A long time ago I bought a VHS instructional tape by Paul Gilbert called Intense Rock I think that was 1990 or something and it was a fantastic instructional video not only for the entertaining interludes from cheerleaders chanting for more distortion and a mexican band introducing “PAULO GILBERTOOOO!”, but also for amazing insights into Paul’s technique, 3 string scale licks and alternate picking. Anyway after buying Paul’s 2006 album ‘Get Out Of My Yard’ recently and loving every minute of it I started noticing clips on YouTube showing excerpts from some of the tracks and how they were played so I was excited to see there was a DVD available which was an instructional DVD explaining how he played each track on the album.

Now ‘Get Out Of My Yard’ the DVD seems to have been produced on the cheap, the cover looks like it was printed on a cheap desktop printer and unlike ‘Intense Rock’ there was no accompanying tab book but it was only $25 on Music44.com and for $25 you get 2 hours of 1 on 1 Paul Gilbert!!

I admit I was a little disappointed about the lack of Mexican Band interludes and crazy blue screen backgrounds like ‘Intense Rock’ but there is a whole load of great content. First of all Paul uses a fantastic array of Ibanez guitars from his signature models to an old 70’s Ibanez explorer and even a Hamer 12 string bass! (not sure it is this exact model Jol might be able to help out here?). Paul takes the best bits from each track and not only shows you how he played it at full tempo as well as slower speeds to help you get a grip on what is going on but he also expands on certain techniques used in the section. Let me try and explain that a little better, say he is showing you an excerpt such as the arpeggios in ‘The Curse Of Castle Dragon’ he explains how he prefers string skipped arpeggios to sweep picked and gives you an example of both to illustrate the differences in sound and technique. Paul also shows in depth his picking technique and shows plenty of alternate picking licks to add to your shredding arsenal. On top of all this he also illustrates differences in phrasing using vibrato and bends to enhance a lick and there are plenty of big bend E minor pentatonic licks played at blistering speed for Paul to contort his face to which is quite amusing in itself. And yes the Makita drill even gets a brief outing!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this DVD as it felt a little rushed between track explanations but there is loads of great live footage of Paul playing with his band throughout as well as close up illustrations of every technique Paul uses in his playing and lets face it he is a technical master so there is plenty to take in. I know this is aimed at rock guitarists but I recommend every guitarist buy ‘Get Out Of My Yard’ on CD then buy the DVD, they are worth every cent!

I just finished watching Strat Masters, The definitive history of the world’s most famous guitar. The 3 hour 2 DVD epic documentary claim’s to be the history of the Fender Stratocaster but that would be selling this DVD somewhat short. This is not just the history of the Fender Strat, this is the history of the Electric guitar! Ok so you’re not going to see any other guitars in the film aside from the occasional Gibson, especially the very nice Charlie Christian model (ES150) played by Trefor Owen, but it puts into perspective the impact that this guitar had back in 1950’s and how without hardly any visible design evolution it has continued to do so.

At the beginning of the film there is a quote by Hank Marvin who says if someone had to draw a guitar they would probably draw something like a Fender Stratocaster and I think that sums up the importance of this design, it is the shape that people consider to be an “Electric guitar” what more endorsement could you want? The film has lengthy interviews with the likes of Ry Cooder, Mark Knopfler, Hank Marvin and the late Rory Gallagher including some unique footage of Rory playing his beat up old Strat. Each of these people have such distinctive sounds and yet play the same basic instrument which shows the versatility of Fender’s masterpiece. Of course a lot of the sound has to do with pickups so who better to explain how these were created than the master pickup creator Seymour Duncan. The film goes inside the Seymour Duncan and shows Seymour hand winding a pickup, something I really knew nothing about prior to seeing this, I have always taken pickups for granted I must say! There are also plenty of shots inside the Fender manufacturing facility and explaining each part of the process, its pretty funny seeing the production lines of ladies hammering in fret wire, it makes you realise why you pay extra for the custom shop guitars!

I could go on all day about this film but I really think you should just buy it for yourself and watch it, if you are a guitarist I guarantee you will enjoy it! Where else are you going to get 3 hours of Robert Cray, Chris Rea (I didn’t realise he had arthritis!), Richie Kotzen and Jeff Beck showing off their Strats and in Mark Knopfler’s case demonstrating the difference between 3 of his personal collection. I would like to have seen a bit more of Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan mentioned and maybe John Mayer or Eric Clapton but it is still great viewing.

You can find out more information on Strat Masters here.