The whole song is brilliant - in fact, the whole album is brilliant. This is the 2010 album he did with singer Freddie Nelson, and it's stuffed full of great tunes. This one has a fantastic, multi-section solo starting at 1:10. It fits the song perfectly and walks the fine line between having a great sense of melody that really serves the song, and all-out blazing up and down the neck in the manner Paul Gilbert is well known for.
Paul Gilbert is just great isn't he. Even if you hate shred, the fact that he just sounds like he's enjoying himself so much is really infectious. And his tone and vibrato are the best of any shred guitarist you could possibly mention. And he can actually write great songs.
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
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Thing is, for all his technical ability and 'shred side', the man is a musician first and foremost and appreciates the classic song form like The Beatles, Elton John and even current pop, and that comes out in his solo material like the King of Clubs album and even the Mr Big hit "Green-tinted 60's mind"
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It's amazing how listenable shred can be when the guitar player isn't halfway up his own arse, but damn, is it rare.
All three of those guys (with a big nod to early Jeff Beck) can make a guitar sound like cheeky laughter - it's expressive, clever and fun.
PG tells a story about when his daughter was six, her teacher asked the class to bring something in from home, so she brought her dad. He took a guitar and a little amp and showboated a little with some shredding to totally blank looks from the kids, so he played a simple Bo Diddley rhythm instead and they all clapped along, giving him what he said was one of the most important musical lessons of his life.
I also really like the solo solo and general Freddie Mercuryness of this one:
https://youtu.be/wW7YKHTzfgo
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks Freddie sounds like... Freddie.