Think I have to give Paul the "Most Aware Guitarist of our Time" award. He is just so on top of everything. If a guitar lick could save the world, he would be the one to figure it out.
I had a Guitar mag back in the day early - mid 80's, Guitar World I think. Anyway, they used to feature up coming players and he was one of these players. He was an unknown back then, to me anyway. Great guitarist.
Dimebag did. The whiskey helped- but he never made mistakes. He had a smile ear to ear. He was always into a little more tasteful music then he ended up playing too
Saw Paul Gilbert around '92 in Denver, Mr. Big with Billy Sheehan on bass at Paramount. Singer blew his pipes, Paul & Billy stepped up and finished show in great style.
I love what a dork PG is... He's an amazing player who is not afraid to be himself. Clinging to that fugly Ibanez guitar and a coiled cable. And he's freakishly tall. But what a great guy!
I try not to pick favorites when it comes to musicians, there are so many players that are great in their own right. Most have slightly different styles & sounds, but that doesn't make one better than another, just different. So both of these are great at what they do, as are all the rest. I've never seen Gilbert live, would love to. I've seen Johnson at least 7 or 8 times, great show every time.
I've seen Eric several times my band in the 90's opened for him in Las Vegas. He was great. I saw Gilbert at a clinic before he was in Mr Big. I remember he played Trilogy by Malmsteen in it's entirety. He's a great player and composer. I love how his Beatles/Rush/Pat Travers/etc.. influences come thru his music. I remember his Mike Varney Spotlight Article.
Thank you both! In fact I have a pic with Eric, a lady friend of mine, and I at an acoustic tour he did several years ago. I was a small intimate venue, he played piano during most of it, and some acoustic guitar. Afterward he came out and did a meet & greet with whoever stayed around. Extremely decent down to earth gentleman, and a monster on guitar & piano. 😁 Of course with all the people wanting to get autographs & pics he didn't have time to talk in depth, but I was happy to get a pic & autograph from him. He signed my "Tones" album for me. 😁 I would love to be able to do the same with Paul. I know opening for Eric had to be a kick. I know I wouldn't be able to do without making a complete ass of myself. 🤣 Out of curiosity is Matty any relation to Mike Zito?
Paul is great. Eric is a one man band. Note how he plays rhythm basically all the way through. Paul only plays the leads and is basically just watching while Eric takes the lead. And how he is vamping all sorts of different stuff meanwhile.
I'm very surprised that nobody has mentioned Arielle!! She's amazing!!! also because she's friends with Brian F%#@ May!!! And her signature guitar is a BM Guitar!! Very Talented!!!
Very Nice.Not to sound cliche',but its always nice to see my absolute favorite players jamming together.These two; PG and EJ are in my top 5 ever.EVH,G Moore,JS,Nuno.Wait,that's 6,oops!
If you call totally being lost as holding her own lol. Even she said she was over her head when paul came and played. Paul had to stop his solo because she kept going during the solo hand offs which was a hilarious response from Gilbert as he put his guitar back down.
@@nimaside dude… she’s literally playing with Paul Gilbert, and Eric Johnson… complete guitar virtuosos… if you do anything except crawl up and cry on stage, that is a complete win.
@@nimaside lost? you're fucking kidding. it was an improvised three-way jam and she decided to play a bit longer, accidentally cutting in on paul. that's it. I've seen worse jam etiquette from steve vai. also, the main thing, is that her licks were pretty sweet. there was a moment where she took over from eric and I thought eric was still playing, the tone and feel was so similar.
Eric still all around the best. His tone, chords, melodies, will outlast the shredders. Love his speed, but that can only take you so far. Probably plenty of insanely fast guitarists flipping burgers. Eric has melodies/songs you can hum or sing for many years. Michael Angelo Batio seems like a great player, teacher, but I’m not humming his songs. How much faster before it’s just an exercise?
Ricardo Fernadez, you seem to have no idea who Paul Gilbert is or how many albums with non-shred tunes on them he's made. Get his albums, before trying to make crude judgments like that. I find myself humming some of Paul's tunes all the time. You just don't know. They are both great players. Ye olde guitar player pissing contests are so passé.
@@lordsong7 I guess we don’t have the same opinion what else is new?. I actually love Paul Gilbert along with Malmsteen, Vai, Bettencourt, Wylde, Moore. I’ve was watching Eric Johnson and Vinnie Moore live back in 97. All are great guitarists. Paul is an excellent player and man his instruction videos are top notch. He is not my favorite, but somehow you think I was attacking him. You can have your opinion, I respect that. For me the best is Nuno Bettencourt at Generation Axe I think he killed all their asses. Number 1 for me is Andy Timmons in all areas. I assume you have seen all these guys live and probably have backstage passes, since I have no idea what I’m talking about. You probably don’t respect guys like Eddie, Lynch, Rhonda, Michael Schenker that influenced a lot these dudes. Hey if Paul is 1 then great
Fella's music is all so subjective, what's your favourite vs someone else's favourite, doesn't make anyone right or wrong, just different... now if you want to start trying to define the best, you would first need to define some pretty strict and qualitative criteria and remove any subjectivity, which is very difficult! enjoy the music, live and let live, rock on 🤘🏻
As a guitar player and tinnitus sufferer I am surprised that both Eric and Paul who also suffer from tinnitus are still wailing away in front of cranked amps. They must be aware that this can worsen their condition and I hardly think any live show would be worth that risk.
I'm a guitarist with tinnitus also and I used to just wear earplugs that were nearly invisible to everybody. I'd imagine Eric does the same thing since he made a lot of changes to his methods when his tinnitus became an issue
@@rogerbiggerstaff3293 It can depend on the overall volume on stage which in ear monitors may not be able to reduce sufficiently to protect your ears. There are numerous famous touring musicians who know they can no longer be subjected to that level of stage volume or the volume projected into the audience by half deaf sound men!
I think the beauty of this is EJ is really pushing hard here, because PG is well... PG. it's like Godzilla and King Kong with a mutual respect. And then there's this little girl on stage to keep it civil LOL
There's a little more to it. Arielle was actually part of the tour, Paul wasn't. Paul lives here and came down and came out for the encore as he does when friends come to town in this small venue. So Paul was a "special" special guest I guess you could say. Kyle and Tommy are no slouches either. Plenty of love and respect was given to Arielle during the show, sharing the stage with Eric Johnson for an entire tour. Yes, Eric always is styling in the footwear department!
EJ and Paul are killing it here, of course, but don't sleep on Arielle. The couple of times I've seen her live were fantastic - she's just joyful up there!
Nope, stone cold sober. I don't watch live shows through my phone screen when I record, I point in the direction and glance down and adjust. It's not perfect, but I get what I get while respecting the performer and actually enjoy a live performance. Thanks for being the first of 30K views to notice. Your welcome for the video 👍
Not too much into comparisons here, BUT Eric Johnson amazed even Mike Stern (a jazz guitar of the year a few times) at the Aladdin in Portland OR when I saw them. Great guitar playing, but Eric Johnson on a good is on a different level than Gilbert. Eric Johnson could hold his own with Al di Meola or John McLaughlin.
@@armff4817 I have seen both play live a few times. Al di Meola is as fast as John McLaughlin, but with so much more style and feel. Wish could have seen Paco live though......
Eric is great ,very unique,He has balls though inviting Paul Gilbert up there,As far as electric guitar virtuosos go,Steve Vai is the master,and Paul Gilbert is not far behind him.
I know it's not a competition, but Paul smoked Eric on his own song! lol I love Eric, but he seems kinda uninspired lately, and like he is going through the motions in a lot of the recent live clips I have seen.
Two of the nicest guys around, definitely different styles, but I enjoy the respect they have for each others playing. I saw EJ in 2020, he made a few errors I wasnt used to hearing and possibly not as fluid with his riffs? Hate to sound judgey as I'm a huge fan, but it's noticeable occasionally.
He probably doesn't practice speed as much as he used to. Prime Eric was inhumanly fast. Absolutely no comparison to now. I think he's even said that now he puts more focus on other aspects of his playing.
completely different styles, and age does not forgive, i've been following both for as long as i can remember, since back in the 80's, and i'm the first to admit that Eric is no longer ACL high school band jacket Eric, his speed and accuracy are no longer spot on, but hey, it will happened to all of us no matter what talent we have, it will suffer with age; Not a competition here guys
Totally agree. I've been watching EJ live for years here in Texas and after around 2011 or so his solos and playing in general have really gone downhill. I feel it might be his age. He's stuck re-using the same boring pentatonic scales at slower speeds and not as clean as his old self. Plus he used to play out of the box far more often, making his improvisation sound much more delightful to the ears. And as someone who's has seen him play for 30 years, his tone has also gone down hill. He's still my favorite player though.
