I have overlooked a really fine guitarist for years because I did not

[old mark]

like the look of the band.
I just saw Motley Crue playing live - Mick Mars is really great!
This might not be news to some, but I never saw them live before, never paid them much attention because of the hair band spandex thing.
He is really great! I have to get more of his live music.

My loss for all this time.

mark

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. I'm always pleased when people have musicianship I didn't expect.

Like when I read about the 9 yr old Japanese kid playing Crazy Train, I researched and found out that Randy Rhoads had studied classical, so that is why Crazy Train has the ornate arpeggios in the lead riff. I had no idea that Ozzy had done anything that took thought.

I'd heard Crazy Train a million times on the radio, but didn't know it had a name, or who did it.

[Twillig]

2. What do you make of Paul Gilbert?

He of RacerX and Mr. Big? He was out of my radar until I got back into music and guitar and Satch put him on G3 '07.

I've wasted a lot of time, too.


Paul Gilbert 'flamingo'

Paul Gilbert 'Haydn Symphony No. 88'

Paul Gilbert 'Three E's for Edward'

This is a weird age of guitar. All the best players are over forty, or under twenty.
The Chosen One, Anton Oparin

[charlie]

3. Paul is, of course, an exemplary picker

and has decent instincts when it comes to power pop (the song, melody, and lyrics of Mr Big's Green Tinted Sixties Mind were entirely his). His one shortfall is improvising -- it's usually stiff, uninspired, and largely just connect-the-sequences, which is too bad. When he maps out his runs, his phrasing, texture, and expression can be amazing, I wish he'd just go for broke and trust his considerable abilities when winging it. He's got this one sequence, a whole-step half-step hammer and pulloff thing, that's been a large part of every solo he's done for more than twenty years. If you've heard enough of his solos, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's past time he retired it.

Having said that, the world could use a lot more Paul Gilberts. He's an unabashed goofball, a superb teacher, never cops an attitude, and still has a 12-year-old's enthusiasm for rocking out. I love the guy, always have.

Thanks for the Anton link. I'd seen the older videos, when he was 11, but not the newer ones. Yikes. That kid IS Paul Gilbert, his right hand is even a perfect clone of Paul's.

Here's another pup, a Scottish kid, doing Paul Gilbert's downstroking frenzy, You Kids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7DI8UBI4SE

Some of Paul's more recent stuff I like:

Hurry Up

Rusty Old Boat

Waste of Time (with Freddy Nelson)

Alligator Farm