Paul Gilbert - alternate picking and no muting

I found this video on Youtube and wanted to share it here…

It has a reasonbly good CtC-friendly angle too.

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I think he did that weird hand placement for demonstration purposes. On this channel is another video from a similar angle where he seems to be muting or at least anchoring his hand on the bridge. Judging from other videos, where you can see him from the front, it looks like he is anchoring his hand, even for licks demanding double escape motion like these 3NPS sequences:

I do find it incredible how easy it looks here, and you can definitely see some kind of change in his hand as he switches strings…I believe he even has a slight finger motion in there?

This is the other video I was talking about:

I am definitely no expert, but it does not look like swiping?

Edit: IIRC, Paul mentioned in some interview that he actually swipes the strings sometimes.

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That is 100% swiping. A lot of the time alternate picking is referred to as more “percussive” and I think a lot of that percussive sound is a result of the use of swiping.

The slowed down part in the second video is a great example of that CHUNK sound you get when you swipe to change strings :smiley:

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Wow - that’s great - thanks for posting!

I clocked that speed at 13.043 notes per second - sounds amazingly good - with or without swiping!

Edit Realised I had the wrong vid :slight_smile:

Paul Gilbert right hand motion - YouTube - that one is 13.043 nps

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I just saw that video and came here to post it. :smile:

I have tried to balance my hand/wrist like that (with his pinky and ring finger resting on the lower body underneath the pickups).

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The thing that I’ve gained from that video is:

I think it’s a more a physics thing than anything else,

Specifically “Leverage” - i.e. distance of pick from rotation point.

The closer it is to the rotation point - the more power from leverage you have, and less dynamic control. Hence the bonkers consistent sound Paul has - it’s crazy.

For the me the closer the pick is to first thumb knuckle, the more consistent power I have, less dynamic control, further distance I have to move my hand e.t.c. Tons of other things happen when I play around with that distance - less string overshoot, more accidental string muting. It’s worth playing around with :slight_smile:

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Not trying to troll here, but are you sure the “chunking” sound isn´t from Paul stomping his foot? Don´t get me wrong, I would love it to be swiping as that would take away a lot of my frustration. I just don´t think it becomes clear from this very video.

100%.

I can hear a very clear difference between the tap of his foot and the percussive sound of the swiped string. I was completely obsessed with Gilbert and would play that lick everyday for hours on end for probably 6 months, so I’m very used to the way it sounds :joy:

If you’re interested, Troy explains it in further detail here in this video at 2:34

From that particular video specifically, it isn’t visually clear. With swiping you can usually hear pretty easily it if it’s done on a place of the neck where a natural harmonic exists. All the muting in the world can’t completely mask it. If you look at his wrist, or the bones in it and forearm you can see he is using a shallow rotation that is typically needed for double escape. Whether he’s pulling it off or just swiping, you guys can debate that. One thing to mention though, swiping slowed down may present itself as a flam, thin picks (Paul uses .60 mil) also will have a more audible flap after connection with the string. I hear more thin pick flap, than I do a ghost flam in that clip, so who knows.