Y is for Yngwie Malmsteen

I think this one goes without saying! He is the foremost guitarist when it comes to creativity and classical training. This dude plays a guitar like he was in an orchestra. In fact, here’s his performance WITH an orchestra. I know you won’t watch the entire thing but skim through.

I got really into Yngwie about five years ago and the funny thing is that for me, normally, I need to be into the lead singer. But for this band, they had a rotating door of sem-well known singers during the decades the band was together. Yngwie himself sang only a few times when vocalists were scarce but that was a bad choice. I’m fond of the singer from the Trilogy album, Mark Boals.

But I also really enjoyed Joe Lynn Turner’s run.

That singer sang for a lot of other bands, including Rainbow and Deep Purple. He guest sang with a variety of artists including Don Johnson, Michael Bolton, and Cher. When he sang for Yngwie, he wrote the lyrics too.

The fact is: Yngwie is an amazing guitarist so most folks listen for that fact alone. But for a while there, he knew how to throw together a band and write some awesome music.