Metal Dog: Revisiting Paul Gilbert's 'Terrifying Guitar Trip' — Split-Screen Video

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Technical Difficulties, Racer X's third studio album, came out in late 1999.

One of the album's many shred highlights is its instrumental title track, which was composed by Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert and drummer Scott Travis.

In the pro-shot, partially split-screen video below, however, we find Gilbert playing "Metal Dog," an early version of "Technical Difficulties," way back in 1994. The clip is actually from a top-notch instructional video called Terrifying Guitar Trip, which is available as a DVD.

The song, in its later "Technical Difficulties" incarnation, would go on to appear in the 2009 video game Brütal Legend and was covered by cellist duo 2Cellos on their 2012 album, In2ition. They even shot a music video for it, and we've included it below. We've also included a clip of Gilbert playing "Technical Difficulties" from around the same time. Enjoy!

Paul Gilbert performs an early version of 'Technical Difficulties' with some split screen action in 1994.#Guitar...

Posted by Forgotten Guitar on Monday, November 9, 2015

Damian Fanelli
Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.