“I never practiced, ever”: Yngwie Malmsteen says he only ever played as if he was performing when he was young
For most musicians, practice is essential. But maybe not for all of them – if Yngwie Malmsteen is anything to go by, at least.
In an interview with United Rock Nations, Malmsteen is asked if he spent hours practising on the guitar when he was younger. The Swedish guitar legend replies, “I didn’t practice. I never practiced. Never practiced, ever. I played as if I was performing. I wouldn’t accept myself going [hums a scale]. Never. Only play perfect now.
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He continues, “I [would be] telling myself, ‘Don’t sound like you’re fucking trying to do something. Do it.’ … I never practiced. I mean, it’s inadvertently practicing, because I played so much. But I improvised. And I would say, ‘I wanna improvise in A harmonic minor,’ for instance. But there was no way I’m gonna play a wrong note; there was no way I’m gonna play a B flat in that scale. I just wouldn’t do it. [I was playing] like crazy, improvising. Not scales. I mean, obviously scales. I’m very well aware of music theory – I know it super well – but I would never practice. That’s the wrong word.”
Malmsteen’s comments come just weeks after he revealed he wasn’t influenced by rock artists as a young musician. At a conference at Hellfest, he said, “I love BB King. I love all of them [bluesmen]. But I, who was a bit of a weirdo, thought: ‘It’s got to be more than that’. Then, when I was 9 or 10, someone played me Selling England by the Pound by Genesis. And I thought, ‘Wow, what is this? Diminished scales?’
“Suddenly, I realised that what I loved about what I was hearing wasn’t the guitarist. It was the notes and the chord progressions. I knew my mother had about 1,000 Bach records, so I started listening to him.”
He added, “I based my guitar playing on classical violin, not guitar.”
You can check out the interview here:
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
