The Guitar Channel: Review: Paul Gilbert - Get Out Of My Yard Guitar Instructional DVD

Paul Gilbert's Get Out Of My Yard Guitar Instructional DVD has already been released in Japan, and will be out in Europe (and I believe the US) this coming April. The DVD is essentially a companion piece to Gilbert's Get Out Of My Yard CD. Most of the DVD is instructional, but there's a live Racer X solo, and some songs from a live Musician's Institute performance included at the end as well.

For the instructional chapters, Gilbert uses a wide variety of guitars to demonstrate how he plays each song from Get Out Of My Yard. For some songs, such as "The Curse Of Castle Dragon" and "Rusty Old Boat", he give lots of specifics regarding the scales and chords used. For others, such as "Full Tank", he talks more about what inspired the tune than how he actually plays it. I prefer the more detailed chapters, but they're all very cool nonetheless. After each Get Out Of My Yard song is shown, there are 4 Appendix chapters where Gilbert discusses Hammer-On's & Pull-Off's, Arpeggio's, Vibrato, and Alternate Picking. He doesn't show a lot of patterns or licks in these sections. It's more of an overview of his personal approach in each of these areas, and how you can improve in these areas yourself. For the picking chapter, for example, Gilbert discusses actual picking mechanics (how he holds his wrist, the angle of the pick), instead of showing a bunch of licks. Maybe since he's already shown lots of patterns in his other instructional video's, he wanted to take a different route here. This might be frustrating for hard-core guitar players, but I can see how this would make the disc more accessible to all guitar-playing Paul Gilbert fans, whether they are long-time players, or they are just starting out. In between each chapter, there is a short snippet from the same MI show that the songs at the end on the DVD were pulled from. This is some of the best stuff on the disc. I'd love to see this entire show released someday.

One thing I found odd is there is no notation of any kind included for the instructional portions of the DVD. Gilbert basically just shows you what he's doing. The camera work is great, and Gilbert does demonstrate the faster parts slowly for the viewer, but I think this is the first "instructional" video I've ever seen that doesn't have either on-screen tab, or a tab/notation booklet of some kind.

In addition to the instructional chapters, there is a live solo from the Racer X Superheroes Japan Tour, and 4 live songs from a concert at MI in Hollywood. The Racer X solo is cool, but the camera is to Gilbert's right so you don't get a good look at what he's doing. The MI songs, however, are really great. Gilbert's band is just a three-piece for this show; no rhythm guitar or keys. They sound really tight as a power-trio. "Rusty Old Boat" is particularly good.

BONUS DVD
The Japanese version of this release includes a bonus DVD of Gilbert performing alone over backing tracks at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo in 2006. He plays songs from Get Out Of My Yard, plus 2 Racer X instrumentals and "Mt Fuji Xmas". This is a beautiful looking video. It's presented in 16:9 and looks gorgeous on an HDTV. The setting is very small and intimate; Gilbert's playing on a tiny stage in front of a very small crowd. Overall, it's pretty cool, but I have a couple of bones to pick with this show. For the first half of the concert, Gilbert doesn't use his mic when he's talking in between songs. He just yells to the crowd and you can't hear a word he's saying. This made me want to pull my hair out, which I can ill afford to do. Also, his guitar tone is pretty fuzzy throughout. It's plenty loud (maybe too loud), but the tone itself too scratchy. Gilbert has a few hiccups along the way, but there's some great moments here (seeing Gilbert get through "Haydn's Symphony No.88 Finale" unscathed, alone on this tiny stage in a little bar is pretty impressive). It's a cool show, but I'd rather have had the entire MI concert instead.

Overall, this DVD is a must-have for Paul Gilbert fans. Personally, I don't think of it as an "instructional" video in the traditional sense; it's more like an inside look at the Get Out Of My Yard songs. If you're a hard-core fan, I would say go ahead and get the Japanese version for the Hard Rock Cafe show.

You can purchase the Japanese version (with the bonus DVD) from CDJapan.
The single disc version will be available from Mascot Records in April.

CHAPTER LISTING

Get Out Of My Yard Guitar Instructional DVD (134 min.)

1.Paul in the Hollywood Hills
2.Get Out of My Yard : The Human Capo
3.Hurry Up : the Power of Eighth Notes
4.The Curse of Castle Dragon : Weaving a Spell of Metal
5.Radiator : Acid Rock for Todays Youth
6.Straight Through the Telephone Pole : A Song About Beer
7.Marine Layer : Quest for the Perfect C Major Scale
8.Twelve Twelve : Making Your Hollowbody Weep
9.Rusty Old Boat : the Worldwide Funkatonic Scale
10.The Echo : Song Honoring Thy Staccato
11.Full Tank : Safe Handling of a Pointy Guitar
12.My Teeth Are a Drumset : My Mode Is Mixolydian
13.Haydn Symphony No. 88 : Crank Up the Bassoons!
14.Three E's for Edward : Orange Tape on My Fretboard
15.You Kids : Picking Sixteenth Notes in Punk
16.Appendix I Hammer-On and Pull-Off Techniques
17.Appendix II Arpeggios
18.Appendix III Vibrato in Your Ears
19.Appendix IV Alternate Picking
20.Live Guitar Solo from the Racer X Superheroes Japan Tour
21.Hurry Up (Live at MI)
22.Radiator (Live at MI)
23.Rusty Old Boat (Live at MI)
24.Full Talk (Live at MI)
25.Never Never Land Credits

BONUS DVD - Live at Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo, Japan August 2006 (70 min.) (JAPAN Only)

1.Get Out Of My Yard (Live)
2.Hurry Up (Live)
3.Rusty Old Boat (Live)
4.Straight Through the Telephone Pole (Live)
5.Radiator (Live)
6.Haydn Symphony No; 88 Finale (Live)
7.The Curse of Castle Dragon (Live)
8.Twelve Twelve (Live)
9.Scarified (Live)
10.Three E's for Edward (Live)
11.Mt. Fuji X'mas (Live)
12.You Kids (Live)
13.Technical Difficulties (Live)

Rich

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