Yngwie Malmsteen

• Use harmonic minor scale (raised 7th) for the classical Yngwie sound — it creates the Vivaldi/Bach character rather than standard pentatonic blues
• Keep tone control at full and treble on the amp high — his tone is sharp and bright, never warm
• The DOD 250 runs at minimum gain, maximum level — it's a clean push into the amp, not a distortion pedal
• Alternate pick every single note — Yngwie uses no legato. Every note is struck with the pick
• Scalloped fretboard vibrato cannot be perfectly replicated on a standard neck. Compensate with wrist-driven wide vibrato and very light fretting pressure
• Vibrato starts immediately and stays fast and wide throughout the note — unlike blues vibrato which is slow and deliberate
• Tune to Eb standard — half step down reduces string tension and enables his aggressive attack without going sharp
• Practise three-notes-per-string scale patterns at very slow tempos before building speed — the picking mechanics must be clean at any tempo
• The Marshall runs at medium gain — it's the DOD boost that saturates the input stage, not a high-gain amp setting

Yngwie Malmsteen brought Bach and Paganini to the electric guitar, creating neoclassical shred. His combination of extreme speed, scalloped-neck vibrato and harmonic minor vocabulary rewrote what was considered possible on the instrument.