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Paul Gilbert

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Template:Guitarist infobox Paul Brandon Gilbert (November 6, 1966) is a guitarist best known for his work with Racer X and Mr. Big. Following his departure from Mr. Big in 1996, Gilbert pursued a solo career.

Early history

Born in Carbondale, Illinois, into a Polish[citation needed] middle class family, Paul started playing guitar at the age of 5, but soon gave up, becoming frustrated with just learning simple nursery rhymes. Around age 11, he took up the guitar again, but with a skewed memory of the technique; he played only with upstrokes, used only the low 'E' string and only used his middle finger on the fretboard. Frustrated after trying to play the intro to 'Barracuda' by Heart, he took lessons and his teacher explained the error of his ways. His technique corrected, Gilbert continued practicing and by the age of 14 he developed a local band in Greensburg, PA named Missing Lynx. They played together for approximately two years and wrote their own material. After Missing Lynx he then went on to join another local band called Tau Zero, but left shortly after, and headed for California. He was spotlighted in Guitar Player Magazine alongside fellow up-and-comer Yngwie Malmsteen.

Racer X

Formed in Los Angeles, Racer X originally comprised Paul Gilbert (guitar), John Alderete (bass), Harry Gschoesser (drums) and Jeff Martin (vocals). They were heavily influenced by Judas Priest and Gilbert's playing was reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen, displaying fast-driven solos with extreme-level technique. Gschoesser was replaced by Scott Travis in 1986, and Bruce Bouillet was added as a second guitar player. Bouillet was a very skilled player, as he had to play over Gilbert's always difficult and challenging phrases. Scott Travis was later known for being the Judas Priest drummer. Paul Gilbert gained recognition as one of the fastest guitar players in the world due to incredibly technical pieces like "Frenzy", "Scarified", "Technical Difficulties" and "Scit Scat Wah". Gilbert left Racer X in 1988, but he eventually would rejoin the band in 1999. In that year he recorded "Technical Difficulties", followed by "Superheroes" (2000), "Snowball Of Doom" (2002) and "Getting Heavier" (2002). Currently the band is inactive, but he hasn't issued any statements that he left the band.

Mr. Big

When Billy Sheehan left David Lee Roth's band in 1988, he joined with Paul Gilbert, who had left his former band, Racer X. They founded Mr. Big, with Pat Torpey in drums and singer Eric Martin. The band was a huge success in Japan, and became famous in 1991, with Lean Into It, their second album, which featured the ballad "To Be With You", which received strong media play and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gilbert continued playing in Mr. Big until the late 90s. He left the band in 1997 to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by fellow virtuoso Richie Kotzen.

Influences and Style

Talking about his influences, Paul mentions many different artists, including Judas Priest, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Kiss, Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and The Ramones. He is also a great fan of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He says that George Harrison is one of his favorite guitar players.

Gilbert composes music in a wide variety of styles including pop, rock, metal, blues, jazz, funk and classical, but is perhaps best known for his versatility and speed, which helped him be named as one of the "Top 10 Shredders Of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine. He is also considered to be one of the best proponents of alternate picking, tapping and string-skipping.

Instructor

Paul Gilbert wrote his own section of the British guitar magazine, Total Guitar, where he normally demonstrated guitar techniques in the magazine and accompanying CD. Even before that, he contributed instructional articles to Guitar Player Magazine (late 80s/early 90s). His period of working with Total Guitar spanned thirty-one issues until the November 2006 issue. Paul also teaches at the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT). He works a great deal with GIT's division in Japan, where he lived for a time before relocating to LA. He also was the former teacher of Brian Carroll also known as Buckethead.

Projects

In May of 2003 he played on an only twice-performing project called Yellow Matter Custard, a Beatles cover band consisting of Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Neal Morse (ex-Spock's Beard), and Matt Bissonette. A CD and DVD are available. They took their name from a lyric in "I Am the Walrus": "Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye".

He rejoined Portnoy along with Dave LaRue and Daniel Gildenlöw for a Led Zeppelin tribute band called "Hammer of the Gods" in 2004, and again with Portnoy in September 2005, with Sean Malone, and Jason McMaster in the Rush tribute band "Cygnus and the Sea Monsters". A CD and DVD of both are available.

Gilbert along with Mike Portnoy, Gary Cherone, and Billy Sheehan performed three concerts in the end of May 2006 as Amazing Journey: A Tribute to The Who.

He was also revealed to be the guest guitarist on the new Neal Morse solo album, Sola Scriptura.

Paul Gilbert is currently going back on tour with Bruce Bouillet for promotion of his new album, "Get Out Of My Yard" . Paul Gilbert is also joining Joe Satriani and John Petrucci in the 2007 G3 tour. This marks the 5th North American G3 run and the 12th tour worldwide since its inception.

Gear

Paul has an endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars, and uses the PGM signature series. His main guitar is a PGM300, however a few years ago he decided to convert it to a fixed bridge model, so Ibanez produced a model based on it which is called the PGM301. The majority of his guitars feature painted "f-holes". He is often seen with Laney amplifiers, and praises them as having "the best natural distortion of any tube amp ever heard." Gilbert uses few effects, especially in comparison to some of his peers. He uses a Dunlop Wah, a BOSS chorus and delay, and an MXR phase 90, running the delay pedal in the effects loop of his Laney amps. On stage he has also been seen using a Fulltone OCD Overdrive. Most recently at The Benefit for Cliff concert that took place at the House of Blues Los Angeles September 30, 2006.

He used ADA preamps and rack effects units prior to switching to Laney. He currently uses the GH100L head and various 2x12 cabinets.

Paul has also used a vintage ADA Flanger from the 70s. You can hear it on tracks like 'Bucket of Rocks' and he also uses it on the 'Snowball of Doom' DVD. Paul claims the Flanger has been modified and he uses it to change the pitch from high to low to create a sound similar to a dive bomb.

Trivia

  • He can speak Japanese
  • He has owned over 100 guitars during his career.
  • He played on the Joey Tafolla (a former student) album, Out of the Sun.
  • He suffers from tinnitus in one ear, and now wears headphones on stage to prevent further hearing damage.[1]
  • In the track "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Drill Song)" by Mr. Big, the final 16 bars of the solo were played using a cordless drill with three picks attached to the end. After playing this song, Mr Big got a sponsorship from Japanese power tool manufacturers, Makita, whose drills were used on all occasions from then on.

Discography

Racer X

Mr. Big

Solo albums

Other appearances

  • Humanary Stew - A Tribute to Alice Cooper
  • Light at the End of the Tunnel - War & Peace (with Richie Kotzen, John Norum, Jeff Pilson)
  • Guitars That Rule the World (1992)
  • Merry Axemas - A Guitar Christmas (1997)
  • Becker 2001, Warmth in the Wilderness -A Tribute to Jason Becker(Guitar and vocals for Hawkin)
  • Atomic Basement Tapes - Missing Lynx
  • Guitar Wars (2003)
  • One Night in New York City - Yellow Matter Custard (2003)
  • Two Nights In North America - Hammer of the Gods (2006)
  • One Night in Chicago - Cygnus and the Sea Monsters (2006)
  • Spin The Bottle - An All Star Tribute To Kiss (guitars on "I Want You") (2004)
  • Numbers from the Beast - An All Star Tribute to Iron Maiden (guitars on The Evil That Men Do) (2005)
  • Sola Scriptura - Neal Morse
  • 2 Become 1 - A tongue-in-cheek cover version of the Spice Girls hit.

Videography

  • Intense Rock - Sequences & Techniques VHS version
  • Intense Rock II VHS version
  • Guitars from Mars Japanese DVD release
  • Guitars from Mars II Japanese DVD release
  • Terrifying Guitar Trip VHS version
  • Eleven Thousand Notes DVD
  • Guitar Wars DVD
  • Space Ship Live DVD
  • Complete Intense Rock (DVD)2006
  • Terrifying Guitar Trip (DVD)TBA


  1. ^ http://www.metalsludge.tv/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=347&Itemid=52
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