Paul Gilbert

Teaching is just something that has come naturally to me. I didn't set out to be a teacher. I wanted to be a Beatle! But there were only four of them, so the job openings were really limited.

My first official teaching job was at GIT, which was fantastic because I wanted to pay the rent and I got to stay in the building, which is an inspiring place to be - the vibe was there. My first gig was doing private lessons. It went great. Then they decided to promote me to a classroom teacher. I taught a class called Single String Technique.

It's so easy to practice out of context. For example, if you're learning a scale, you take that scale and you sit in your room and you go up and down the fretboard, over and over. You've gotta do that, because you need to get that scale working. But you have to keep in mind that that's not the finished product. That's the starting point.

It took me years to get my hair right... after years of perms, conditioning... Nirvana came out and it wasn't cool to have big hair anymore. It was just a horrible injustice.

The Great Guitar Escape is built around world-class seminars, concerts and jam sessions. It's a chance to learn and be inspired by some truly amazing musicians. And it's just a great way for everyone to hang out together in a beautiful place.