Malmsteen playing some Schenker back in the day

[paulyc]

MS is a solid player but nothing too special to me. I'd be surprised if I ever saw his name in any top 50 guitar players of all time list.

Depends who makes the list.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

MS is a solid player but nothing too special to me. I'd be surprised if I ever saw his name in any top 50 guitar players of all time list.

Strange how we all hear things differently. I would actually put him in my top 5 and maybe even number 1. The way he carved through songs so perfectly in UFO and really wrote some incredible songs. Not just solos, but songs. Such a unique player with great vibrato. Of course there are millions of guys more technical, but most of them live in their mom's basements and have never written any of the songs they play for YouTube subscribers. He created those songs and came up with all the riffs and hooks. Incredible. But everyone has a style that appeals to them so I get that too. Who would you put in top 5?

 

[gtrwun]

Strange how we all hear things differently. I would actually put him in my top 5 and maybe even number 1. The way he carved through songs so perfectly in UFO and really wrote some incredible songs. Not just solos, but songs. Such a unique player with great vibrato. Of course there are millions of guys more technical, but most of them live in their mom's basements and have never written any of the songs they play for YouTube subscribers. He created those songs and came up with all the riffs and hooks. Incredible. But everyone has a style that appeals to them so I get that too. Who would you put in top 5?

I’m going to agree with every word you said here. Couldn’t have said it better……If Schenker doesn’t make ANY top 50 guitarist list, it’s only because he has been criminally underrated his entire career….. right along with the band he fronted. Just ask Eddie Trunk, he’ll tell ya!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I’m going to agree with every word you said here. Couldn’t have said it better……If Schenker doesn’t make ANY top 50 guitarist list, it’s only because he has been criminally underrated his entire career….. right along with the band he fronted. Just ask Eddie Trunk, he’ll tell ya!

You'd have to listen to him answer some drunk's call in question for 20 minutes before he told ya though.. but he'd def tell you. Then say it again.. and re-phrase it before attacking it from another angle once again. Ending it with how KISS and Paul Stanley hate him .

 

[Metalhex]

Who would you put in top 5?

In no particular order,

David Gilmour
Shawn Lane
Tony Iommi
Yngwie Malmsteen
Randy Rhoads

Actually, that is MY personal top 5. There are many other greats that deserve legendary status even though I may not be a fan. (Such as the best bluegrass pickers in the world, for example).

These 5 have all created at least one of the following....the most iconic licks/riffs. Instantly recognizable tones. Some have actually created techniques and styles that are widely borrowed from to this day. Some have even created genres of rock/metal. One can be argued to actually create heavy metal itself.

Schenker is a great solid player, but I don't think he deserves legendary status, which would warrant to belong in top 50. He doesn't have any legendary or recognizable licks or techniques that would be recognized to anyone who isn't a specific fan of his, or even plays guitar for that matter. (You can say the same about Lane, but his music was far from commercial or radio friendly. No, radio play doesn't mean you should belong in the top 50 automatically, I'm not saying that).

So I don't think Schenker is underrated, I think he is rated right where he should be. He gets enough praise from guitar players. To me, he is like a Jake E. Lee. Who is one of my favorites, yet I don't know where I can fit Jake in the 50 greatest list spanning all genres, all biases aside..

 

[mentoneman]

man you guys got me in yngwie nostalgia mode.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

man you guys got me in yngwie nostalgia mode.

Ive still got that Steeler vinyl and the Japanese import Rising Force vinyl before it was released US side.... Rising Force is still massively badass

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

those Steeler solos are crazy good. I have that album...songs sort of suck and the vocals can get grading but when sir Yngwie kicks in holy shit, he rips. so clean, so ferocious. I love early Malmsteen. I just feel it was another level to what EVH did. To be honest, I also got bored with Ed's playing after the DLR years. What he did right was focus more on songs and the whole picture vs just dungeons, dragons, and going even faster like Malmsteen did. Yngwie is a special cat. No question.

 

[phil b]

I am just amazed at how hard he is yanking on that bar and it stays in tune like that, being not locked! I have NEVER had a Strat that I could get to do that, and I've had quite a few over the years.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I am just amazed at how hard he is yanking on that bar and it stays in tune like that, being not locked! I have NEVER had a Strat that I could get to do that, and I've had quite a few over the years.

I've noticed that too. I am not sure if this is where the lighter tension strings work in his favour or not but you are right, he abuses that thing in spots and it holds up. He sometimes bends up or down to pitch while playing but for the most part he stays in tune.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Hot On your Heels was my favorite cut from that album

man you guys got me in yngwie nostalgia mode.

 

[Metalhex]

I am just amazed at how hard he is yanking on that bar and it stays in tune like that, being not locked! I have NEVER had a Strat that I could get to do that, and I've had quite a few over the years.

I've noticed that too. I am not sure if this is where the lighter tension strings work in his favour or not but you are right, he abuses that thing in spots and it holds up. He sometimes bends up or down to pitch while playing but for the most part he stays in tune.

It's funny because lately (within the last 10 years at least) his strings are always going out of tune live. And that's not even when he's using the whammy bar...but I see him often tuning the High e string mid-song.

Also he changes up guitars between songs (sometimes mid-song) very often and I'm sure it's mainly because they need to be retuned.

 

[mentoneman]

I am just amazed at how hard he is yanking on that bar and it stays in tune like that, being not locked! I have NEVER had a Strat that I could get to do that, and I've had quite a few over the years.

when i moved to Fullerton for college in 84, there was a cream colored US fender strat for sale in a pawn shop-probably a late 70's model cream clolored just like yngwie's play loud axe. i picked it up and it played like a dream. light weight, zero tension shredsky, tone forever, and i literally hung the gtr by the vintage style trem bar to try and knock it out and it never missed a beat. they wanted $300 and i was a broke college kid. biggest strat regret of my life.

 

[phil b]

when i moved to Fullerton for college in 84, there was a cream colored US fender strat for sale in a pawn shop-probably a late 70's model cream clolored just like yngwie's play loud axe. i picked it up and it played like a dream. light weight, zero tension shredsky, tone forever, and i literally hung the gtr by the vintage style trem bar to try and knock it out and it never missed a beat. they wanted $300 and i was a broke college kid. biggest strat regret of my life.

Man, that one is definitely your white whale!
Haha.. I have a lot of those stories as a kid hanging out on 48th st. in NY basically window drooling.
Carl Verheyen did a video on how to setup a vintage trem that stays in tune. Now I worked @ Kramer here in NJ back in the day so I am familiar with setups but I have never been able to get my vintage trem to stay in tune like that. Tried a few different bridges, springs..etc and I guess I am just stuck in the Hendrix style of trem attack. LOL

 

[mentoneman]

Ive still got that Steeler vinyl and the Japanese import Rising Force vinyl before it was released US side.... Rising Force is still massively badass

i had the same rising force japanese import. it came with a black and yellow banner i flew proudly in my room!

 

[mentoneman]

yjm hit me in the feels at the perfect phase of my gtr development.
MS, Uli, and Gary Moore were kinda the across the pond strike force to recon with and John Sykes was the rising gunslinger in Tygers of Pan Tang until YJM exploded in 83!
Our local rock station 98 Rock in honolulu had a metal show and they debuted Steeler “Hot on your Heels” one night in 1983 and it was game over. switchboard lit up!
i raced down to the local record shop next day and they had one copy of steeler.

soon after that i happened to catch a live interview with GB in hawaii promoting his upcoming album/band alcatrazz and they did a world premiere of the “Island in the sun” single that night. he talked a lot about recruiting this new hot gtr player named Yngwie that was gaining a lot of attention. he said they planned to do a concert in hawaii. dream come true for a 17 yr old rock gtr lover!!!

here’s a shot from the show at the University of Hawaii ballroom in 1984, taken by my cousin:

my friend andrew and i were front row and he was the one throwing horns, who’s shadow you see on Yngie’s gtr. he later pulled the cable out of Yngwie’s gtr and almost got kicked in the nose by YJM!?

my classmate Mark Kaleiwahea’s band Sacred Rite opened the gig and killed. Mark was my real life local gtr hero and used to give lessons with Marty Friedman at the local gtr store Hot Licks. Stay thirsty my friends.

here is a reunion concert sacred rite did in germany just 2 yrs ago. mark k. on lead vox and lead gtr and jimmy c. on rhythm gtr are the 2 original members. still shredding!
mark plays a shabbat and they both used engl amps provided at the event: