Introduction
Hey there. I received quite a few emails asking for an article about "neoclassical shred"... y'know, Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore-style stuff. Now, since this style of music has influenced me quite a bit, especially when I started out, I am happy to oblige... so let's get out those Strats, grab a sword and let's go slay some dragons with some sharp, diminished licks...
Just so that no one is confused, the term "neoclassic" usually refers (at least among guitarists) to "neoclassic rock / metal", not "contemporary classical music". We're talking about rock and metal, influenced by classical music.
The style became popular (or: pretty much was defined) in the early to mid 80s. One album stands out as the one that got the ball rolling: "Rising Force" by Yngwie J Malmsteen.
A friend of mine attended the NAMM show in 84 or 85, and he told me that Yngwie did a short showcase there (he had just been brought over to the States by Mike Varney). Some people had heard him before, but at that NAMM show, he created a serious buzz when he did a short showcase.
The "Rising Force" album could be considered a blueprint for the whole neoclassical thing. Literally thousands of players were influenced by it, and many tried to copy it. If you listen to the output of the Shrapnel label (Mike Varney's label) in the 80's and early 90's, you'll hear a lot of records that sound similar or at least heavily inspired by Malmsteen's first few releases.
Why did that record have such an impact?
Well, first of all, I believe that style of music, that combination of metal riffs and classical melodies (heavily inspired by JS Bach and Niccolo Paganini among others) simply seemed to fit together quite well. Heavy Metal, hard rock, usually has a very dark sound, and the melodies and riffs can work quite well with the sound of an orchestra (as proved by Apocalyptica and the "S&M" album by Metallica... even way before that, Deep Purple recorded a concert with the LSO, and it was obvious even back then that metal and classical music seem to work together quite well).
When I was a kid, I once heard an album with compositions (toccatas and fugues) by JS Bach, played on a huge church organ. I immediately thought that the power and sound of that really had some similarities to heavy metal.
Second of all, the guitar playing on "Rising Force" simply set a new standard. Most people had never heard stuff like that before. Sure, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker and Richie Blackmore (those guys are some of Yngwie's influences) had used lots of natural minor licks and also, some classical style melodies (Blackmore's infamous "Highway Star" solo always reminded me a bit of some Bach-ideas), but none of them had played them at that speed, with such a furiosity.
Also, Yngwie displayed an impressive alternate picking-technique, and also used sweep-picking quite a bit, which, back then, still was a pretty new technique.
Just like the first Van Halen record, "Rising Force" had a huge impact on young guitarists, and all of a sudden, lots of guys were working on those Yngwie-style licks and runs, playing diminished arps etc.
Yngwie influenced some popular players, who took that influence, added some of their own ideas (some more, some less) and recorded albums that sounded quite a bit like "Rising Force". Listen to Richie Kotzen's first album, the first Racer X-record, "The Mind's Eye" by Vinnie Moore, "Edge Of Insanity" by Tony MacAlpine... those were undeniably inspired by the Yng.
Just like Eddie, he had created some new style of playing, and was copied by a bunch of players. Some of them continued to develop their own style, others didn't, and are remembered as mere "Yngwie-clones".
Before me move on to licks, exercises and some other stuff, let me throw in a few thoughts about Yngwie...
The king lives
His impact on the guitar-scene is undeniable. So is the fact that he still is pretty much the "king" of the neoclassical rock-scene. He still is releasing albums, touring, writing more music in the style he pretty much defined. And IMHO he gets even better as a player year after year.
The thing is, a lot of people make fun of him, or complain about the fact that he tends to repeat himself in his writing and soloing, or because his records all sound pretty similar.
Now, that is just my opinion, but:
1. Yngwie can't please 'em all anyway. No one can. There will always be the fans who'll buy and like pretty much everything he releases, AND the fans who complain that there's not much difference to the previous albums. If he should attempt to play and record something way different, there'd be just as many people flaming him for "selling out" or NOT releasing something they had expected
2. Whether you like it or not, that stuff is still selling, and he still is touring. How many of the neoclassical guys do have that kind of success?
3. About similar-sounding releases... uhm, well, I might get flamed here, but... to me, ACDC records always sound kinda similar. I mean, you know what to expect, and they deliver every time. I love AC/DC, and I don't mind if they release 10 more albums of their patented rock. Same goes for Yngwie. If I wanna listen to something else, I listen to another guitarist. It's as simple as that.
4. About repeating himself in his solos... Gee, even with classical music you have some re-occurring melodies, and if you listen to a lot of blues-players, you often hear the same licks you heard before. Same goes for other instruments, and singers... listen i.e. to David Coverdale.. he constantly uses very similar phrases in his lyrics... I don't mind, it's a part of his style. And I didn't hear anyone complain that Steve Vai used the very same melody in three different songs (one of the main-melodies in "Answers"... it has been used on the Alcatrazz record and the "Flex-Able" record...)
It's a quote, and it doesn't bother me.
And finally, there's the good ol' "He plays fast, so he's got no feeling" discussion. Dude, I don't even wanna get started on that. But take a close listen to Malmsteen's soloing... the man does have a very unique tone, a killer-vibrato, and IMHO he plays with a lot of feel, both slow and fast.
The points above are simply my opinion. Just commenting on some of the most regular discussions I have seen regarding the Yng. Back to our regular program...
Listening recommendations
Well, of course there have been some guitarists before Yngwie that used their classical influences in their music, like Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker and Richie Blackmore. But let's start with Yngwie, and take a look at some cool neoclassical stuff that was released after "Rising Force" hit the streets, mkay?
Yngwie Malmsteen- Pretty much everything. My favorite albums by him: "Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force", "Fire & Ice" (some songs feature an actual string ensemble, and some great playing... the quote of Bach's "Badinerie" in "No Mercy" is wonderful IMO), "Alchemy" (a rather recent album, featuring some of his best playing... check out the bluesy "Blue"), and "Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Eb Minor", which could be considered the climax of Yngwie's career...
Vinnie Moore - "The Mind's Eye" and "The Maze"
Paul Gilbert - "Street Lethal" and "Second Heat" by Racer X
Tony Macalpine - "Edge Of Insanity", "Maximum Security" and "Freedom To Fly"
Joey Tafolla - "Out Of The Sun"
George Bellas - "Mind Over Matter"
OK, now let's get to...
Scales
Neoclassical rock, as I said, could be defined as "Heavy Metal & Rock, inspired by classical music"... you'll find lots of classical scales, melodies and other elements in those songs.
Hard Rock in the 70s and early 80s has been influenced by the blues very much, and neoclassical rock went the other way... it was just a different sound. Of course, you can find a decent blues-influence in the styles of the players I mentioned before, too... bendings, pentatonic runs, the blue note. Yngwie even used to play a short blues improvisation, called "Spasebo Blues" during his solo-spot (check out "Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad")
But neoclassical players started to combine the sound of distorted guitars with melodic aspects of classical music. One of the most basic and popular aspects would be the use of the natural minor scale, as opposed to the pentatonic scale.
The natural minor scale (1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7, or w-h-w-w-h-w-w, in A: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A, in E: E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E) is actually a scale we're quite familiar with, actually it's one of the modes of the major scale. So, if you harmonize it, you get (simply put) all the chords from the major scale, starting on the 6th degree: Amin-Bdim-Cmaj-Dmin-Emin-Fmaj-Gmaj-Amin)
Here's a pattern, key of E minor. I chose to put this into a 3 note per string-pattern:
Now, guys like Blackmore and Yngwie started to use different minor scales as well, like i.e.
The melodic minor scale (1-2-b3-4-5-6-7, or w-h-w-w-w-w-h, in A: A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#-A, in E: E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D#-E... simply put, a major scale with a flat 3 )
Here's a 3NPS-pattern, E melodic minor:
What happens if we harmonize that scale, and derive chords from that. I always liked to do that, simply because playing those chords helped me to understand the scale a bit better, and I always made up jam tracks with those chords, so that I could immediately apply the scale. So, let's stack thirds and we get those chords:
Emin- F#m- G aug. (augmented... G-B-D#, major 3rd and aug. 5th)- Amaj- Bmaj-C#dim (minor third, flat 5), D#maj b5
One of the most popular scales in neoclassical rock would be the harmonic minor scale:
1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7, a minor scale with a major 7. In A: A-B-C-D-E-F-G#-A, in E: E-F#-G-A-B-C-D#-E
Here's a pattern:
Let's harmonize it:
Emin-F#dim-G augm.-Amin-Bmaj-Cmaj-D#maj b5
And, talking about Yngwie and the harmonic minor scale, another standard in the world of neoclassical rock would be the phrygian-dominant scale, which is the fifth mode of Harmonic minor.
That would be: 1-b2-3-4-5-b6-b7, in A: A-Bb-C#-D-E-F-G-A, or in E: E-F-G#-A-B-C-D-E
Here's the pattern:
OK, now, before you go ahead and try to write something with those harmonized scales, lemme explain: the phygian dominant scale often is used in addition to, say, the natural minor scale. There's a very popular progression in neoclassical rock... it was used a lot in classical music, i.e. by JS Bach. In Emin, that would be Emin-D-C-B(7)
And often, Yngwie (as an example) would use the E min scale over the first three chords, and then use the harmonic minor or phrygian-dominant one over the B. More on that later
Licks
Before we get to the licks, be prepared... in neoclassical rock, there's a high technical standard. That is another element taken from classical music. If you listen to i.e. some toccatas and fugues by JS Bach, there always were extremely difficult runs and passages in there, used in combination with melodies. Both had a pretty much equal value, it was just a standard... the way it should be: chops and melodies used at an equal amount, or chops used to "embellish" the melodies.
The technical aspect shouldn't be all you care about. Yngwie doesn't either. He's at such a high level when it comes to playing techniques that playing one of those incredibly fast runs, it doesn't take much more effort than playing a nice melody or a beautiful bend.
And I want to show you some of the standard-licks from neoclassical rocks, some applications of classical concepts (i.e. pedal-point), and some licks using the scales I talked about before. Let's jump right in, ok?
Here is one of the most popular Yngwie licks, a certain sequence. He uses it quite a bit, and so do a lot of other players... Use alternate picking throughout, and try applying it to different scales and strings. It's a great exercise for picking on one string...
Here is that same sequence, applied to two adjacent strings, key of Amin:
And let's apply it to 4 strings. Make sure you pick each note, and pay attention to timing and accuracy:
Here's the same sequence applied to the phrygian-dominant scale:
Now, as I mentioned before, others use that sequence as well. One example would be Paul Gilbert (who definitely is influenced by Yngwie a bit). In his "neoclassical tribute" "Viking Kong" from the "Superheroes" album by Racer X, there is a fun picking passage... Paul moves the sequence through different positions of the harmonic minor scale. Listen to the song, check out the TAB, get out your metronome and... I dunno, quit yer job or something... the last part (bar 4) is the most fun, cuz there's an alternating top note involved...
Now, let's add a rhytm guitar. The chords: Em-Am-D-G.Let's apply the Yngwie-sequence to it. Note that the lowest note of each pattern is the root of the accompanying chord...
...and if you feel comfortable with the pattern, you can use it to follow ascending or descending chord progressions using it, as in the next example. Again, the lowest note of each pattern is the root of the chord...
Licks, continued
Here's one of the most popular Yngwie-style runs, and one of my favorites... using a different 4 note sequence (work on that first), we move up the harmonic minor scale. If you work hard enough, you'll get this one to FLY, and it doesn't only sound cool, it also is a lot of fun to play it. First ascending, then, with a slightly different sequence, descending:
Here is an example of a run using all 6 strings... This can be heard a lot in neoclassical rock. Make sure you pick all notes:
Here's a run similar to one Yngwie used in his classic "Black Star". I added a second guitar, playing the exact same line an octave above... this way of doubling or harmonizing lines is a standard in neo-classical rock, and it sure is a demanding task to play both tracks...
This run, slightly altered, also can be heard in PG's famous solo-spot from the Racer X-debut, "Street Lethal". The opener, a guitar-solo, is called "Frenzy", and here's the beginning of it (after the band stops playing and Paul takes over)
Pedal tones and arps
One quite popular tool of baroque composers AND neoclassical shredders is the pedal-tone. It means that one note or a short sequence is being repeated, with another, alternating note or sequence in between. Check out the next exercise to see what I mean...
As you can see, every other note is the G at the 15th fret of the high E-string. The other notes go down the G Major scale. So it goes F#-G-E-G-D-G-C-G... etc.
Now, instead of repeating only the G, let's repeat the sequence G-F#-G, with alternating notes in between...
Another cool idea is to use an open string as the pedal-tone... if you listen to JS Bach's "Toccata in Dminor", which is one of the most popular classical pieces ever, you can hear a certain, ascending line, with an interspersed, static pedal-tone.
Let's emulate that on the high e-string. It's actually pretty easy to play:
And finally, let's use tapping, with the r.h. note being our pedal-tone:
Arpeggios
Let me make this clear: As I said, playing these kinda licks requires some chops, and I don't wanna talk too much about how to practise this stuff or get it up to speed, simply because I think it's easier to refer you to my articles about technique... the methods in there should help you to get those neoclassical licks up to speed. Some of them even were used in those articles ("Art Of Picking" etc.)
Now, before you try to tackle the arpeggios I tabbed out, you should work on your sweeping-technique. I wrote an article about sweep-picking... check that one out before you move on.
Here's an A min-arp, played by sweep-picking with an added pull-off:
Once you feel comfortable with that, get it up to speed and repeat it:
Now let's add more strings, and play some more difficult arps. A very popular way to play an Amin arp can be seen in our next example:
It's up to you to decide whether you wanna use sweeping in combination with hammer on's or pull off's, or actually pick all notes.
Another standard Yngwie-lick is playing a diminished triad up the neck, sweep-picking on three strings:
As you can see, the shape stays exactly the same, and is simply moved up three frets every time. Ain't that cool?!?
And, if that one is too difficult or if you wanna try a different way of playing it, try this:
This is a neoclassical-sounding lick similar to one Gary Hoey used in his cover-version of "Hocus Pocus". I'd recommend to play it legato-style. Same thing applies here: The same shape is simply moved up three frets and stays the same all the time.
A solo and conclusion
And, for your listening and practising pleasure, I made up a short neoclassical style solo, using some of the licks we looked at. The chord progression is E5-D5-C5-B
Look at the TAB, below are some comments about each bar of the lead-guitar:
Bars 1&2
Bar1: Our Emin-arp, played with sweep-picking.
Bar2: A legato-lick (repeating pattern) very similar to a Paul Gilbert-standard.
Bars 3&4
Bar 3: A palm-muted repeating pattern
Bar4: A fast harmonic minor-run
Bars 5&6 (sorry bout the switcharoo of git 1&2)
Bar 5: Here, we're moving a pretty simple sequence up the neck, and end on
Bar 6: ...the high D
Bar7. Descending again, to end on another
Bar 8: PG-ish lick in harmonic minor
I know that this solo ain't exactly rocket-science, but it might help you to chain some of the licks together. Remember to think about the melodic side too, don't just put together a few fast licks. Throw in nice melodies, phrasing etc.
Conclusion
There ain't much to say. I just tried to introduce ya to neoclassical shred, tell you about the harmonic background, and if you liked the examples... feel free to make up your own licks, or transcribe some solos from your favorite neoclassical record.
And you also can try to throw in some of those licks in your regular playing, in songs from other styles.. it might be a cool little way to spice up a blues solo when ya throw in a diminished arp at high speed...
See ya at the forums !
There are three files accompanying this article.
No.1 is the Powertab-file featuring all the LICKS AND EXERCISES (click the link to open it, or save it with a right-click and "Save as...")
No.2 is a ptb-file featuring the SCALES I talked about (as pictured in the "Scales"-section of this article)
No.3 is the ptb-file of the SOLO
Use the ptb-files to hear the examples played back, or play along to them. You as always can alter the tempo, so it's easier to practise this stuff. Enjoy- EV