“I thought, ‘Man, I am so out of my depth here. This is like asking me to play basketball!’”: Rob Chapman recalls his trial by fire transcribing Yngwie for his debut session, and reveals what he learned about Malmsteen’s phenomenal picking speed

Rob Chapman and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Rob Chapman has been reflecting on his very first session job and as these things go it he was in at the deep end as the Chapman Guitars supremo and YouTuber was given the unenviable task of transcribing Yngwie Malmsteen for the Swedish maestro’s appropriately titled Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad DVD.

The experience, however, taught him some valuable lessons about session work – and also about how to approach Malmsteen’s technique if you want to replicate his formidable picking speed.