Greetings everyone, I have one question and it is about, as title says, intro to Yngwie´s Trilogy Op. 5 Suite. I found many tablatures and covers, and they are not presenting the same performance. All those covers and tabs doesn´t seem to be right and correct so what I am asking here is, is there anybody out there that knows how to play intro, and I would be really glad to see how it is done? By that I mean picking and notes mostly. I am hoping for an answer. Cheers!
1 Like
Hey Comrade, I have a old video of me playing it, but it’s hard to see the fingering.
The song is in F# Phrygian Maj (B harm minor)… Tuned a halfstep down these notes are where the G Phrygian maj would be, fingering wise. Sorry for the confusion, I don’t like calling a F# a G just because Yngwie tunes down.
Tuned down a half step, play this Ionian #5 pattern at the 11th fret. These are your notes.
I think Yngwie uses a extended scale to play it. I use this 3 note per string shape and so does Marshall Harrison when he plays it. For some reason Marshall deleted the video of him playing it… Until someone here can show you the Yngwie positioning, try to figure it out by descending the Ionian #5… 11th fret.
Here is my over shared video 
6 Likes
I’ve actually been working on that for a while now.
I’m approaching it in a way that works for me though. When I listen to it slowed down, Malmsteen can be heard speeding up and slowing down for certain parts. It’s not a consistent pace.
There also seems to be some legato mixed in, and it’s a bit of a headache for me to figure out EXACTLY what’s picked, and what isn’t.
I’m pretty sure even Malmsteen never plays this opening section the same way twice. That seems to be his thing though. He likes changing up a lot of his stuff on the fly.
That’s how I’m playing it right now. There’s one part where I’d imagine Malmsteen shifts his hand during the descent on the 2nd and 3rd lines to keep a more symmetrical pattern, but I changed my approach to avoid that shift as I find things like that lead to slop.
3 Likes
Pattern one is correct. In pattern two he goes up pattern one and does a position shift on the high E rather than a new shape on the B string. Pattern three stays within the same real estate as pattern one but has a tap on the 19th, (tap)slide to the 20th, pull off to the 15th and down pattern one. It’s actually a lot more the same pattern 3 times than a lot of the tabs indicate. I’ll try to put it down in tab to be clear.
Sorry man, but that doesn’t line up when I play along with it slow.
Neither does mine after trying it again. The first pattern is still not quite right. I have it loaded in Studio One, playing at half tempo, and it sounds like some pull-offs in a different spot I’ve never noticed.
The playing on this intro is actually pretty inconsistent with the rhythm. Probably one reason there are so many variations on how to play this.
Great… now I’m going to be obsessed with this all day!
Maybe I’ll post a video on what’s happening and what I hear later.
2 Likes
I think it’s closer than what’s out there already, note wise at least. The one note I doubt is the 12th fret on beat 2 of the last run. I think he missed it but putting it in is perhaps closer to the intention.
Yeah man post something when you get it figured out. Watching my video now, I realize I left a whole lower octave out. lmao. Cheating.
No cheating, you’re doing the live version 
Yngwie leaves the lower octave out live and on instructional videos.
3 Likes
There are some videos out there from 1986 in which he’s doing the album version. If I can find one in particular that I’m thinking of, I’ll post it. Post-accident he’s taken more short cuts and liberties with it.
1 Like
As Paul Gilbert says… its not about trying to pick every note… its trying to pick ‘as many as you can’.
My favorite version of this song is from the great Rick Graham:
p.s… I just realized how ironic it is for me to be saying this to the fastest picker on the planet
3 Likes
Well, I just finished a video where I show how I’m going about listening to everything really slow and playing to it to re-tab the damn thing.
Hopefully I got the rhythm fluctuations correct.
I also TRIED to get legato entered where it seemed like he was no longer picking when listening to it at half speed or slightly slower than that. There are parts where he clearly rushes certain parts, and I assume that is the result of legato.
I’m uploading the video where I record EVERY STEP OF THE PROCESS. It’s a little over an hour long. It will be going to my facebook page, and I’ll post a link to it after it’s done uploading.
I do not expect anyone to actually watch the entire thing. I know I wouldn’t!
1 Like
I tried to make the exported tab look a bit better. Hard to do for a single page. Here it is:
There are some slides that are almost impossible to see.
Here’s a download for the PDF: https://www.milehighshred.com/uploads/5/7/1/7/57179311/trilogy_intro_riff.pdf
Here’s a download for the Guitar Pro file: https://www.milehighshred.com/uploads/5/7/1/7/57179311/trilogy_intro_riff.gpx
If you make an edit to the guitar pro file and can share it, please do.
TEAM WORK TIME!!!
9 Likes
Looks good! I’ll put it through its paces. Probably just an oversight in tabbing, but the final chord should be minor.
Thanks for the tabs John.
1 Like
Thanks for the tabbing man.
You are right @Ian that is the live/instructional version. I guess I thought if Yngwie was cheating, Why not? 
2 Likes
Hi Hanky! I saw that example of playing, as someone mentioned, on the instructional video, I am more interested in what he is doing on the studio version. But thank you a lot for you answer. And do not worry, I posses some amount of musical theory knowledge so you are not confusing me at all.
As someone said, trying to slow down the record doesn´t give any help, it is too muddy for my ears to Crack the Code (haha you see what I did there, hahahah… Sorry…).
2 Likes
That would be really cool!