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Yngwie Malmsteen - Play Loud-Full Shred


*
=Staff's pick

Blitzkrieg*
Heavy E Phrygian*
Never Die
Demon Driver
Leonardo*
Arpeggios From Hell*
Seventh Sign
Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live*
Blue
Far Beyond the Sun*


Genre Clinic demonstration video
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Vocals
Tracks 10
Yngwie Malmsteen
Guitar
Runningtime 40 Min.
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Guitar
Label Pony Canyon/Young Guitar
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Bass
Release 2000
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Drums
Country Sweden
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Keyboards
Similar artists ---

Every guitarist with selfrespect has once or more in their career released an instructionvideo, where technique are beeing showed and tips are being handed out on how to acheive that special sound or touch that the artist has made himself famous for.
This is Yngwie Malsteen's 5th instructional video, but this video is more of a guitar clinic with Yngwie than a demonstration of "how-to" and "showing it slow", as there is no real tuition in the video other than a close-up of him playing songs in normal speed and manners.

Instead of teaching techniques and tricks, the swedish virtous Malmsteen has simply made a "demonstration" video presented by Young Guitar Magazine in Japan, where he play a collection of songs he has handpicked from various stages of his career to a playback of the drums and bass from the original cd's.
The scenario is simple - it's Yngwie with his yellow Fender on a chair, he tells a very breif history of the song, and what it is that's the catch or highlight in the song according to him, and then he plays it.
In his own words: "We'll just have some fun, and have a good time with it....."
Except for a few fullversions, the songs are mainly exerpts of the originals, as he play the intros, skips the verses and go directly to the solos and then plays the end, and it can simply be described as the original albumversions without the vocals.

Unlike the livevideos, where the cameras have a tendency to fly from one unimportant image to the other, here the camera are focusing on a fullscale picture of his guitar and his fingers, and we don't miss one single little movement.
To experianced guitarists this could still be useful as instruction, but for most viewers this is merely an impressive and very detailed show from the uncrowned master of stringbending.

What I find worth mentioning is that you notice how extremely relaxed the man is in his hands and fingers while playing, and how smooth, simple :) and relaxed it all looks from where we stand.
Both his "playingfingers" and his pickhand seem to have the most natural flow, and doesn't seem to move much.

Since all songs are equally well performed there are hard to pick out any tracks that stand out, but if I have to mention some, than songs that are a real pleasure to see is Blitzkrieg, Leonardo, Heavy E Phrygian, Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live and the "extranumber" Far Beyond The Sun.
Another nice surprise is that he play a very catchy tune that is specially composed for this video, and is called Arpeggios From Hell.
I think the name of that song says it all - it's a very complex song based on arpeggios over a very large scale, and I just love that.
All of the songs are in fast pace, so we are spared from slow and slimy bits here, and that is of course to show of the blending technique he possesses.

I personally think that this is how Yngwie is supposed to be heared and watched - I am in heaven when beholding this man in his work, and I could honestly watch and listen to this for days, weeks and years and still everytime get those shivers down my spine.
I must say I don't care much about the normal parts of his songs, where the verses and vocals unfortunally lower the standard of the music so disastrously sometimes so it almost becomes embarrasing - but instrumentally like this the music is just divine.

An important condition for you to like this is of course that you appretiates a total orgy in scales, arpeggios, and common stringbendingmasturbation, but if you - like me - are a a total sucker for guitarsolos, you are gonna watch this over and over and over again.
I, for one, can't stop - it becomes a drug after a while, and you discover new alngels to it every time.
The man is a true genius, and in my eyes the greatest composer of all times, and this is like observing true art being created and performed.

Production
Vocals
Compositions

8

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9,5

 
Summary



8 chalices of 10 - Tommy

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