00:00Can you give us a little of the Rocky you were playing before? The Rocky theme?
00:03Oh, yeah.
00:13He's one of the co-creators of the band, Mr. Big.
00:16He's one of the biggest, most badass guitarists in the world, in my humble opinion.
00:22Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the program...
00:26Mr. Paul Gilbert!
00:30I want to explain to some people who may not know the name Paul Gilbert.
00:34You have a lot of fans. Most guitarists would know who you are.
00:38Everybody who knows me, knows me.
00:40Yeah, exactly, right?
00:42100% of those people.
00:43But I was only famous for two weeks in 1992.
00:47So, Paul, when I do meet people and we're talking music and I'll say,
00:51one of my favorite guitarists, you know, this is a guy Paul Gilbert,
00:54if they're a guitarist, they'll know exactly who I'm talking about.
00:56Some people don't and I have to explain.
00:58Okay, so, you know, he was in this band, Mr. Big.
01:01Before that, there was this band called Racer X.
01:02You may or may not know.
01:04Metal, real intense, shredding, crazy, really technical, awesome music.
01:08But then I try to explain your solo career as well.
01:11Good luck!
01:12And that's...
01:12So, it's hard to quantify it, you know?
01:14I mean, because there's elements of blues and jazz and metal and all this stuff.
01:21How...
01:21What's a good way to describe your music?
01:23Well, it's still evolving.
01:25And the discovery I made was that I really always wanted to be not a guitar player, but
01:30a lead singer.
01:31Because when I was a kid, those were the records I had.
01:34My parents had the Beatles records and Stones and bands that had lead vocalists.
01:38And I liked Led Zeppelin because Robert Plant had a great voice.
01:42Now, I didn't have a particularly great voice and that didn't stop me from trying.
01:46Right.
01:46But it also didn't stop me from kind of, you know, not doing as well as I would have
01:51liked to as a lead singer.
01:52So, the discovery that I made on this new album, Behold Electric Guitar, is that I can
01:57actually play the vocal line on the guitar.
02:00So, you know, take it like a really challenging vocal, like, you know, the, hey, mama said
02:04the way you move, which, you know, with my little falsetto, it's not so good.
02:07Right.
02:08But, you know, you play it on guitar.
02:14And suddenly, you know, those notes are there.
02:16And it's just, you know, it's my responsibility to get them right, but at least I can hit them.
02:20Well, I was mentioning to you the song, Let That Battery Die, which is on the new album,
02:23and that is exactly what I thought.
02:26I'm like, it sounds like someone's singing.
02:29Yeah, well, that's how I wrote the tunes, was that I would have a lyric, and, you know,
02:33the initial lyrics for that were, like, what was it?
02:40My battery is low, but my mind is high.
02:43And, you know, again, I'm squeaking it out.
02:45Yeah.
02:45But with the guitar, I can get a lot of control and a nice tone.
02:52And so, for the first time in my life, I'm actually able to connect my inner melodic generator
02:57with an instrument that functions.
03:01Can you give us a little of the Rocky you were playing before, the Rocky theme?
03:04Oh, yeah.
03:05There you go.
03:33The YouTube thing you mentioned is amazing.
03:50You know, I grew up with albums, so I never expected to communicate with the world that way.
03:55And I do have to mention one, you know, if you're in YouTube.
03:58There's one where I was doing a clinic, and I had this little loop pedal,
04:01and I decided to put, like, the most scary, frightening, shred lick that I could ever do inside the loop pedal.
04:07So I just pressed the button, and it goes.
04:08And I would pretend to play with my teeth.
04:14And then I would press that button, and the whole audience was like, oh, my God.
04:21And so, of course, it was...
04:23He's playing with his teeth.
04:24He was playing sweep picking with his teeth.
04:26How did he do that?
04:26And it was a guitar clinic, so everybody raised their hands and goes, like, how did you do that with your teeth?
04:32And I said, well, you know, it's pretty impressive to do sweep picking with your teeth.
04:35But I said, it's really impressive to do it with your ass.
04:39Oh, yes.
04:40And then I just wiped the guitar, you know.
04:43That's great.
04:44On my backside.
04:44And I'm still a fan of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith and, you know, the regular rock bands.
04:52And so now I can step on stage and really be the lead singer via my guitar.
04:56I like that.
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