Yngwie Malmsteen’s existence on this planet reminds us that we might all be unique but some are more unique than others. There is no-one like Yngwie.
He is our shred maestro, the purveyor of the neoclassical before neoclassical was a thing, faithful keeper of the Stratocaster flame and the man whose live rig “could be seen from space”. And he’s also great conversation.
Some time in Malmsteen’s company is always time well spent (he was oversharing before oversharing was a thing). On occasion, he has been a conversational Icarus, flying a little too close to the sun when shooting from the hip, and that got him a reputation. He had an ego. He was this. He was that. But all musicians have an ego. They just present themselves differently.
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Malmsteen? He’s 100 per cent certified WYSIWYG. He appreciates the finer things in life, driving a Ferrari, thicker guitar picks, Paganini, Bach, Mozart, breaking new ground in studio techniques… This, ladies and gentlemen, is the man who triggered a snare by discharging a firearm in the studio, a long-held ambition that was finally realized when making 2021 studio album Parabellum.
With Malmsteen sharing a new single, Now or Never, and announcing an epic new album, Hell or High Water, out November 13 via Music Theory Recordings/Artone Label Group, we would like to take this opportunity to revisit some of his bons mots, the wit and wisdom of one of electric guitar’s most colorful characters.
On the sound in his head
I realised that that violin sound, the wee-eee-eee-eee, like, this linear, completely concise sound, that’s what I heard in my head, that’s what I wanted to do! And so it was like a fucking revelation, y’know.
Obviously, you just don’t say, ‘Yeah, I want to play Paganini, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi violin technique on guitar.’ You don’t say that. That’s literally impossible to be honest with you. But I decided, even if it was literally impossible, I was gonna fucking try.
MusicRadar, 2021
Playing philosophy, part 1
I don’t want to just play it safe. Two-string, maybe three-string, four-string, five, six-string arpeggios… But people kept on telling me to slow down, you know? “Hey, slow down! Remember, less is more.” And I always said, “How can that be? How could less be more?” It’s impossible. More is more.
Playing philosophy, part 2
I don’t consider myself to be a very fast player. I’m sure there are other guitarists who can play faster: what I do that a lot of other guitarists don’t do is I don’t play things that are rubbish.
If you would slow down the fast licks that a Iot of other guitarists do, people would puke. I play classical runs, arpeggios and broken chords that if played at a slower speed would sound very nice as well.
Guitar World, 1986
On tone
I remember, when I first came on the scene, people used to come up to me and say, ‘I can’t believe you don’t have any gain on your amp. You don’t have any distortion!’ You know what the truth of the matter is? I have more fucking gain than a nuclear power plant! I have so much fucking gain, I don’t know what to do with it!
On his live sound
I said to my tech, ‘Before I go out, I want to line check my shit to make sure it works. Make sure you get the elephant.’ The elephant means that when you just stand there in front of the amps and you turn up the volume, and do nothing, it should sound like an elephant. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhh! Uncontrollable fucking elephant. But you have to be really fast with the volume knob, you know what I mean?
MusicRadar, 2021
I don’t care if people call our music heavy shit or heavy metal. Onstage we’re definitely metal because we’re just as heavy as the headbangers could ever want it. But what we play is a lot more sophisticated than what those run-of-the-mill metal bands are doing.
Guitar World, 1986
On gunplay
I have always been collecting guns. I always have lots of guns. So, I go into the studio. This was 1986, for Trilogy. [Laughs] Crazy days… I go in and I say, ‘Hey, bring me a big old fucking tree stump, y’know?’ And they said, ‘Okay.’ They put a big old tree stump in there and mic it up, and I bring out a .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum pistol and I blow this fuckin’ thing off in the studio. And the people were like, ‘No! It’s too loud.’ They’re freaking out!
MusicRadar, 2021
On space
If you went up into space and you looked down on Earth, there are only two man-made objects that you’re gonna see: the Great Wall Of China and my wall of Marshalls. My road crew hates me. Seriously.
On jazz
I went to the bookstore and they were playing free-form jazz in there, and it was a little bit out of tune, some horns and stuff, and I felt like I needed to flush my brain out like a fucking toilet! So I listened to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto on the way home.
MusicRadar, 2025
On writing
Even without a guitar in my hands, the music just comes to me. It’s like that movie Amadeus. Mozart was getting music given to him in complete form. I understand the building blocks and can therefore build you anything you like.
If you asked me to write you a death metal song, call me back in five minutes, and I’d have it ready for you. You want country and western or reggae? No problem. I can give you whatever you want.
PR for Hell or High Water, 2026
