Yngwie Malmsteen has dismissed the idea that rock music has exhausted its creative possibilities, arguing that originality comes from the individual artist, not from breaking the rules of music itself. He made the comments in an interview with Metal Kaoz.
The guitarist was asked to respond to claims that everything in music has already been played and recorded, despite the fact that music, like language, is built from a finite set of building blocks that follow mathematical rules.
Question: “And it’s interesting that because as you said the blocks are um finite. We don’t have unlimited amount of blocks. We have specific blocks and we have to follow the mathematics of music. But still you have people say everything has been played, everything has been recorded. So what is your response to that?”
“It’s that is the dumbest thing I ever heard,” Malmsteen said. “That’s like saying, ‘Oh, all the books have already been written.’ But they haven’t. Or, ‘All the paintings have already been painted.’ No.”
“Because there are the building blocks of music or language or whatever. Yes, they are set. But your mind, your soul, your heart, your body, your being is not set. It’s what you do with this. It’s the same thing as you can buy this guitar. It’s not going to be exactly the same as what I play. It’s more than that. But that’s the same thing. The tools, the tools are the same. That it’s what you do with it.”
“It’s like saying, ‘Oh, all the notes already been done on violin, so why don’t you put long more strings on it?’ No, there’s four strings and that’s it. That’s what you what you going to do with that f*cking violin. That’s it. And that that’s why I always looked at, you know, when people want to customize the guitars too much.”
He pointed to historical precedent to support his view. “I said Niccolò Paganini didn’t do that. He just took that piece of wood that he had and he made it do what he You know what I’m saying? Because he it was him. It was him. It wasn’t the violin. It wasn’t the language. It wasn’t the notes. It was what he did. That’s one example. And that’s how I look at what I’m doing, you know.”
Malmsteen made these comments during a discussion about the finite nature of musical structure and the question of originality in modern rock and metal.
Malmsteen’s philosophy on originality reflects his own creative approach. He released his twenty-third solo album, “Hell or High Water”, on 13 November 2026, after spending almost five months recording in his own studio. The album features four songs on which Malmsteen sings, with the rest being instrumental.
Malmsteen explained that he creates records by allowing them to flow naturally, developing perhaps a hundred ideas and selecting nine or ten for the final product. He decided long ago to make honest music rather than follow trends or listen to what others say he should do. This approach centers on creating passionate music that reflects his own vision.
Paganini remains central to Malmsteen’s artistic philosophy. The Swedish guitarist first heard Paganini’s “24 Caprices” on television at age thirteen, and nothing has influenced his guitar playing more than this piece for violin. The experience showed him a new direction, and he chose not to copy Paganini exactly but instead to play guitar music in that classical style using his own compositions. Learning the Fifth Caprice in A minor particularly helped develop his technique in arpeggios and deepened his understanding of harmony and melody.
