06/18/2026
One of the greatest players of all time.
One of my biggest influences.
A true guitar hero of mine.
Official Yngwie Malmsteen
This epic photo that was just taken last weekend , says it all… like this guitar, when he burst onto the scene he sent guitar playing into the fu***ng stratosphere.
Those who came after him in his genre of classically driven guitar … tried for his speed, his technique, his insane vibrato and while they were all trying to do it faster, cleaner and imitating his true arpeggios with sweeps… playing it perfectly and clean with precision. .. they misunderstood that Yngwie’s technical prowess was not his super power … it was the fire you could feel with every phrase … the passion and emotion with every bend as if the string was always gonna burst. It was dangerous not precise , Dirty not clean. The same lick that violently ripped your face off … could also send chills.
I was first blown away by the solo in JET TO JET by Alcatraz. I must have rewound that solo on cassette 300 times trying to understand what I had just heard. Much like Edward before him but in a completely different way.
But to me … it was his album and bible,
RISING FORCE that changed everything for me. Jaw dropping. Still. Unreachable like that guitar he’s looking up at … till this day in his genre.
Some will say … it’s just shredding. But for me it was when I realized you CAN shred whilst having emotion.
It has been a childhood dream to have shared the stage with him and an honor to now call him a friend.