Paul Gilbert opened up about his early struggles with fast-picking guitar techniques to Guitar World. He revealed that it was the legendary Yngwie Malmsteen who inspired him to pick up the technique again.
Paul Gilbert had a difficult time embracing his own fast-picking abilities when he was younger. Around the age of 16 or 17, Gilbert was feeling discouraged by the talent of other guitarists. Because of this very reason, the guitarist decided to put a hold on the fast-picking technique and did not try to master it.
That’s when he heard Malmsteen and changed his mind completely about the subject. Gilbert heard Malmsteen play, and he decided that it is worth another try. After practicing for about a week or two, the guitarist liked how he sounded when he was fast-picking. Malmsteen’s influence was great on the guitarist, and he didn’t even have to talk to him about it.
Here is the full story as told by Gilbert:
“The first time I heard Yngwie, it was over the phone. Mike Varney, who was the producer and owner of Shrapnel Records, had been sent some tapes and then got connected with him. Mike used to do this thing where he’d call you up and go, ‘Yeah, I got into tape – it sounds pretty good,’ and he’d go from there.
He was sent all this stuff that would knock your socks off, so when he showed me Yngwie, and I heard him over the phone, he was doing this fast-picking thing, and I thought he was shockingly good. At that point, I was maybe 16 or 17 years old and had given up on fast picking. I had tried it, but I didn’t like the way it sounded when I did it. I just couldn’t get the tone, and it tangled up whatever else I was doing.”
He continued about giving up:
“So, I thought, ‘Well, I’ll let other people do that. That’s not my style,’ which I think was a good decision. I’ll tell that to my students, meaning, if it’s not working, put it on a shelf. It’s not good to beat yourself up about some technique that’s not working at the moment – you’ll get to it later. But when I heard Yngwie, it was like, ‘Okay, well, if he can do that, maybe it’s worth another try, just to know that it’s possible.’
That was the first time I ever sat down with a metronome and thought, ‘Okay, here we go – let me put some time into this.’ And after a week or two, I could do it. And I thought, ‘Well, maybe there’s hope after all.’ So, Yngwie got me to give that another shot, and then I started to have some success.”
Paul Gilbert’s story reminds us that even the most talented musicians can still learn from one another and that it’s never too late to give a technique or skill another try. He still cites Malmsteen as a source of inspiration, not only his fast-picking guitar technique but also all other areas of music continue to inspire Gilbert.
