Saying Yngwie just plays fast, and that's it, isn't true at all. It would be a shame to sum up one of the greatest electric guitar players that ever lived in this narrow way. It's not just my opinion at all; the venerable Time Magazine gave him the number 10 spot in their 10 greatest electric guitar players of all time. If it was just speed, there's plenty of other guys out there, there'd be no reason to give it to some arrogant Swede.

A lot of people seem to equate "fast" with "just technical, can't possibly be musical". Too many notes herr Mozart. I do understand this, because there's a lot of guitar players out there that can play insanely fast but it doesn't speak to me at all. Believe it or not a lot of Petrucci's solos leave me flat (though I love his rhythm lines).

But Yngwie...no. Aside from writing a lot of beautiful music, such as the intro to Black Star, Black Star itself, Icarus Dream Suite, his earlier stuff (check out Hiroshima Mon Amour) and all sorts of solo and independent orchestral and classical work most people never heard of (check out his Concerto Suite for Orchestra and Electric Guitar) he is amazing live. I've seen him several times and there's something Hendrix like about the way he attacks a performance, especially letting the instrument and the moment just carry him away. Yngwie frequently improvises and will very much go into sonic outer space if that's where the energy leads him. When he settles in to get it right though, it's unbelievable.

But the really interesting thing about Yngwie, to me anyway, is that he represents some kind of truth, or at least, proof of something.

His mind set is classical, his delivery neo classical hard rock. To be that kind of musician, it follows that he's strong in academic music theory. He demonstrates advanced compositional ability, and there's no disputing his astonishing technical virtuosity. He preaches practice, precision, discipline, and passion.

Yet he plays a Fender Strat through Marshalls, preferring stock OD and distortion pedals, really not much different than any other rock player from the 70s. No ebony necks, no expensive floating tremolos or modelling systems, no elaborate on stage classical setups. He straps on equipment you can buy in any Guitar Centre and delivers something nobody else can, in a way that even somebody like Townshend must chuckle at. His signature model Strat isn't all that big a deal, it's really just a strat with some predictable tweaks. He whips it around his neck and hammers away at it with reckless abandon, so much so that sometimes you wonder if he's playing it or it's playing him.

So here you have a guy whose musical direction I've heard people say is three hundred years out of date, who could teach at a university, with the equipment and trappings of a 70s guitar hero that found an 80s metal clothing store, that by the time the 90s had come around had established a genre of guitar playing so absolutely that his name is synonymous with it. When you talk to guitar players, if you say "classical" most will say, "Segovia". Say "neo classical" and most will say, "Yngwie". And all of this after Van Halen had supposedly already created the modern notion of guitar and saturated the field with talent (your typical 80s rock player was a pretty damn good guitar player until Cobain came along and made it ok to play out of tune again).

To me, that's Yngwie's legacy. Can't be done, shouldn't be done, already been done, pure self-indulgence, pointless? Ridiculous. I know in my bones you are wrong, or at least, that it doesn't matter. I will take this Fender Strat, because I loved Hendrix and Blackmore, I will take my ear which

loves Paganini, Bach and Mozart, I will depart from blues-focused music because it's not who I am, and I will deliver unto the world a form of hard rock that expresses on-fire virtuosity the like of which it has never seen. I'll work every single day, sacrifice everything (his investments of time and personal resources to pursue his art are story-like) and never compromise. It is why I exist, it can be no other way. I am Yngwie Malmsteen, guitar hero extraordinaire. This is my guitar. I play it without apology. Love me or hate me, you can't deny me.

If I had to write Yngwie's epitaph, it might be something like, "Never Stop. And Play Loud." I love him for it. My style has diverged from that sort of shredding (though I'm still obviously influenced by it), but his dedication, audacity, and unquestionable love of the guitar will continue to inspire me to the day I die.