paul gilbert

in an attempt to write something interesting for this blog, i've decided that i'll do some "profiles" of some famous guitarists, maybe for someone who is interested in finding stuff about them you won't find on wikipedia or something.

first up is paul gilbert, an electric guitarist from the bands racer x (heavy speed metal) and mr. big (mainstream rock) and now his solo career.

gilbert is in the top echelon of "shredders" out there; he has unbelievable technique and pulls off some of the most terrifying guitar acrobatics out there, however, as his career has progressed, he has managed to combine these skills with interesting and more musical songs so as to make his songs more interesting and listening.

gilbert is famous for his picking and string skipping techniques. he is one of the fastest and definitely one of the cleanest alternate pickers (picking the strings using up and down strokes with a pick, as opposed to a combination of strokes and hammer ons and pull offs) around. he favours string skipping over sweeping for playing arpeggios (the notes of a chord played separately). this means instead of "sweeping" the pick down the strings (only using a downstroke going over multiple strings) to play arpeggios, he skips over strings to play arpeggios. here is "scarified" (named so because of the "scary" techniques it involves) one of the songs gilbert is famous for:



gilbert's picking style is very percussive, aggressive, tight and more "free" than other fast pickers such as john petrucci (guitarist of progressive metal band dream theater). this means his picking runs are wider and more "open" than the more linear and "straight" lines of other players and fit more easily into his general playing. his technique and style is built upon the style of yngwie malmsteen (neo-classical metal guitarist who pioneered the genre). gilbert's right hand is also floating, which means only a part of his palm rests on the bridge of the guitar when picking, meaning he has no anchoring fingers on the guitar. a very good example of his picking style is in this video, from 2006.



gilbert has also mastered legato (playing using only hammer ons and pull offs with the left hand), as well as just about any other style used in heavy, shred based guitar and is a very solid all round guitar player, however, his music is very challenging and if anyone is attempting to play it, the right techniques must be employed and practiced!

in the last 3 years, gilbert has focused his last 2 albums on instrumental guitar music (no vocals at all on any albums) which has probably boosted his popularity with guitarists everywhere and i suspect he will come out with another soonish. this year, he is also being pushed very hard by ibanez. he has 3 new signature guitars out in 2009 and was named ibanez's musician of the year, with good reason.