Yngwie Malmsteen Addresses The Rivalry With Joe Satriani And Steve Vai

Yngwie Malmsteen joined an interview with Guitarist and talked about his relationship with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

Yngwie Malmsteen is a prolific guitar virtuoso who is mainly known for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music. Throughout his musical career spanning over 40 years, Malmsteen released 22 studio albums. Moreover, the guitarist also contributed to other bands and artists with his talented guitar playing.

Back in 2003, Malmsteen joined Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, who were both successful guitarists, as part of the G3 supergroup. As you may not know, G3 is a concert tour that Joe Satriani organized. Moreover, the tour features Satriani performing alongside two other guitarists. In 2003’s tour, it was Malmsteen who showed his guitar talents by performing along with Vai and Satriani through North America.

Recalling the time he toured with Vai and Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen shared his feelings about those performances. He stated that he had a good time on the G3 tour along with the two talented guitar players. Following that, Malmsteen noted that he normally plays for two hours, so playing for 45 minutes was an easy task for him at those times. The talented guitarist then revealed that he considers Vai and Satriani as friends, not rivals.

Yngwie Malmsteen told Guitarist that:

“I had a good time on the G3 tour of 2003 with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. To me, it’s only half the work. Normally, I play for two hours. So to play for just 45 minutes, it’s like, ‘All right, whatever. I’ll do it standing on my head.’ Same thing with Generation Axe. It’s easy work. I consider guys like Vai and Satriani friends, not rivals. I was on the phone with Vai yesterday, actually. We’re very close.”

It seems that the performance was worth seeing for the fans as it brought three iconic guitarists on the same stage. Below, you can check out Malmsteen’s performance with Stevie Vai and Joe Satriani.