After Edward Van Halen stunned the world with his fretboard pyrotechnics in the late ’70s, a new breed of technical guitarists rose up in the mid-’80s. One such player was Racer X/Mr. Big axeman Paul Gilbert, who is still considered one of the most advanced alternate pickers and most musical shredders to this day – using rapid-fire blues lines in tandem with lightning fast arpeggios.
Paul now recalls how his life was changed by witnessing the magic of EVH live on stage, and how this served as an education in what it takes to be a guitar great…
Eruption!
I was lucky enough to see every Van Halen headline tour from 1979 until 1984. To be there in person was amazing. Because of technology changing and MTV coming out, the band were much better documented in terms of quality
