GuitarWorkshop.com recently caught up with guitarist Paul Gilbert to discuss his new album, Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar. The following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: How does your new album differ from or expand on the Get Out Of My Yard album?

Gilbert: "I think one of the biggest things is the use of melody, which I was really scared of doing because instrumental music that has vocal melodies can easily turn into 'elevator music'. I remember walking into a department store and you would hear an instrumental version of a BEATLES song and it was usually kinda cheesy and very un-rock. Kenny G, for example, is a musician that I certainly don’t want to sound like, but technically he is flawless but somehow the rock and roll aspect has been sucked out of it. So, for a long time I associated playing what would have been the vocals on a musical instrument as being dangerously close to that. On this album I somehow managed to break through that melody barrier in my own brain and hopefully retain the rock energy that has to be there."

Q: Obviously you are big into music education with your clinic schedule. Were there any early mentors that had a profound impact on you?

Gilbert: "Yeah, my very first teacher when I was six was a big influence, because it was so boring that I quit guitar. When I was about 11 I had a much better teacher who was methodical but at the same time he did two things that were really great. The first was he showed me the basic musical tools like chords, scales and being able to learn those using diagrams. The other thing was he was very insistent on learning repertoire. Every week he would have a new song to work on and it was the next step since I had been playing be ear before then. To me that remains such an important and fun part of being a musician and it is rare that you come across someone who is an advanced musician and doesn’t know a lot of tunes."

Go to this location for the complete interview.