Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johann Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30,
1963 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish guitarist, composer and
bandleader.
Widely recognised for his guitar skills, Malmsteen achieved
widespread acclaim in the 1980s for his technical proficiency and his
pioneering of the shred guitar technique, and neo-classical metal genre.
Early life
Malmsteen was born on June 30, 1963 into a musically talented family
in Stockholm, Sweden. Malmsteen was the youngest child in the family.
On September 18, 1970, at age seven, he saw a television news broadcast
reporting on the death of Jimi Hendrix which caused him to become
obsessed with the guitar. The news segment showed only a clip of Jimi
Hendrix burning his guitar, but no actual songs. To quote his official
website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Malmsteen was
born".
At the age of 10 he took his mother's maiden name Malmsteen as his surname, and Anglicised his given name Yngve to "Yngwie".
Malmsteen was a teenager when he first encountered the music of the 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolò
Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical music influence. Through his emulation of
Paganini
concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical
fluency. Malmsteen also cites Jimi Hendrix, Brian May of Queen, Steve
Hackett of Genesis,
Uli Jon Roth, and Ritchie Blackmore of
Deep Purple as influences.
Malmsteen broke new ground and contributed to the evolution of
modern rock guitar, particularly with his embracing of modal
progressions and classically-influenced techniques that are less common
in rock music. He is often credited, along with Randy Rhoads, with
increasing the popularity of the neoclassical heavy metal genre and
inspiring a new generation of electric guitarists including
Paul Gilbert,
Michael Romeo,
Jason Becker, Chris
Impellitteri, and
Tony MacAlpine.
1980s
In late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the U.S. by Mike Varney of
Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing. He
had brief engagements with
Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then
Alcatrazz,
for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N' Roll, and the 1984 live
album Live Sentence. Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising
Force in 1984. His album was really meant to be an instrumental
side-project of
Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left
Alcatrazz
soon after the release of Rising Force. It was a success; it was the
winner of Guitar Player Magazine's Best Rock Album and was also
nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Rock Instrumental', achieving #60 on
the Billboard album chart. This was followed by Marching Out (1985).
Jeff Scott Soto filled vocal duties on these initial albums.
His third album,
Trilogy, featuring the vocals of Mark Boals, was released in 1986. In 1987, yet another singer, former
Rainbow vocalist
Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his
Jaguar XKE into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week.
Nerve
damage to his right hand was reported. In a tragic twist of fate,
during his time in the hospital, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer.
In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey
would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "
Heaven
Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and
released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad.
The concert in Leningrad was the largest ever by a western artist in the
Soviet
Union.
In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature Fender Stratocaster guitar was
released, making him and Eric Clapton the first artists to be honoured
by Fender.
Malmsteen's "Neo-classical" style of metal became moderately popular during the mid 1980s. With notable contemporaries such as
Paul Gilbert,
Marty Friedman,
Tony MacAlpine and
Vinnie Moore all reaching prominence following Malmsteen. Of that group only
Paul Gilbert
claimed Malmsteen as an influence. MacAlpine coming to the
neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his
guitar playing and Moore arriving at a similar style because he shared
Malmsteen's major influences, Ritchie Blackmore of
Deep Purple and Al Di Meola.
1990s
In the early 1990s Malmsteen released the albums
Eclipse (1990), The
Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh
Sign (1994).
Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and
Asia, by the early 1990s stylings of 1980s heavy metal had become
unfashionable in the USA. It was quickly displaced by the Seattle grunge
movement, where more complex songs that showcased technical ability
were largely shunned in favour of simpler compositions.
In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under
the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted
following from some fans in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in
the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record
label,
Spitfire,
and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time,
including what he regards as his masterpiece, Concerto Suite for
Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra in Prague.
In 1993, Malmsteen's mother-in-law, who was opposed to his
engagement with her daughter, had him arrested for threatening her with a
shotgun and holding her daughter against her will. The charges against
Malmsteen were quickly dropped when he denied that the incident ever
occurred.
2000s
After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Malmsteen went on tour with former
Ark vocalist
Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour,
Jorn left before the recording of Malmsteen's next album,
Attack!!. He was replaced by former
Rainbow
vocalist Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans, and
it seems that he has become a permanent member of the band.
In 2003, Malmsteen joined
Joe Satriani and
Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two rare guest appearances on keyboardist
Derek Sherinian's albums Black Utopia (2003), and
Blood of the Snake (2006) where Malmsteen is heard on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and
Zakk Wylde.
Malmsteen released Unleash the Fury in 2005. As stated in an issue
of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after the infamous
'airline incident', which occurred in a flight to Japan for the
'Odyssey' tour. He was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, until he fell
asleep and was roused by a woman pouring a jug of iced water on him.
Enraged, he shouted, "You released the fucking fury!" The audio from
this incident was caught on tape by a fellow band member.
He is married to April and has a son named Antonio after Antonio
Vivaldi. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, he owned a black 1985 308 GTS for
18 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO. In recent
years, Yngwie has given up both smoking and drinking alcohol (date:
April 2007). The Malmsteen family lives in Miami, Florida.
In 2007, Malmsteen was honoured in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. A player receives the "
Yngwie Malmsteen" award for hitting 1000 or more notes in succession.
Currently, Malmsteen is working on his next studio album slated for a Fall 2007 or an early 2008 release.
Specialised guitar
Aside from technical prowess, distinctions of Malmsteen's guitar
style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical
violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and
minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen cites the Fender
Stratocaster and the single coil pickups as being instrumental to his
unique tone. He uses his custom design by DiMarzio, a vertically-stacked
humbucker mounted in a single coil housing. Malmsteen sought to combine
the tone of a single coil with the reduced noise of a humbucker. The
Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster made by Fender is based on this
combination. Malmsteen prefers vintage Fender Stratocasters from 1968
through 1972. On all his guitars, the tone control is disconnected, and
so is the middle pickup. Malmsteen only uses the bridge (DiMarzio HS-3)
and neck pickups (DiMarzio YJM) on his guitars and allows the low output
DiMarzio HS-3 on the bridge pickup to be driven by the floor pedals for
his unique rich sound. All of Malmsteen's Stratocasters have brass nuts
and are refretted with Dunlop 6000 super jumbo fretwire. According to
Fender, Malmsteen has one of the most impressive collection of vintage
Fender Stratocasters known. He has well over 200 Stratocasters,
including one original Fender Stratocaster actually signed by Leo
Fender.
Scalloped necks
The guitars he uses are recognisable by the addition of custom
scalloped fretboards. This is similar to a regular fretboard, but with
wood 'scalloped' or scooped away to form a concave shape in between the
frets. Malmsteen allegedly conceived this design as a teenager while
working in a music store in Stockholm, Sweden when he came across a 17th
century lute with a scalloped neck using the raised wood as frets.
However, this can also be viewed as an influence from Ritchie Blackmore,
one of his most readily admitted idols, who also favours scalloped neck
Fender Stratocasters. Malmsteen himself has said he learned most from
Ritchie Blackmore's guitar riffs and solos soon after he started
learning the guitar. Also, jazz-fusion guitarist John McLaughlin used
scalloped fingerboards long before Malmsteen gained fame.
Even for the experienced guitar player, the scalloped fingerboard
proves very difficult to perform on, as there is no surface contact
between finger and wood to aid in the feel of the vibrato motion. The
strings of the guitar, when fretted, are easily pushed sharp and out of
tune. The highly accurate, yet delicate, controlled touch required to
play properly with Malmsteen's modified Stratocaster is elusive for
most, and an integral part of Malmsteen's technique.
Malmsteen briefly used Schecter Guitars in the 1980s, who built him strat-style guitars similar to his Fenders.
Live Equipment
Throughout the years, Malmsteen has stayed true to the basic
equipment he uses on stage. Malmsteen continues to use strictly vintage
1971 Marshall amplifiers for his live performances. Often wowing his
audiences with his vintage Marshall collection, Malmsteen regularly
performs with a literal wall of up to 27 vintage Marshall 4x12 Cabinets
with G30 Celestion speakers (30 Watt). All of the 24 heads on the
cabinets are Vintage 1971 Mark II Marshall 50 Watt heads. All wireless
units are
Samson.
Floor
pedals consist of a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, Roland DC-10
analog echo pedal, vintage Dunlop Cry-Baby Wah Pedal, Roland PK-5 MIDI
pedal, Boss OC-2 Octave, DOD 250
Overdrive
Pre-Amp pedal, Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor and a floor switch box for
his effects rack by Bob Bradshaw. Malmsteen's guitars onstage are
strictly 1968-1972 Fender Stratocasters. Malmsteen has claimed in an
instructional video when asked why he chooses the Stratocasters from the
late 1960s & early 1970s that the "bullet" truss rod in the neck
and the large headstock design added a richer, fuller tone to the guitar
that set it apart from Stratocasters from other eras. Fender
discontinued the large headstock in the late 1970s and has since
produced a re-issue of the "70s Series" Stratocaster. For his acoustic
sets, Malmsteen uses a nylon stringed electro-acoustic black or white
Ovation
Viper.
These guitars are equipped with Piezo pickups run into the Boss CS-3
pedal direct into the mixing desk, out to the PA and stage monitors.
Prior to the Ovations, Malmsteen used
Aria, Alvarez & Gibson classical acoustics on stage. All live microphones are Shure SM57's.
Strings and Picks
Over the years, Malmsteen has used various brands of strings from
Ernie Ball, Fender and now recently, he has his own signature string
sets available from Dean Markley entitled "Electric Magic." The string
weights vary, but Malmsteen regularly performs onstage with a custom
light top,heavy bottom string gauge ranging from 0.08 through 0.48 gauge
which are considered by most guitarists to be very thin especially with
the downtuning. Malmsteen's picks are Jim Dunlop 1.5 mm white with his
signature on them. Malmsteen regularly goes through many picks during a
live show which he flicks out into the audience throughout the entire
set.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yngwie_Malmsteen
