The end result is what counts... However a musician gets out their thoughts. I think criticizing a player for not knowing scales is as crazy as knocking someone for knowing them... It's like knocking a Drummer who plays a 45 pc kit... which is as dumb as knocking a drummer that plays a 4pc kit. It doesn't matter either way as long as they use it well. I would think knowing scales would help... but it could also hurt.. depending on the individual. I was recently playing with a brilliant musician. This guy is classically trained... He plays Bass, Cello, Double Bass. Guitar, Mandolin, Keys, Church Organ... you name it.. anything with Strings or Keys... He could play really well. He can also read anything you put in front of him and can even conduct... He couldn't jam or write though. I'm sure he could if he worked on it... but hadn't. So all that knowledge was great in some ways and hurt him in others. Because he was schooled, in his case it took the spontanity out of it... But I'm sure there are also schooled musicians that rip and jam like there's no tomorrow...

That's very cool, I didn't know they were friends. I've also seen Yngwie speak very respectfully about Jimmy in interviews ... so he can't be all bad.

Well that and their 2 previous high profle reunions were held in the States. Live Aid and the Atlantic Records 40th. The only squabbling I've ever heard about those 2 shows from pretty much everyone was that both shows were pretty rusty.

I think Rising Force is excellent. I don't listen to much else by him, but I love that album. He's arrogant as hell, but that's probably the drive that made such an incredible player.. love him or hate him, there's no denying his amazing technical ability. === This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com Yngwie Malmsteen is arguably the most technically accomplished hard rock guitarist to emerge during the '80s. Combining a dazzling technique honed over years of obsessive practice with a love for such classical composers as Bach, Beethoven, and Paganini, Malmsteen's distinctively Baroque, gothic compositional style and lightning-fast arpeggiated solos rewrote the book on heavy metal guitar. His largely instrumental debut album, Rising Force, immediately upped the ante for aspiring hard rock guitarists and provided the major catalyst for the '80s guitar phenomenon known as "shredding," in which the music's main focus was on impossibly fast, demanding licks rather than songwriting. Malmsteen released a series of albums over the course of the '80s that, aside from slight differences in approach and execution, were strongly similar to Rising Force, and critics charged him with showing little artistic progression. He was also reviled as an egotist whose emphasis on blazing technique ultimately made for boring, mechanical, masturbatory music with no room for subtlety or emotion. Malmsteen responded by insisting that since he was already playing music he loved, he had no desire to develop any further, and that his love did come through in his playing. He also vehemently insisted that it was his imitators, not him, who reduced songwriting and composition to merely generic vehicles to show off the guitar player's amazing technique. Toward the end of the decade, Malmsteen fell out of favor with metal audiences, and even some of his musician fan base seemed to tire of him and the incredible amount of practice it would take for them to emulate him. Following a series of personal setbacks, tragedies, and even injuries, Malmsteen eventually resurfaced on small, independent labels and then recorded at a prolific, rapid pace, continuing to play the music he loved in his patented neo-classical style. Yngwie (pronounced "ING-vay") Malmsteen was born Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1963, later adopting his mother's maiden name following his parents' divorce. He was an unruly child, and his mother tried without initial success to interest him in music as an outlet. However, when seven-year-old Yngwie saw a television special on the death of Jimi Hendrix featuring live performance footage of Hendrix setting his guitar on fire, he became obsessed with the guitar, learning to play the music of both Hendrix and favorites Deep Purple. Through Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's use of diatonic minor scales over simple blues riffs, Malmsteen was led toward classical music, and his sister exposed him to composers like Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Mozart. He spent hours practicing obsessively until his fingers bled, and by age ten, his mother allowed him to stay home from school to develop his musical talents, particularly since he was considered a behavioral nightmare. Also at age ten, Malmsteen became enamored of the music of 19th century violinist/composer Niccolo Paganini, as well as Paganini's flamboyant style and wild-man image; this would provide the blueprint for Malmsteen's synthesis of classical music and rock. By the time he was 18, Malmsteen was playing around Sweden with various bands attempting to find an audience for his technically staggering instrumental explorations, but most listeners preferred more accessible pop music; frustrated, Malmsteen sent demo tapes to record companies overseas. When Mike Varney, president of Shrapnel Records — a label synonymous with the term "shredder" — heard Malmsteen's tape, he invited the guitarist to come to the United States and join the band Steeler in 1981. Steeler recorded one album with Malmsteen on guitar, but dissatisfied with the band's rather generic style, Malmsteen moved on to the group Alcatrazz, whose Deep Purple and Rainbow influences better suited the guitarist's style. Still not quite satisfied, Malmsteen formed his own band, Rising Force, with longtime friend and keyboardist Jens Johansson. The new band's first album, also called Rising Force, was released in 1984; it was a largely instrumental affair spotlighting Malmsteen's incendiary guitar work and Johansson's nearly equally developed technique. The album was an immediate sensation in guitar circles, winning countless reader's polls in guitar magazines, reaching number 60 on Billboard's album chart (no mean feat for an instrumental album), and receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Malmsteen's subsequent albums, Marching Out and Trilogy, also sold quite well and consolidated his reputation and influence as a composer as well as a soloist. However, on June 22, 1987, a speeding Malmsteen crashed his Jaguar into a tree; in breaking the steering wheel with his head, he received a blood clot in his brain which nearly killed him and extensively damaged the nerves leading to his picking hand. In the course of recovery, he learned that his mother had died and that his manager had swindled him out of his earnings. Undaunted, Malmsteen regained the use of his hand and recorded Odyssey, his most accessible, radio-friendly collection to date; the single "Heaven Tonight" widened his audience beyond a devoted core of guitar fans and helped push the album into Billboard's Top 40. Following a world tour including the then-Soviet Union, the Rising Force unit disbanded, and Malmsteen formed a new band in his native Sweden for 1990's Eclipse. The album was a success in Europe and Japan, but stiffed in the U.S. without much promotion. An angry Malmsteen left PolyGram and, prior to the release of 1992's Fire and Ice, he was married to and divorced from a Swedish pop singer. Fire and Ice debuted at number one on the Japanese charts, and Malmsteen toured the world again. However, disaster struck frequently over the next two years. Hurricane Andrew destroyed Malmsteen's Miami property; his manager of four years died of a heart attack; Elektra dropped him from their roster; a freak accident left the guitarist with a broken hand, in addition to frequent bouts of tendinitis caused by his lightning technique; and in August 1993, Malmsteen's future mother-in-law, opposed to his engagement to her daughter, had him falsely arrested for holding the woman hostage with a gun. The charges were quickly dropped, and Malmsteen secured a deal with the Japanese label Pony Canyon after his hand had healed completely. He returned to recording with a vengeance, releasing The Seventh Sign in 1994, as well as two mini-albums (Power and Glory and I Can't Wait), and then Magnum Opus in 1995 and the all-covers album Inspiration in 1996. After several years in near obscurity, Malmsteen returned to the headlines in 2002, after a fellow airline passenger threw water on Malmsteen after he allegedly made a slanderous comment about homosexuals. This incensed Malmsteen, who had to be escorted away by security, all the while he screamed to the passenger that she had "unleashed the f***king fury". This stint proved to be so popular in revitalizing his career that his come back album in 2005 appropriated the phrases as its title. While his popularity has largely faded in the U.S. due to a backlash against the excesses of '80s shredders, Malmsteen still finds audiences in Europe and is more popular in Japan and Asia than ever.

He did. Hendrix also gave gave major props to the late Terry Kath, the great Guitarist from the band Chicago.

Agree 100%. My subjective truly great list would include the above plus Robin Trower, Buddy Guy, David Gilmour, Alex Lifeson, EVH, Rod Price, FZ, Brian May, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Hillage, Steve Howe, Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, Frank Marino and many others. Hell.... there are a few friends of mine I consider to be truly great players. I've been fan of of Rory Gallagher since I saw him on Don Kirshner's rock concert in 1975. Amazing player. I'm a bigger Page fan but I certainly can see why The Major could prefer Rory... not a big deal... he's not wrong and neither am I. There is no best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This aint the Olympics. This isn't Bird vs Magic Happy New Year.

Houses was released in 1973... March I believe PG - Feb 1975 Presence - April 1976 Kashmir was written and recorded in 1974

Kashmir was played in 1975. So wasn't Trampled Underfoot, IMTOD, and Sick Again. The Song Remains The Same was footage from their 1973 tour.. not 1975.

He has the right to take it easy if he chooses to. He owes us nothing.... I've stopped waiting for anything new at this point... If something does happen, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks Deborah. I wish the same to you.

1 The Godfather 1 and 2 (they go so well together, counting them as 1) 2 Goodfellas 3 King Kong (1933) 4 The Sting 5 Jaws plus a handful of favorites. Ed Wood Pulp Fiction Modern Times Planet Of The Apes (1968) Get Shorty Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind Magnolia The Fugitive Ben Hur Ray Boogie Nights

I'll be 49 in March - I've been a diehard fan since I was 12 (1975). I've been a member here since 2001 and have always used the same name. I took a break from posting anything for a few years, I would check in once in a while though. I started visiting again more often this past March-April. I never got to see the band. They last played Boston in 1973. I did see Robert 4 times, Jimmy 3 times and JPJ twice...

Almost as surprising as someone thinking they can improve Carouselambra by chopping it up... to each his own I guess....

Gene has always said they wanted to be the "Heavy Metal Beatles" with 4 distinct personalities.

Wow... is it just me or did this thread lose about 3 pages worth of garbage...? Back on track...... I don't like Sammy Hagar all that much ....That tequilia guzzling, crappy lyricist, tell all book writing, abducted by Aliens, ..... jealous that he's not in Van Halen ..... 80 million dollar beach bum... Chickenfoot singer ..... great voice though. Merry Christmas all .. especially to Deborah.

sounds very promising. i woinder who will fill out the rest of the band.

I thought the contrast in styles worked really well.... You have Jack White who wouldn't use The Edge's effects rack if you put a gun to his head, He'd rather play a 20 dollar guitar he found at a Flea Market over the nicest Les Paul.... Then you have The Edge whose sound is completely processed and lives for effects ... and makes no bones about it. ... and Jimmy Page who is somewhere in the middle... the Jack of all trades. Mutual respect for what they have in common ..... and their differences.. The Edge sounded very out of place on IMTOD though....

Bono can certainly come across as being full of himself... But he's also a Great Humanitarian, He knows how to use use his celebrity power to do very important things.. He's in the same league as John Lennon and Elton John in that regard..

At exactly the same second I read this thread title, I looked up at the TV screen and Jon Bon Jovi was right there on an Advil commercial. The timing was uncanny. "singer, songwriter, philanthropist, father". Yes that's the order he called them off.... (Kind of like when Darien Taylor on Wall Street listed "World Peace" right after a "Perfect Canary Diamond" on her list of wants.) There's others I dislike more .... in fact I don't really even dislike Mr Jovi all that much... but I don't think I'd cross the street to see him perform. But he's Patriots Coach Bill Belichick's friend so he can't be all that bad. Let's see who else... Marilyn Manson made a complete idiot out of himself on That Metal Show last night. "Time to bring Satan back" yeah whatever. Why don't you shut the F**** up and let Biff Byford talk for half a minute. Not a big Ginger Baker fan... great influential drummer and all that, but a complete horses ass who rated John Bonham a 3-4 on a a scale of 1-10... Ratt's Steven Pearcy drives me nuts... But it's rather impressive how someone with such a monotone mediocre voice can make a living in music for so long. That's enough for now.

That is wonderful news. Very well deserved. He's had the most varied musical career of any professional musican I can think of.. Congratulations John Paul.

sounds good... Did Peter Wolf open?

Kenny Aaronoff is touring with CF at Chad's recommendation..They're close friends.. Chad played on the 2nd album. He's back with RHCP's. I'd love to see Jimmy and Chad play together. Watch that video... He's pulverizing ALS. Chad's a power house and he's rock solid.

Gary Oldman does pick the greatest roles Count Dracula Dr Smith Sid Vicious Lee Harvey Oswald just to name a few .... ok 4 and Jimmy Page . . . . that could have been incredible

Well that's what I get for trusting Wikipedia......

Trampled Underfoot from 1975 on.. Achilles Last Stand from 1977 on Nobody's Fault But Mine from 1977 on