{"id":303154,"date":"2026-02-21T17:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303154\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T17:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:16:11","slug":"he-said-i-wish-i-could-let-that-go-but-its-hard-paul-gilbert-explains-why-joe-satriani-feels-the-need-to-prove-he-can-shred-on-his-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303154\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe said, \u2018I wish I could let that go, but it\u2019s hard!\u201d Paul Gilbert explains why Joe Satriani feels the need to \u201cprove\u201d he can shred on his records"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019d think that once you\u2019re Paul Gilbert<\/a> or Joe Satriani<\/a>, the need to prove you can shred would quietly disappear. Between platinum records, sold-out tours and decades of jaw-dropping guitar technique, what exactly is left to demonstrate?<\/p>\n

Quite a lot, as it turns out.<\/p>\n

Speaking to MusicRadar<\/a>, the Gilbert admits that resisting the urge to tear into full-blown shred mode isn\u2019t always easy \u2013 even when the song might benefit from restraint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I try to be aware of my own habits, both good and bad, and so, if I find myself getting too dense, I\u2019ll try to slow down,\u201d he says. \u201cTo me, that is actually a courageous thing to do, to not go crazy all the time, and rely on the fact that it works for the song \u2013 and not have to prove yourself every single second.\u201d<\/p>\n

That need to \u201cprove\u201d yourself isn\u2019t unique to Gilbert. And he realised just how universal it was during a conversation with one of guitar\u2019s biggest names.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was funny, I did a [guitar] camp once with Joe Satriani,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI can\u2019t remember exactly how he worded it but he said something like, \u2018Every time I do an album, I feel like the first song I have to prove that I can play guitar.\u2019 And he said, \u2018I don\u2019t like that. I wish I could let that go. But it\u2019s just really hard!\u2019 I thought, \u2018I know exactly what you mean.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s like this athletic element where you want to prove that you can still swim \u2013 like you\u2019re Michael Phelps, \u2018I can still swim just as fast as I did when I was 22!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, some of his most effective playing arrives when he does the opposite. On Orderly And Distinctly, from his forthcoming album WROC, Gilbert deliberately reins it in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solo is almost like something the Edge from U2 would do, just basically playing a three-note melody over and over again,\u201d says the musician. \u201cAnd then there is a little bit in the end where I play the vocal line on guitar. But the majority is almost like it\u2019s just a riff. That one, to me, it was perfect for the song, and it\u2019s not a shred thing, and it\u2019s not a prog thing. It is just, like, this melody fits here.\u201d<\/p>\n

WROC is now available for pre-order and arrives on 27 February via Music Theories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019d think that once you\u2019re Paul Gilbert or Joe Satriani, the need to prove you can shred would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3257,146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-303154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-artist","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}