Yngwie Malmsteen headlines Guitar Gods Tour at the Observatory July 2
The king of neo-classical shred guitar, legendary guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, will return to stages across North America this summer for the first “Guitar Gods” festival tour. Bringing together such accomplished axemen as Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions, Electric Sun), Gary Hoey (“Hocus Pocus”) and Bumblefoot (Guns N’ Roses), Malmsteen will headline an epic celebration, six hours of the instrument for a full evening of guitar pyrotechnics.
The “Guitar Gods” tour is created and produced by April Malmsteen, Yngwie’s wife and manager, and is presented in proud partnership with Guitar Center. “Guitar Gods” tour’s first show is at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Wed, July 2.
This is no surprise that Malmsteen is headlining this tour as the founder of neo-classical rock shows off his lightening fast licks playing songs off his new album “Spellbound.”
“This is the first time I played every instrument myself,” proclaimed Malmsteen referring to the songs off his latest release. “Even the keyboard parts were done by me in my home studio.”
Malmsteen has a full, professional, state-of-the-art recording studio in his home and he does not want anyone to confuse that with just a tiny, small-scale recording room. He has always played the bass along with the guitar parts on all of his albums, but on this one he is the drummer, keyboardist and singer as well.
“I approach my music as a symphony with all of the performers having their parts and only one place for a soloist,” he explains. “Stylistically, I script everything and look for well-trained musicians that play what they are told to play and do their part.”
Malmsteen starting learning music theory by the time he learned to speak his native language of Swedish. He grew up in Stockholm, Sweden to a very musical family. He recalls jamming with his brother and grandfather, who were both drummers.
“I learned Classical music first being raised in a family of opera singers and loved Baroque and Romantic composers,” says Malmsteen. “I really enjoyed playing blues on the guitar, but five cords were just not enough for me so I started to transcribe classical on the instrument.”
In regards to his indented fret board, Malmsteen created this style of guitar while working as an apprentice in a guitar shop and found the fret board helped his control over speed and pitch while he played.
When asked if he has perfect pitch, Malmsteen exclaimed, “Of course I have perfect pitch! It’s a blessing and a curse. Music can’t just be a background noise to me.”
Check out his latest recording, “Spellbound,” which is now available only as a digital download on iTunes.