Official Paul Gilbert Tribute Post

This is going to be a lengthy post on one of my biggest heroes. If you have read at least 5 posts here, you should know by the first sentence that I’m gonna talk about Paul Gilbert (again). I strongly accept the fact that every guitarist should have an official tribute post to Paul Gilbert as the truth. Yeah, I’ve been worshipping and promoting/exaggerating Paul Gilbert’s name to no end in this blog and THIS will be my official tribute post to the one true American hero that I recognize.

This is very vague, and shameful to me but I honestly forgot how I got to know Paul Gilbert. But if memory serves me right, I first heard of his name through Zack Kim’s blog. Either he linked or cited him as an influence or it’s just his PGM that had me looking up and down in the internet. At that time, the first picture I saw of Paul is his cover for the Spaceship One CD. He was in an astronaut’s suit and I stupidly dismissed him as an asshole. Or a wannabe.

Time went on and I finally get to try and listen to guitar instrumentalists like Steve Vai. The first instrumental that I really liked is Tender Surrender but that’s it. Vai was a weirdo to me back then, like a pedophile or something with his freaky smile. So I decided to move on to other guitarists. Naturally, Paul Gilbert’s name came up and I downloaded GOOMY. I listened to the first 1 minute and 38 seconds and decided this guy is the second coming of Christ that everyone is talking about.

Then I listened to his other solo stuff starting from SFBADR and worked back from there before settling on Racer X and Mr. Big. As you guys know, I’m a little bit of a stalker so for almost a year now, I wake up every morning and check paulgilbert.com and search youtube for latest videos with the tag “paul” and “gilbert”. People have coffee or cereals for breakfast but I fucking have Paul Gilbert for breakfast. I don’t know, but that alone spells INTENSE (or maybe Paul’s number 1 Malaysian fan)

Enough of that, now I’ll share why I adore Paul so much like a fat kid loves cake. You know when your girlfriend says, “It’s what inside that matters.” That’s bullshit, the outer appearance will speak louder no matter how much of an angel you are. What I wanna say is, I like Paul cause he pretty much fits in the rocker persona. Tall, thin, the rocker hair, long fingers, so-so fashion but good enough. He’s not that bad looking too, for a shredder. Besides, he has a Jap for a wife and that is always cool. Before you dwell on any perverse thoughts, no, I’m not saying that it’s cool just cause you can talk about tentacle rape and all those disgusting shit with your Jap wife.

The coolest thing about Paul is that he doesn’t discriminate. He doesn’t limit himself to just a genre. He plays metal (Racer X), blues (Raw Blues Power album), modern rock (every album), maybe a little psychedelic (I’m Free from the United States album, jazz (Six Billion People), pop (2 Become 1), classical (his Rip Off songs), funk (Bultaco Saturno), maybe a little techno too (Echo Song). Most importantly, he listens to the Beatles too!!!! Sure every shredder listens to the Beatles but Paul makes it clear to everyone that he likes the Beatles, unlike other shredders. Honestly, saying you don’t like the Beatles is like saying you like to play first person shooters but you don’t like CS. In this case, if you like music you FUCKING HAVE TO like the Beatles.

Lastly, I like his style and personality. Paul, I know the good guy thing is just a gimmick, you like to say fuck as much as I do but I respect you so I’ll let you off the hook this time. But anyway, he’s willing to share his knowledge, has a good sense of humor and he does not like sweep picking that much. Besides, he can play fast and clean. Excellent dynamics. Cool licks. Visually excellent gears (PGMs). Keyboard shredder wife. Nice vibratos. An excellent variety of rock faces, all greatly executed on stage.

How does he inspire me? Almost every time I listen to his songs whether I’m in the car or wherever, it makes me wanna instantly pick up the guitar and play (And I do play, mind you). This is fucking true. I don’t know why but there’s so much to learn (steal) from him. I found something new every time I listen to his songs. I wanna be like Paul so much. I wanna string skip even though my genetic limitations doesn’t allow me to. I wanna alternate pick even though I’m not that clean. I wanna copy his rock faces although my nose isn’t sharp enough and my hair isn’t straight and brown. I wanna own all his gears even though a lot of fuckers keep saying “tone is in the fingers”. Fuck you guys, I don’t care if I’m just “another Paul Gilbert copy”. I don’t mind, I love Paul! And thus ends my official tribute to Paul Brandon Gilbert.

p.s. I’m sorry I downloaded all your albums Paul, I’m fucking cheap and poor. No credit cards and whatsoever. But I will reaaaaaaally get your AF2 Flanger if it ever comes to Malaysia. Damn cool shit.