Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

BIZARRE: Yngwie malmsteen - What They Never Told You

Mastodon masterclass: Nick Johnston reveals his insane soloing techniques

Luscious legato, hot hybrid picking, busy blues bends and creative chromaticism are the trademarks of Nick Johnston. Here are five of his favorite lead approaches

Guitar World

That time Yngwie Malmsteen shredded his way through The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon: “That’s a guitar legend right there”

The Swedish virtuoso played an insane number of notes as he sat in with the Roots on Jimmy Fallon

Guitar World

What Ritchie Blackmore thinks of Yngwie Malmsteen: “He’s probably the best at what he does and – for what it’s worth – the fastest”

As Malmsteen’s guitar hero, Blackmore’s fingerprints are all over the Swedish shredder’s gear choices and repertoire

Guitar World

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

10 classic Yngwie Malmsteen quotes – the maestro in his own words: “What I play fast will also sound good at a slower speed. If you slow down the fast licks that a lot of other guitarists do, people would puke”

The man who introduced Paganini to electric guitar, fired a gun in the studio, has a rig that can be seen from space… There is only one Yngwie Malmsteen

Guitar World

“The music just comes to me. It’s like that movie Amadeus”: Yngwie Malmsteen emerges from an “avalanche” of ideas with “80 to 90” songs and a scorching new album – and you can hear him unleash the fury on new single Now Or Never

Hell Or High Water is out November 13 and is dedicated to Malmsteen's late father. Watch the video to lead single Now Or Never here

MusicRadar

“Even without a guitar in my hands, the music just comes to me. I had 80 or 90 tracks”: Yngwie Malmsteen announces 23rd studio album, Hell or High Water – hear the first single

Malmsteen said that the meticulous songwriting process he undertook for the album enabled him to traverse genres and craft a massive number of songs

Guitar World

From Hendrix’s pyrotechnics to Cory Wong’s hot-buttered funk, for 72 years the Strat has revolutionized how we play guitar. These are the 25 players who wrote – and burnt – the playbook

The Fender Stratocaster would just be a glorified carpentry project without the players who danced across its neck and gave it life. Here we celebrate 25 of the best

Guitar World

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

“I must have rewound that solo on cassette 300 times, trying to understand what I had just heard”: Nuno Bettencourt pays tribute to Yngwie Malmsteen – and names the one thing most people get wrong about his playing

The Extreme guitarist thanks the Swedish virtuoso for giving him a guitar-playing epiphany

Guitar World

"There's been times where I've gone: 'Oh my god, how am I gonna get through this?'" Jeff Scott Soto might be labelled a journeyman, but what an adventure it's been

Jeff Scott Soto has sung with Journey, Yngwie Malmsteen, Sons Of Apollo, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Talisman, W.E.T., Art Of Anarchy and more

Louder

“Yngwie was replaced for becoming difficult. We auditioned Steve Vai in secret”: Gary Shea’s never-say-never approach to Alcatrazz, New England… and maybe even Vinnie Vincent

The left-handed bassist discusses the pitfalls of being with Kiss’ management, selling his Ampeg gear to Malmsteen’s band, and releasing a record that shows what might have been with Vincent

Guitar World

“The poor guy died out there and wasn’t discovered for 2 weeks. A perfect place to make beautiful music, right?” Steve Vai’s LA property – and his Harmony Hut guitar sanctuary – has been listed for $11.7 million

Despite a slightly chilling past, Vai used the space as a functioning studio and a home for his guitar collection, which included guitars personally gifted to him by Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani

Guitar World

“Other groups tell everyone they’re the ‘proper’ metal band on the bill, but they’re all using 8-string guitars”: Tailgunner are flying the flag for old-school metal (with a little help from K.K. Downing)

Tailgunner’s new album, Midnight Blitz, is a love letter to the '80s, Yngwie, Priest, and all things shred – and it's produced by a bona-fide Metal God

Guitar World

“I would go by John’s room and he’d be working on alternate picking to a metronome. I’d never seen anyone do that before”: He arrived on the shred scene with Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and John Petrucci… then he vanished

After starting a family and his own company, Darren Housholder's priorities changed – but he’s gradually brought music-making back into his world

Guitar World

“I’m watching this sort of genius develop right in front of me, and he seems he has no physical barriers”: Joe Satriani on what it was like to teach a teenage Steve Vai

Here's this "goofy" Ace Frehley fan with big hands and he keeps coming back for more... Satch says it wasn't long before he recognised Vai's potential

MusicRadar

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

Guitar World

“My dad said, ‘What happened to you?’ In six months I’d gone from a college-looking kid to looking like a real rock star”: From inventing the Quad Guitar to fast times with Yngwie, Michael Angelo Batio has stories for days – and no regrets

Determined to be a star from age 10, his highlights include seeing Yngwie Malmsteen's first US show, joining Manowar, being saved from a stage fail by Billy Corgan, and inventing the double guitar, Quad Guitar, and over 20 signature models

MusicRadar

“It’s crazy, ambitious and so out of the box. It’s like nothing you’d ever heard before.”: Zakk Wylde picks his favourite Randy Rhoads guitar solo – and explains why Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne were perfect for each other

Plucked from Quiet Riot, Rhoads was the transfusion of virtuosity Ozzy needed to launch his solo career. But Wylde says it goes both ways, and the Prince Of Darkness was the "perfect foil" for Rhoads' classically trained style

Guitar World

“If you have a 16-bar guitar solo, please don’t turn into Yngwie Malmsteen orJoe Satriani”: Ian Anderson had some soloing advice for Jethro Tull’s new guitarist

No Arpeggios From Hell!? Denied! What the hopping flautist with the wild-eyed stare told Jack Clark when it came time to track leads for Jethro Tull's latest album, Curious Ruminant

Guitar World

The demo was “dreadful” and the main riff drove the guitarist crazy – but with some inspiration from Yngwie Malmsteen, it became one of the biggest rock songs of the ’80s

A staple of sporting events around the world, this keyboard-driven anthem was given a healthy dose of muscle by its skeptical guitarist, transforming it into a perfect-for-the-era, stadium-pleasing classic

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

Louder

"If you have a sixteen-bar guitar solo, please don't turn into Yngwie Malmsteen or Joe Satriani": Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull, the right kind of guitarist, and forgetting what he's done

Ian Anderson talks about Jethro Tull’s latest album Curious Ruminant and ponders the itch to make another

Metal Hammer

"Really, the whole scene was very Spinal Tap. It was almost beyond parody": The true story of Hear 'n Aid, the heavy metal Band Aid

Eat your heart out, Bob Geldof – Hear ’n Aid saw the hard-rock community muscling in on the charity single bandwagon. Cue a heavyweight cast, guitar battles and big hair contests

Guitar World

“Let’s be clear: performing on my solo records does not equal ownership, authorship, or legacy”: Yngwie Malmsteen hits back at singers who features on his records

Malmsteen is claiming that certain singers are trying to capitalize on his brand and claim song ownership

Louder

"Writing a line here and there doesn't make someone a songwriter, and singing my material doesn't make it theirs": Shred king Yngwie Malmsteen slams all the singers he's ever worked with

Yngwie Malmsteen has spoken

Guitar World

“The guitar I learned to play on isn’t worth much, but I’ve played it at thousands of concerts and hundreds of recording sessions”: He’s performed on over 500 albums. Now Marcus Deml is making breathtaking guitar instrumentals under his own name

He spent 12-hour days learning at GIT in the shred era. But for his Strat-led solo showcase, Deml relied mainly on his ears and a religious approach to tone

MusicRadar

“People would say, ‘OMG, if this guy is in the back of a guitar store, teaching, what does it say about the music business?’ But, of course, within a few years, everybody would know his name”: Testament’s Alex Skolnick on what he learned from Joe Satriani

When a teenage Skolnick studied under Satch, he found a man who was “like the equivalent of studying with a classical piano or classical violin teacher” – except this guy could rock

Guitar World

“I was tired of not having a great tone. I could never figure out why I don’t sound good. So I started to experiment with how I pick”: Great tone starts with the pick – just ask Steve Vai. Here’s how honing your picking can improve your tone for free

Unlock every pick color – from warmth and brightness to the secretive clarinet tone

1 2 3 4 5

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

the Smashing Pumpkins

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.