Legendary guitar hero Paul Gilbert returns with his latest release, Behold Electric Guitar, with Roland Guerin on bass, Asher Fulero on keyboards and Bill Ray, Reinhardt Melz and Brian Foxworth on drums. Featuring 12 new original tracks, this record is Gilberts most expressive and inspired guitar playing to date.

For this album, Gilbert enlisted the help of legendary producer and engineer, John Cuniberti (Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Aerosmith, Train), as Gilbert was primarily interested in Johns expertise with one mic recording. Gilbert expounds, its so easy to make albums with overdubbing and editing these days, but I really prefer playing live and just getting the music to sound right. After hearing Gilberts band, John agreed that the music worked best as a live performance. There is not one overdub on the record, clarifies Cuniberti. Everything you hear is four guys jamming, listening to each other, and making room for each others sound.

Talking about the songwriting process, Gilbert explains, I began most of the songs by writing lyrics. This gave me a rhythmic and melodic puzzle to solve. I have a really good time working out the melody with the right chords, arrangement, and groove. Its such a joy to have these limitations removed, and to have the freedom to write melodies as if my voice could make any athletic leap.

Although the album is mostly instrumental, Paul’s unused lyrics not only gave him a creative spark for the music but also yielded some interesting song titles. “Sir You Need to Calm Down,” “I Own a Building,” “Let That Battery Die,” and “A Snake Just Bit My Toe” can certainly pique the curiosity of the listener. The exception to Paul’s instrumental guitar theme is his poem, “A Herd of Turtles.” Paul opted for his best Liverpudlian accent to recite his poem of hope, and inserted some ferocious funk riffs for musical contrast in between.

Guitar fans will notice that Gilberts harmonic vocabulary has expanded considerably on Behold Electric Guitar. Ive been studying other genres like blues and jazz for years now, says Gilbert. Ive incorporated those influences on the new album. There are so many interesting sounds here.