Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force!! "Far Beyond the Sun!"



Now this takes me back!!

There is no other guitarist quite like Yngwie Johann Malmsteen!!

This Swedish virtuoso guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader became known for his awesome classical playing approach in heavy metal music which became a new musical style in the early 80s.

In high school, I would play this cassette in my car every single day multiple times a day until my tape was literally ruined!! I saw Malmsteen's "Rising Force" in concert in 1985 and musically, I was never the same again!

Now, only my "Musiac Major Bretheren" would appreciate this. Malmsteen is known for his technical fluency compositions that incorporates high speed picking with harmonic minor scales, diminished scales and using sweep picked arpeggios. He draws heavy influence from Bach and Beethoven.  

In an interview, Malmsteen explained that his regular use of harmonic minor was because in the 1980s he was trying to move away from the blues-based pentatonic scales that were frequently used at the time. Go figure!

All I know is that according to the music world of me, he is considered to be THE most technically gifted rock guitarists of all time!!

Or, a better way to put it?? The pioneer of......oh yeah.......Shred Guitar!!

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