Expressive soloing with paul gilbert

11 min read

FEATURE } ROCK

In this exclusive video lesson, the legendary Paul Gilbert treats you to a 37-minute overview on transferring vocal phrases to the guitar, with Jon Bishop as your guide.

Paul Gilbert exploded onto the 1980s rock scene with his exciting brand of speedy and highly technical soloing. He has been part of two great rock bands, Mr Big (soon to tour again) and Racer X, but has also maintained a fabulous solo career.

TECHNIQUE FOCUS

Using the slide

Paul uses his slide quite a bit to perform the examples so here are a few tips that may help you to develop a consistent tone and technique. You can experiment with different slide designs until you find one that is comfortable to use and has the right tone for you. Slides come in all shapes and sizes, and some of the most popular types are made from chrome, steel, brass, glass, and ceramic.

The next step is to be mindful of the guitar setup; basically the heavier the string gauge and the higher the action, the easier it is to use the slide. If you have a low action or light strings the slide will work no problem, but there may be a danger of it rattling against the frets, finding that strings are buzzing, and notes not sounding as clear as they should. So spend time learning the correct pressure to get a good tone with your own guitar setup.

The next thing is string muting. The strings will ring both sides of the slide until you stop them. Many slide players place the slide on the fourth finger of the fretting hand, leaving the other fingers free to fret the odd note or to prevent ringing behind the slide. Paul places the slide on his second finger, like Brett Garsed and Jeff Beck. It also allows the slide to be placed at a sharp angle to create a Minor 3rd interval on the second and third strings. You will need to mute the strings that you don’t play with the picking hand - lots of slide players use fingerstyle for this reason. The final thing to consider is intonation. Make sure the slide is directly above the fretwire. Moving from position to position quickly and in tune will require practice. Adding vibrato helps too. In addition to standard tuning, many slide players favour tunings like open G (D-G-D-G- B-D) and open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D).

In this article Paul sets out to explain the goal of the lesson, which is to adapt vocal phrases for use on the guitar, in order to play with expression. We have notated the seven live performances so you can study the fingerings and try these ideas out yourself.

A strong melody is of course the obvious starting point and provides a launch pad for other lead phrases and soloing variations. Paul encourages you to test out melodies by sing

This article is from...

Guitar Techniques Magazine

26 July 2023

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