How To Improve As A Guitar Player By Studying Yngwie Malmsteen
One of the most influential and underrated guitar players to have ever picked up the instrument is virtuoso guitarist, Yngwie Malmsteen.
There are many things you can learn to help you improve as a guitarist by understanding more about what he has done for the guitar playing community.
With that being said, some guitar players disagree strongly with this claim saying things such as:
Additionally, the other two points are NOT true at all and you will find out why shortly as you read below.
It is not necessarily important that you read this article and become a 'fan' of Yngwie; instead it IS important that you understand that there is a hidden guitar lesson to be found when you learn why Yngwie is so influential to the guitar playing community.
By understanding this, you will gain new perspective on many new musical ideas that will give you the insight needed to become highly expressive as a guitar player.
Here is a small list of all the great innovations that Yngwie Malmsteen has brought into the rock and metal guitar playing community (most of which he is not commonly given credit for): Lead Guitar Playing Techniques: Most people will give credit to Yngwie as being a highly technical guitar player (especially considering what other guitarists were playing during his time).
However, most people overlook the fact that his true genius comes in the form of the variety of improvements he has accomplished in the realm of technical lead guitar playing.
By merely considering this point on its own, it becomes very clear that Yngwie is of great importance to the world of electric guitar players.
The truth is, many guitar players (of Yngwie's time) did not take the time to master all the possible guitar techniques that they could use to make music.
Consider techniques such as tapping, sweep picking, alternate picking, string skipping, speed picking, not to mention subtle techniques like playing with articulation and fluent guitar phrasing.
Think about how long these guitar techniques were available to be mastered before someone actually came along and mastered them all on a technical and musical level.
In most cases, these guitar techniques took the span of many decades to get to the point to where they were being played at a level of true mastery.
Although there were guitarists who were playing with some of these techniques at various levels of proficiency, there was no guitarist (before Yngwie Malmsteen) who had achieved a level of virtuosity for ALL of them in his guitar playing.
Yngwie was not merely 'another shredder', but a true pioneer when it comes to guitar technique.
This is one of the most common oversights made by guitar players who mistakenly place all of the techniques he played into the all encompassing category of "Guitar technique" and move on as if there is nothing more to learn from him.
What can you do with this information? Regardless of whether or not you listen to Yngwie's music, you can learn a lot by observing how he combines together various guitar techniques.
It is important that you are able to connect various techniques together in music regardless of the genre you specialize in.
That said, most guitar players practice their techniques separate from each other, and do not learn how to integrate them together.
Improvising: Similar to great jazz musicians, Yngwie has mastered the ability to improvise great guitar melodies and ideas.
Although he does not commonly improvise over harmonies consisting of complex jazz chord progressions, Yngwie's ability to create intense emotion by maximizing the expressive effect of each chord is unmatched.
This is much more complex than merely understanding "which note goes over which chord".
When you truly master improvisation (as Yngwie Malmsteen has), you will know the feeling and emotion that will come with the notes that are played over each chord...
'before' the chord is even played.
This way you can adapt your playing in the moment to create whatever emotion you wish to express.
Additionally, Yngwie frequently improvises newer versions of his old guitar solos on a consistent basis (...
and with great precision).
Most guitar players simply re-play their old material in the exact same manner every time they go on stage.
What can you do with this information? Regardless of your preferred musical style, it is crucial for your success as a lead guitar player to able to identify the emotion of each chord 'before' the chord is actually played.
Vibrato Technique: Without a doubt, Yngwie Malmsteen is a shining example of a guitar player with excellent vibrato technique.
Keeping this in mind, know that Yngwie's guitar idols did NOT play vibrato like him.
Many guitarists completely overlook his ability to play expressive vibrato claiming that his style "lacks feeling".
This is commonly paired together with the claim that he plays "too many notes".
However, the truth is that Yngwie is a master of expressive guitar playing and can say much more with a single note than most guitarists can say with an entire guitar solo.
To hear proof of this, check out his guitar playing on the first song of "Rising Force" and compare it to the playing of any other guitarist who is commonly considered to be a 'more expressive' player than Yngwie.
As you are doing this, observe how Yngwie uses great detail in his vibrato by utilizing subtle nuances of the technique (through balance, changing speed, using wide and narrow depth, precision of timing, etc.
) to generate highly expressive musical emotion with just one note.
Compare this to most other guitarists who rarely consider the subtleties of vibrato technique and cannot truly understand the difference between everyday vibrato and virtuoso vibrato.
What can you do with this information? When it comes to playing guitar with nice phrasing and interesting melodies, your vibrato technique is what will stand out the most.
I encourage you to take note of the subtle elements mentioned above to analyze your own vibrato technique.
To start with, see how big of a variety of musical expressions you can create by playing only one note and apply vibrato to it.
If you are unable to utilize vibrato to create a variety of emotions in your guitar playing, you have a lot of work to do! Music Composing Skills: Yngwie has brought a lot to the rock guitar community through his ability to write music that utilizes intelligent and innovative use of the foundational songwriting principles.
It is true that these principles have been used for hundreds of years prior to his music; however, no one had utilized them in quite the same manner as him outside of 'some' jazz musicians and modern classical composers.
What can you do with this information? The songwriting techniques that Yngwie uses are not exclusive only to his style of music; in fact, they can be used effectively in any style of music.
What action should you take now? 1.
Listen to Yngwie's songs (yes, even if you are not a big fan of how he plays guitar).
If you are already into his music, find any one of his albums (I recommend his earlier releases) and complete the next steps.
2.
Listen closely and identify the subtle nuances that make Yngwie an excellent guitarist (use the ideas mentioned in this article as a reference).
If you are not sure how some of the more advanced musical ideas utilized in Yngwie's playing work (such as musical expression, songwriting techniques and improvisation in different keys), locate a guitar teacher who can help you understand them in great detail and use them to enhance your own guitar playing.
3.
Start analyzing your own guitar playing and determine your level of mastery for the ideas mentioned throughout this article.
Although your musical style may be totally different than that of Yngwie Malmsteen, it will still be to your benefit to master the ideas of this article in a manner that works for the music you play.
Make an evaluation of your progress toward mastering the ideas in this article and do what needs to get done to get better in the areas where you need most improvement.
By writing this article, I not am attempting to necessarily make you a fan of Yngwie; but to help you gain new musical insights that you likely have not yet considered.
If you do not like Yngwie's music after studying him in detail, that is totally fine.
However, understand that by observing the subtle nuances in Yngwie's music as described in this article, you will be able to get much more value out of the music of other guitar players.
This will help you become a better guitarist and reach a new level in your overall musicianship.
There are many things you can learn to help you improve as a guitarist by understanding more about what he has done for the guitar playing community.
With that being said, some guitar players disagree strongly with this claim saying things such as:
- Yngwie has not sold as many records as other guitar players.
- Yngwie plays too fast and doesn't know how to play emotionally with good melody.
- Since the 1980's, Yngwie's music has not changed or progressed in any notable manner.
Additionally, the other two points are NOT true at all and you will find out why shortly as you read below.
It is not necessarily important that you read this article and become a 'fan' of Yngwie; instead it IS important that you understand that there is a hidden guitar lesson to be found when you learn why Yngwie is so influential to the guitar playing community.
By understanding this, you will gain new perspective on many new musical ideas that will give you the insight needed to become highly expressive as a guitar player.
Here is a small list of all the great innovations that Yngwie Malmsteen has brought into the rock and metal guitar playing community (most of which he is not commonly given credit for): Lead Guitar Playing Techniques: Most people will give credit to Yngwie as being a highly technical guitar player (especially considering what other guitarists were playing during his time).
However, most people overlook the fact that his true genius comes in the form of the variety of improvements he has accomplished in the realm of technical lead guitar playing.
By merely considering this point on its own, it becomes very clear that Yngwie is of great importance to the world of electric guitar players.
The truth is, many guitar players (of Yngwie's time) did not take the time to master all the possible guitar techniques that they could use to make music.
Consider techniques such as tapping, sweep picking, alternate picking, string skipping, speed picking, not to mention subtle techniques like playing with articulation and fluent guitar phrasing.
Think about how long these guitar techniques were available to be mastered before someone actually came along and mastered them all on a technical and musical level.
In most cases, these guitar techniques took the span of many decades to get to the point to where they were being played at a level of true mastery.
Although there were guitarists who were playing with some of these techniques at various levels of proficiency, there was no guitarist (before Yngwie Malmsteen) who had achieved a level of virtuosity for ALL of them in his guitar playing.
Yngwie was not merely 'another shredder', but a true pioneer when it comes to guitar technique.
This is one of the most common oversights made by guitar players who mistakenly place all of the techniques he played into the all encompassing category of "Guitar technique" and move on as if there is nothing more to learn from him.
What can you do with this information? Regardless of whether or not you listen to Yngwie's music, you can learn a lot by observing how he combines together various guitar techniques.
It is important that you are able to connect various techniques together in music regardless of the genre you specialize in.
That said, most guitar players practice their techniques separate from each other, and do not learn how to integrate them together.
Improvising: Similar to great jazz musicians, Yngwie has mastered the ability to improvise great guitar melodies and ideas.
Although he does not commonly improvise over harmonies consisting of complex jazz chord progressions, Yngwie's ability to create intense emotion by maximizing the expressive effect of each chord is unmatched.
This is much more complex than merely understanding "which note goes over which chord".
When you truly master improvisation (as Yngwie Malmsteen has), you will know the feeling and emotion that will come with the notes that are played over each chord...
'before' the chord is even played.
This way you can adapt your playing in the moment to create whatever emotion you wish to express.
Additionally, Yngwie frequently improvises newer versions of his old guitar solos on a consistent basis (...
and with great precision).
Most guitar players simply re-play their old material in the exact same manner every time they go on stage.
What can you do with this information? Regardless of your preferred musical style, it is crucial for your success as a lead guitar player to able to identify the emotion of each chord 'before' the chord is actually played.
Vibrato Technique: Without a doubt, Yngwie Malmsteen is a shining example of a guitar player with excellent vibrato technique.
Keeping this in mind, know that Yngwie's guitar idols did NOT play vibrato like him.
Many guitarists completely overlook his ability to play expressive vibrato claiming that his style "lacks feeling".
This is commonly paired together with the claim that he plays "too many notes".
However, the truth is that Yngwie is a master of expressive guitar playing and can say much more with a single note than most guitarists can say with an entire guitar solo.
To hear proof of this, check out his guitar playing on the first song of "Rising Force" and compare it to the playing of any other guitarist who is commonly considered to be a 'more expressive' player than Yngwie.
As you are doing this, observe how Yngwie uses great detail in his vibrato by utilizing subtle nuances of the technique (through balance, changing speed, using wide and narrow depth, precision of timing, etc.
) to generate highly expressive musical emotion with just one note.
Compare this to most other guitarists who rarely consider the subtleties of vibrato technique and cannot truly understand the difference between everyday vibrato and virtuoso vibrato.
What can you do with this information? When it comes to playing guitar with nice phrasing and interesting melodies, your vibrato technique is what will stand out the most.
I encourage you to take note of the subtle elements mentioned above to analyze your own vibrato technique.
To start with, see how big of a variety of musical expressions you can create by playing only one note and apply vibrato to it.
If you are unable to utilize vibrato to create a variety of emotions in your guitar playing, you have a lot of work to do! Music Composing Skills: Yngwie has brought a lot to the rock guitar community through his ability to write music that utilizes intelligent and innovative use of the foundational songwriting principles.
It is true that these principles have been used for hundreds of years prior to his music; however, no one had utilized them in quite the same manner as him outside of 'some' jazz musicians and modern classical composers.
What can you do with this information? The songwriting techniques that Yngwie uses are not exclusive only to his style of music; in fact, they can be used effectively in any style of music.
What action should you take now? 1.
Listen to Yngwie's songs (yes, even if you are not a big fan of how he plays guitar).
If you are already into his music, find any one of his albums (I recommend his earlier releases) and complete the next steps.
2.
Listen closely and identify the subtle nuances that make Yngwie an excellent guitarist (use the ideas mentioned in this article as a reference).
If you are not sure how some of the more advanced musical ideas utilized in Yngwie's playing work (such as musical expression, songwriting techniques and improvisation in different keys), locate a guitar teacher who can help you understand them in great detail and use them to enhance your own guitar playing.
3.
Start analyzing your own guitar playing and determine your level of mastery for the ideas mentioned throughout this article.
Although your musical style may be totally different than that of Yngwie Malmsteen, it will still be to your benefit to master the ideas of this article in a manner that works for the music you play.
Make an evaluation of your progress toward mastering the ideas in this article and do what needs to get done to get better in the areas where you need most improvement.
By writing this article, I not am attempting to necessarily make you a fan of Yngwie; but to help you gain new musical insights that you likely have not yet considered.
If you do not like Yngwie's music after studying him in detail, that is totally fine.
However, understand that by observing the subtle nuances in Yngwie's music as described in this article, you will be able to get much more value out of the music of other guitar players.
This will help you become a better guitarist and reach a new level in your overall musicianship.
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