Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johann Yngve Lannerb臘k Malmsteen, June 30, 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, composer and bandleader.Malmsteen achieved widespread acclaim in the 1980s due to his technical proficiency and his pioneering of the neo-classical metal genre.
Born into a musical family in Stockholm, Malmsteen was the youngest child in the family. In September 18, 1970, at age seven, he saw a TV special on the death of Jimi Hendrix that made him obsessed with the guitar. To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born".

He claims that Yngwie (pronounced "ING-VAY") means "young Viking chief" in Swedish. Technically it is a variation of Yngvi, who founded the House of Yngling, which is the oldest known Swedish dynasty.

Malmsteen was in his teens when he first encountered the music of the 19th-century violin virtuoso Niccol・Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical influence. It has been rumoured that Yngwie believes himself to be the reincarnation of the temperamental, often criticized, and widely misunderstood violinist from Genoa.[citation needed] 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'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 (of which 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) as being instrumental to his unique tone. The Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster made by Fender is based accurately upon this combination. Malmsteen prefers vintage Fender Stratocasters from 1968 through 1972. On all his guitars, the tone is completely disconnected along with the middle pickup. Yngwie 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 Malmsteen's Stratocasters have brass nuts and are all refretted with Dunlop 6000 super jumbo fretwire. According to Fender, Yngwie 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.

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, Overdrive Pre-Amp pedal, and a floor switch box for his effects rack by Bob Bradshaw. Yngwie's guitars onstage are strictly 1968-1972 Fender Stratocasters, except for his acoustic sets in which he 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, Yngwie used Aria, Alvarez & Gibson classical acoustics on stage. All live microphones are Shure SM57's.