Speaking with Guitar World, Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) gave a track-by-track rundown of his new Christmas album, 'TWAS. An excerpt is available below.

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Gilbert: "I reharmonised the chords first, and the rest grew out of that. I was curious to see if the band would say, 'You are crazy!' But they seemed to like it. Most of the chords and progressions that I know came from The Beatles, Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Queen, and all the '70s pop hits that I grew up with. I've also learned a lot of these songs on piano, and translated back and forth to guitar. My piano technique is primitive, so I can't play any licks. But if I know a song on guitar, I can usually play the chords on piano right away.

We recorded everything live in the same room. But I wasn't well-prepared for the solo. So after getting a good overall take of the song, I asked the band to just play the section with the guitar solo a few times. That way I could have more chances, without having to repeat the whole tune. Then, once I got a good solo, I could edit it into the song. We did very little rehearsal for anything, so there was a fair amount of panic going on in my head during a lot of the recording."

"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Gilbert: "It was really challenging to arrange Rudolph in a way where I could look forward to every section. It turned out to have a lot of parts, but I looked forward to them all. I spent a lot of time figuring out the rhythm guitar part behind the verse. It's sort of reggae-funk-rock-soul. It creates a nice groove, but also leaves spaces for the melody. It's pretty embarrassing to get a note wrong in Rudolph, so I practised my landings a lot. For the quick patterns, I give credit to growing up without an iPhone, so every time I was bored, I would play guitar. 

And having great heroes like Eddie Van Halen and my uncle Jimi. It's surprising how smoothly the tempo and rhythm changes happened. I thought we'd have to record Rudolph in sections and then edit it together. But after a little rehearsal, we started getting full takes that flowed really well. Since everyone in the band is a good reader, I made charts. I also made a demo video of me playing the arrangement, and sent it to everyone the night before."

Check out the complete rundown here.

Gilbert’s 17th solo album features a dozen recordings, two of which are new, original compositions. Gilbert states: “It was 104°F in Portland, Oregon, on August 12th, when the band and I recorded 'I Saw Three Ships'. I was trying to get extra sounds from my A/DA Flanger by attaching a foot-operated, mechanical knob-turning device. But the device kept coming loose, and I kept getting angrier and angrier at it. I finally decided to give up on the knob-turning, and convert my frustration into pure guitar playing energy. The result was a slightly worried band, subtle flanging, and a good take! Thanks to Nat King Cole and George Thorogood for the arrangement inspiration. And thanks to England for the song.”

Gilbert adds: "Many will agree that in recent times, challenging events have been pouring down upon our heads like an Exploding Waterfall of Molasses. At least it sometimes feels like that to me.  But while I was jamming Christmas songs with my friends, playing an assortment of red, green, and white Ibanez electric guitars, I felt like life was THE BEST.  I hope that this music can put a smile on your face as well.

"Ten of the songs are classics. I was inspired by the Christmas recordings of Nat King Cole, Loretta Lynn, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Ventures. And of course, inspiration came from my guitar heroes, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, Johnny Winter, Robin Trower, Frank Marino, Pat Travers, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page, to name a few. I also wrote some of my own new Christmas songs. As I have been doing recently, I begin with lyrics and a melody. Then I let my guitar take over, as it sings better than I do."

He continues. "'Three Strings For Christmas' refers to the 3-string guitar that I used on my double-neck. I tune the strings in octaves, which allows me to play ridiculously fast arpeggios, and very little else (which is why I have a normally strung guitar for the other neck.) 'Every Christmas Has Love' was written quickly, inspired by my panic-driven mental state of album making. When I know that the recording sessions are coming, my brain shifts into survival mode, and melodies start popping out. Then I take all the chords I learned by listening to 70s AM radio, and build a song. The lyrics are nice too. I'll be printing those in the liner notes of the album. Merry Christmas to all. And to all, a good night."

Gilbert formed a band of Portland, Oregon's finest jazz and blues musicians for these sessions. The players are Dan Balmer (guitar), Clay Giberson (keyboards), Timmer Blakely (bass), and Jimi Bott (drums). He reflects, “All brought supreme musical goodness to these arrangements and performances. They certainly steered me to make wiser musical choices than I would have made on my own. And as you will hear, my metal guitar instincts still breathe fire when they get the chance.” The album was recorded in Jimi Bott's studio, who also engineered and mixed the recordings. The approach was to record two songs every day, for six days, delivering the collected body of work.

Gilbert: "All songs were recorded live, although I think Jimi snuck some cowbell overdubs in. If anything should be added to a live track, I believe cowbell is the right choice."

Tracklist:

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
"Frosty the Snowman"
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
"The Christmas Song"
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
"I Saw Three Ships"
"Every Christmas Has Love"
"Three Strings for Christmas"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
"Silver Bells"
"Winter Wonderland"

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" video: