Remember that time Yngwie Malmsteen put out a blues album and it still sounded like, well, Yngwie Malmsteen?
Us, too.
Which, let it be known, is hardly a bad thing. The fact of the matter is that the neoclassical electric guitar shred legend has such a unique and overwhelmingly characteristic sound that he’s always going to sound like Yngwie – no matter what style of music of plays or, as it turns out, what guitar he uses.
To that last point, Malmsteen, an avowed Strat man if there ever was one, was asked in a new video if he has any Telecasters. The questioner, Eric Frehse, says that if so, he would love to hear him play it.
To our happy surprise, Malmsteen replies that, yes, he does own a Tele – a Jimmy Page “Dragon” replica.
“I just got it,” Malmsteen says. “Let’s see what it sounds like.”
The answer? It sounds like… 100 percent pure, characteristic Yngwie.
That said, Malmsteen himself seems impressed at what a different experience the Tele provides from his usual signature-model Strats.
“This doesn’t have any scallops, it doesn’t have any stacked pickups,” he says, shredding away. “Real different.”
Different... but also sort of the same. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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