Paul Gilbert Quotes

I've started to look at guitar playing from more than just a standpoint of using certain modes and techniques.

Yes indeed I have gained a lot out of playing scales and etudes.

I am a self-taught guitarist. I just try to piece together passages that have some melodic value!

I haven't learned anything new on guitar since high school. And I think it's time to learn something.

I just want to be a better guitar player, really.

I can't play a solo without thinking about John Jorgenson. I always think about what he would do.

Certainly, as a guitarist, I was aware of descending chromatic lines and arpeggios long before 1968.

In order to become a well-rounded musician, you have to master the three major aspects of guitar playing: the technical side, the musical side and the creative side.

I find it quite easy to play chords, and, you know, that was all I ever did. I never wanted to be a lead guitarist.

Once you've developed some technical facility on the guitar, the musical side (which entails theory, harmony, chord structure, ear training, sight-reading, composition and being able to hear chord progressions and licks) comes into play a lot more.

I'm not that fluid when it comes to scales and modes. I just pick up the guitar and play. It's all about exploration: just tune the guitar any way you want and start playing.

You never learn everything on that guitar neck.

I learned how to play guitar by playing along to Jane's Addiction records and Smashing Pumpkins records, things you can totally hear if you listen to my guitar.

I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it.

We always had a guitar at home, but it wasn't until I was 14 when I picked it up myself when my father handed me these sheets of music of the Beatles and some other classics. That's where I learned all the chords and learned how to play and sing at the same time.

I bought one of those Learn How to Play Guitar Chords By Yourself and it shows you the diagram where to put your hands and I took that in my room, sat with my singles and learned how to play guitar.

I noticed a lot of guitar players neglected the rhythm part of rhythm guitar and decided I would try to focus in that. As my skill and knowledge of the instrument grew, I found lead started to come naturally. Sometimes I play guitar like a frustrated drummer. Ha ha!

I play guitar and I'm always trying to find out the latest kinds of riffs.

What happens is people go, 'I want to play the guitar,' and the first thing they do is hit Google: 'How can I play this?' and the next thing you know, you've learned all these tricks, but you've never learned how to play rhythm guitar with a groove.

I was learning guitar as the band was beginning, at least in terms of being a lead guitar player. I could write songs, but I couldn't really play solos.

I used to be totally into Steve Vai and Joe Satriani and other shredders, and I tried to emulate what they did and really grow as a guitarist.

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.

All of my acoustic playing came from my songwriting. All of the chords I've learned and all of the voicings I play them in are a direct result of composing.

I played the Spanish guitar for eight years, like flamenco.

All I'm trying to do is simply play guitar and elicit this creativity from the instrument.