Paul Gilbert (musician)
Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966 in Carbondale , Illinois ) is an American rock musician and guitar teacher who is known for his extraordinary virtuosity and unusual methods of guitar playing . For example, in the song "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy" of his band Mr. Big, which he co-composed, he uses a cordless screwdriver with picks to play.
Musical career
Gilbert says he was interested in music when he was five years old when his parents gave him a kid's guitar with a battery-powered amplifier for his birthday. When he was 9 years old, he became interested in rock music; His favorite bands at the time include Led Zeppelin , Kiss and Aerosmith . At the age of 15 he introduced himself to US talent scout Mike Varney from Shrapnel Records with a demo cassette and asked him to get him an audition appointment with Ozzy Osbourne . Gilbert was featured in Varney's Spotlight column and won the LA Guitar Wars in Losangeles. In 1984, Varney helped Gilbert move to Hollywood and begin his intensive studies at the Guitar Institute of Technology. The guitarist gained his first experience in the studio with the group "Black Sheep", with whom he recorded the album Trouble in the Streets , in which Dokken guitarist George Lynch was also involved.
In 1985 he founded his first professional cover band Electric Fence and earned his living with it, in addition to his job as a guitar teacher in the guitar department ("Guitar Institute of Technology", GIT) of the Musicians Institute , a renowned music college in Los Angeles , where he among other things the young Buckethead taught. In 1986 he founded the band Racer X . Another student of his time at GIT was Bruce Bouillet, whom Gilbert faced with difficult tasks. In contrast to other students who confronted their teacher with questions about technology the next day, Bouillet had done his homework and mastered the techniques. Gilbert later said: "We went through this for five weeks - then I got scared that the guy would soon be better than me." He brought Bouillet as the second guitarist to Racer X, and together with him the band recorded their second album, Second Heat . Despite some success, the group broke up in 1988, but came back together in 1999 and recorded albums or concerts in loose succession.
Gilbert was best known for the band Mr. Big , which he founded in 1989 together with rock bassist Billy Sheehan after a jam session and with whom he produced four studio and five live albums. When Gilbert left Mr. Big in 1996 , he decided to pursue a solo career.
In 2007 Paul Gilbert appeared with John Petrucci and Joe Satriani as part of the G3 project , in 2008 he released the album United States together with singer Freddie Nelson .
In 2009 Paul Gilbert ventured on a reunion tour with his band Mr. Big on a comeback tour with the original line-up, after which the group released the live CD and the DVD Back to Budokan . In 2010 the group went into the studio and recorded a new album with the original line-up for the first time since 1996, which was released in January 2011 under the title What if ... on Frontiers Records .
In 2012 the solo album Vibrato was released ; Stone Pushing Uphill Man was released in 2014 and I Can Destroy in 2015 .
Discography
- Black Sheep
- Trouble in the Streets (1985)
- Racer X
- Street Lethal (1986)
- Second Heat (1987)
- Live Extreme, Vol. 1 (1988)
- Live Extreme, Vol. 2 (1991)
- Technical Difficulties (1999)
- Superheroes (2000)
- Live at the Whiskey: Snowball of Doom (2001)
- Getting Heavier (2002)
- Live at the Yokohama: Snowball of Doom 2 (2002)
- Mr Big
- Mr. Big (1989)
- Lean Into It (1991)
- Bump Ahead (1993)
- Hey Man (1996)
- Back to Budokan (2009)
- What if ... (2011)
- ... The Stories We Could Tell (2014)
- Defying Gravity (2017)
- Solo albums
- Tribute To Jimi Hendrix (1991)
- King of Clubs (1997)
- Flying Dog (1998)
- Beehive Live (1999)
- Alligator Farm (2000)
- Raw Blues Power (2002)
- Burning Organ (2002)
- Paul The Young Dude (2003)
- Gilbert Hotel (2003)
- Acoustic Samurai (2003)
- Space Ship One (2005)
- Get Out Of My Yard (2006)
- Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar (2008)
- United States (2008); with Freddie Nelson
- Fuzz Universe (2010)
- Vibrato (2012)
- Stone Pushing Uphill Man (2014)
- I Can Destroy (2015)
- Behold Electric Guitar (2019)
- Numerous guitar instructional videos (Intense Rock pt. 1 & 2, Guitars from Mars Classic & Rock, Paul Gilbert's Terrifying Guitar Trip, Get Out Of My Yard, Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar - Guitar Instructional DVD and Shred Annex)
Equipment
Paul Gilbert almost exclusively plays Ibanez guitars, although the manufacturer has already produced several signature models for him, e.g. B. the PGM and the Fireman . He plays Ernie Ball strings (.009 - .042) and Jim Dunlop Tortex picks (.60mm).
He used to use a Laney GH100L amplifier live and in the studio. Since the end of 2007 he has been the official endorser for Marshall amplifiers. As part of the Frankfurt Music Fair in 2008, he promoted the vintage-modern combo, which he also used to record his album "Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Racer X-Article Klampfen, Wahn & Sensationen ; Rocks - The magazine for Classic Rock, issue 6/2010, pages 42 to 49
- ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , p. 47.
- ^ Paul Gilbert. In: PaulGilbert.com, accessed October 9, 2016.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gilbert, Paul |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gilbert, Paul Brandon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rock musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 6, 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Carbondale , Illinois |