Paolo Francesco Gregoletto (born September 14, 1985) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the heavy metal band

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the ...

Music career

Trivium

Gregoletto joined Trivium on September 5, 2004 when

Matt Heafy Matthew Kiichi Heafy (born January 26, 1986) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason ...

Corey Beaulieu Corey King Beaulieu (born November 22, 1983) is the guitarist of American heavy metal band Trivium. At live shows, he also performs backing and, sometimes, lead screaming vocals. Biography Personal life Born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, Beaulieu i ...

and Travis Smith were in the studio demoing new material for what would become '' Ascendancy''. Gregoletto was in the studio with

Jason Suecof Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, ...

next to where Trivium were demoing, and was told by Suecof that they needed a bass player. After jamming with other members, Gregoletto agreed to record for ''Ascendancy'' and tour to promote it with the band. Gregoletto originally had no intentions of staying with Trivium, but wanted touring experience. He joined just in time for the tour Trivium booked with

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

. Apart from playing bass, he also is capable of playing the guitar. He has been a songwriter for Trivium since ''The Crusade'', on which he composed the songs "To The Rats" and "The Rising" on his own, as well as being the co-writer of "Anthem (We Are The Fire)" with Matt Heafy. He also wrote the intro riff for the track "Throes of Perdition" while playing guitar. Gregoletto is known to be most frequently interactive with Trivium fans, often answering questions, posting many videos, photos, and band updates via his official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Gregoletto has also recently opened an online forum. Since 2013 he has written a monthly column for the UK's ''Bass Guitar Magazine''. Metal producer

Colin Richardson Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer. He has worked on over 100 albums and is most frequently associated with heavy metal and its subgenres. Career Some of the bands he has worked for include: * 3 In ...

called him the best bassist he has ever worked with.

Technique

In an interview with ''

Bass Guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

'' magazine (July/August), Gregoletto revealed that he uses a variety of techniques to perform his

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

s, as is typical of modern bassists. While he primarily used a pick to perform during the tour for ''Ascendancy'', he now more frequently adopts a two fingered plucking style to pick out the more elegant counter-melodies and rapid

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancie ...

accompaniments necessary for some of Trivium's material. He will also frequently use a three-fingered plucking style, as favored by

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

, in order to achieve a

gallop The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait pos ...

rhythm (one

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...

followed by two

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dura ...

s) in the style of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

's Steve Harris. In the same article, he revealed that he prefers to warm up by performing

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

exercises up and down the whole neck of the bass, using both plucking and picking styles. Paolo performs bass solos on the following songs: "Becoming the Dragon", "Broken One", "Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis", and "Incineration: The Broken World". In most of his solos he uses a guitar-like tone with a wah pedal as well as occasionally tapping.

Equipment

Gregoletto was endorsed by

B.C. Rich B.C. Rich is an American brand of acoustic and electric guitars and bass guitars founded by Bernardo Chavez Rico in 1969. History The company started making electric guitars in the 1970s. In the following decade B.C. Rich gained a broad expos ...

. In the early days when he first joined the band he used a red custom shop Eagle bass. He has a signature 5-string Warlock bass, as well as a custom

Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...

.https://www.myspace.com/theofficialbcrich/photos/11622293 Gregoletto was also seen in the videos for Trivium's 2015 singles "Silence in the Snow" and "Until the World Goes Cold" playing a 5-string Warwick Corvette with two humbuckers and a flame maple top. He has been seen playing this same bass at live shows supporting ''

Silence in the Snow ''Silence in the Snow'' is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 2, 2015, through Roadrunner Records. It is the first and only album to feature third drummer Mat Madiro, who joined the band in ...

''. He stated on his Instagram account that he had now fully switched from B.C. Rich to Warwick, but did not specify the reasons, though he still stated he loved his B.C. Rich instruments. In 2021, he became a

Kiesel Guitars Kiesel Guitars is an American manufacturer of custom electric guitars and electric bass guitars located in Southern California, with a heritage dating back to 1946. In 2015, Kiesel Guitars split from Carvin Corporation, taking the guitar and bas ...

endorser.

Discography

Metal Militia

* ''Perpetual State of Aggression'' (2003)

Trivium

* '' Ascendancy'' (2005) * '' The Crusade'' (2006) * ''

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' (2008) * ''

In Waves ''In Waves'' is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released worldwide on various dates August 2, 2011, and August 9, 2011, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Colin Richardson and Martyn "Ginge" Ford. ...

'' (2011) * '' Vengeance Falls'' (2013) * ''

'' (2015) * ''

The Sin and the Sentence ''The Sin and the Sentence'' is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 20, 2017, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Josh Wilbur. The album is the first to feature fifth drummer Alex B ...

'' (2017) * ''

What the Dead Men Say "What the Dead Men Say" is a science fiction novella by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in ''Worlds of Tomorrow'' magazine in June 1964. The manuscript, originally titled "Man With a Broken Match", was received by Dick's agent on ...

'' (2020) * ''

In the Court of the Dragon ''In the Court of the Dragon'' is the tenth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 8, 2021, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Josh Wilbur. Background and promotion In June 2020, guitarist Core ...

'' (2021)

References

External links

Trivium's official web site

Paolo's official Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregoletto 1985 births American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Trivium (band) members Living people American people of Italian descent 21st-century American bass guitarists 21st-century American male musicians