Paul Gilbert

Paul Brandon Gilbert () dikenal sebagai gitaris dari grup musik Mr. Big dan Racer X di samping merilis beberapa album solo serta berkolaborasi dengan banyak musisi.

Paul Gilbert merupakan salah satu dewa gitar seperti halnya Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, dan John Petrucci. Sebelumnya Paul dikenal melalui group bandnya Mr.Big. Rekaman Mr.Big yang laku keras turut membesarkan nama Paul di dunia musik rock.

Paul sendiri sudah cukup menggegerkan dunia gitaris pada 1986-1987 sebagai pemain gitar tercepat di dunia ketika ia masih bergabung dengan group band Racer X. Teknik permainannya telah sempurna saat ia baru menginjak 17 tahun.

Pada usia lima tahun (1971) Paul mulai belajar bermain gitar. Sepuluh tahun kemudian Paul mencoba mengirim demo rekamannya ke produser Mike Varney. Di luar dugaannya, Mike sangat mengagumi permainannya, di samping Tony Macalpine.

Pada 1984 Paul pindah ke Los Angeles dan melanjutkan sekolah gitarnya ke GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology) dan kini telah menjadi instruktur sekolah gitar bergengsi ini.

Pada 1986 ia bergabung dengan band pertamanya Racer X dengan album debutnya "Street Lethal ", kemudian "Second Heat" (1987) & "Live! Extreme Volume" (1988).

Pada 1989 Paul meninggalkan Racer X dan bergabung dengan group band Mr. Big dengan pemain bass yang disegani Billy Sheehan, vokalis Eric Martin, dan drummer Pat Torpey.

Mereka meluncurkan album pertama "MR.BIG", dan Mr. Big tampil untuk kali pertama di Jepang pada Oktober.

Selanjutnya Paul meluncurkan album berikutnya: "Live! Raw Like Sushi" (1990), "Mr Big - Lean into it" (1991), "Mr.Big - San Francisco Live" (1992), "Racer X - Live Extreme Volume 2" (1992), "Mr.Big - Bump Ahead" (1993), "Mr.Big - Live! Raw Like Sushi 2" (1994), "HEY MAN" & " The best of MR.BIG" (1996), "Hard Rock Cafe", " Live At Budokan " & solo " King of Club" (1997)

Lagu "To Be With You" (dari Album "Lean Into It") menduduki posisi pertama di majalah Billboard USA selama tiga minggu.

Pada 1998 Paul tampil kali pertama di Jepang dengan solo albumnya. Paul meluncurkan album solo "Flying Dog". Pada 1999 Paul kembali ke Jepang dan meluncurkan album solo kedua "Beehive Live" dan album ketiga Racer X "Technical Difficulties".

Pada 2003 album Burning Organ dirilis, dan kali ini masuk ke Indonesia di bawah naungan label Staria Enterprise. Namun, album berikutnya, Acoustic Samurai, berada di bawah label Variant Music. Kemudian Paul menggelar promo tur album "Spaceship One" hingga ke Indonesia. Hal ini disambut dengan antusias oleh para penggemarnya karena pada saat itu banyak artis asal Amerika yang membatalkan promo tur album mereka setelah peristiwa sweeping orang Amerika oleh pihak-pihak tertentu.

Diskografi

Album Solo 

 King of Clubs (1998; Japan Oricon Album Chart #28)
 Flying Dog (1998; Japan Oricon Album Chart #23)
 Alligator Farm (2000; Japan Oricon Album Chart #24)
 Raw Blues Power (2002; w/ Jimi Kidd; Japan Oricon Album Chart #94)
 Burning Organ (2002; Japan Oricon Album Chart #27)
 Gilbert Hotel (2003)
 Space Ship One (2005; Japan Oricon Album Chart #53)
 Get Out of My Yard (2006; Japan Oricon Album Chart #52)
 Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar (2008; Japan Oricon Album Chart #39)
 United States (2009; w/ Freddie Nelson)
 Fuzz Universe (2010; Japan Oricon Album Chart #57)
 Vibrato (2012)

EPs 

 Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (1991; Japan Oricon Album Chart #59)
 Tough Eskimo (2007)

Album Live 

 Beehive Live (1999; Japan Oricon Album Chart #72)
 Acoustic Samurai (2003; Japan Oricon Album Chart #94)

Album Kompilasi 

 Paul the Young Dude/The Best of Paul Gilbert (2003; Japan Oricon Album Chart #31)

Bersama Racer X 
See: Racer X Discography

 Street Lethal (1986)
 Second Heat (1987)
 Technical Difficulties (1999)
 Superheroes (2000)
 Getting Heavier (2002)

Bersama Mr. Big 
See: Mr. Big Discography

 Mr. Big (1989)
 Lean into It (1991)
 Bump Ahead (1993)
 Hey Man (1996)
 What If... (2011)

Kemunculan Sebagai Tamu 

 Black Sheep - Trouble in the Streets- (1985)
 Missing Lynx - Atomic Basement Tapes (1985)
 Darrell Mansfield Band - Revelation (1985)
 Jeff Berlin - Pump It! (1986)
 Joey Tafolla - Out of the Sun (1987)
 Todd Rundgren - Nearly Human (1989)
 Various artists - Guitars That Rule the World (1992)
 Samad - Samad (1994)
 Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus - Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus (1996)
 Akira Takasaki - Wa (1996)
 Gregg Bissonette - Gregg Bissonette (1998)
 Pat Torpey - Odd Man Out (1998)
 Pat Torpey - Y2K: Odd Man Out (1999)
 Various artists - In Rock Soundtrack (2000)
 Hughes Turner Project - HTP (2002)
 Various artists - Battle Gear III: The Edge (2003)
 Kim Fox - Return to Planet Earth (2003)
 Various artists - Guitar Wars (2003)
 Marco Minnemann - Mieze (2004)
 Pintsize - Five Feet... No Inches (2005; credited as "Dick Image")
 Marco Minnemann - Contraire de la chanson (2006)
 Wisely - Parador (2006)
 Jeff Pilson's War and Peace - Light at the End of the Tunnel (2006)
 Jeff Martin - The Fool (2006)
 Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura (2007)
 Neal Morse - Lifeline (2008)
 MC Lars - This Gigantic Robot Kills - (2008)
 Bowling for Soup - Merry Flippin' Christmas Volume 1 (2009)
 Neal Morse - Momentum (2012)
 Nick Johnston- In A Locked Room On The Moon (2013)

Album Tribute 

 Various artists - Smoke on the Water: A Tribute (1994)
 Various artists - Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle (1996)
 Various artists - Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas (1997)
 Various artists - Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper (1999)
 Various artists - Warmth in the Wilderness: A Tribute to Jason Becker (2001)
 Yellow Matter Custard - One Night in New York City (2003)
 Various artists - Spin the Bottle: an All-Star Tribute to Kiss (2004)
 Various artists - Numbers from the Beast: An All Star Tribute to Iron Maiden (2005)
 Hammer of the Gods - Two Nights in North America (2006)
 Cygnus and the Sea Monsters - One Night in Chicago (2006)
 Amazing Journey - One Night in New York City (2007)
 Yellow Matter Custard - One More Night In New York City (2011)

Video 

 Intense Rock Jams - Sequences & Techniques VHS version (1988)
 Intense Rock II featuring Paul Gilbert VHS version (1991)
 Guitars from Mars Japanese DVD release
 Guitars from Mars II Japanese DVD release
 Terrifying Guitar Trip VHS version
 Eleven Thousand Notes DVD
 Guitar Wars DVD
 Space Ship Live DVD (2005)
 Complete Intense Rock DVD (2006)
 Terrifying Guitar Trip DVD (2006)
 Get Out Of My City Guitar Instructional DVD/VCD (2007)
 One Night In New York City - Yellow Matter Custard (2003)
 Two Nights In North America - Hammer Of The Gods (2006)
 One Night In Chicago - Cygnus And The Sea Monsters (2006)
 One Night In New York City - Amazing Journey (2007)
 Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar Guitar Instructional DVD And Shred Annex (2008)
 ''The Last Note of Freedom