Paul Gilbert

.Paul Gilbert

Background information

November 6, 1966 (age 42)

Born
Carbondale, Illinois

Instrumental rock, heavy metal, hard

Genre(s) rock, power pop, neo-classical metal,
speed metal, progressive metal

Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboards,

Instrument(s)
Percussion

Years active 1985–present

Label(s) Universal Japan, Shrapnel

Associated
Mr. Big, Racer X
acts

Website Official website

 Notable instrument(s)

Ibanez PGM signature series

Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966 in Illinois, USA) is an American musician. He
is well known for his guitar work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums. He
also joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci on the 2007 G3 tour.

Shrapnel Records
Around 1981-82 Paul first contacted Mike Varney, founder of Shrapnel Records, asking for a gig
with Ozzy Osbourne. At the time Varney couldn't think why Osbourne would want a 14 year old
guitarist, but after listening to his demo it changed his mind. They talked for the next 3 years,
until Paul came to L.A for the GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology), and then was ready to
record Racer X's debut album Street Lethal.

Racer X
Formed in Los Angeles in 1985, Racer X originally comprised Paul Gilbert (guitar), Juan
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 (later known for being the drummer for Judas Priest) 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. Paul Gilbert gained recognition as one of the
fastest guitar players in the world due to incredibly technical pieces like "Frenzy", "Scarified",
"B.R.O." and "Scit Scat Wah". Gilbert left Racer X in 1988. Racer X carried on for a short time
with guitarist (and fellow GIT alum) Chris Arvin and vocalist Oni Logan (later of George
Lynch's Lynch Mob) when singer Jeff Martin departed to play drums in Jake E. Lee's Badlands,
in which he replaced Eric Singer who left to join Kiss. Shortly thereafter, the members of the re-
invented Racer X went their separate ways. The original band would eventually reform
(allthough without Bruce Bouillet, who in-turn did produce the first reunion record), after Paul
received an e-mail from a disgruntled fan under the alias "Snakebyte" about the musical direction
of his solo albums.[citation needed] Snakebyte accused Paul of abandoning the shred guitar genre that
he helped popularize with Racer X.[citation needed]
Paul contacted the members of Racer X, and all agreed to return, with the exception of Bruce
Bouillet. In mid-1999 the band recorded the album Technical Difficulties. Technical Difficulties
went gold in Japan, and Racer X's new record label requested a follow-up. In late 2000, the band
released another album, Superheroes. The record was mixed by former Racer X guitarist, Bruce
Bouillet.

In order to further capitalize on their new-found success in Japan, Universal Japan requested that
the band record a live show for another live CD and DVD. On May 25, 2001, the band played
their first live performance in thirteen years to a sold-out crowd at the famed Whisky a Go Go in
Los Angeles. The show was recorded for both audio and video, and in 2002, both the CD and
DVD were released under the name Snowball of Doom.

In January 2002, in support of Superheroes and Snowball of Doom, Racer X toured Japan and
Taiwan. The band performed these shows in their Superheroes costumes, and the final show, in
Yokohama, was hastily recorded in two tracks on the sound board and was to be later released as
Snowball of Doom 2. Later that year, Universal Japan pushed for another Racer X release. In
October 2002, all four members of Racer X gathered at Gilbert's house in Las Vegas to record
Getting Heavier, which was sold alongside Snowball of Doom 2 in a package deal. Although the
album was a successful release in Japan, some fans were disappointed with the lighter tracks,
which resembled a Paul Gilbert solo album more so than a traditional Racer X album.

Racer X performed at the 2009 NAMM show at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim,
California. Andy Timmons and his band opened the show, followed by a solo set from Paul
Gilbert, and finally Racer X. The Racer X lineup consists of Paul Gilbert, Scott Travis, Jeff
Martin and John Alderete. [1]

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 on drums and singer Eric
Martin. The band was initially a huge success in Japan, and became famous internationally in
1991, with the release of their second album, Lean Into It. This album 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 1990s. He left the band in 1997 to pursue a
solo career, and was replaced by Richie Kotzen. Mr. Big disbanded in 2002.

In June 2009, Paul Gilbert reunites with the rest of the original Mr. Big bandmembers: Eric
Martin, Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey for a reunion tour in Japan.

Projects
In May 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. 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. In September 2005, he joined Portnoy, Sean Malone,
and Jason McMaster in the Rush tribute band Cygnus and the Sea Monsters. In May 2006, he
joined Portnoy, Gary Cherone, and Billy Sheehan to form Amazing Journey: A Tribute to The
Who, playing three shows. The band (excluding Sheehan) destroyed their equipment after the
show in homage.

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

In 2007, Paul Gilbert toured with Bruce Bouillet for promotion of his first instrumental album,
Get Out of My Yard, which was released in 2006. Also joining him was his wife, Emi Gilbert, on
keyboards. Paul Gilbert also joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci in the 2007 G3 tour. This was
the 5th North American G3 run and the 12th tour worldwide since its inception.

On January 23, 2008, Paul released an instrumental CD titled Silence Followed By A Deafening
Roar. It was released in Europe on March 31, 2008, and in America on April 8, 2008. This is
Paul's second instrumental album.[2]

On October 22, 2008, Paul released an album with vocalist Freddie Nelson. [3] The collaboration
has been described as a cross of Queen and Mr. Big. [4] They will be playing their first live shows
in the first days of February 2009, with more dates to be announced. [5]

Paul with Racer X performed at the 2009 NAMM show at the Anaheim Convention Center in
Anaheim, California. Andy Timmons and his band opened the show, followed by a solo set from
Paul Gilbert, and finally Racer X. The Racer X lineup consisted of Paul Gilbert, Scott Travis,
Jeff Martin and John Alderete. [1]

Paul also joined George Lynch and Richie Kotzen on the Guitar Generation tour. [6]

Paul has also been confirmed as a performer at the 2009 Tuska Open Air Metal Festival.

Influences and Style

Talking about his influences, Paul mentions many different artists, including: Randy Rhoads,
Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower,
Judas Priest, Akira Takasaki, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Van Halen and The Ramones. Paul has stated
many times that he was heavily influenced by his uncle Jimi Kidd who was instrumental in
getting Paul interested in playing the guitar. He is also a great fan of The Beach Boys and The
Beatles. He states on the Space Ship Live DVD that George Harrison is one of his favorite guitar
players. Guitar World magazine declared him one of 50 of the world's fastest guitarists of all
time, along with Buckethead, Eddie Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Gilbert composes music in a wide variety of styles including pop, rock, metal, blues, 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.

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 in a late 1980s/early 1990s
series entitled "Terrifying Guitar 101". 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) regularly, and is also an "honorary dean" of the GIT division in Japan. Paul visits Japan,
enjoying the lifestyle and like his Shrapnel labelmate Marty Friedman, who to this day still lives
in Japan and speaks Japanese fluently. Gilmour is famously known for his instructional videos
which teach students to "pull a rabbit out of the guitar". Gilbert now writes a column for Guitar
World entitled "Shred Alert". One of his most famous pupils is avant-garde musician
Buckethead.[7].

Gear
Paul Gilbert primarily uses his Ibanez PGM signature series guitars[8], identified by their unique
painted "f-holes". Although earlier PGM models featured the Ibanez Lo-Pro/Edge double locking
tremolo system, many of his guitars (such as his main PGM300) have since been modified to
accommodate a fixed bridge, hence the Ibanez PGM301 series. Along with his signature guitars,
Gilbert often uses his sticker-covered "Dino" Ibanez RG750, in addition to a wide variety of
Ibanez solidbody and semi-hollow electric guitars. Recently, Gilbert has been using Ibanez
"Fireman" guitars, which he designed himself. [9]

Regarding amps, Gilbert used ADA preamps and rack effects units early in his career prior to
switching to Laney amplifiers. He praised the Laney amps as having "the best natural distortion
of any tube amp ever heard".[citation needed] Since the G3 2007 tour however, Gilbert stated that
playing with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci inspired him to take a closer look at his own guitar
sound. As a result of his search he found the Marshall Vintage Modern series. He currently uses
the Marshall Vintage Modern 2266c combo amps. Paul uses Jim Dunlop Tortex picks, of which
he prefers the orange (.60mm) picks.

Paul used the following effects as of his tour of Europe in 2008 (he used 12 effects in total):

Homebrew Electronics Bajo Mos

Homebrew Electronics Detox EQ

Tc electronics nova delay

Homebrew Electronics compressor retro

Mxr phase 100

 Boss Digital Delay DD-3

Ibanez Airplane Flanger

Mxr blue box

Homebrew Electronics THC chorus

Robert Keeley Nova Wah LE

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress

Korg Pitchblack tuner

And 2 no name pedals with a mxr sticker on them, they are both loop pedals.

Paul also used a modified vintage ADA Flanger from the 1980s (source: Berlin VIP session
interview). You can hear it on tracks like 'Bucket of Rocks', and he also uses it on the 'Snowball
of Doom' DVD. Paul stated the flanger had been modified. He uses it to change the pitch from
high to low to create a sound similar to a dive bomb. Unfortunately, during Paul's 2008 European
tour, his trusty ADA Flanger broke. Thankfully, before the pedal broke, he and Ibanez
collaborated to make a similar pedal, with both a regular flanger mode and a mode which can be
set to create a close approximation of the ADA pedal's sound, and the pedal has been released as
the Ibanez Paul Gilbert AF-2 Airplane Flanger. He also uses the Psilocybe phaser and THC
chorus pedals from Home Brew Electronics.

In the intro to "Get Out Of My Yard" Paul uses a Boss DD-3 Delay pedal to achieve the altered
pitch looped effect at the beginning of the track. This was also demonstrated by Paul on the
instructional DVD of the same name.

In 2009, Ibanez released a new PGM model, the Ibanez PGM401, which is rather different from
most of Paul's previous models, with an ash body (most of his previous models were made of
basswood, although his PGM800 guitar was made of lightweight ash (a similar but different
wood than that used in the PGM401), Trifade Burst finish, Cosmo Black hardware and a regular
headstock replacing the reversed one of the previous models. Also, rather than the DiMarzio
PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Super Distortion pickups used in his previous models, the PGM401
comes with Paul's favorite humbucker model for the past five years, the DiMarzio Air Classics,
arranged in a dual humbucker arrangement. Paul has stated that he had the bridge pickup moved
1 mm closer to the neck, which he said results in a warmer and thicker sound, particularly for the
high notes he often uses in soloing. The F-holes are 3% smaller. This is because the guitar has
pickup mounted rings. But perhaps the biggest difference from other current Ibanez guitar
models, is that the PGM401 uses the old late-1980s neckjoint, which is thicker than the current
neckjoints on other Ibanez guitars.[10]
References
1. ^ a b http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/upcoming_tours/racer_x_to_perform_at_namm.html
2. ^ News
3. ^ http://www.paulgilbert.com/andFreddieNelson.html
4. ^
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=10
7554
5. ^ http://www.paulgilbert.com/Tour2009.html
6. ^ http://abrowndudedesign.com/GuitarGeneration/email.htm
7. ^ Buckethead Biography, NME, Accessed Jan 6, 2009
8. ^ http://www.paulgilbert.com/FAQ.html
9. ^ http://www.ibanez.co.jp/japan/news/f_products/2009/Fireman/index.html
10. ^ http://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_pgm401_tfb.htm

The ever greatest guitarist who’s speed and skill can never
be matched.