It's so easy to make albums with overdubbing and editing these days, but I really prefer playing live and just getting the music to sound right because the musicians, the songs and the performances are good.
— Paul Gilbert
I love my job as a musician, and I am filled with gratitude that good people support my endeavors.
When it comes to songwriting, I grew up in the Seventies listening to AM radio. So I've all these pop songs running through my head from Paul McCartney and Elton John, and a lot of stuff that was written on piano.
My guitar playing was born from playing in my teenage heavy rock bands.
Normally, I can get through a whole show with one guitar pick.
Blues is the first step to get to jazz.
When it comes to vibrato, a lot of people look at their hands when they do it. Which is pretty much of no use. Because vibrato is one of those things you have to hear. There are some guitar things where the visual is really useful, like seeing chord shapes or scale patterns. But vibrato isn't one of those things.
Gilbert Hotel' is my first all-acoustic record.
As far as pedals are concerned, the test for me is if I step on it, do I seem to be playing better?
I did take some cooking classes in high school. Boys weren't really supposed to take them. I had to risk being made fun of.
Recently, I had some powerful magnets glued into the lower horn of a few of my guitars. This holds a metal slide in place so I can easily get to it and put it back, even in the middle of a song.
My life is a glorious tornado of musical projects!
On 'Fuzz Universe,' I think I've taken a giant step closer to the ultimate rock guitar sound and playing of my dreams.
I use the volume control on my guitar, both for dynamics and as a manual noise gate.
I think all of The Beatles were from an era when certainly playing was important to them, and they were cutting edge. But for all time, they're master composers.
I remember walking into a department store and you would hear an instrumental version of a Beatles song and it was usually kinda cheesy and very un-rock. Kenny G, for example, is a musician that I certainly dont want to sound like, but technically he is flawless but somehow the rock and roll aspect has been sucked out of it.
You could take any four people, no matter how wonderful they are, and if you make them live together on a tour bus for eight years and don't give them any time off, after a while everybody gonna start going crazy.
It took me a long time to accept the idea that the guitar can take the place of a singer.
I especially like the songs Hurry Up and The Curse Of Castle Dragon, and I often include them in my live show.
It's so satisfying as a guitar player to play stuff that's related to the blues.
The Great Guitar Escape is built around world-class seminars, concerts and jam sessions. It's a chance to learn and be inspired by some truly amazing musicians. And it's just a great way for everyone to hang out together in a beautiful place.
A Herd of Turtles' is the only song on 'Behold Electric Guitar' that is not strictly instrumental. But instead of singing, I am reciting a poem. My poem is about overcoming challenges.
It's amazing how a lot of the metal guys have never strummed! And it's not that challenging, but it really opens up a lot of doors in ways they might not have imagined.
I've realized that, as the years have gone on, I have become completely impatient with the demo process.
I'm Not Afraid of the Police' is the first song I wrote and recorded since moving back to Los Angeles. It's a loud-pop, crazy-guitar, big-harmony song with all the police sirens created by guitars and ADA flangers.
I'll have a chorus pedal or a flanger or an echo, that kind of thing. But as far as specific pedals, the one that's really been a mainstay is the TC Electronic MojoMojo.
There's always more than one way to play the same notes because of the nature of guitar.
When I sing, there is an almost constant struggle with pitch and with reaching notes in the higher register.
While I was writing the songs for 'Fuzz Universe,' I was immersing myself in Bulgarian Female Choir music, Baroque lute and violin pieces, Johnny Cash songs about trains, cows, mules, and mining coal, the Bee Gees, and Ronnie James Dio.
Being a fan of pop music and rock bands, I am a reluctant convert into the art of instrumental rock music.
Rock shows are loud, so I try to use a sound that is warm on the high frequencies.
Mostly, I'm much more of a guitar player than I am a singer.
Yeah, my very first teacher when I was 6 was a big influence, because it was so boring that I quit guitar.
Every Mr. Big album is an event.
My initial ideas are just a starting place. As a record goes along, it becomes more about making discoveries and getting excited about new songs.
As human beings we're visual creatures, and it's so easy to play the guitar by looking at it. It's a real challenge to go from that visual way of perceiving the guitar to getting back to that pure sound connecting to the instrument.
After playing for 40 years, I've been able to evolve the way I see the fretboard and how I hear the guitar in my head.
On a more serious note, my challenges with hearing loss are certainly an interesting journey. The surprising upside is that my difficulties in hearing have motivated me to know my guitar fretboard better. My playing has become much more melodic and intentional as a result.
I waited until the end of the 'Behold Electric Guitar' recording sessions to record ‘A Herd of Turtles,' as I knew the unusual arrangement might raise some eyebrows.
It's so easy to practice out of context. For example, if you're learning a scale, you take that scale and you sit in your room and you go up and down the fretboard, over and over. You've gotta do that, because you need to get that scale working. But you have to keep in mind that that's not the finished product. That's the starting point.
I worked out the keyboard parts on the progressive rock classic 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' and somehow managed to play it all on acoustic guitar.
I really genuinely love 'To Be With You.' I don't get tired of playing it.
I've certainly enjoyed doing clinic tours for larger audiences, but the most valuable teaching experience has been the hundreds of lessons that I've given where I can hear the students play.
A scale is just the notes that are in a chord played one at a time instead of together. That's what has allowed me to go through the possible notes that work with a chord and make choices about which ones I like best. I go through by ear; you can do it by theory too, but the best way is to learn by ear.
The band that made me want to be a musician in the first place was the Beatles. And I think John Lennon used to say something like, ‘We're just a singing group,' when he talked about the band. So that's what I say about Mr. Big - we're a singing group!
As always, my influences are diverse and not what you might expect from a 'heavy metal' artist.
Teaching has made me realize that a lot of my fast playing is the musical equivalent of, ‘Umm… umm… uhh...' - it's like when you're trying to think of the next thing to say that actually has meaning, you fill space. ‘Umm' has about the same meaning as my fast playing.
It is the universe where all rock players live- we all use distortion, overdrive, gain and saturation. I call it ‘fuzz.'
Two words: Kasim Sulton. I've been a Utopia fan for a long, long time, and Kasim's a pop hero of mine. I have to hold myself back from asking him a million Utopia questions.
I was doing a lot of teaching on my online guitar school and I started to use vocal melodies as a way of teaching my students. To be able to do that, I had to learn them myself.
