Originally published in Guitar World magazine · August 1994
Smells Like Mean Spirit (excerpt)
Article2 min read
Yngwie Malmsteen critiques the playing of some of his peers.
By Joe Lalaina
We asked Yngwie if he would participate in the Guitar World blindfold test – to listen to a selection of unidentified tracks by unnamed guitarists, and to comment on the playing. Yngwie agreed, and Joe Lalalna administered the test. Below are Yngwie’s responses.
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Dream Theater
‘Under a Glass Moon’
Images And Words (Atco, 1992)
I have this on CD – it’s brilliant. Dream Theater is, by far, one of the best bands to come out recently. Musically, I think they’re really clever, and the guitarist and keyboardist are very good. A great band with the right attitude. They’re musical, technical, interesting, and tasteful – one of my absolute favorite bands at the moment. I have just one reservation about them: their drummer. His choice of beats is terrible! He’s obviously listened to too much Neil Peart [Rush] over the years and needs to take a valium.
As for the song, a great intro. I actually like even the drumming there. Another thing I like about this band, and this song, is that the group likes to use a lot of keyboards – everything from synthesizers to Hammond organs. Almost like Jan Hammer, which I think is great.
The guitar solo is very interesting; it’s like a “Who’s Who” of guitar playing. It starts off reminiscent of Steve Vai’s humbucky, distorted tone. Then the guitarist plays something similar to a harmonic minor run that I would do. Then he goes into a Stevie Ray Vaughan/Hendrix thing, which is splendid. I also hear some Brad Gillis and Michael Schenker. I’m not too crazy about his tone, however. Sounds like he’s using a Floyd Rose tremolo, humbucking pickups, and the string action is below the frets. I prefer lower-output pickups, no Floyd Rose, and very high strings. Therefore I get a more acoustic-type sound. But I really can’t say anything bad about the guitarist in Dream Theater, because he’s good and very ambitious. I think in a couple more years he’ll have his own identity.