I haven’t seen Yngwie perform in a long time, but for a while, he was really into playing the opening measures of Paganini’s 4th Violin Concerto.  Good choice; it’s a great opening, really dramatic melody.  I have to hand it to him for finding something that’s not so standard.  I mean, it’s still Paganini – Mr. Popular among guitarists wanting to play crazy classical licks, but the 4th concerto is much more obscure than the frequently performed #1, not to mention the super popular 24 Caprices.

But, I was always hoping that he’d keep going and play the solo part, which is where the real fun starts and the whole purpose of the piece!  It opens with a huge arpeggio that is a challenge to play on the guitar.  Check out this youtube video below.  It picks up right where Yngwie typically stops, which is where the real solo work begins.  Right away, there’s a huge E major arpeggio; you can hear it in the first 10 seconds of the video.  Sorry for the poor quality, but finding a recording of this would have been practically impossible before youtube.

That clip is under five minutes, but just the first movement alone is around fifteen minutes.  Yngwie quoted the orchestral opening long ago and he’s pretty well known for it.  So, I don’t wanna bother posting any youtube videos of it.  But, check this out…

(above) Yngwie’s “Arpeggios From Hell”

Dang, it always feels like I’m picking on Yngwie.  I don’t mean too; he was my number one influence on me when I first started playing and I’m still a fan today.  I can’t tell you how many Yngwie songs I learned.  Anyway, it’s the intro to the video that I’d like to point out.  He says, “…it has the most extreme arpeggios that I’ve ever come up with.”  That makes me think:  ”If only he would have continued with the Paganini #4, then he, for sure, would have met the most extreme arpeggios ever!”  Because the ones in that Paganini piece are way bigger and badder.

The few arpeggios that Yngwie plays in here are all sequenced, meaning he’ll play three ascending notes of the arpeggio, drop back down two notes, play three more ascending notes (moving one note beyond the previous three notes), and repeat until he’s gone way up the neck.  Sure, this is pretty extreme (and of course he’s playing them fast), but it does give you plenty of time to put your left hand into position.  The one in the opening of the Paganini is a straight four-octave arpeggio – no sequences.  The lefthand has to move much faster.  Oh yes, and it’s also wider.

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(above) Here’s the tab to the opening of the solo part of the 4th concerto by Paganini.  Note:  I dropped the arpeggio down one octave so it can be played on a normal guitar.  Keeping it in the same octave as the original notation would mean you’d have to hit the G# at the 28th fret and the high B natural at the 31st fret!  The arpeggio is fingered the way it is to attempt to enforce even playing of the notes.  If you’re an excellent sweep picker, you may want to finger it differently, like playing the first four notes all on the low E string so you’re set up for a big sweep pattern across all six strings.

As a theory side note, Yngwie also says, “…in a lot of different modes.”  That doesn’t really make sense.  Modes have to do with scales, not arpeggios, which are just chords that have their notes played individually in some sort of sequence.

I decided to break out the camera in my apartment, a totally casual location, and record a rough take of the opening measures of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, one of the greats from the Romantic Era. The beginning starts out softly and delicately and later builds into a dark and brooding tonal canvas.  There’s a wide range of techniques to notice here and to work on (myself included of course).  From the very soft beginnings played on a single string, to the more unstable low strings, dissonant chords, arpeggios, tonality changes, and a few more, there’s a lot to hear and see here.

There’s some fast 16th note shredding towards the end. Unfortunately, I’ve only learned partway through that first cadenza (you’ll see me suddenly stop), but you get the picture. I’m sure a lot of shredders will really enjoy this section and do amazing things with it. But, what I like about this opening is the wide range of drama and volume that can be found here.

I’m experimenting with a lot of the fingerings for this piece. Much of the opening is played on a single string, which gives a nice consistent feel. Also, the 16th note shred is all played on the low E and A strings; a different feel for such a quick pace.

Have a look and listen and see what you think. Does it look pretty interesting to you? Look for tab to be posted in lessons soon.

Here’s my first post in HD.  Does it make a difference?

I created a quick video of two short licks, sort of a “compare and contrast” sort of thing.  Check it out:

The point of the video is to show the regular and repetitive nature of the popular Yngwie lick contrasted against a wild, totally crazy lick from an old timer like Tchaikovsky.  Yeah, that’s right; Tchaikovsky.  The same guy who also wrote the Nutcracker Suite that you hear during Christmas and the famous luv melody from his “Romeo and Juliet” Suite.  Definitely a versatile composer.

Don’t get the wrong idea:  my goal of this post isn’t to rip Yngwie.  Yngwie was my early guitar hero and I bought all of his albums and learned tons of his songs and solos.  Even though they do get a bit repetitive, you gotta respect the heck out of the man for his technique and his passion.

Maybe we should respect him even moreso because he’s the king of neoclassical shred guitar.  I credit him as the number one influence of opening the eyes of legions of guitarists around the world with his quasi-Baroque style of playing.  The lick above, from his song “I’ll See the Light Tonight”, is pretty much his trademark sound (doubled with a harpsichord, of course).

That sorta leads into the purpose of the video.  My goal with the site is to inspire other guitarists to peek into the much bigger world of classical music.  Yngwie, and his numerous imitators, pretty much stay in that one style, Bach ‘n Roll, if you will.  That’s only a tiny portion of the styles of classical music that are available.  Did you know that Tchaikovsky wrote a piece, his Violin Concerto, that was once considered unplayable?  It is indeed a super challenging piece that demands a huge range of techniques.  This one lick in the video is one of my favorites because it’s just so weird, demands a ton of tricks, and sounds great.  And it’s only two measures!  Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is over 50 pages long!  That’s a lot of shredding.

Look for more selections from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on this site in the future.