and the damage he had suffered was on display for all (guitarists, anyway) in the crowd to see. As Vivian Campbell stepped back to let Yngwie play the solo, he seemed to be doing fine at first, but as has he attempted to sweep pick a line the problem became clear--He had been playing the song entirely with his left hand until he needed his pick hand to perform what his head wanted him to and his right hand failed him! Ronnie noticed and being a professional, ran up threw his arm around Yngwie's shoulder and yelled into the mic something along the lines of "Everybody! Yngwie Malmsteen!" as Vivian finished up the rest of the solo beneath the volume of the crowd's cheers. Yngwie finish the tune, but continued fretting left hand only and simply resting his right forearm against the body of his Strat to look as though he was using it. Rumors had been flying all over GIT where I was a student that Summer that either Yngwie would never be able to play again due to neurological and brain damage or that he had even died and info was being withheld from the public until his family in Sweden could be notified. The guest spot with Dio was sort of a proof of life performance. It does show us the seriousness of his injuries. In later interviews he has mentioned how devastated and frightened he was that his career was over. There are several other things that went South for over that Summer personally, and he left LA and moved to Westchester County in NY state where he had some extended family. Another thing that happened is that he had been loaned a PRS guitar by Steve Trovato (a GIT instructor-- Not sure Trovato ever got it back!) and Yngwie began practicing again, very intently focused on his picking hand....So, my take Yngwie the composer/musician and in terms of musicality was consistently better BEFORE the accident. Composition (and improvisation when live) is not just about choices and timing of notes, but also rests. While Yngwie's early notoriety was due to his guitar playing his sense of melody and musicality actually took precedent over his technique. The impact of his technique was made potent and mind-blowing because of the musicality it was serving. Pre-Accident he was slightly less technical in a very specific area: His one "weakness" is that he was not the most precise alternate picker (per the man himself). A (positive) consequence of that was some of the individual peculiarities in how and when he picked notes interspersed with legato to create his characteristic bubbling note effect when he plays outrageously busy scalar runs and pattern fragments. He spent so much effort post-accident working on his alternate picking that he actually became better at the technique than he had been before the accident. This has affected both his playing and the non-equipment aspects of his tone. Changing from DiMarzio pickups to Duncans, having Fender do their version of his old DOD preamp pedal and removing the old Echoplex from his signal line in favor of only digital delays have colored his tone toward the square-wavy and treble sound we hear from him live today. To sum up my opinion, he was more musical before the accident, but in purely technical terms is actually a better guitarist since. A lot of times we mix these two aspects into one because of how we are impacted as listeners. Yngwie remains the most mind-blowing conventional player (one who does not rely significantly on the tremolo bar or effects or tapping as their identity) I have had the privilege to see live before and after that tree ran out in front of his Jaguar! Even though for me as a listener the sensation of every note he played having an almost supernatural quality to it is in the past, he does at times show inspired moments. When he is "ON" there are still few that compare to him live. That G3 tour with Satch and Vai!!! Forget about it! As accomplished as the other two are as a musicians you can see with the three of them together on stage that this is the guy that still has them go "Whoa!!" live. And it isn't like they couldn't predict 90% of what YJM would play, but oh that 10%!!!!!!! I also think it is important to appreciate that his comeback from the brain and nerve damage suffered in the accident is itself one hell of an achievement. Seriously, most people would have given up, but Yngwie the Relentless couldn't be stopped! I think the downside is the new habits and tendencies he formed by having to practice so rigorously to restore his picking hand changed not only his playing to the non-stop-notes player he is today, but in turn also reconditioned his brain toward thinking of his music as non-stop practicing. Do not get me wrong here--Nothing is quite 100% one way or the other so much as just in an overall sense his playing AND his musical output post-accident assaults the listener with endless streams of notes, whereas prior to the accident those streams of notes were separated by twists and turns that were every bit as exciting as all of thd swept arpeggios and 3 octave scales and diminished madness. That's my opinion! So much for the Cliffs Notes, but sincerely Gang this issue of the Yngwie that was and our only being able to rue and to speculate about the musician he could have been has haunted me for more than 3 decades. The last thing I would point out is that while there are those that can now legitimately criticize him as the caricature some always accused him of being as a guitarist, he has achieved a success that has escaped almost all if his peers--At least half a dozen of his compositions can be found on RUclips being performed by musicians on instruments other than the guitar! And not just stringed instruments. If only he could have done a few more electric guitar and orchestra works he may actually have become as popular in the classical genre!
Wow, thanks for the pithy answer, I read it all. Very interesting. Yes, it is sad but still far better than not having Yngwie at all, ala Hendrix. I mean, who knows what that youngster would have been up to. Thanks again for the detailed response and for watching!
UptempoMusicLessons Thank you for the reply as well as your insightful video. I often find that providing some background on this issue helps people (especially younger generations) to better understand Yngwie. I was in a relationship years ago where my Stepson was getting really good on the guitar and also interested in 80s metal so I suggested he check YJM and he initially didn’t care for him because his first exposure was one of the overweight Yngwie singing live while the rest of the band was relegated to the side of the stage. But when I showed him videos with Alcatrazz, at the start of his solo career and from Malmsteen’s teen years in Sweden, then explained about the accident it all left a really big impression on him. Later on G3 came to the Greek Theatre in the Hollywood Hills (which very much deserves its title as the best small amphitheater in America) and he was even more blown away by Yngwie, especially during the jam, because he didn’t expect Yngwie’s style would mesh well with the more modern tones and ideas of Vai and Satriani. Anyhow, I don’t think the Maestro has done badly for himself. It’s probably pretty good to be him, because he broke through at a juncture in time where he was able to mainly do things his “Yng-Way”. He has giving us plenty of inspiring music and really was (along with Vai) the catalyst that made so many guitarists get serious about their musical education and becoming complete musicians instead of just guitar players.
Ripping reply. I just wrote a little spiel too, then saw yours. Thanks for the insider info!!
Can you say that again?
Just kidding.
I really enjoyed what you wrote. As a fan from the 80’s I never considered the before and after issue so I guess to me this wasn’t an issue. I did find the music largely repetitive after the first 4 albums but there was always a gem in there somewhere, Concerto suite, Requiem...
I saw him in a small club in England, front row ,👏, and was amazed to see his technique with my own eyes. I realised that the reason he made it look easy is because to him it is easy. His hands are totally relaxed, I had a death grip left hand at the time and it was a great lesson. I still have the plectrum he flicked to me. (That’s what I tell myself anyway).
In an age when some folk posting comments believe that being able to play Malmsteen licks makes you Malmsteen I find the question interesting, but redundant.
Yngwies’ place in guitar history is assured.
Cheers. 🍻🍻
I can only speak from experience of my 40 years of playing. I am fully aware of the passage of time and the toll exacted by its ravages. I hear it in my playing and feel it in my hands. Compared to my 20-something self, I'm a schlub. Yngwie may have been a Guitar-god in the 80s, but that is a little "g". We all get older/slower and CTS, RA, not to mention The Road life and physical + mental stress from all kinds of shit, if dude was in an accident too? Cut the cat some slack. Yeah he's not the same as he was. No shit. Again, just my POV.
Hey I know it. Look at my pinky in the vid. I have end stage osteoarthritis in that finger from 20000 hours of practicing lol! Thanks for the comment and for watching.
@@UptempoMusicLessons it was a good video and showed a lot of thought and care about the subject. Somedays (or by the minute at times) I can't feel one or the other or either of my hands. But, I keep playing. Mainly because I keep buying guitar's! Lol
In my opinion, this is what happened: after the accident Yngwie started trying to play faster and faster as a form of physical therapy (he said this in an interview) before he even returned to the stage. And, in fact, it got faster than before (see the songs "Flamenco Diablo", "Arpeggios from hell" and Blitzkrieg). However, Yngwie sacrificed musicality and the notes chosen to express his art.
There is also the ego issue: before he worked with above average vocalists and now he doesn't even want to have a vocalist. Not to mention the arrangement of the stage: drums, keyboards and bass in a corner for the stage left for him (he just didn't put everyone behind the stage so it didn't look like playback).
Very valid points. I think skimping on quality band members is not helping for sure. Thanks for commenting and for watching.
Yngwies best albums are Alcatraz , and his first 3 solo albums.. And i like bits and peices off his other solo albums.. But Every song off Alcatraz and his first 3 solo albums are great..
I agree completely. Thanks for commenting.
@@UptempoMusicLessons Thank You. 👍
Nope. He just was better before Duncans.
5:56-- the bassist thinks "will anyone notice my two handed licks here?"
LOL!
the tone shift to more treble is caused by hearing loss. playing every night infront of big marshall stacks kills the ability to hear higher stuff. paul gilbert is one of the few who amids it.
No parole and rising force were his best work
No shredder get better with age. Consider all the great shredders, none of them have gotten better over time.
Someone needs to invent 'roids for shredders.
He lost his magic after the accident.