World Best Guitar Players: Paul Gilbert

Paul Brandon Gilbert born November 6, 1966 in Illinois, USA, is an American guitarist. He is well known for his technical guitar work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums and numerous collaborations and guest appearances with other musicians. He has been voted number 4 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time", as well as a spot in Guitar World's 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time list.Paul became interested in music under the influence of his parents at the age of five. On his 5th birthday, his parents gave the toy guitar and toy amp to him. He started to play the guitar in 1971. At the age of 9, he became listening to music; hard rock/heavy metal like LED ZEPPELIN, KISS, AEROSMITH and HEART. When he was 11, Eddie Van Halen guitar play gave him a great shock. And he started to play with band. At the age of 15, he sent Mike Varney (a president of the record company, "Shrapnel") his demo tape. And Mike liked his demo tape. So Mike talked to him, "How about recording?". But it wasn't realized. He graduated high school and moved to Los Angeles to entered G.I.T in 1984. In September, 1985, he became a teacher of G.I.T. At the same time, he formed his band called ELECTRIC FENCE. The members of his band were Paul (guitar/bass), Jeff Martin (drums) and Russ Parrish (guitar/bass). They were jamming cover songs. In 1986, he started the new band called RACER X. But he quit RACER X in 1988. In 1989, he joined MR.BIG. They released first album,"MR.BIG" in the same year. In 1996, they made an announcement about their permanent off. Paul released his first solo album,"KING OF CLUBS" in 1997. And he went to road as his first solo tour in 1998. In the same year, he released his 2nd solo album,"FLYING DOG". And he came back to Japan to play live in 1999. He made an announcement about leaving MR.BIG at the same time. In 1999, October, RACER X is back !! They makes their reunion album. Now, Paul Gilbert enjoys making and playing his favorite music.

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