Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Paul Gilbert

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American musician Paul Gilbert.

Last updated on December 21, 2024.

Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which he has released numerous solo albums, and featured in numerous collaborations and guest appearances on other musicians' albums.

American - Musician | Born: November 6, 1966

Source: Wikipedia

A rock band with vocals is what I always wanted to be a part of; in fact, it feels very natural for me.

Paul Gilbert

I think I had heard Al Di Meola on the radio when I was a kid, that acoustic record, 'Friday Night In San Francisco,' with Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin. His picking was unbelievable. I thought it was incredible.

Paul Gilbert

After 35 years of bone-crushing rock guitar playing, I'm finally starting to get my head out of the harmonic sand and learning how to play over chord changes.

Paul Gilbert

I'm not a reader myself, so I don't expect anyone else to be.

Paul Gilbert

At the time, it all seemed pretty normal. It was okay to have a pink guitar and glow-in-the-dark pants, and play with a drill. 1987, that was the worst year. I think that was the worst year for capes and for hair!

Paul Gilbert

Music and guitar are my favorite things, so it's fun to get together with other people who share the passion and talk about the details.

Paul Gilbert

When I look back at the span that Mr. Big lasted, we had some unbelievable times. But there were grueling times, too.

Paul Gilbert

From the start, I held the pick in an unusual way. I used to bend my thumb way back in order to get a good angle for fast playing. I played that way for 10 years.

Paul Gilbert

That's the nice thing about being in Mr. Big, is I'm not only the guitar player. I'm the background singer, and so I get to do both of those things. Sometimes we even switch instruments and I get to be the drummer.

Paul Gilbert

Before I even became a guitar player, I wanted to be a Beatle. That was my first dream as a musician, was to be like a Beatle.

Paul Gilbert

I prefer playing in songs where I have a tempo, groove and harmonic map to hang on to.

Paul Gilbert

I am trying to build the biggest callus possible on my first finger so I can do one-finger bends and vibrato like B.B. King.

Paul Gilbert

My brain has been programmed to listen to music a certain way because of the Beatles.

Paul Gilbert

Every Mr. Big album is an event.

Paul Gilbert

Of course, I'm a guitar player, so I'm thinking as a guitarist. I have to work within my physical limitations as to what my hands will do, and also the patterns I'm familiar with, and the places that my fingers are used to going.

Paul Gilbert

To me, you had to have a least a couple of ugly guys in the band. That's why Saxon was great.

Paul Gilbert

I went from wanting to be a Beatle to becoming a 'widdly-widdly' guitar player.

Paul Gilbert

I was driving home and thinking about what rock and roll should be about. 'Adventure and Trouble!' I thought. I sang the song first and then added the chords later.

Paul Gilbert

I remember walking into a department store and you would hear an instrumental version of a Beatles song and it was usually kinda cheesy and very un-rock. Kenny G, for example, is a musician that I certainly dont want to sound like, but technically he is flawless but somehow the rock and roll aspect has been sucked out of it.

Paul Gilbert

In my daily life, I tend to be very literal and unsuperstitious. But music gives me an outlet to be very emotional.

Paul Gilbert

Being in a band is hard. Even if you like somebody, you start to argue over silly things.

Paul Gilbert

I think all of The Beatles were from an era when certainly playing was important to them, and they were cutting edge. But for all time, they're master composers.

Paul Gilbert

The first song on my first album is not a song - it's a guitar solo! It's called 'Frenzy,' and it's pretty much nonstop maniacal guitar playing. I had just turned 19, and I had some serious muscle then.

Paul Gilbert

As far as pedals are concerned, the test for me is if I step on it, do I seem to be playing better?

Paul Gilbert

In the morning, I know everyone has two things: an empty stomach and a fresh brain.

Paul Gilbert

My initial ideas are just a starting place. As a record goes along, it becomes more about making discoveries and getting excited about new songs.

Paul Gilbert

Life's too short, you know? If you find something you love and that other people love, why not do it?

Paul Gilbert

Just about every rock band and every guitar player from 1964 to 1984. To me, that's the golden period of rock. From the first Beatles album hitting America to the last Van Halen album with David Lee Roth. That's where all my favorite rock exists.

Paul Gilbert

With Racer X, whenever we have time, we try to put a record together. And that's always fun because the guys in the band are great friends and I don't think I ever laugh as hard as I do when I'm with the Racer X guys.

Paul Gilbert

Two words: Kasim Sulton. I've been a Utopia fan for a long, long time, and Kasim's a pop hero of mine. I have to hold myself back from asking him a million Utopia questions.

Paul Gilbert

It took me years to get my hair right... after years of perms, conditioning... Nirvana came out and it wasn't cool to have big hair anymore. It was just a horrible injustice.

Paul Gilbert

I probably spent more time as a kid playing air guitar to Jimmy Page than any other guitar player.

Paul Gilbert

I turn complaining into music! I'm thinking I might have invented a new style. I call it 'cantankerous rock.'

Paul Gilbert

Teaching is just something that has come naturally to me. I didn't set out to be a teacher. I wanted to be a Beatle! But there were only four of them, so the job openings were really limited.

Paul Gilbert

Andy Timmons is someone I've jammed with many times over the years, and we always have a great chemistry when playing together.

Paul Gilbert

Yeah, my very first teacher when I was 6 was a big influence, because it was so boring that I quit guitar.

Paul Gilbert

The instrumental stuff is a good challenge, and it keeps my fingers athletically tuned, but I'm totally happy to bang away on some chords, sing some harmonies and play some wailing blues solos after the second chorus.

Paul Gilbert

Teaching the guitar is a constant source of inspiration. I sometimes think I get more out of the lessons than my students.

Paul Gilbert

When you record an album in six days, you don't have time to work out a lot of stuff.

Paul Gilbert

Scotty Johnson is a guy who I've worked with on a lot of my tours and albums, and I'm always blown away by his musical knowledge and playing.

Paul Gilbert

You could take any four people, no matter how wonderful they are, and if you make them live together on a tour bus for eight years and don't give them any time off, after a while everybody gonna start going crazy.

Paul Gilbert

Mostly, I'm much more of a guitar player than I am a singer.

Paul Gilbert

I was doing a lot of teaching on my online guitar school and I started to use vocal melodies as a way of teaching my students. To be able to do that, I had to learn them myself.

Paul Gilbert

My first official teaching job was at GIT, which was fantastic because I wanted to pay the rent and I got to stay in the building, which is an inspiring place to be - the vibe was there. My first gig was doing private lessons. It went great. Then they decided to promote me to a classroom teacher. I taught a class called Single String Technique.

Paul Gilbert

Sometimes a couple notes are worth a thousand words.

Paul Gilbert

Seriously, though, I think the only musical term that's ever put a bee in my bonnet is 'shred.' I tried to peddle the term 'Terrifying Guitar' to the world, but it just didn't stick. Now we've got 'shred.'

Paul Gilbert

There is a basic language of music that I think is important for communicating with other musicians - just the kind of terminology that might make it easier to describe your ideas to the other guys in your band.

Paul Gilbert

I lived in Los Angeles for around 20 years. I love the place, but the driving can wear thin.

Paul Gilbert

Philosophically, I think riffs that start with E repeating itself are almost guaranteed to be great.

Paul Gilbert

I grew up in the '70s, so I even love the music that I didn't like from that era.

Paul Gilbert

My basic setup is my Ibanez Fireman guitars and for pedals, the TC Electronic MojoMojo is the mainstay of my board, along with a Catalinbread Calissto Chorus.

Paul Gilbert

Tony MacAlpine not only plays guitar, but is a stunning classical piano player, so he can show how that influence molded his guitar playing.

Paul Gilbert

There's nothing like sitting down and playing music with somebody. It breaks down all the barriers in life.

Paul Gilbert

Mimi Fox is one of the most exciting contemporary jazz guitarists I've heard.

Paul Gilbert

One of the things I like to do is to try to jam with everybody.

Paul Gilbert

Everyone has to start somewhere! I certainly didn't sound great when I first started playing, and I remember all my guitar teachers, both good and bad, and what it felt like to struggle with even the simplest of things.

Paul Gilbert

Writing is a chore.

Paul Gilbert

I love all my guitar solos.

Paul Gilbert

To me, the secret of Eddie Van Halen was Alex Van Halen, because the way Alex played was so loose and the way the two of them locked together... Those two are connected so thoroughly they might as well be one person.

Paul Gilbert

I've found that as I've learned to improvise melodically, it seems like I can come up with a bigger variety of stuff. I kind of selfishly enjoy it more, because I'm in the moment so much.

Paul Gilbert

Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Paul Gilbert

Related Authors