It blows my mind still. I remember watching this a couple of months after it was released in my teens, he def set the bar on what a hood shredder sounds like.
@@darkguitarist3476 Yep, me too. In fact, back when I downloaded SX songs (in my shameless teenage years) I ended up downloading that one Castlevania song from Symphony of the Night by mistake (The Tragic Prince, I believe) and for years I legit thought it was a SX song, lol. It sounds like it could be one of their earlier songs, easily.
And in the middle of this debate about his guitar skills, one may forget that he's also an amazing song writer and lyricist (within his music genre obviously), If one only sees Romeo's skills as a guitar player we are loosing half of his talent.
Yeah, I just recently got back into Romeo. I was never much into neoclassical, but man... his phrasing is pretty damn amazing. The Lane influence is totally clear. He's got some of the nicest vibrato, bends, prebends etc you can find.
This video set the pace for me, it was at that moment when I saw him playing that I decided to pursue that level of playing. Michael Romeo is such a great inspiration, crikey!
Many people, in this video as well, say that Michael is way too infuenced by Yngwie. Of course there is a certain level of influence, like inspiring Michael to be neoclassical or whatever, but Michael's style is way too personal and unique. Yes sure he plays classical music on guitar but that doesn't automaticaly make him a Yngwie clone or anything. He has a certain tone and color to his playing that I find way too different from Yngwie's.
He actually learned how to play classical guitar, as a kid if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think it’s just because of Ynwgie that he has a neo classical style.
@@lgnazio maybe in one dimension though, MRs got way more metal and Shaun Lane in his styling than yng. MR plays way more interesting ideas than yngs Harmonic minor saturations .
I don't really listen to neoclassical metal much, but Romeo's always stood out to me as one of the greatest melodic metal guitar players, far beyond being just neoclassical.
Romeo is an astonishing composer, and has incredible technique and precision , things that Yngwie didn’t devolop at the high level of Romeo. Yngwie is a fantastic virtuoso but that’s it, he’s not a progressive guitarist. On the other hand Romeo is a progressive guitarist, and it means that he can play every genere he wants to, from jazz to blues, from metal to neoclassical. If you didn’t study musical theory you can’t really understand how great his talent is
I didn't study musical theory and I really understand how great his talent is. and I'm pretty sure yngwie can play pretty much every genre he wants to (jazz, blues, metal and neoclassical kind of suggest your own limited genre tastes)
@@asesuserasnaidzelasit's always funny when someone gives it the biggun without a clue lol. There's loads of great sweeps and he picks the part that's entirely tapped 😂 (and a small amount of legato)
His comppositional language is much much richer that Yngwie's you can analize the chords and scales used in and their solos and you'd notice that pretty quickly, and you'd also notice why Yngwie's solos and licks sounds like the same thing 1000 times (hint is because they are the same thing)
You can tell he grew up on Yngwie or whatever, but he's on a completely different level. Yngwie was the first, the prototype, he paved the way, but there is a million guys out there way above yngwies level, even just on UA-cam. The only thing Yngwie has on everybody is the vibrato.
One of the most impressive things about Romeo is the fact his hands are small, fat fingers and he is a great virtuoso. He defeated every difficulty and practice a lot of scales and arpeggios in order to develop that great technique
@@yourDeath86 just keep practicing. Another example was the violinist Mischa Elman who was regarded as one of the finest violinists of 20th century. He had short and fat fingers.
@@vvmaster2010 thanks for the encouragement, i think i reached my best for my capability, maybe i can do a little bit more, but i will never reach the level of my favourite artists .__. by the way i never thought I'd reach the level I've reached...small consolation ^^" Thanks again for the anwer!
I agree, but his hands are fucking huge. I've tried some excercises from his dvd and the stretches are a complete nightmare, but you can't notice by watching him play. The guitar looks very small not because he's fat, but because he's enormous.
I had that same guitar when I was 16! Except the body was black. God I regret selling that guitar! It was an esp m-II with a maple neck and emg pickups.. that thing was amazing....it’s actually Cool seeing Romeo play on the same guitar.
its in his phrasing. trust me he has so much skill its just unbelievable. i can get close but it takes some serious practice. its a different style with note choice and phrasing. and sometimes the slow blues doesnt cut it. i believe in being diverse. in ALL aspects of ALL music. including metalcore, SRV, 80's metal, and the power metal/progressive you see right here. im glad people dont bash romeo's name around like malmsteen and zakk thinking they know best. romeo = a league of his own.
Who gives a shit what weight he is or what he looks like, unlike yngwie, this guy can actually come up with some amazing music, and he seems like a real nice guy
@Generalwalrus I don't know what the hell they are saying Michael looks like a really bad ass guy because of his facial features , plus anyone who plays guitar like that deserves respect
No way Michael Romeo is an Yngwie clone as I have seen some people say, I mean Yngwie wishes he can play as good as this and be this creative, and I say this as an avid Yngwie fan.
@Hertsman50 His tone doesnt sound shitty at all. I saw this video from the actual DVD and it sounds amazing. Its the youtube quality that makes it sound kinda off.
Many comments about Yngwie... technically Yngwie and Romeo maybe are very close, but pleaseee, in composition ROMEO IS BY FAR SUPERIOR. He didnt just copied classics, he EVOLVED THE Neoclassical metal ADDING HIS STYLE. Fat fingers they said...yes fat fucking divine fingers
I find it amusing that all the negative comments comes from people who can not comprehend how fucking hard it is to play this clean. Y'all seem to forget the fact that the playing in this video is phenomenal regardless who is playing. "yeah he is playing fast" Is what you can understand. Brothers, he is fucking string skipping all over the place, and picking every note. Oh right you don't even know what that means :D
If you recite a poem, do you remember it as a long string of individual letters? Probably not. The same is true with music. Rock and metal is also more improvisational than, say, classical music, so as long as a player like this remembers the chord progressions and the musical motifs, they can ballpark it, even if they haven't played the song in years.
watched this 15 years ago and it blew my mind.
watched again today, and it also blew my mind!
this guy is water.
That’s it… this guy blows minds
It blows my mind still. I remember watching this a couple of months after it was released in my teens, he def set the bar on what a hood shredder sounds like.
even the clothes are neoclassical... amazing!
hahahaha
Buhh stupid
From time to time I have to come back and watch this. It usually takes me a year or two to recover then I’m ready to watch it again.
Fantastic player...😂
One of the most musical shredders, every note means something.
Each note means something? What a weird thing to regurgitate.
@@jeffdillenbeck1278 OK
no wasted notes even though there is tons of notes
@@jeffdillenbeck1278 yeah, nice one
He calls his guitar Juliet
hahaha.. clever!
love how symphony x songs remind me of castlevania games. they sound so dark and ghostly to me.
5 stars!
Im 13 years late and yes I think of the same thiiiiiing ❤️❤️
@@darkguitarist3476 Yep, me too. In fact, back when I downloaded SX songs (in my shameless teenage years) I ended up downloading that one Castlevania song from Symphony of the Night by mistake (The Tragic Prince, I believe) and for years I legit thought it was a SX song, lol. It sounds like it could be one of their earlier songs, easily.
And in the middle of this debate about his guitar skills, one may forget that he's also an amazing song writer and lyricist (within his music genre obviously), If one only sees Romeo's skills as a guitar player we are loosing half of his talent.
He writes most of the music that isn't Played on a band mates instrument. like the orchestral parts
Yeah, I just recently got back into Romeo. I was never much into neoclassical, but man... his phrasing is pretty damn amazing. The Lane influence is totally clear. He's got some of the nicest vibrato, bends, prebends etc you can find.
5:16 that smile when you know you have nailed it.
The smile of superiority
@@subwayz_qt5 Nah, it looks more like "man, this shit is crazy, better remain focused to nail it".
Betcha cant play this
He's going light speed and still looks like he's cruising around. That's one of the cleanest fast playing I've seen
This video set the pace for me, it was at that moment when I saw him playing that I decided to pursue that level of playing. Michael Romeo is such a great inspiration, crikey!
melodies and classical,very pretty soloing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he ate malmsteen!so is he number 1 now
One of the most talented guitar player in the world!
Shawn Lane + Yngwie Malmsteen= Michael Romeo
Many people, in this video as well, say that Michael is way too infuenced by Yngwie. Of course there is a certain level of influence, like inspiring Michael to be neoclassical or whatever, but Michael's style is way too personal and unique. Yes sure he plays classical music on guitar but that doesn't automaticaly make him a Yngwie clone or anything. He has a certain tone and color to his playing that I find way too different from Yngwie's.
He puts much more emotion into his playing than Yngwie.
great guitar player!but the symphony x was boring
Guess he uses some minor9 arpeggios, something Yngwie rarely does. Very unique playing.
He actually learned how to play classical guitar, as a kid if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think it’s just because of Ynwgie that he has a neo classical style.
Yngwie has this guys poster on his wall
probably the best neo-classical metal guitarist ever
The Hound
Jason Becker...
2nd.. Yngwie Malsteem comes 1st
@@lgnazio maybe in one dimension though, MRs got way more metal and Shaun Lane in his styling than yng. MR plays way more interesting ideas than yngs Harmonic minor saturations .
@@lgnazio Nah, we're going for Becker. Way better contestant.
Def Becker no doubt
wow..im a 30yr old man. this is the 1st time watched this guy..his sound is amazing
what the hell...he's a guitar god
Far beyond the Yngwie.
Search "Pablo soler"
excellent guitar player
Far beyond the Paganini and Bach.
Pablo soler = meh 😒
HAHAHAHAH
This will never get old
I don't really listen to neoclassical metal much, but Romeo's always stood out to me as one of the greatest melodic metal guitar players, far beyond being just neoclassical.
I came back to this, and that demo of Damnation Game reminded me why he is my absolute favorite guitarist
This is a huge dose of inspiration for me.
That 1st finger tapping thing is so smooth and fast. Amazing guitarist.
Listen to some Symphony X. All his riffing and solos are like this and stronger.
Absolutely mind-blowing playing and tasty riffs.
Symphony x , my favorite band :)
One of the greatest ever 🔥🔥🔥
1:54 Solfeggietto CPE Bach 😏
all symphony x = bach beethoven etc...
Such an excellent guitarist, phenomenal imagination.
So amazing to watch his little sausage link fingers blur through these demos!!🤘🤣
Romeo is an astonishing composer, and has incredible technique and precision , things that Yngwie didn’t devolop at the high level of Romeo. Yngwie is a fantastic virtuoso but that’s it, he’s not a progressive guitarist. On the other hand Romeo is a progressive guitarist, and it means that he can play every genere he wants to, from jazz to blues, from metal to neoclassical. If you didn’t study musical theory you can’t really understand how great his talent is
I didn't study musical theory and I really understand how great his talent is. and I'm pretty sure yngwie can play pretty much every genre he wants to (jazz, blues, metal and neoclassical kind of suggest your own limited genre tastes)
One of the most underrated guitar players around! Here's my cover on Romeo's "Fear the unkown" guitar solo ua-cam.com/video/stwONAiA_3A/v-deo.html
Kiriakos GP Where can I buy that clothes?
sounds great
How is he underrated? He's placed on the 91st spot on the Guitar World's 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.
@@Smiley01987 should be no.1
@@roies7756 this. Should be at the top or very near.
The percentage of people in the world who can appreciate this is unfortunately small. Mind blown... Absolutely insane talent!!!!
Fantastic!! I love Michael Romeo, look my name xD
I saw them Live in Bologna 2008
That legendary sweeping sequence From Sea of lies at 5:00
Not a single sweep here, string skipped tapped arpeggios
@@asesuserasnaidzelasit's always funny when someone gives it the biggun without a clue lol. There's loads of great sweeps and he picks the part that's entirely tapped 😂 (and a small amount of legato)
More than 16 years and never get enough of this
of sins and shadows is the best solo ever for me.. and for everyone.
5.56 clean tapping. He's awesome .no dampener required
His comppositional language is much much richer that Yngwie's you can analize the chords and scales used in and their solos and you'd notice that pretty quickly, and you'd also notice why Yngwie's solos and licks sounds like the same thing 1000 times (hint is because they are the same thing)
You can tell he grew up on Yngwie or whatever, but he's on a completely different level. Yngwie was the first, the prototype, he paved the way, but there is a million guys out there way above yngwies level, even just on UA-cam. The only thing Yngwie has on everybody is the vibrato.
OMG, It's so good it hurts!
haha,gotta love how hes actually dressed like Romeo from juliet. XD
Sooooooooo underrated
i lov him.......clean....melody.....fast.....is use evry kind of technics....e his solo never boring
Michael is one BADASS MO'FO!!!
i love him and govan
Butter hand so smooth.
What a master!!!
NeoClassic reincarnation of Shawn Lane
One of the most impressive things about Romeo is the fact his hands are small, fat fingers and he is a great virtuoso. He defeated every difficulty and practice a lot of scales and arpeggios in order to develop that great technique
I have short fingers too, but unfortunatly not the same skills :'( very hard to play with a short pinkie.
@@yourDeath86 just keep practicing. Another example was the violinist Mischa Elman who was regarded as one of the finest violinists of 20th century. He had short and fat fingers.
@@vvmaster2010 thanks for the encouragement, i think i reached my best for my capability, maybe i can do a little bit more, but i will never reach the level of my favourite artists .__. by the way i never thought I'd reach the level I've reached...small consolation ^^"
Thanks again for the anwer!
@@yourDeath86 you’re welcome 😇
I agree, but his hands are fucking huge. I've tried some excercises from his dvd and the stretches are a complete nightmare, but you can't notice by watching him play. The guitar looks very small not because he's fat, but because he's enormous.
His solo album 'the dark chapter' is incredible, definately worth buying
Puta guitarrista!
O cara tem muita técnica e muito feeling.
Acho que o Malmsteen deveria aprender algo com esse cara!
5:26 sounds like a Friedman influence, but I think Romeo approaches the melodies in similar fashion.
That’s exactly what I was thinking
sooo good
Great phrasing
He has longer bar mid sections than typical yngwie compositions. People shouldn't make comparisons between them.. They're music is different
1st time ive seen michael romeo was in 2010 and i was so amazed, and until now still watching his amazing guitar skills.
What feel, GREAT playing / chops!
Jaw dropping.
Despues de tantos años de ver este video no deja de sorprenderme,tremendo guitarrista!
I had that same guitar when I was 16! Except the body was black. God I regret selling that guitar! It was an esp m-II with a maple neck and emg pickups.. that thing was amazing....it’s actually
Cool seeing Romeo play on the same guitar.
I've known a number of people such as him in the course of my life.
Enjoy your remaining days.
1:49.. i fucked it up!
1:50.. doesn't matter, im god hehe
Fuck, he is so good that I didn't even catch that hahaha
He is a metalgod!!!
its in his phrasing. trust me he has so much skill its just unbelievable. i can get close but it takes some serious practice. its a different style with note choice and phrasing.
and sometimes the slow blues doesnt cut it. i believe in being diverse. in ALL aspects of ALL music. including metalcore, SRV, 80's metal, and the power metal/progressive you see right here.
im glad people dont bash romeo's name around like malmsteen and zakk thinking they know best. romeo = a league of his own.
Pure, epic and legendary guitar pwnage!!
Michael romeo is Yngwie Malmsteen full upgrade.. Hahaha
Michael romeo, Malmsteen and michel angelo have that kind of rare disease
Beast tapping riff evar evar.
he is amazyng...... fuck
What a genius
Who gives a shit what weight he is or what he looks like, unlike yngwie, this guy can actually come up with some amazing music, and he seems like a real nice guy
fuck me, i believe he was my age when he did this. What am i doing with my life?
1 is enough!
nice clear demonstration 😂
awesome video
@Generalwalrus I don't know what the hell they are saying Michael looks like a really bad ass guy because of his facial features , plus anyone who plays guitar like that deserves respect
Is it a requirement to get chunky to be a great neo-classical guitarist?
Rockket Oldham No, but the longer the hair the shredder.
Rockket Oldham Yes, just like the best opera singers are very fat.
sounds like me,but i do more arpeggioes and harmonic minor scales
Not really...You just have to have that level of talent.
It increases sustain
Simply the monster!
its hard to breathe
No way Michael Romeo is an Yngwie clone as I have seen some people say, I mean Yngwie wishes he can play as good as this and be this creative, and I say this as an avid Yngwie fan.
no the impact is deadly
Right on Jaun
@Hertsman50 His tone doesnt sound shitty at all. I saw this video from the actual DVD and it sounds amazing. Its the youtube quality that makes it sound kinda off.
how 90's is this? :0
he makes me have faith in my small chubby hands
Wow.......
Siiicccckkkk 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Many comments about Yngwie... technically Yngwie and Romeo maybe are very close, but pleaseee, in composition ROMEO IS BY FAR SUPERIOR. He didnt just copied classics, he EVOLVED THE Neoclassical metal ADDING HIS STYLE. Fat fingers they said...yes fat fucking divine fingers
@66AngelOfDeath66 No malmsteen is a fat version of MR!
thats why hendrix died young god couldn't wait to learn from him
I find it amusing that all the negative comments comes from people who can not comprehend how fucking hard it is to play this clean. Y'all seem to forget the fact that the playing in this video is phenomenal regardless who is playing.
"yeah he is playing fast" Is what you can understand.
Brothers, he is fucking string skipping all over the place, and picking every note. Oh right you don't even know what that means :D
У меня волосы дыбом стоят!!!
when is symphony x gonna release a new album ?!?!?!
2035...i heard....ffs...lol
The Damnation Game? I didn't know Romeo was a fan of Clive Barker.
i exploded at 2:40
I have trouble understanding how he can remember all the notes.
Muscular memory also
fehd mohmid Exactly, muscle memory.
He is IN THE ZONE
If you recite a poem, do you remember it as a long string of individual letters? Probably not. The same is true with music.
Rock and metal is also more improvisational than, say, classical music, so as long as a player like this remembers the chord progressions and the musical motifs, they can ballpark it, even if they haven't played the song in years.
5:00 to 5:26 : epic and awesome !!!
After like 14 years I'm still looking at his perfect picking motion and feel so shitty as guitar player
more like wow at 0:00 to 5:56 :D
Su mano derecha es única.
this guy is possessed!He sold his soul !lol