Posts Tagged ‘Paul Gilbert’

Paul Gilbert’s Fuzzier Universe

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Just got news from CD Japan that a limited edition of Fuzz Universe will be released on 20 October 2010. It includes 2 discs, one being the original album, the other containing only the guitar tracks. It will feature a plastic case packaged in a slip case (a bit like Surfing With The Alien 20th anniversary I would imagine)

Price is ¥3,500, and there’s still no word about that Fuzz Universe DVD, which is kinda odd. Hopefully it’ll be available during the tour so we don’t have to order it ;)

The other Fuzz Universe news is a little old now, but it’s yet another effect pedal, this time produced by Majik Box. It’s called… you guessed it, the Fuzz Universe ;) (more…)

Paul Gilbert interviewed by Classic Rock Revisited

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Jeb Wright from Classic Rock Revisited gives us a nice long interview with Paul Gilbert discussing various aspects from Fuzz Universe to Mr Big, Racer X, Freddie Nelson and so on. One of the best interviews I’ve read recently, here’s an excerpt:

Jeb: I love the names of the [Fuzz Universe] tunes.  Usually people name instrumentals after people, places or things that mean something to them or they name them after what the music reminds them of.  How do you do it?

Paul: Since I do my demos in ProTools, I have to think of a new title every time I make a new session. I just go with whatever pops into my head, and that title will stick about 50% of the time. “Fuzz Universe” was that way. It just came into my head immediately. “Batter Up”, “Olympic,” “Propeller,” and “Mantra the Lawn” were all titles that came to me quickly. It took me much longer to think of “Plastic Dracula.” I had been playing with the name “Juan Chutrifo” for a while. It’s an approximation of how it sounds if you count, “1-2-3-4,” so I put “Count” at the beginning of the title. It makes it sound like the name of some ancient Spanish aristocrat but it’s actually just what you say when you want to start a rock and roll song.

Head over to Classic Rock Revisited for the whole interview :D

Premier Guitar interviews Paul Gilbert

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

I’ve not posted about an interview for a while but this one was posted around by various people so I thought I’d add to the mix. Be aware that it’s a link to a digital magazine so it can be challenging to read. Here’s a excerpt:

“Will My Screen Door Stop Neptune” begins with a badass line that sounds a little like what Ralph Macchio’s character played in the duel at the end of Crossroads. And then you rip out some jaw-dropping muted licks that sound like they might be hybrid picked. Are you using your picking-hand fingers there at all, or is it all pick?

I’m not so familiar with that movie, but I’ve heard great things about it. My inspiration for this one is kind of unusual. I wanted to write a song with my favorite tempo. What is my favorite tempo? “Neon Knights” by Black Sabbath, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, of course! So I listened to that song and tapped away at my drum machine to get a number for the tempo. Then I played some drums at that tempo, recorded it, and switched to guitar. I jammed along and came up with that riff. Then I listened to it and realized that my riff would sound better if the drums were played in half time. So, in the end, I discarded my tempo – or at least cut it in half – but I got a good riff out of it. And hopefully the spirit of Ronnie James Dio resides in the music just a little bit. [...]

For the rest of the interview, head over to Premier Guitar

Paul Gilbert has a YouTube channel

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

As I was checking Paul’s redesigned website, I noticed a link to YouTube that pointed to a channel called “paulvsgozilla” which, to anyone who follows Paul finds it obvious that it would be his (just check the contact section of his website). Now it’s a little empty just now, and the only video on the channel is the one below:

So it’s not quite matching the huge collection of videos you can find of his works taken from DVDs, concerts, interviews and so on which are scattered amongst a multitude of users. But, to my mind it is rather significant, and here’s why.

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Paul Gilbert – Fuzz Universe intro dissected

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

This was posted on Facebook earlier and I found the same video on YouTube. It’s obviously from Young Guitar or another similar guitar magazine from Japan but I really enjoyed the little banter at the end, in particular his outlining of how m7b5 chords are better than heavy 5th power chords. Since I’m trying to get my head round them myself, I’d agree that they sound pretty cool but you do have to be an experience composer, as Paul is, to make something original out of it.

Anyway, enjoy: