Yngwie "Masterclass"

[Chris]

Yeah, this isn't a class so much as Yng just chilling out and destroying the world. Either way this is a really cool watch if you have a couple of beers and time to kill.

Yngwie sure does love the hell out of playing guitar.

[Snoop Travvy Travv]

I really wonder if he ever just wears sneakers, jeans and a tshirt. Imagine he picks his kids up from school with what we always see him wearing. Chest out and all.

[Darren]

I saw him on the Generation Axe tour 5 years ago. My first time ever seeing him live. He was ridiculously over the top, and a master showman.

One thing I thought was super awesome: I always thought his high kicks were silly stage moves, until I saw what he was really doing. He was tossing a pick in the air, and then kicking it out into the audience as it came down. I don’t know how far into the audience he was able to kick them, but it’s clearly so not just those in the front row get a plectrum.

[Valtteri]

While Yngwie is still Yngwie, he does seem a lot more chill now than in his younger days.

[Chris]

I saw him on the Generation Axe tour 5 years ago. My first time ever seeing him live. He was ridiculously over the top, and a master showman.

One thing I thought was super awesome: I always thought his high kicks were silly stage moves, until I saw what he was really doing. He was tossing a pick in the air, and then kicking it out into the audience as it came down. I don’t know how far into the audience he was able to kick them, but it’s clearly so not just those in the front row get a plectrum.

Me, Drew and Keith saw him a couple of years ago and he did the same thing. The show was fantastic. We saw him in maybe a ~200 person club and Yng played it as though it was Madison Square Garden. Kicks and flips and guitar spins and you name it.

[jacksonplayer]

I sometimes forget how much he destroyed all our brains in the mid '80s. Everyone who thought they were hot shit before that pretty much had to reassess upon listening to No Parole or Rising Force.

[jim777]

I saw him on G3, and he's as insane as he thinks he is. One in a billion chops

[Ghost.]

I saw him on the Generation Axe tour 5 years ago. My first time ever seeing him live. He was ridiculously over the top, and a master showman.

One thing I thought was super awesome: I always thought his high kicks were silly stage moves, until I saw what he was really doing. He was tossing a pick in the air, and then kicking it out into the audience as it came down. I don’t know how far into the audience he was able to kick them, but it’s clearly so not just those in the front row get a plectrum.

Man... When they all joined together for their jams, he destroyed absolutely all of them from just a "ripping the fretboard apart" standpoint.

It was just sickening. I think Nuno and Vai had the best sets. But Yngwie came to destroy quite literally.

[mpexus]

Only saw him once and he was performing to like 150-200 people. It was mid 90s and he was super fat and totally wasted, still it was an amazing performance and I was like 4 meters from him, thats like 157.48 inches or whatever weird measures you guys use.

[Naren]

Only saw him once and he was performing to like 150-200 people. It was mid 90s and he was super fat and totally wasted, still it was an amazing performance and I was like 4 meters from him, thats like 157.48 inches or whatever weird measures you guys use.

13 feet is what you're looking for.

Yeah, I prefer watching Vai, but Yngwie is still very entertaining to watch.

[RevDrucifer]

I saw one of these Masterclasses, I’m guessing at the end of 2019, down here in Florida. I pulled up to the venue and there was a red Ferrari in the back alley with a mid-sized U-Haul in the parking lot for the Marshall wall. Everyone there thought it was an Yngwie show and were drinking just like a regular show, so when it came time for a Q&A, people were asking him shit like, “How long ago did you move to Florida?”, “How many Ferrari’s do you have?”, shit like that. Yngwie got annoyed and tried to keep it about guitar stuff but it wasn’t happening, so he just played the rest of the night.

My buddy runs sound at that venue, I went to see him at FOH and he told me all the guitar I was hearing was straight from the amps themselves, none of it was coming through the PA and he was having a bitch of a time keeping the backing tracks audible over the Marshall’s.

This is actually the the entire show I was at. You can hear the PA barely keeping up in the beginning.

[jim777]

Only saw him once and he was performing to like 150-200 people. It was mid 90s and he was super fat and totally wasted, still it was an amazing performance and I was like 4 meters from him, thats like 157.48 inches or whatever weird measures you guys use.

Technically, that would be either 4 dishwashers or two kitchen tables.

[bigdave]

I sometimes forget how much he destroyed all our brains in the mid '80s. Everyone who thought they were hot shit before that pretty much had to reassess upon listening to No Parole or Rising Force.

All of this for me too. I can talk YJM for hours... suffice to say its hard to explain to people how he blew up the guitar world at that time... sent soooo many of us to the woodshed. EVH changed how guitars where played and built... Yngwie refined the level of technique beyond what we thought was possible... which in the mid 80s was insane.

[Mike]

I sometimes forget how much he destroyed all our brains in the mid '80s. Everyone who thought they were hot shit before that pretty much had to reassess upon listening to No Parole or Rising Force.

That may even understate it. I remember Rik Emmett saying once in about 1985 that "a guy who was good in 1980 is just plain crude by today's standards".

[Leon]

...and he told me all the guitar I was hearing was straight from the amps themselves, none of it was coming through the PA...

I noticed that when I saw him on that GenAxe tour. I saw The Wall, and was like, "Yeah but are they on?" And noticed that when he plugged in his guitar, there was a big ZZBPT that no one else had, because yes, he was running all those Marshalls, and the FOH had little control over what was going on, and couldn't mute him while he was plugging in

[Ghost.]

I saw one of these Masterclasses, I’m guessing at the end of 2019, down here in Florida. I pulled up to the venue and there was a red Ferrari in the back alley with a mid-sized U-Haul in the parking lot for the Marshall wall. Everyone there thought it was an Yngwie show and were drinking just like a regular show, so when it came time for a Q&A, people were asking him shit like, “How long ago did you move to Florida?”, “How many Ferrari’s do you have?”, shit like that. Yngwie got annoyed and tried to keep it about guitar stuff but it wasn’t happening, so he just played the rest of the night.

My buddy runs sound at that venue, I went to see him at FOH and he told me all the guitar I was hearing was straight from the amps themselves, none of it was coming through the PA and he was having a bitch of a time keeping the backing tracks audible over the Marshall’s.

This is actually the the entire show I was at. You can hear the PA barely keeping up in the beginning.

That is super sick that they didn't even mic his amps. Sweet!

It's kind of sad watching the video because no one seems to be that serious. But at the same time, that's not your average clinic playing on a actual venue stage.

He seemed like he was willing to actually answer questions for once and no one took proper advantage of it.

[RevDrucifer]

That is super sick that they didn't even mic his amps. Sweet!

It's kind of sad watching the video because no one seems to be that serious. But at the same time, that's not your average clinic playing on a actual venue stage.

He seemed like he was willing to actually answer questions for once and no one took proper advantage of it.

He was definitely willing. The problem was the ads leading up to it barely made it clear that it was a masterclass thing. I remember reading it thinking, “Is this a clinic or a show?”, so if I were confused by it, I’d imagine the 80’s leftovers who don’t even play guitar were even more confused by it.

The plus side is that there’s still a non-guitar playing audience that wants to hear Yngwie songs and get fucked up while doing so. So the next time someone says something like, “Yeah, but who doesn’t play guitar AND gives a shit who Yngwie is?”, you can say “About 100 people in Ft. Lauderdale!”

[RevDrucifer]

I noticed that when I saw him on that GenAxe tour. I saw The Wall, and was like, "Yeah but are they on?" And noticed that when he plugged in his guitar, there was a big ZZBPT that no one else had, because yes, he was running all those Marshalls, and the FOH had little control over what was going on, and couldn't mute him while he was plugging in

Yeah, man, that’s a wall of sound like nothing I’ve ever heard before. The hum of the amps alone was louder than any volume I’ve ever played at and I played that venue before.

[jacksonplayer]

All of this for me too. I can talk YJM for hours... suffice to say its hard to explain to people how he blew up the guitar world at that time... sent soooo many of us to the woodshed. EVH changed how guitars where played and built... Yngwie refined the level of technique beyond what we thought was possible... which in the mid 80s was insane.

Yngwie wasn't really playing faster than Al DiMeola did in the late '70s, but the overall effect of his technique and tone gave it a more legato, violin-like quality than the highly percussive sound that Al D. went for.

And, of course, it's not like a teenage metalhead dood like me would have known who the hell Al D. was in 1984, anyway.

[bigdave]

Yngwie wasn't really playing faster than Al DiMeola did in the late '70s, but the overall effect of his technique and tone gave it a more legato, violin-like quality than the highly percussive sound that Al D. went for.

And, of course, it's not like a teenage metalhead dood like me would have known who the hell Al D. was in 1984, anyway.

I was weird... Jersey puplic TV turned me on to Al early on. For me it wasnt speed that impressed me with YJM it was the scales and phrasing.... the harmonic minor, phrygian and the diminished stuff just really caught my ear. It was different, and had this evil vibe a young metal head just loved. Add that to a loud strat, and that incredible band he had in the beginning.... it was sick. He opened up for Maiden when I saw him, they where on fire.

[Randy]

Opened for Yngwie ~2005, I remember all the talk about what a primadonna he is but midway during our set, I looked over and he was at the side of the stage playing air guitar and shot us the horns. I was playing bass in that band, I'm sure if I was playing guitar he probably wouldn't have bothered leaving the dressing room

Anyway, that definitely goes down in the list of memorable life moments for sure.

[Soopahmahn]

SIIIIICK nice post

[Kagami]

The thing that always gets me about him is he plays with floss strings lol.

[Dominic]

The thing that always gets me about him is he plays with floss strings lol.

Kinda has to to be get to the F# from the highest fret on his Strats, which is the 21st. The precision with which he does so, too...

[metalheadpunk]

When I saw him he took his guitar off after one song and just hucked it like 15 feet across the stage, nice big arc, his guitar tech caught it, and Yngwie picked another one up off a stand and started the next song. Was insane