Guitarist Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) has unveiled new signature Ibanez 30th anniversary guitar called the PGM333. It is being released in honour of his 30+ years as an Ibanez endorser.

During a recent interview with Guitar World, Gilbert discussed the making of his new album, Behold Electric Guitar. Following is an excerpt from the discussion.

Q: Compositionally, what was your overarching agenda for your new record, Behold Electric Guitar?

Gilbert: "My initial ideas are just a starting place. As a record goes along, it becomes more about making discoveries and getting excited about new songs. I guess the main discovery I made this time was how well it worked to write melodies from a vocal perspective — even writing pages of lyrics — and then to use those vocal ideas as a framework for guitar to take over and play the melody instead.

It took me a long time to accept the idea that the guitar can take the place of a singer. Since I grew up listening to the Beatles, I always thought that singers should handle the melody, and that the guitar should play chords, riffs or bluesy solos. Blues is like the 'gateway drug' that lead to digging jazz. I really enjoy jazz now, which is totally surprising to me. Letting jazz elements into my playing scares me a little, because I still respect my 16-year-old self as well as all the kids out there who want to rock. At the same time, if I love something, I have to love it. And it’s really exciting to me to have opened doors into these new worlds and to be moved by what I find."

Read the complete interview here. Check out the Pledge Music page for Behold Electric Guitar for album details and audio samples here.