Early Yngwie - can anybody play it?

Of course more is more. How could it be anything but!

Also interesting is how he never distinguished between practicing and playing, after a certain point- they were really the same to him. As I always say, Live in Leningrad 1989 is some illegal stuff.

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Ha, this is awesome. Honestly the thing that impresses me the most is how even his trem picking is, at these speeds, along a single string. Back to the woodshed!

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I donā€™t really have any thoughts on thisā€¦or anything at the momentā€¦because my head just exploded! :bomb:

Seriously though. What a beast! He gets extra points for playing that Bach BourrƩe in E minor around 50:49 lol!

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I too was speechless. Still reeling from the solo clip.

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Would he be using economy picking all through this first clip do people think?

Yngwie picking, no doubt.

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Does anyone know how Yngwie kept his error rate so low during the alcatrazz era? He basically was able to replicate and embellish these solos live with repeatability and virtually no errors. These are long, intricate , tongue twisting solos flawlessly executed at will at breathtaking speed. Jeff Loomisā€™ Jet to Jet solo above is the only cover Iā€™ve ever heard that is without error when slowed down.

How did Yngwie play these solos so cleanly during that era?

I donā€™t think there is any magic sauce to it. He on his own figured out his picking system unawares and mostly worked on his left hand consciously. Hereā€™s the thing that sets him apart; he really did OCD with a guitar for at least 5 years. Weā€™re talking about every waking hour for that period, Yngwie always had a band, but they never played out, when they did it was much later. I forget the exact dates etc, but Iā€™ve read both, his autobiography and the biography, also Iā€™ve heard accounts of him on forums etc from people who knew him, even in the Steeler days, he practiced constantly. The kind of dedication is not for everybody, heā€™d go to sleep playing, wake up and start playing with his left hand on the neck before opening his eyes even, heā€™s continue this one hand playing while he made coffee and breakfast with his picking hand. Heā€™d play while walking to the bus, waiting for the bus, on the busā€¦ you get the idea.

I think anybody can do it; but not everybody has the time and absolute bloody minded dedication. Growing up he did little else those last few years, till he started a band in that studio basement of his grandmothers, he had little social contact before that. I think he gained respect from musicians before he really had any friends!

Build all that up to exploding in America, he was primed and kept practicing regardless. I really do think with all this knowledge we have about picking, anybody can do it with extreme handwork IF one has the aptitude.

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thanks for the reply! yes agreed - there is certainly hard graft to get it. I have been reading his auto biography too. He had his picking technique together by 18 - (see the live video in 81 above).

I still find it very hard to replicate the control - to go a whole solo without an error - unbelievable. I find just going one twisting phrase without error hard! He says somewhere in his bio that never playing a wrong note in a scale is like an automatic function to him. - I wonder if he means not making errors?

Jeff Loomis played Jet to Jet error free - be interesting to know his take on it! The key is slowing down the recording and then seeing if it has mistakes - Loomisā€™ version is the only end to end Alcatrazz cover that I have heard that passes that test.

I think with Yngwie, there is no prep, itā€™s real and ready to go. He seems to have just worked it out to the point where he delivers on demand improvised with direction. Gambale level understanding of his genre.

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I just swipe everything unintentionally like a scrub.

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