Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Malmsteen

On June 30, 1963, Lars Johann Yngve LannerbÐ'ck was born in Stockholm, Sweden, later to change his name to Yngwie Johann Malmsteen. Malmsteen was born into a very musical family but originally didn't have any interest in music, that is until September 18, 1970. The day Jimi Hendrix himself died. Seven year old Malmsteen watched a news special on Hendrix in awe of his performance of screeching feedback and burning guitar. Even though there was no actual music played in the news clip Malmsteen was so transfixed he fell in love with the guitar, thus being the day that the guitar playing Malmsteen was born.

Armed with first an old Mosrite and then a cheap Stratocaster, Malmsteen buried himself in the music of the band Deep Purple. His admiration for Ritchie Blackmore's classically influenced playing led him back to the source: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart. (yngwie.org) Malmsteen began to take in the structural characteristics of these classical masters thus shaping his own unique style. By age 10, he began to focus all his energy into music. His mother and sister, a talented flutist, saw his unique gifts and gave him support and encouragement. In his early teens, Malmsteen saw a television performance of Russian violinist Gideon Kremer, who performed the difficult piece 24 Caprices of 19th century virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini. This performance had a profound effect on Malmsteen. He finally understood how to combine his love of classical music with his budding guitar skills and onstage charisma.

At 15 Malmsteen worked as a Luthier apprentice in a guitar repair shop, where for the first time he encountered a scalloped neck on 17th century lute. A scalloped neck is similar to a regular fretboard, but with wood "scalloped" or scooped away to form a concave shape in between the frets. Malmsteen followed this by scalloping the neck of an old guitar and was impressed enough with the results to try it on his better guitars. The scalloped fret board was somewhat more difficult to play than a normal neck, but his control over the strings was improved so much that he immediately adopted it as a permanent alteration to his equipment.

By the time Malmsteen was 18 he was playing around Sweden with various bands attempting to find an audience for his technical instrumental explorations, however most listeners preferred more accessible pop music. Frustrated, Malmsteen sent demo tapes to record companies overseas. When Mike Varney, president of Shrapnel, heard Malmsteen's tape, he invited him to come to the United States and join the band Steeler in 1981.

Malmsteen recorded one album with Steeler but was unsatisfied with the Bands rather generic turn out. He then moved to a band called Alcatraz and later formed his own band Rising Force. The new band's self titled album was released in 1984. This album was mostly instrumental focusing on Malmsteen's quicker than lightning guitar work and keyboardist Jens Johansson nearly equal technique. This album was a huge hit amongst musicians, winning countless reader's polls in guitar magazines, reaching number 60 on Billboard's album chart and receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The band's two following albums also sold quite well helping to seal Malmsteen's reputation as a great guitarist and also a composer.

On June 22, 1987 Malmsteen crashed his Jaguar into a tree. After breaking the steering wheel with his head, Malmsteen received a blood clot in his brain which nearly killed him and extensively damaged the nerves leading to his picking