# Malmsteen's Baroque and Roll



## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

This guy is amazing! Anyone heard of him? He invented and pioneered in Baroque n Roll which is essentially Bach inventions speeded up and played by a rock/metal band. Malmsteen also plays fugues on the guitar! What a guy!


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

Have you heard the "Trilogy Op 5" suite. There's a live performance on the Trial by Fire CD. He also did a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra - didn't actually write it down but one of his mates did for him. That's very baroque in style.

Indeed, what a guy!


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

I have heard his "Trilogy Op 5" but I had no idea about the concerto! I'll have a look for it - thanks!


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## SchubertObsessive (Aug 15, 2006)

Malmsteen is all technique. Ironically unmusical.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

The Concerto is definitely familiar. Great stuff!!


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## jacobedmund (Jun 6, 2007)

Hi all
MALMSTEEN is coll. It is all technically. The band will perform a new concert on August 31 and September 1. This concert will be held in Moscow Russia.


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## Breogan (Sep 24, 2007)

Just finished posting about Malmsteen.  

I've only really enjoyed his 2002 Concerto Suite Live album. Other than that, I find his music pretty generic sounding with the exception of a handful of tracks here and there. But he's certainly a talented guitarist in my opinion.


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

SchubertObsessive said:


> Malmsteen is all technique. Ironically unmusical.


The guy has devoted his life to music! Give him some credit!
If he didn't have any technique, would you consider him more or less musical!?


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## Manuel (Feb 1, 2007)

> Malmsteen also plays fugues on the guitar! What a guy!


Wel... Manuel Barrueco and Kazuhito Yamashita do that also.

I once downloaded a guitar concerto by Eric Clapton for a friend. I never happened to listen to it, but I thought you may be interested in it (in case you don't already know about its existence).


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

Breogan said:


> Just finished posting about Malmsteen.
> 
> I've only really enjoyed his 2002 Concerto Suite Live album. Other than that, I find his music pretty generic sounding with the exception of a handful of tracks here and there. But he's certainly a talented guitarist in my opinion.


Yes, I suppose they might sound generic now but bear in mind he comes from the 80s when his kind of shredding was quite unusual! He can play blues though - naturally enough with splurges of nigh-impossible-to-play bits. One of few people to bend the open G (pressing it above the nut).


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## Breogan (Sep 24, 2007)

Frasier said:


> Yes, I suppose they might sound generic now but bear in mind he comes from the 80s when his kind of shredding was quite unusual! He can play blues though - naturally enough with splurges of nigh-impossible-to-play bits. One of few people to bend the open G (pressing it above the nut).


Yes, you're quite right. I suppose it should be noted that I find most 80's metal to be rather generic-sounding, with the exception of Iron Maiden. Just not my taste in music, I'd say.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

Malmsteen did a great job on bouree and the acoustic part of black star.


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## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

He's talented, but very tasteless.

Plus his 'classical' style is superficial at best.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

He is more technique than feel


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

He's a lot better than the vast majority of non-classical musicians who take on the same styles and structures of orchestral music. Frankly, structurally speaking, heavy metal (particularly the non-thrash, _progressive_) is much closer to classical music than most other genres.


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## Dividend (Mar 14, 2008)

"YOU HAVE UNLEASHED THE ******* FURY!!" /Malmsteen

He is great with the guitar, especially the instrumental tunes


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

LOL.... what a surprise praising of Malmsteen by members whom ....hm,.. I think a die hard classical fans (aka. elitist (which is not necessery true)).

I like Malmsteen , the early days and 90s works. but his last 4 or 5 albums are really just showing his last bite of shredding, plus the albums given a very unprofessional audio mixing.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

A while back I started to hear the noise about Malmsteen. Always determined to keep an open mind (and ear) I delved into some of his work, including the _Trilogy_ mentioned above. I'm afraid I was not impressed. Endless strings of fast notes don't impress me - all it reveals is a competent technique. I kept listening, however, waiting for the musicality to shine through and convince me that this 'genre' was worth listening to. Sadly the moment of enlightenment never came.

I don't really care how 'dedicated' this guy might be or how much he has been inspired by classical music. I find his 'arrangements' tasteless, without musical merit (albeit technically very accomplished) and somewhat disrespectful of the original. Most of all, I find them POINTLESS (why??). It also betrays a certain lack of creative imagination (at least some of the other pretentious guitarists TRY to write their own material).

It doesn't matter how many notes Malmsteen can squeeze into a minute of music, that will never compensate for a lack of true musicianship. There are a few 'classical' musicians who could do with being reminded of that too.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

I'm in the same camp, DM. Technically impressive but I could think of a million other things I'd rather listen to. I'm generally not a fan of the shred style, except for John McLaughlin who is one of my favourite guitarists, and even then he's equally enjoyable when he relaxes a little on streams of semiquavers.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

well, if you take him and compare to other more melodic shred orientated guitarist then Yngwie will be like a technical demon. but really, Yngwie haven't put a single original all instrument album*, so this make him actually a vocal-metal band. his early albums have many memorable metal (or that neo-classic metal genre) tunes, imo.

* he published a selection of instrumental song in one album though plus the Guitar Suite concerto


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## the_emptier (Jan 27, 2011)

Malmsteen is for 13 year olds. I used to love him....but after listening to countless albums he pretty much plays the same thing over and over again. Also he's fat, annoying and mean

granted there are maybe 3 albums i will still listen too


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

this for nostalgia :


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## Barking Spiderz (Feb 1, 2011)

He's the king of empty pointless fretwanking. All technique and no tunes much like 99% of shredders. They seem to put all their energy into mastering high speed sweep picking etc and nothing into actual music making


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## eruption (Oct 11, 2011)

A Malmsteen topic! I have a replica of his guitar. Trilogy is amazing. So is black star. My favorite is probably Icarus Dream Suite. It's themed on one of Bach's compositions, but you can't listen to it and say he's nonmusical


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

He's a Swedish wife-beating crack addict who makes widdly widdly noises very fast with his guitar.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Great guitar player. Rising Force is my favorite cd of his. Icarus' Dream Suite Opus 4 is as close to classical rock as you get. Awesome piece.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2012)

Edward Elgar said:


> Malmsteen also plays fugues on the guitar!


Not really...he plays the melodies but he doesn't, and probably can't, play all of the voices at once. _This_ man can play a proper fugue! (The full piece is available...this is the final section with a killer fugue.)


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## Iforgotmypassword (May 16, 2011)

SchubertObsessive said:


> Malmsteen is all technique. Ironically unmusical.


I agree, however it's still fun to listen to.


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