Get ready for eargasms! Now broken-down by country, show date, and I’ll even attempt to put them “in the order they were performed”, using fan-submitted set lists. Video quality varies - some are awesome, some are meh, but all have one great thing in common… Paul Freakin’ Gilbert, live in the flesh!

* I am not posting partial songs or out-takes on this thread. If it’s less then half the song, or it’s just to show off an error, you can search it out on YouTube or DailyMotion. :)

Germany (Munich):

Oct. 10

User andibausm has a short clip of the end of Hurry Up, and also a partial song/Norwegian Cowbell, uploaded. From user Kasisk, there is also a nice clip of Paul talking about Bronx 1971 (labeled trashtalk, which means idle chatter, LOL. Paul was actually trying to educate & entertain the crowd) worth searching for.

- The Curse Of Castle Dragon

Because there is only one full song currently, I'm going to speculate about the setlist in the whitespace below. I'm 90% sure this was an almost completely instrumental set, based on some non-song footage of Paul discussing (in a low, strained, gruff voice - still ill, poor guy!) the key of Bronx 1971, so the setlist from Warsaw probably applies.

- Hurry Up
- The Curse Of Castle Dragon
- Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar
- Eudaimonia Overture
- Norwegian Cowbell
- Scarified
- Suite Modale
- The Gargoyle
- I Cannot Tell A Lie
- Jackhammer
- Bronx 1971
- Burning Organ
- Technical Difficulties
- Red House (Jimi Hendrix cover)
- Viking Kong
- Down To Mexico

That could be incorrect, but it's probably pretty close.

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

Get ready for eargasms! Now broken-down by country, show date, and I’ll even attempt to put them “in the order they were performed”, using fan-submitted set lists. Video quality varies - some are awesome, some are meh, but all have one great thing in common… Paul Freakin’ Gilbert, live in the flesh!

* I am not posting partial songs or out-takes on this page. If it’s less then half the song, or it’s just to show off an error, you can search it out on YouTube or DailyMotion. :)

Vilnius, Lithuania: Galaxy Club in Forum Palace

Oct. 6

* Great audio. Good video. This is a seated audience in a bonafide orchestral concert hall. A few minor voice issues (due to illness) - entire band's musical performance is high-energy and spot-on; the guitar work is nothing short of extraordinary.

.

- Intro solo + Hurry Up

.

- The Curse of Castle Dragon

.

- Norwegian Cowbell (first half or so)

.

- Scarified + Band Intro

.

- I Cannot Tell A Lie

.

- Down To Mexico

.

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

Paul Gilbert - Canberra Clinic
28 February 2008
Hosted by Better Music

.

Welcome and Down to Mexico

.

Bronx 1971

.

Technical Difficulties

.

The Curse of Castle Dragon

.

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

With the 2008 post season and Frank Caliendo spots in full swing, some of the premier players in the game take center stage.  Everyone knows the kinds of years the likes of Chase Utley, Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia, and Dustin Pedroia had.  They are the stars of the game.  Even if their respective teams weren’t in the playoffs, the common baseball fan would be familiar with their stats.

But what about the other guys?  What about the players who had great years but no one really seemed to notice because they played on Baltimore or Kansas City?  Hell, even middle relievers on good teams don’t get noticed.  Living in Boston, I hear so many times, “Wow, I had no idea how good J.C. Romero has been for the Phillies.  He sucked on the Sox!”

Well my goal here is to point out some of those players who have flown under the radar in 2008.  Here it is, the 2008 MLB All-Under-the-Radar Team.

C.  Ryan Doumit (Pittsburgh)
AVG .318  HR 15  RBI 69

1B.  Mike Jacobs (Florida)
AVG .247  HR 32  RBI 93

2B.  Joe Inglette (Toronto)
AVG .297  HR 3  RBI  37

3B.  Ty Wigginton (Houston)
AVG .285  HR 23  RBI 58

SS.  Christian Guzman  (Washington)
AVG  .316  HR 9 RBI 55

OF.  Raul Ibanez (Seattle)
AVG  .293  HR 23  RBI 110

OF.  Nate McLouth (Pittsburgh)
AVG  .276  HR 26  RBI 94

OF.  Nick Markakis  (Baltimore)
AVG .306  HR 20  RBI  87

DH.  Aubrey Huff (Baltimore)
AVG  .304  HR 32  RBI 108

SP.  Aaron Cook (Colorado)
16-9  ERA 3.96

SP.  Zack Grienke (Kansas City)
13-10  ERA 3.47

SP.  Justin Duchscherer (Oakland)
10-8  ERA 2.54

SU.  Ryan Madson (Philadelphia)
4-2  ERA 3.05

CL.  Jose Valverde (Houston)
2-3  ERA 3.38  SV 44 (lead NL for 2nd year in a row)

Thoughts?

Es ist bereits 25 Jahre her. Man würde es nicht denken, aber das RG Modell unserer Japanischen Freunde – Ibanez – ist bereits vor einem Vierteljahrhundert auf den Markt gekommen. Seither hat es seinen Weg in die 'Hall of Fame' des Metal und der 'Shredder Gitarre' gefunden.

Spider Web?

Ich wusste vorgängig nichts über dieses spezifische Modell und war deshalb ziemlich überrascht als ich den Koffer öffnete. Obwohl der Korpus (ähnlich einer Stratocaster), der Hals und die Hardware Standard für die RG sind, so ist das Finish doch alles andere als üblich. Ein Spinnengewebe (in dessen Zentrum ein Volumen Poti ist) wurde in den Korpus herein modelliert und erstreckt sich über die ganze Fläche. Der schwarze Korpus ist zudem mit einem rohen, körnigen Finish versehen worden. Nachdem Ibanez bereits Endorsement-Verträge für Steve Vai, Joe Satriani und Paul Gilbert abgeschlossen hat wurde nun als nächster Spiderman verpflichtet? Die Antwort ist wahrscheinlich nein – aber ich kann mir vorstellen sollte er eine Gitarre spielen würde sie wie die RG420 aussehen.

Meine anfängliche Überraschung wich aber schon schnell meiner Neugier herauszufinden, wie sich dieses Instrument denn an fühlt. Trotz der ein geschnitzten Spinnweben ist das Gewicht ähnlich den klassischen RG Modellen. Das Finish fühlt sich ein wenig komisch an und man meint schnell, dass die Gitarre aus Kunststoff gefertigt wurde. Dies ist jedoch nur ein Eindruck, denn wie sein Vorgänger so ist auch der Korpus des RG420 aus Holz.
Der Hals fühlt sich dann wieder sehr vertraut an. Dies kommt vor allem daher dass Ibanez diesen flachen und dünnen 'Wizard II' Hals (der sich hervorragend für schnelles Spielen und 'Shredding' eignet) schon seit geraumer Zeit standardmässig auf seinen Gitarren verbaut. Auf diesem Modell besteht der Hals aus drei Ahornstücken und einem Palisander Griffbrett - letzterem wurden Hai-Zahn Einlagen gegeben. Ein weisser Streifen wurde entlang des Halses eingelegt – ein Detail, dass bislang nur den High-End Modellen vorbehalten war.

Bei einem Blick auf die Hardware fällt als erstes der 'Edge III' Steg auf – einer von Ibanez kreierten Variation des Floyd Rose Tremolo Systems. Dieser scheint ganz robust konstruiert zu sein, kommt aber nicht an die Liga von wahren High-End Tremolo Bars heran. Ein kleines, aber doch komisches Details ist, dass zwar die ganze Hardware in schwarz gehalten wurde, man aber bei den Schrauben auf dem Tremolosystem doch wieder herkömmliche Schrauben aus normalem Stahl verwendet hat. Normalerweise sollte man annehmen können, dass die ganze Hardware im gleichen Farbton gehalten wurde – vielleicht hat aber Ibanez dafür auch einen guten Grund gehabt.
Bei der Tremolo Bar gibt es nichts auszusetzen – die Höhe ist optimal. Floyd Rose Tremolo-Hebel sind häufig ein wenig zu hoch eingestellt während dieser beim Spiel genau in Hand des Gitarristen fällt. Andererseits lässt die Konstruktion trotz seiner Qualität die Frage offen, ob sie jahrelanges, hartes Spiel und 'Dive Bombs' so ohne weiteres standhalten kann.

Bei den Pickups finden wir unsere alten Freunde die V7 und V8 wieder – direkt in den Korpus gelegt und mit einem EMG-Artigen Cover versehen. Die Tonabnehmer werden von einem Volumen und einem Tone Poti angesteuert und können mittels eines 5-Wege Schalters angewählt werden (Pos. 1 Steg Pickup, Pos. 2 Die inneren Spulen der gesplitteten Humbucker, Pos. 3 Die zwei Humbucker in parallel, Pos. 4 Hals Humbucker mit parallelen Magneten, Pos. 5 Hals Humbucker mit seriellen Magneten). Die sollte viele interessante Resultate geben wenn man die Gitarre mal einsteckt.

...wenn wir schon davon reden...lasst sie uns einstecken!

Ein Riff spielen?

Wie schon erwartet fühlt sich die Gitarre zuerst ein wenig ungewohnt an. Der rohe, granulare Lack gibt ihr ein komisches Gefühl. Zum Glück kann man das Holz darunter noch spüren – sonst würde sich die ganze Sache wie ein Spielzeug anfühlen. Aber dieses Gefühl verschwindet wenn man den ersten offenen Akkord spielt: Sie hat eine schöne Resonanz, ein gutes Ausklingverhalten und schnurrt schön in der Hand. Der Hals ist – wie typisch bei Ibanez – eine wahre Freude für diejenigen zu spielen, die gerne dünne Hälse haben. Wie bei den meisten anderen Ibanez erlaubt das Cutaway auch die höchsten Bünde sauber zu greifen. Jeder der schon mal eine RG gespielt hat wird sich auf dieser Spinnengitarre sofort zu Hause fühlen - sobald er sich an den Lack gewöhnt hat.

Weil ich in meinem Apartment meinen Laboga für diesen Test nicht ganz aufdrehen konnte habe ich diesmal zum ersten Mal einen Klassiker der Heimstudios zu Hilfe genommen: den Toneport UX2 von Line6.

Cleaner Sound Test:In diesem Beispiel habe ich eine Akkord-Progression in allen fünf möglichen Pickup Selector Positionen gespielt – angefangen mit Pos. 1 (nur der Steg Humbucker). Auf der rechten Seite habe ich die Gitarre direkt und ohne irgendwelche Effekte oder Modeling aufgenommen. Auf der linken Seite hört man das "clean guitar" Preset (eine Simulation des Roland JC120). Ich muss sagen dass trotz der Neutralität der Korpuskonstruktion die RG420 einen schönen, reinen Klang hat. Normalerweise sind die Tonabnehmer der Schwachpunkt bei einigen Ibanez Gitarren aber hier haben mich die V7 und V8 vollkommen überzeugt. Sie liefern einen Klang der nie zu aggressiv wirkt, aber dennoch einen hohen Ausgangspegel besitzen.

Pos. 2 und Pos. 4 des Pickup Selector sind interessant und tönen schon fast Strat-ähnlich – zur gleichen Zeit aber auch sehr eigen. John Petrucci Fans werden sich wohl die Pos. 2 auswählen, welche sehr ähnlich seinen Clean Sounds.

Verzerrter Sound Test: Eine kleine Demonstration ohne angeberisch zu wirken – und nur weil es Spass macht. Die Rhythmus Gitarre auf der rechten Seite ist auf die JCM800 Simulation geschaltet mit einem leicht erhöhten Gain. Für die Rhythmus Gitarre auf der linken Seite wurde ein "Sandman" Preset angewendet, das einen Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Emuliert. In der Mitte habe ich den Preset "Metal 80" (JCM800) benutzt.
Die erste Phrase wurde in Pos. 1 gespielt und die zweite Phrase mit dem Hals Pickup. Die letzten paar Noten habe ich gespielt um zu zeigen, dass das Tremolo-System auch wirklich funktioniert. Man kann die Charakteristiken der Tonabnehmer erkennen: Ausbalanciert und vielseitig einsetzbar geben sie dem Klang ein Gefühl von Klasse. Dabei bleiben sie immer präzis und geradlinig. Schön ist zu hören, dass der Hals Pickup sehr definiert bleibt während andere Tonabnehmer auf dieser Position schnell einmal diffuser im Klangbild werden. Dies erlaubt den Virtuosen ein schnelles, verzerrtes Riff zu spielen, ohne dass das Ganze in einer verzerrten, akustischen Suppe versinkt.

Fazit:

Generell muss ich sagen, dass ich mich an diese Gitarre gewöhnen könnte. Natürlich ist der auffälligste Teil dieses Instruments die Lackierung – die man entweder mag oder nicht. Eine solche Art der Oberfläche könnte für manchen ein wenig zu gewöhnungsbedürftig sein. Aber ich muss noch einmal klarstellen: die ist kein Spielzeug. Da steckt eine richtige RG unter den Spinnweben! Und wenn man die Einzigartigkeit und Eigenschaften der Gitarre anschaut dann gibt es dies zu einem wirklich guten Preis. Sollte die Spider Web nicht gefallen, dann gibt es die RG420 übrigens auch noch in "armor" Lackierung.

+ Solide Konstruktion
+ Ibanez Wizard Hals

+ Pickups mit sehr guter Qualität
+ Einzigartige Lackierung

- Die Gitarre fühlt sich wegen der Lackierung ein wenig nach Plastik an
- Tremolo System könnte mit der Zeit ermüden

]]> http://metalichicka.wordpress.com/?p=272 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:38:36 +0000 metalichicka http://metalichicka.ro.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/paul-gilbert-video-series-installment-8/ I have about 12 hundred billionty awesome Paul videos, so, here’s an installment. I’m going to work backwards chronologically, kinda… This is one of the series from 2008 which I have catalogued. It has to be my favorite of all of them. :) It is a 4-part series from NAMM. There are 5 videos in this series, including an interview. There are exceptional performances showcased. So tune in, and get ready to rock!

NAMM '08 series:

Norwegian Cowbell "part 1"

I Cannot Tell A Lie "part 2"

Bultaco Saturno "part 3"

Eudaimonia Overture "part 4"

NAMM interview

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

Norwegian Cowbell

Bronx 1971

Scarified (intro/short clip)

I Cannot Tell A Lie

The Gargoyle

and a super Norwegian...

Norwegian Cowbell (different cameraman)

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

Main Set:

.

.
Get Out Of My Yard (live paris 2007)

.

.
Hurry Up (live paris 2007)

.

.
The Curse Of Castle Dragon (live paris 2007)

.

.

Nothing But Love (live paris 2007)

.

.

Green-Tinted Sixties Mind, and a short bit of Twelve Twelve (live paris 2007)

.

.

My Teeth Are A Drumset (live paris 2007)

.

.

Rusty Old Boat (live paris 2007)

.

.

Technical Difficulties (live paris 2007)

.

.

3 E's For Edward (live paris 2007)

.

.

Spaceship One (live paris 2007)

.

.

Mt Fuji Xmas (live paris 2007)

.

.

My Religion (live paris 2007)

.

.

Let It Be (Beatles cover; live paris 2007)

.

.

Down To Mexico (live paris 2007)

.

.

Addicted To That Rush (live paris 2007)

.

.

Scarified (live paris 2007)

.

Encores:

.

.

Interaction (live paris 2007)

.

.

Not Afraid Of The Police (live paris 2007)

.

.

You Kids (live paris 2007)

.

.

.

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

]]> http://metalichicka.wordpress.com/?p=240 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:12:18 +0000 metalichicka http://metalichicka.ro.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/paul-gilbert-video-series-installment-11-2/ I have about 12 hundred billionty awesome Paul videos, so, here’s an installment. I’m going to work backwards chronologically, kinda… This is one of the series from 2007 which I have catalogued. It is pretty much every song from the G3 set (except Scit Scat Wah which I'll track down and add eventually). Various G3 shows are represented. Bruce Bouillet is playing second guitar. There are 7 videos in this series, with exceptional performances showcased. The prank footage is included! G3 was a great tour. So tune in, and get ready to rock!

Get Out Of My Yard, then Hurry Up

Radiator

Rusty Old Boat (short clip)

The Curse of Castle Dragon

Scarified

Jam (at the end) Feat. Foxy Lady, Purple Haze

Gilbert Kilts Petrucci (prank)

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

- Jenn

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul Gilbert
Interview with guitar legend Paul Gilbert
Posted: May 15, 2007
Author: Aaron Willschick

He might not be as much of a household name as the legendary guitarist Joe Satriani but guitarist Paul Gilbert might be one of the top guitar players in music today. Paul is best known for his work with the bands Racer X and Mr. Big in the 1990s, but since his departure from Mr. Big in 1996, Paul has pursued a solo career. Paul has become so well respected within the guitar community that none other than Joe Satriani asked Paul to join him as well as John Petrucci on this year’s edition of the G3 Tour, a regular tour that consists of Satriani and two other guitar players strutting their stuff on the guitar. The invitation for Paul couldn’t have come at a better time with the recent release of his debut all instrumental record titled Get Out Of My Yard, released last summer. We recently caught up with Paul in the midst of the G3 Tour to ask him about his new record, the tour and what’s it like to share the stage with the renowned Satriani.

The G3 Tour consists of you Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci and the legendary Joe Satriani. Even though you’re only a few dates in, how has the tour gone so far?
Paul: The tour has been amazing, it’s a great audience and a great format for the music I do and it’s just been a really nice way to re-enter playing in North America. Since I played in Mr. Big in the ‘90s, Mr. Big became very big in Japan and after I left the band I continued to nurture my solo career there and locally tour in Japan, South East Asia and South America. So this is the first tour I’ve done in America since the Mr. Big days so it’s been great.

The G3 Tour has been going strong now for over ten years and has consisted of some pretty amazing lineups of musicians every year. How and when did you first get approached about playing on the tour and what was your initial reaction to being asked?
Paul: I think the thing that made it happen for me was I finally made my first guitar instrumental record and so the music that I’ve got now sort of makes sense to fit; you know on the G3 Tour, it features a lot of guitar. And before that, I was doing more pop or rock music that has a lot of crazy guitar in it, but this is really one hundred percent in your face guitar that I’ve got on this new record. Also, recently I did some sort of one off jam sessions with Joe Satriani and it went really well so I think he liked the chemistry of us jamming together and really that’s the best part of the G3 shows, we have our individual sets but at the end we all get together and jam on a few tunes and that’s incredibly exciting.

The tour is of course a pretty extensive trek of North America, but are there any shows in particular on the tour that you’re looking forward to playing and why?
Paul: I’m looking forward to playing my home town. We’re playing in a venue that I’m really surprised about because it’s in Greensburg, Pennsylvania which is the town I grew up in. It’s not a big city at all, but there is a nice little venue there and when I saw it on the itinerary I couldn’t believe it because my junior high school is two blocks away you know, my dad still lives there on the corner, it’s right where I grew up so it’ll be amazing.

Joe Satriani is of course a huge name in the guitar world so I must ask what’s it been like playing and rehearsing with him?
Paul: It’s been great. I really enjoy listening to his set, he’s playing on his own set some very melodic stuff, plus you know you can rip your face off with the faster stuff as well. And ah, a huge vocabulary of sounds from the whammy bar stuff to weird guitar effects to playing very softly and beautiful to playing loud and huge and just stuff that you can’t even describe, you can only understand it by hearing it for yourself. But of course every night I get to interact with him because we do this jam where we sort of have a friendly guitar battle between the three of us, John, Joe and me. And that’s fantastic, we all push each other to higher and crazier and more musical levels than we would if we were just on our own so it’s been very inspiring. I’ve been taking the time in between my set and the jam just to practice, just to warm up for that because it’s very intense.

Do you guys just improvise your jams or do you rehearse at all together?
Paul: The song structure stays the same, you know we know when the verse is going to happen, but sometimes the solo, we’re not sure how far it’s going to go, we go until we’ve exhausted our musical vocabularies.

This tour actually fits in well with what you’ve been doing lately as you just released an instrumental album titled Get Out Of My Yard this past summer. Now that it’s been out a while, how do you personally feel about the record and are you happy with how it turned out?
Paul: Actually, it was a really good surprise for me because as a music fan, I don’t listen to guitar instrumental music very much. I really like Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien, when that came out that blew my mind and everybody else’s. Besides that, even some of the great guitar players, I’ve kept up more with what they do in a rock band format, I’m not really knowledgeable about guitar instrumental music. But of course I am a guitarist and the style of guitar that I play tends to be associated with guitar instrumental music so it’s sort of an obvious thing to try for me which is maybe why I’ve stayed away from it for so long. Finally I thought ok, you know I’ve got these tools, and I’ll see what I can build. And I really enjoyed the process, it was a good challenge and I thought that the album was pretty listenable which was really my main goal to make it listenable to even a rock fan like me because I’m use to hearing singers, you know, I like the Beatles, the Stones and Van Halen and stuff like that. So even though it is guitar, I don’t think you have to only be a guitarist to check it out and enjoy some of it.

Get Out Of My Yard is of course your first full length instrumental album. What made you want to do an album of instrumentals in the first place?
Paul: I think the challenge of it. For a long time when people would ask me if I’d ever do one, I’d always say oh I don’t like instrumentals and I thought it was time to give up whining and just you know see what I can do with the art to make it to where it fit my tastes. That’s what I did, for a lot of the songs I went back and kind of did my own version of the instrumental sections of songs that I like, you know I’d listen to bands like Rush or Van Halen and listen to what they would do in the instrumental sections of the songs and try to emulate that style because I love those kinds of bands.

What do you find more challenging as an artist in terms of songwriting, writing traditional songs with verses and choruses or writing instrumentals?
Paul: To me it’s really different. I sort of had to throw out all my rules and formats and writing habits that I’ve developed from writing songs with vocals and just start with a clean slate when I was doing instrumental songs which was scary. I didn’t know what I was doing, I had to do a lot of trial and error and there were a lot of times when I thought I don’t know if this is going to work you know, the things that normally work when I’m writing a vocal song don’t apply here, I can’t just repeat the first verse with different lyrics because there aren’t any lyrics. But I liked it, it really challenged me and it made me sort of kick start my imagination and try to come up with solutions to all these musical problems that I had and the solutions were interesting so it was really an enjoyable challenge.

It certainly requires a lot more creativity because you know; you don’t have the vocals that people mostly pay attention to...
Paul: Well it’s a different kind of creativity; I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s more. I mean in a way, the easy part of the album was when it was done I thought I don’t have to write any lyrics! [laughs] And actually, I’m so use to that process of writing lyrics that in the liner notes, I just ended up writing some unusual liner notes for every song because I still felt some obligation to write some words down.

Being such an accomplished guitarist, you’ve played with all sorts of other amazing guitarists but who in your opinion today is the most talented or your favorite current guitar player?
Paul: Well first of all, I have to mention yesterday I met one of my biggest guitar heroes while I was in Toronto, a guy named Kim Mitchell and I went down to his studio, recently he became a DJ as well and I went on his radio show and I did a short jam session with him on the radio and it just blew my mind.

Oh yeah I do know of Kim Mitchell. About a year ago he became an afternoon DJ on our classic rock station here...
Paul: I just love his playing, I’ve listened to him since I was a kid and I figured out so many of his songs. There’s an old Max Webster song called “In The World Of Giants” and the intro of that song is this really fast guitar line that’s always been a technical goal of mine ever since I was a kid, like if I can play that I can play anything. It was fantastic to meet him, I was really awestruck meeting one of my heroes. Other than him, touring with John and Joe I’ve been able to see deeply into their styles from playing with them every night and both of those guys are unbelievable. Let’s see, who else do I dig... I guess the other G3 guys too, I love Erik Johnson’s playing, he’s been on G3 before. But of course Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence, especially because of the age I was when I first heard Eddie, I was about twelve years old when the first Van Halen album came out and that opened up all kinds of new doors. I love some of the sort of Hendrix based guitar players that came out in the ‘70s like Robin Trower and Frank Marino and Pat Travers. I really like the vibrato guys from the ‘70s too like Brian May. And even Lesley West, he had a fantastic vibrato in the ‘70s and I’m kind of trying to emulate that style now.

Aside from the current G3 Tour, what else do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Paul: Lots of touring. I got a European tour coming up that I’m headlining, I got a South American tour that’s in the works that we’ve almost confirmed and if Joe invites me for more G3, I might do that.

Any albums or writing and recording planned?
Paul: Well Get Out Of My Yard definitely turned out better than I expected and the process of it was fun and certainly after doing G3 I’m in the instrumental groove so I may see if I can top my first effort and see if I can do another instrumental record.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

]]> http://metalichicka.wordpress.com/?p=219 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:12:26 +0000 metalichicka http://metalichicka.ro.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/paul-gilbert-video-series-installment-12/ I have about 12 hundred billionty awesome Paul videos, so, here’s an installment. I’m going to work backwards chronologically, kinda… This is one of the series from 2007 which I have catalogued. It is from Stazione Birra, Rome, Italy. This is one of my favorite series (along with the Santiago and Gran Canaria series)! Splendid performance by the entire band. There are 14 videos in this series, with exceptional performances showcased. The audio is low in a few of these but the energy and vibe on all of them is brilliant, and intense. 2007 was a great European tour. So tune in, and get ready to rock!

.

Get Out Of My Yard, and Hurry Up

.

Down To Mexico (clip, wearing a sombrero owned by an audience member)

.

Rusty Old Boat

.

Fly Me To The Moon

.

Fly Me To The Moon (same show, different view)

.

Unaccompanied Solo

.

Spaceship One

.

Green-Tinted Sixties Mind

.

Scarified

.

Technical Difficulties

.

Addicted To That Rush (same show, long version)

.

Addicted To That Rush (clip)

.

I Like Rock

.

My Religion

.

.

Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

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Paul Gilbert, the legendary guitar hero, ex-member of the 80s supergroup Mr. Big, a brilliant virtuoso and world-famous guitar instructor, was interviewed by Rockcor ahead of his Moscow shows planned for this summer as a part of his tour with another maestro of contemporary rock guitar - Joe Satriani. The larger part of May Gilbert and Satriani spent touring Western Europe, and this interview was done on the 20th, a few hours before the start of their show at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

A small backstage lounge where we sat down to talk was brightly lit by the spring daylight pouring in through tall sash windows, and Gilbert looked upbeat and in good spirits. At 42 he resembles as smiley affable teenager rather than a rock vet who has spend over 20 years in the music business. Tall, lean, with a mop of brown hair, a genial smile and an interested, attentive expression, he is one of those rarest of rock stars who was influenced by fame in the best way possible. Despite the fact that during the two decades of his career he has sold millions of records, worked with the most respected professionals in contemporary music, and was named the fourth on the list of the world's best guitar players by GuitarOne Magazine, he has no time to rest on his laurels, and continues to work incessantly. In ten years since he left Mr.Big and went solo, Gilbert released 13 albums and is constantly touring. His latest album, Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar, came out in April, and is a great example of how this guitarist continues to grow and develop, constantly bringing new elements into his expansive vision of music - from classical influences to polyphonic funk.

Confident balls-to-the wall rock, however, remains his main theme, even though Gilbert now makes it sound more complex and much more interesting than it did on Mr. Big records. His perfect sense of melody and an ability to direct the rhythm along all imaginable lines, remain the same, but having grown up and departed from a situation where he was always required to come up with sure-fire radio hits directed at commercial success, he now sounds truly liberated, and his music - more open, dynamic and inventive.

Changes in the music business since the time when Gilbert was a hot young guitar slinger with a perm wearing bright pink trousers, things that remain important in guitar craft regardless of trends and fashions, and ways in which anyone can start their career were some of the subjects we spoke about in this interview.

Rockcor: You are in the middle of a UK tour. How does it feel to be back in Europe?

Paul Gilbert: It was really nice to be playing these songs live. There are some funky songs on this record and there is a lot of improvisation and I can do, and as I'm thinking through the songs, each thing has its magic that blossoms when you play it live. The theatres are great, there were some really nice venues we've been playing opening up for Joe and a great guitar audience, so all is well.

Rockcor: How many pieces from the new album are you including into your set?

Paul Gilbert: We managed to squeeze a lot of them in! I think we're doing almost a half. Six or seven. Seven or eight. Something like that.

Rockcor: Have your European audience changed since you've played here last time?

Paul Gilbert: Audiences are very influenced by the venues. If people are sitting down or standing up makes a huge difference. If they are drinking or they are not drinking – that makes a huge difference. And I think that is bigger than any cultural difference. If you take people from any culture and make them all sit down and not drink anything, they are going to be much calmer. If you take people from anywhere in the world, give them some beer and make them stand up and squeeze them into a little space that's really hot, they are going to go "Awwwwww!!!" People tend to be influenced by their surroundings and I'm the same way.

Rockcor: What would say is an ideal size venue for you at this moment in time?

Paul Gilbert: Place that a really-really big, it's almost impossible to make them sound good. But small places can sound really bad too (laughs) if they are not treated right. So if the venue is taking the trouble to make it nice acoustically, you can do that. Most theatres are made for sound, they are made for some kind of sonic performances, so theatres sound really good. Sports arenas are often not designed for sound, they are designed for sports. So those are going to be a little gloomy, and at clubs you get a huge variety – everything from great to horrible depending on the material it's made of. Cement is a reverb nightmare, sometimes you get places where everything is carpeted, so the sound is dry. Hopefully somewhere in between sounds good.

Rockcor: Your new album in entirely instrumental, in fact, it was your second entirely instrumental album. How would you say writing a song is different from writing an instrumental piece?

Paul Gilbert: Well, you can't write the second verse and just change the lyrics, so it's a lot different. I haven't figured out the system yet. I'd be nice if I had a system, it would make things easier. But at the moment it's a lot of… it's a combination of musical intuition and trying my best to learn. When I get a spare moment, I take a lesson from a composition teacher and try to learn a little bit more about music writing.

Rockcor: Do you take lessons in composition?

Paul Gilbert: I love taking lessons! I wish I had more to. It's good in a couple of ways. Any musician, the more you play, the more the musical universe opens up and the more places there are to explore. And you have someone who's an expert in a certain area, they can help you to save time and explore whatever you are interested in. For me at the moment I'm very interested in composition because I feel my weakness in that area. Or at least my lack of… I don't know the rules. A lot of times I'm going purely by instinct. I think instinct is valuable, but it's really helpful if you can stand on the shoulders of giants, if you can learn from the people, take some of their knowledge and use it for your own purposes.

Rockcor: Who do you consider to be giants in terms of composition?

Paul Gilbert: Anybody from Bach and Mozart, the great classical composers, to the great pop composers like the Beatles, the Beach Boys… there is another B-band…

Rockcor: The Bee Gees.

Paul Gilbert: (Laughs) Yeah, the Bee Gees! Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, all my personal favourites. And there are little bits and little gems that I find in jazz medleys. They have these crazy chords that you can never figure out. And that was the spark that inspired me to take lessons again. I loved the sound of them. I said to my teacher, "I have no idea what's going on there. My ears love it, my fingers are totally confused." It wasn't anything fast, it wasn't a technical challenge, I just didn't know what was going on. So I took that recording to my teacher and said, "You know about jazz, what is this?" And he immediately said, "Oh, it's this," and he showed it to me. The only thing about taking lessons is that after about five lessons he's answered all my questions. And I thought well, at that point I can either stop or I can try to think of more questions. And that is a very valuable exercise – to look inward and to ask, "What do I need to work on? What areas do I want to improve, and what areas do I need to improve." And if you don't ask those questions, you are going to stay at the same spot. So there are always further places to go to, and for me there is no shame in finding a teacher to help you.

Rockcor: This is not the first time you are touring with Satriani. How far does your association go?

Paul Gilbert: The first time I ever played with Joe was at a NAMM show, which is like an annual musical instrument fair in California. And that must have been mid-nineties – 1993 or 1994, I think. I'm thinking of the haircut I had… Maybe 1996. And there was a party for Ibanez, we both endorse Ibanez guitars, so there were a lot of Ibanez endorsers on stage at the same time. At that particular concert I remember there were seven guitar players on stage. There was Joe, Steve Vai, myself, a bunch of other amazing guitar players, and I thought, "It's incredible to have so many great guitar players, but the trouble is – there are too many guitar players. It's going to be too noisy, you are not going to be able to hear anybody, because they all play at the same time." So I thought, really the only thing that is going to matter is how we look. Because there are going to be a lot of photographers, they are going to try to get a picture of all of us. So I decided, it doesn't matter how we sound, so I'm gonna play left-handed. And I can't play left-handed at all. But people are going to see the photos and go, "Oh my god, Paul is playing left-handed!" So I just turned my guitar off completely and pretended I was playing, because there were six other guys, they didn't need me to play. Eventually it did come to a place where I had to do a solo, so I had two distortion boxes, so I turned them all the way up which makes the guitar extremely sensitive, the smallest sound comes up really loud. And I put the guitar to my mouth which makes me look like I'm playing with my teeth. So I just sang to the pick-up which sounded like a giant electric kazoo, and just went "Uuuuuuuhhhhhh-loooo-looo-uhhhhh", and I sang the solo while pretending that I moved my fingers, and the audience was stunned: "Paul is playing left-handed with his teeth, oh my god!" So that was the first time I met Joe. He, of course, knew what I was doing. And he thought it was pretty funny. Hopefully made a good impression.

Rockcor: In terms of musical knowledge, do you still gain anything from seeing and hearing him play live?

Paul Gilbert: Yeah, he's a master, one of the pioneers of instrument guitar. Not only is he a player, but he is a composer. As I said earlier, it's been my passion lately, to learn more about how to write, and especially for this style of music. There is one song in particular from his new album called "Revelation" and I really love that song, it's great stuff. And that one in particular is just always in my ears. And that's where music starts. So maybe I'll accidentally steal something from that song for the future.

Rockcor: How do you maintain your technique? Does it still require everyday practice?

Paul Gilbert: (Laughs). The way I maintain it, is whatever mistakes I make on stage the night before, I practice over them during the soundcheck the next day. But it's funny, the songs that I have now, there is not that much improvising. Most of the stuff is worked out. And for that I don't need that much hand strength. I need a lot more hand strength when I do a lot of improvising. Because then I may stumble across something at the last minute and not be quite ready for it, so you need extra hand power to get through it. So I don't do nearly as much pure hand strength exercises as I did when I was a teenager. I think now it's more brainwork, trying to play the best notes and choose interesting phrases. But before that I was new to the techniques and was trying to get the basic tools. Now that I have the tools, I'm trying to figure out what to make with them.

Rockcor: What would your advice be to someone who is just staring out on the guitar?

Paul Gilbert: I think the fist thing is to learn chords and learn to read the chord symbols. Which is pretty easy. Maybe the key is to pick things that you can master within a day or a couple of hours. Because if you have to spend more time with that, the pay-up is too far in the future, and music is meant to be enjoyed right now. If you're saying, "Well, in two years I'll be able to pay this," you're gonna give up, unless you are a robot. So for me, I was always learning just basic songs and slowly building on that. I've learnt a song with a couple of chords, and then I discovered a song that had the same chords but one more, and gradually I build on that. It helps to have a teacher to guide you though that. Because they can pick things that are right for your ability. So I'd say the one thing to avoid no matter how much you love a band that plays complex music, like Racer X or Dream Theatre, that's not the place to start. Buy a couple of old Beatles records, get a Beatles chord book and learn to strum first. If you can't stand pop music, you want to play metal, then buy and AC / DC chord book. Something with the simple stuff. It's so much more satisfying to play something simple really well than to play something really complicated really bad. I recommend getting used to the feeling of being confident with your playing. It is so much easier to be confident with something simple. And when you get used to that feeling of confidence, you get addicted to it. And that's a really good addiction to have. Then you can contrast the feeling of when you're trying something that you are not ready with being confident, and how bad it feels as opposed to being confident. And saying, "You know what, I'm gonna get that, but I'm not gonna get it today. Today I'm gonna just get something that is a variation of what I know already and I'll play it really-really well." So I'd say play well and don't be concerned if it's not the most complicated thing in the world.

Rockcor: Who were your guitar heroes when you were growing up?

Paul Gilbert: Oh, Jimmy Page!

Rockcor: Really?

Paul Gilbert: Love Led Zeppelin, so Jimmy Page. Absolutely a huge guitar hero.

Rockcor: Were you excited about the reunion concert?

Paul Gilbert: Not really! (Laughs). It was interesting, but it's never gonna be what it was in 1973.

Rockcor: Is that because he lost his technique?

Paul Gilbert: Well, it's not just him. John Bonham is not there and he is not going to be there. And Jason's great, Jason did a fabulous job, but they are not 26 years old any more, and that kind of music requires… it's a physical music. It depends. Certain people were able to… If you look at Vladimir Horowitz – I don't know if he's alive or not.

Rockcor: I think he's dead.

Paul Gilbert: Yeah. But in his 80s he was still performing pretty rigorous classical music. So there's hope. But I think a lot of rock'n'roll people punish themselves to the point where they really not able to deliver the way they could when they were younger.

Rockcor: You've been in this business for over 20 years and recorded 13 albums in 10 years since you've left Mr. Big. What motivates you to work as hard as you do?

Paul Gilbert: I'm really happy to have a job in music. And I know that with trends and styles, and more recently with the total chaos in the music industry as far as how to sell recorded music, you are not guaranteed work, and so I wanted to work as a musician while I can and have opportunities that I can take while I can. Because some day my manager could call me up and say, "Well, I'm sorry, you gonna have to go work at Burger King because you can't make money as a musician anymore." I want to make sure that while I have the opportunity I do the best I can. But I'm pretty optimistic, I think. Hopefully I'll be somewhere near Horowitz – playing something scary when I'm 80 years old.

Rockcor: Do you welcome the changes that are taking place in the music industry right now? The way music is being distributed and how fans are finding out about bands?

Paul Gilbert: I like the speed of things. I remember when I was a kid I wanted to buy an Iggy and the Stooges record called "Raw Power". And I ordered it from a magazine because my local record store didn't have it. And it took about 6 months to get that record. That's a long time. And now it would be 3 o'clock in the morning and I'd be thinking to myself, "You know, I really want to cover that song the next tour, maybe I'll download it." I go to i-Tunes and in 30 seconds I have it. And there is a big difference between 30 seconds and 6 months. As a music listener, it's fantastic. There's no way to calculate as a working musician if I've lost a lot of money from free downloads or if I've gained a lot from things like YouTube which is great free promotion that MTV would have never given me. So you know, there is no way to calculate what has happened to us, but all you do is keep playing the best you can and hope people come to the shows.

Rockcor: I've got a one last goofy question, I hope you don't mind. You've been in this industry for such a long time, so if you could write a letter to yourself that would travel back in time, what would you write?

Paul Gilbert: "Don't get a perm!" (Laughs).

Rockcor: Is that all?

Paul Gilbert: As cool as Def Leppard looked in 1982! (Laughs). I should have stuck with my straight hair, I've wrecked it with my perm! Besides that… I'm pretty happy with most things. Most of it has to do with fashion, don't wear those pants… But at the same time I'm proud of it, you know, that was the 80s, that's what was exciting – to have orange and blue and pink pants at the same time. I'd have to say I'm secretly proud of it.

(Older pic. Note the green sequiny pants! Pink guitar, too. - Jenn)
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Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

Now that is a bold statement. But in the case of The Szuters it is appropriate. I first discovered their unique sound a couple of years ago. A friend from Japan sent me a copy of their debut album stating "You gotta check these guys out!" It is safe to say that the Szuters have remained in heavy rotation in my cd player ever since. In fact The Szuters were one of the reasons that Rock n World was created. We wanted to give great under rated bands more exposure. Part of the way we do that is with the Artist of the Month Special, if any band has earned that title it is the Szuters.

Founded by brothers Mike and CJ Szuter in Cleveland Ohio, the Szuters captured the best of the midwestern pop sound and combined it with a 90's alternative edge. The Szuters have achieved one of the hardest feats in music, creating a sound all their own. Struggling to come up with a band to compare them to is an exercise in futility. The bands singer and guitarist Mike Szuter has an exceptionally unique voice and guitar sound. C.J. fills out the guitar sound as other half of the Szuters duel lead guitar team. The bottom end is aided by one the hardest hitting drummers since John Bonham, John Fedevich. Craig Martini the bands bassist lends his exceptional skill to filling out the bands overall sound with his great chops. All members of the band take up the task of backing vocals resulting in the Szuters powerful harmonies. Once exposed to The Szuters it only takes hearing a couple bars of any of their songs for the listener to easily identify its source as the Szuters.

It was this unique sound that caught the ears of Paul Gilbert, who happened upon a demo from the band. The former guitarist for Mr. Big was so impressed he dialed the number on the inside of the cassette case and offered the Szuters a recording contract on the JVC label in Japan.

Paul Gilbert helped the Szuters produce one the finest debut albums of the 90's. And the band quickly captured an audience in the land of the rising sun. With tracks like Friend's like these, Mr. Norton, and If I can't have you, the Szuters created a modern day master piece. Being eternal workaholics the band didn't rest on their laurels, they quickly released a follow up album called American Pop. The draw back of having a dynamic debut album is accomplishing the task of toping yourself. The Szuter did that with ease, American Pop picked up where the debut left off. American Pop contained exceptional harmonies and melodies on tracks like Life Goes on, Cigarette, Isabella, and She Tells Everybody, not to mention the hard driving yet melodic guitars. The Szuters easily captured our nod for best independent Pop album for 1998.

While the Japanese fans got a taste of the Szuters, fans state side were stuck special ordering their CD's as imports. In walks Steve Rainz president of Decompression Records. Steve fell witness to the same magic that captivated Paul Gilbert and in turn signed the Szuters to his label. The result was the bands US debut - Last Band Standing.

The album is a cross section of the best elements of the Szuter sound, from the college radio alternative hit Cigarette, to the harmony rich Farther Falling Star and ex-ok. Last Band Standing is a great example of the evolution of the Szuters, with each new release the band appears to be expanding their musical reach. This album is already a top contender for the best pop album of 1999 here at Rock n World.

Not Just a Studio Band!

I had the unique pleasure of catching up with the band at a recent show at the Coconut Teaser in Hollywood. Having only been exposed to their music on CD, I was interested to see if they could reproduce their sound live. I was not disappointed, despite the handicap of a terrible PA ( it might have just been the sound man), the band pulled off a great 45 minute set of mostly newer material. The show opener Antichrist Theme set the ball rolling as the band captivated the audience with songs like Annika, High School Varsity Superstar, Farther Falling Star, Dim the Lights, and old favorite If I can't have you, and closed with a cover of She Sheila.

After the show I discussed many topics with Mike Szuter ranging from his trip in April to Japan to play bass on the Paul Gilbert Tour to the bands plans for the future. The Szuters will be back in the studio in May to record a new album for JVC. Mike was kind enough to play me a demo of a couple of the new tracks, all that can be said is it is their best music yet. Being a prolific song writer Mike says he writes music almost every time he picks up his guitar, and if he remembers the song the next day he takes it to the band. While most bands run out of fresh material by their third of forth album The Szuters keep cranking out great new music which should keep their fans happy for years to come.

It's the Music Stupid!

One thing has to be said about this band, while many musicians are in the game for the money, sex or fame, The Szuters are in it for their love of music. You can hear it in every note the band plays. While at this point super stardom eludes them, The band keeps making the music they love. It is the authors hope that success does find this band, they truly deserve it. Indeed, The Szuters are America's Best Kept Secret, all you have to do is listen to any of their albums to understand this. Now it is up to you, we have let you in on the secret. All you have to do is get all three of their albums and discover their magic for yourself, then do like we have, spread the secret to everyone you know. What good are secrets if you can't tell people about them?

Vital Stats on the Szuter's

Members
Mike Szuter - Vocals, Guitar
C.J. Szuter - Guitar, Vocals
John Fedevich - Drums
Craig Martini - Bass

Albums
The Szuters 1996 JVC/VICTOR (Japan)
American Pop 1998 JVC/VICTOR (Japan) Review
Last Band Standing - 1998 Decompression Records (US)

Current 2008 picture of Craig (he's on the right, and the hot Latvian dude on the left is named Ilmar):

Current (late 2007) picture of Mike:

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Band Biography

THE SZUTERS - American Pop from the Last Band Standing

Four lads from the Midwest making a splash in America is not unusual in the annals of rock history. From Cheap Trick to Redd Kross, the Midwest has been bringing its’ brand of pop-rock to ravenous audiences hungry for its catchy and heavy hooks for more than 30 years. However, with the success of young grunge and alternative bands from cities like Seattle, North Carolina, Chicago and Athens, alternative rock has taken a solidly trendy slant leaving the old-school pop-rock movement baffled by the lack of enthusiasm for their music in popular culture today. Well, the times they are a changin’.

Don’t expect another flashy band with trendy hair and little substance, a closer listen to American modern-rock and album-oriented rock stations shows that the U.S. is currently being pleasantly surprised by four lads from Ohio. The band is The Szuters. The album is Last Band Standing. Precise Rick Nielsen-esq guitar shards guided by moving bass lines and tight rhythmic drumming, Last Band Standing is cleanly produced leaving room for lead singer Mike Szuter’s scruffy vocals to breathe. The result is a compelling album capturing the live performance energy of Szuter and crew with six grinding, emotion-filled tracks.

Formed nearly two years ago by singer-songwriter-guitarist Mike Szuter along with brother-singer-guitarist C.J. Szuter, bassist Craig Martini, and drummer John Fedevich, The Szuters signed with indie Decompression Records (now defunct? - Jenn) in late 1997. After witnessing a string of live dates at such famous venues as The Cleveland Agora, Peabody’s Down Under, The Odeon (now closed - Jenn), and Ludlow’s (now closed - Jenn), the label felt that The Szuters would find an enthusiastic audience out west. Armed with their first self-titled release, The Szuters, the label moved the group to sunny Las Vegas. “On the East Coast , no one really knew who we were,” explains Szuter. “People came to our shows, but we weren’t exactly gracing the pages of SPIN and Rolling Stone every month.” “Steve, the owner of Decompression, saw the band, shared the same vision we had, and let us make a record the way we wanted to make it,” continues Mike, “the result is Last Band Standing.”

With the Spring release of the first single “Cigarette,” to U.S. college and modern-rock radio stations, The Szuters have been lighting up request lines coast-to-coast. “I was working in a record store in Ohio,” says drummer Fedevich, “when we heard we were getting requests on the radio all over the place. We were completely taken by surprise.” Due to the strong support being developed on the West Coast, The Szuters jumped a plane and headed to L.A. to perform their debut show at the Troubadour. “I was nervous, the club was packed with all these people who liked our band,” says C.J., “and we wanted everything to go perfect but it just didn’t. The sound system went out four times during the show.” “The amazing thing was that everyone stayed while the club fixed the system,” continues Szuter, “and the show turned out great after all.” “The next day I had to fly back to Las Vegas to get back to work,” adds Martini, “one day I’m performing in L.A. and the next day I am back at work in the music store. I guess that’s what they mean by `paying your dues’.”

With the success of “Cigarette”, The Szuters won’t be worrying about day jobs much longer. Produced by veteran studio producer Bill Korecky, Last Band Standing captures the raw vitality and energy associated with American “teen-angst” alterna-rock, while staying true to the band’s pop-rock roots. The combination is explosive,creating a feel on record that is true to the band’s live energy. Szuter, who wrote all twelve cuts, often conveys a number of different ideas lyrically in the same song. Behind a cryptic veil of ambiguity, his subjects are indeed personal and revealing. “Our songs take on a different meaning on different days. Listeners can glean their own meaning,” he explains. “Being real is what’s most important. I’m definitely no storyteller.” Employing penetrating hooks and energetic licks, Last Band Standing grabs the listener by the ears and refuses to let go. “Farther Falling Star,” the relentlessly catchy opener that sarcastically declares general disenchantment and was recorded in just one take, jump starts the album with Szuter’s urgent vocal “I’m not smart enough to quit...Sure I’ll never be missed.” Szuter approaches several topics throughout Last Band Standing with songs like “EX-OK“, Different Today”, and “Hey Loser” all guaranteed to hit a nerve. Spotlighting Szuter’s talent’s in its pristine production, “Luna” is a track with haunting keyboards and a chilling vocal line chronicling the art of losing oneself after a relationship gone bad.

In an age where music and youth culture are too often co-opted by the establishment, packaged and spit out to the public as the next big thing, The Szuters provide a breath of fresh air, musical depth and integrity with an unusual lack of ego. “It’s the music that’s important,” says Szuter. And Last Band Standing is the first listen at what promises to be an important band.
A band called The Szuters.

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Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

- Jenn

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Here it is again.

I attended VIP in Svendborg as well and I was really effin' nervous. I had one of these with PAUL GILBERT!!! Yesterday, didn't go really good since my hands were shaking of nervousity. But oboy! That guy can JAM! It was awesome.

But what I really learned from it is that you should not be afraid to mimic what the other person do, that's a great way to learn things when jamming. You should also try things you're unsure of, I mean, if you never try how are you going to know if it works?

Also, don't try to rush it. Start slow by doing some nice licks that you're really comfortable with, really helps to get the steam going.

When you hear something really REALLY awesome, ask how it's done and if possible how he/she came up with it. That's the cool thing about jamming with a real person, instead of "virtual" teachers. I know that you guys are real, but in MY reality, you're virtual, kinds of.

Also, make sure that no one's much louder than the others. REALLY destroys the jam session, unless you're jamming with Paul G. I mean... you're as good off watching him play as enjoying to play yourself.

Also, remember that Jamming like this might just be one of the hardest things you can do! Why? Several reasons.

1) You can't redo a failed lick or something, you have to remember what didn't work and then work on it when you get home
2) You have to make up what to play when you play it, instead of playing things you've practised for years.

etc. But this is also a reason why it's so rewarding. Man, I hope you'll have a great time and ROCK ON!

[Added by Jenn, photography by Bonsaischaap -- Pictures (from a different VIP session) for those of you who like pictures] :

From the second VIP session attended:

Yeah, it was great! It worked much better for me this time. I attended VIP in Svendborg as well and I was really effin' nervous, but this time I was much more calm. Paul is probably the best famous guitar player to have your first "famous guitar player" jam with. He's got the perfect mixture of self esteem, Self-knowledge, Empathy and MAD guitar skills to make the perfect role-model. Really, really nice guy. Oh, here's some answers to questions I remember.

ME: How did you think when coming up with the arpeggio stringskippin' lick in Norwegian Cowbell?

Paul: The stringskipping arpeggio... it's this one. WROOOOOOM!!!!

Okay, so what I've done is just outlining the chords. It's a little tricky though, because first they happen on beat. Then they move on to syncopation, so I had to change the amount of notes to match the changes.

It's rather funny because I recorded the song the day after I composed it, so I had to tell my producer that section of the song in small pieces. Doing like one or two bars at a time. It is a very hard section and I haven't had enough time to practice to nail it in one step so that's how we did it. Then of course, I had to play it live and I was like UUuuuh.

Actually I did most of my practice of that section when traveling, like imagining the guitar neck and going through the arpeggios, pattern and changes etc.

It's based on patterns I already knew and played a lot, so it was more the position switches I had to remember. Next!

X: How can I improve on vibrato when bending? or if it was just bending, don't remember correctly.

But Paul gave away some cool licks and he also told us that he likes the Idea of placing the side of the indexfinger to the "downside" of the guitar neck so that it becomes like a lever, exactly like BBKing. And this is the lick he showed us.

(I forgot the exact lick, but I remember the Idea, which I think is most important)

Let's do it in A.

(3th string, which is the G-string)

2-4b5r-2-5b7r-4 etc.

How can I write an etc on a lick? Here it is explained

The lick is really 4b5r-2 -> pick the fourth fret (bend 1/2 step to C (fifth fret), pick the second fret (A) These notes are from A aolian and A dorian.

Now just do that lick going up the scale. The point of this is to encounter both 1/2 tone bends like 4 bend 5 release. And whole tone bends like 5 bend to 7, release. That can be done in all scales and it sounds really cool as well. Something that is good for your technique and something you can use when improvising. That's Pauls method. :)

Another exercise he showed us was a 1 1/5 step bend, like F - A. Many people forget these bends, but they're awesome. What he did is first to bend it all the way up, then dive down to F, bend up to a, dive down to F to mimic the effect of a whammy bar. Pretty cool thing if you like fixed bridges.

Another cool lick he showed, kinda bluesy, can be modulated to Major to get a kind of country feel to it.

Picking is supposed to be VERY staccato and done with confidence and convictions. Otherwise this lick sounds crap.

1st string: 8-7b8rp-5 repeat on the second and third string and land on the A note on the fourth string (7th fret)

Transcribed to major: First and second string: 9-7b9rp-5 third string: 7-6b7rp-5
land on the A note again. Really cool lick, modulate it to other scales to get cool licks out of it. In words it's pick the first note, pick the second and bend up to the first note, release to the second note and pull off to the third.

More things... hmm... Oh yeah:

X: The chord progression of Six Billion People, I love that song, but I've never been able to figure them out.

Paul: Oh, that's the chords I learned at school. They had us play like the major scale but in chords. You should really take a couple of lessons from a Jazz guitarist, he'll show them to you in a heart beat. But it starts out with F major seven, *shows fingering*, moves on to E minor seven, and then there's this chord, I love it very much. It's great for pop, beatles used it a lot. it's a min7b5 chord. Best described as play the D minor chord with the root at the fifth fret fifth string. then change the root to B (seventh fret, 6th string), you have to rework the fingering though.

I thought this was very vague so I transcribed the song myself. I dunno if it's okay to post a chord progression here so I won't do that. If you mail me I'd be willing to write it to you though.

That's not everything of course. We had tons of jamming and a couple of more questions, but I dare not to write them all. Also, it means a lot of work for me. I had a great time though and I would recommend this to everyone (that plays solo guitar) beginner or pro, Paul will give you plenty of tips, you'll be able to pick up licks from the other guys and you'll have a GREAT time.

Yeah, sure I can give a couple of hints for the rest of the licks.

This one involves 2 strings: B and G

B take a not, bend it up a whole tone, and grap the G-string, it should now be bent like a semitone. Pick the G-string and release the bend.

Then there's the psycho lick from a song I can't remember. Kind bucketheadish. (echo song? - ed.)

start on the 6th string.

tap the 19th note, pull off to the 12th, hammer on the 17th fret.

you have the triads going up in octaves. Example.

E-----------------------9--12---
B-------------------10----------3d octave
G-------------6--9--------------
D----------7--------------------2nd octave
A----4--7-----------------------
E-5-----------------------------1st octave

you can also skip the third providing

E-------------------12------
B---------------10----------3d octave
G------------9--------------
D--------7------------------2nd octave
A----7----------------------
E-5-------------------------1st octave

his classical outside picking/alternating lick and any pair of strings separated by a perfect fourth interval.

starting with an upstroke
5------------
--8-7-5-7-8

Here's a couple of licks from the other VIP thingy I was on.

tapping lick he showed me: (the T is for tap)

T---------T
7p-3-h5-7p-5p-3

a cool bending lick that works good on the E and B string run up a scale with this and you'll sound like a GOD, probably like PG Starting with an 8th note followed by 3 16th notes.

E----5-5-5-
B-8b-------

now, that's all I can think of.

The concert afterwards was AWESOME as well.

- Olle "AJ" Svensson

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Links:

Paul’s official website

Paul’s message board/forum (in the Side Projects folder)

Enjoy!

I've never destroyed a guitar like that before. It felt pretty good. I taught that chair a lesson too. That was the last day of moving out of our old apartment. Incidentally the soundtrack was made with this guitar's shiny electric replacement.

Next week: pete destroys a moleskine.

- Hurry Up
- The Curse of Castle Dragon
- Scarified
- Down to Mexico
- Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar
- Eudaimonia Overture
- Norwegian Cowbell
- Jackhammer
- Burning Organ (fi