YNGWIE MALMSTEEN's Advice To Aspiring Musicians: 'Don't Give A S**t What Other People Say'

Legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen took part in a performance and question-and-answer session at Sweetwater's 17th annual GearFest, which was held June 22-23 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. You can now watch video footage of his appearance below.

Asked what advice he would give to aspiring musicians who are looking to follow in his footsteps, Yngwie said: "There's so many things you can say about that. But the thing is that you have to have a passion for it. And if the passion's there, to quote Niccolò Paganini [Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer], my biggest hero — he said: 'To make others feel strongly, you must feel strongly.' In other words, don't try to do what someone else tells you to do; don't do something that you think other people are gonna like; do what you like, and don't give a shit what other people say."

Yngwie will take part in the 2018 edition of the "Generation Axe" tour alongside Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi. Beginning on November 7 at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California, the run will return to markets where the inaugural tour was celebrated and hit several new cities for the first time.

Yngwie's latest album, "World On Fire", came out in June 2016 via King Records. He told Seymour Duncan about the CD: "I spent two years [working] on it, touring, recording, touring, recording. And that's much, much better, actually, in a way. Back in the day I would write the songs then rehearse them with some musicians, then go and do a backing track and we'd record it, mix it, learn the songs to go play them on tour, then do it all again. That way isn't necessarily conducive to making the best music, y'know what I mean? So in a very, very backhanded way, this weird twist of fate in the music industry has actually made it a more inspiring environment, for me at least. I can write anytime and record anytime. My recording studio is always open, 24 hours. I can just record when I want and it's a beautiful thing."

Asked what his latest record sounds like, Malmsteen said: "It's a Malmsteen record. [Laughs] But I would say it's a little different. First of all, I do all the lead vocals on it. Any time I did lead vocals in the past, I was singing blues stuff. This time I decided to do lead vocals in my style of songwriting, so it's different in that way. It's a very hard-hitting album and some parts are very advanced, very complicated. But it's a broad record. It's definitely a must-listen-to!"