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No, it's not the title of a novel by J.K. Rowling.
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11-26-2016 05:56 AM
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This is an up and down topic.
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At the risk of getting off topic, here are 2 observations
1. I've always thought he seems like good guy. (...although I've never met him, and would never have the occasion to do so)
2. I have pinky envy. Look at that guy's fingers! Over the years, most of my students have had those same long slender fingers. It looks like the alien jumped out of the egg thing and attacked the guitar neck. My fingers are short, fat and my pinkys are crooked. I suppose it's the curse of a farm boy, having grown up working for my dad as he farmed more than a couple thousand acres. (I guess i'm just playing hands I'm dealt.)
Sorry if I got off the rails.
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Me, I think he looks like dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory!
Originally Posted by ScottM
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He may now, but when I first saw him he had long hair. This is the first time I've seen him with short hair and if I wasn't expecting it to be him (-because of the thread title), I might not have recognized him. Originally Posted by Fidelcaster
Upstroke on the downbeat. Have to give it a whirl.
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Retrospectively, I'd say back at the time he used to look like dr. Sheldon Cooper wearing a whig. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Interesting.
I do know that he said he started out playing all upstrokes as a youth because he somehow thought that was how you do it. This must have really cemented the technique of upstrokes in his mind and gave him an advantage.
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I saw that video a couple of years ago on TGP, and have incorporated those up stroke licks into my daily practice routine.
I still contend that it's easier to shred on the rig he has, solid body shred axe with thinner strings, looser tension, and distortion, than it is on the typical archtop with thicker strings, tighter string tension, and clean sound.
On my archtop, I can play the triplet lick for an indefinite time period at two sixteenth note triplets= 188bpm, while on my solid body axes, I can play it much faster.
I think this is why the more modern, technical players, Grant Geissman, Dave Stryker, Chuck Loeb, John Scofield, Vic Juris, John Abercrombie, and so forth, tend to use semi-hollow or solid body guitars.
Working on the up stroke on the downbeat in the past few years has freed up my technique somewhat, and IMHO it still enables you to swing and play with more drive than the economic picking route, though the economy picking has to be used on arp passages at fast tempos.
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Schofield strings his guitar with chromes and has recently moved down to 11s but until a few years back used 13s. Doesn't seem all that comfortable to me Originally Posted by sgcim
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O, I agree. Slinky strings, low action and distortion allow you to sound of lot of notes without picking any of 'em! Archtops---especially with heavier flats and a clean tone---are harder to play fast. You have to, um, earn every note you get out of 'em. ;o) Originally Posted by sgcim
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I don't give a **** about Paul Gilbert
Seriously, the sound you get using a rock technique is different to a jazz sound. PG seems like an awesome human being and a great rock player, but irrelevant IMO to jazz guitar.
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The pop records he made in the first half of the 2000's are BRILLIANT.
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The sounds are different but his picking technique is first-rate. You don't have to care for his music---I don't---but I wish I was as fast and clean as he is. Match that with my superior taste... ;o) Originally Posted by christianm77
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Haha... Well the demands that PGs pick technique addresses are not the same as the issues my pick technique needs to address. (And I would say most jazz guitarists but hey, I don't want to speak for everyone.) Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
I'm not interested in fast repeating licks for example. Actually I'm not even interested in picking every note at high speeds...
I would say the same of a world class country flat picker. Their requirements are different. I can't cross pick like Tony Rice, because I don't need to. Although I prefer that music to shred rock as it happens.
IMO I find the fixation on shred rock players regarding technique a bit odd. It's not the high water mark of technique, it's just a type of technique suited to a particular type of music.
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He digs archtops, too...though I expect it's still light strings and low action.
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Here's a very convincing version of Brubeck's Rondo Ala Turk: Originally Posted by christianm77
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I think I'm a bit grumpy today.
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I should think alternate picking is something all jazz guitarists need to address now and again. Except maybe Wes... Originally Posted by christianm77
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I don't listen to country any more than I listen to shred rock, but (sometimes) I can tell an intelligent, musical country or shred player (like Paul Gilbert) from a lesser one. Of course PG, both fortunately and unfortunately for him, has built a career as a shred rock player, so playing shred rock is what he has to keep on doing to be reasonable sure to be able to earn his living; but, judging from a few listenings on YouTube (I've never listened to a PG's album), it seems to me very unlikely that he's just been playing the same licks for the last thirty years. As for the different demands that picking techniques address, I think they aren't relevant in regards to the video posted above, that only has to do with one of the basic elements of alternate picking technique.
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Alternate picking? Hmmm. Last refuge of the scoundrel. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
Seriously, I don't really do that. Some people do obviously.
I mean, most people go up and down on a string, but the difficult thing about alternate picking is obviously the string crossing. How you manage string crossing is the issue here, and in fact many jazz guitarists do this in a decidedly non-alternate way. Personally I like a mix of slurring and picking with lots of sweeping for that hornlike sound and upbeats that pop out percussively - Mike Moreno and Jimmy Raney play this way...
The requirement is also to swing - rhythmic definition on the upbeats. Again this gets managed in different ways.
Mechanically playing bop lines at around 240 bpm is a very different set of challenges to shredding a scale sequence or a fast repeater lick at a faster tempo. I would say that the maximum speed of someone like PG is far in excess of what I would generally aspire towards. But what he plays requires that extreme speed to create the effect.
In fact if the tempo edges up to 300+, I would seriously want to play less, more quarters and syncopated phrases. To my ears, it gets a bit indigestible when it's flying 8th notes at that tempo. Obviously you have the Stochelo Rosenbergs of this world, but that's like jazz shred (and non-alternate as it happens.)
Now someone's going to post a video of PG caning Donna Lee aren't they? Haha.
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Whenever I watch a Paul Gilbert video I end up with a smile on my face.
He has the craziest pinky finger!
The President should appoint him "Ambassador for Shred Guitar".
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I've cheered up a bit today. Paul Gilbert's great fun!
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Christian, we knew you had it in you! ;o) Originally Posted by christianm77
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Yeah, he's got a video where he plays the guitar with a chainsaw; how much more fun can you get than that? Originally Posted by christianm77
Plus he's got that cute Japanese piano playin' wife; what's not fun about that?
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Paul Gilbert seems like a really great guy to talk to and spend time to, unlike some shred guitarists one could name (Hi there, Yngwie.)
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