mista

Nice review, very interesting by the way, I won't lower your average and I'm giving you a nice 5! As for Jak: if you like Michael Angelo (I think he's a bit crap), check out his instructional video. At one point, he plays with a four-neck guitar! In another moment, he performs ultra-fast sweeps with an inverted hand (as if he were playing the piano), it seems a bit ridiculous to me but it’s quite impressive…

Anyway Matt, you didn't say too much nonsense, but you can't come out and say Malmsteen isn't that fast, implying that you can almost match him! Come on! It might even be true, but since no one here can verify it, it's clear you're opening yourself up to some over-the-top comments! Plus, if you're playing 20 notes per second with sweeps, you can't really compare that to Malmsteen, who picks every single note, and I repeat, on a neck that's definitely not easy like that of a Strat! Admit it, you have an Ibanez, right? ;-)

I don't want to be provocative, Matt, but I'm curious to hear how you achieve those twenty notes per second;-) Because if you play like Mlamsteen, you really have to give me your number. Just to clarify the meaning of "groove": I (and everyone I've dealt with) have always understood it as "groove," as "feel," as "rhythm," and certainly not as complexity or intricacy of phrasing. The typical phrase (for drummers) is "Jorg Michael on drums doesn't do anything special (so his phrasing is fairly bland) BUT he has an incredible groove." Then again, everyone interprets it as they wish; language is a convention, as we know...

I just can't picture Malmsteen and Vai dreaming at night of Petrucci's picking...

I only comment on Petrucci's picking; it truly is lightning-fast. I watched one of his instructional videos (learn from the master... but fuck it), and while Petrucci's technique is admirable, I repeat that it is extremely methodical and has been achieved with considerable effort and dull dedication, unlike Malmsteen's, which is clearly a gift and absolutely inimitable. Indeed, the total lack of instinctiveness and expressiveness is its limit (have you heard his improvisations? God, what stiffness!). Petrucci's phrasing is for the most part programmed loops that are rehearsed meticulously, and the same goes for Metropolis (played with a very cold Ibanez; I know he now has an endorsement with Music Man, and yes, the sound is slightly warmer). On the other hand, he doesn’t do anything to hide it (see instructional video), and this "objective" truth clearly emerges from any tablature of his solos.

Jettojet! Finally someone who agrees! Petrucci... he’s really a guitarist with a sound and style as flat as a midi file! As evidenced by the G3 called by Jetto! Then I don’t know if any of you guitarists (my brother has done it) have ever tried studying Petrucci's solos, you may have noticed that they often consist of the looping repetition of fixed patterns across different positions on the neck! Too schematic, damn...

Two things for Matt7. I'm sorry, but it's really undoubted that classical music, from a harmonic point of view, primarily develops around the "natural" notes of a given key (major or minor). Just think that some intervals, like the famous "devil's tritone," were even banned during certain phases of classical music history. In short, the use of scales and formally dissonant phrases is certainly not a prerogative of classical music! Regarding the speed issue, I have to repeat myself, it's not about the number of notes, but the way they are played and the sound of the guitarist. Petrucci may be "metronomically" (though I'm not so sure) superior to the Swede, but he definitely doesn't have his touch. And above all, he plays on an Ibanez with a naturally cleaner sound and not on a woody Stratocaster! These are not things to underestimate; the sound is a fundamental component of a guitarist's style, which—unlike speed—is difficult to imitate.

I would like to intervene on Ajeje's observations regarding Malmsteen's phrasing and its flatness. It's true that Malmsteen uses few scales (mostly the harmonic minor), but this stems from his influence from classical music, which, as you know, does not provide access to dissonant and daring harmonies (modal scales will come with jazz). From a harmonic perspective, his phrasing is by no means less varied than that of a Blackmore or a Hendrix, so this alone is not enough to disqualify him. Moreover, it is not true at all that his sound is flat and lacking in drive. I'm sorry, but this statement is actually formally inaccurate. If there is one characteristic in Malmsteen's sound, it is that warm and dynamic tone he manages to produce, aided by the use of a very woody Stratocaster with a high action. It is precisely this sound, combined with his instinctive and spontaneous approach (at the edge of improvised) to the instrument that makes him deeply different from all the other guitar speedsters, who usually use much more processed and muffled sounds (see Vai himself) and employ a much more measured approach to the instrument. It is true that his solos, from a compositional and metric point of view, are certainly not as elaborate as Friedman’s, but this is part of his style which, as already mentioned, can be appreciated or not.

treating poor Malmsteen like his pathetic imitators. Errata corrige

Ajeje, you may not like his style - and I haven't always liked it either - but you can't deny that he's really not an idiot on the six strings! I don't take issue with those who say "I don't like it," but with those who try to elevate their subjective opinion to an absolute judgment, equating the poor Malmsteen with his pathetic emulators.