Paul Gilbert

I think all of The Beatles were from an era when certainly playing was important to them, and they were cutting edge. But for all time, they're master composers.

You could take any four people, no matter how wonderful they are, and if you make them live together on a tour bus for eight years and don't give them any time off, after a while everybody gonna start going crazy.

I've found that as I've learned to improvise melodically, it seems like I can come up with a bigger variety of stuff. I kind of selfishly enjoy it more, because I'm in the moment so much.

I probably spent more time as a kid playing air guitar to Jimmy Page than any other guitar player.

At the time, it all seemed pretty normal. It was okay to have a pink guitar and glow-in-the-dark pants, and play with a drill. 1987, that was the worst year. I think that was the worst year for capes and for hair!

Just about every rock band and every guitar player from 1964 to 1984. To me, that's the golden period of rock. From the first Beatles album hitting America to the last Van Halen album with David Lee Roth. That's where all my favorite rock exists.

With Racer X, whenever we have time, we try to put a record together. And that's always fun because the guys in the band are great friends and I don't think I ever laugh as hard as I do when I'm with the Racer X guys.

I'll have a chorus pedal or a flanger or an echo, that kind of thing. But as far as specific pedals, the one that's really been a mainstay is the TC Electronic MojoMojo.

My basic setup is my Ibanez Fireman guitars and for pedals, the TC Electronic MojoMojo is the mainstay of my board, along with a Catalinbread Calissto Chorus.

Two words: Kasim Sulton. I've been a Utopia fan for a long, long time, and Kasim's a pop hero of mine. I have to hold myself back from asking him a million Utopia questions.

I've realized that, as the years have gone on, I have become completely impatient with the demo process.

A scale is just the notes that are in a chord played one at a time instead of together. That's what has allowed me to go through the possible notes that work with a chord and make choices about which ones I like best. I go through by ear; you can do it by theory too, but the best way is to learn by ear.