Chords for Gary Willis | Ibanez Signature Model | iBass Magazine
Tempo:
105.05 bpm
Chords used:
G
Gm
E
Gb
Ab
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
The idea was that if you have a bolt-on neck,
[Abm] then it allows [E] light wood to be throughout the [Gb] body,
and light wood resonates low frequencies.
To [N] me, it's warm and big.
And so this light body with a bolt-on
has the perfect mids that I want,
and I don't want any mid adjustment.
It's all there.
So the only thing you might need,
depending on the amp or the room,
would be lows or highs.
And those we kind of tweaked frequency-wise
and slope-wise with Bill
to be exactly what I think it should be.
It normally comes with 2 switches and [F] a potentiometer,
and the potentiometer is used as a switch sometimes.
So I wired those to be here.
So right now when I'm not using Ableton Live,
then I'll just use it for patch change,
so I can go up and down, and I'm not using the 3rd button.
[Ab] When I'm using Ableton Live and looping and stuff like that,
then this is assigned to scenes.
So we have the music prepared, we're jamming, blah, blah, blah,
and the next section comes up,
then I just hit a button and it goes, it launches.
[N] So I can navigate up and down scenes,
down, up, or launch with the 3 buttons.
And just before the tour, this is the pickup here.
Normally it's a big, ugly
Compared to the way the bass looks,
I prefer this really streamlined, so I actually cut it.
I just covered it with tape and it's wired through here.
And I made this install here.
So instead of going through this way,
I made a little carbon fiber bracket
that allows you to plug it in.
It just so happens the very first bass
that the Signature instrument was based on
was this bass with a rosewood fingerboard that I finished myself.
But at that time,
it was the first time I'd ever done any Signature basses.
So they were kind of hesitant about how much to invest
and how much the price was going to be in the price range.
So they said, OK, we can't put a finish on this.
It's too [Gm] labor-intensive,
and we don't know whether this is going to work or not.
So [N] the first version was done with the ebony fingerboard.
I worked with Bartolini,
and we dialed the electronics to compensate,
to get a little brighter,
because the finish on a rosewood is a nice, bright sound,
or it's a warm, bright sound.
The ebony is a little darker, so we altered the electronics.
And then when we came out with the GWB-35, the black one,
that was with an ebony fingerboard, synthetic.
And I thought that was closer to the finished rosewood.
So we put that on this bass, and it was there until last year.
And finally, they felt comfortable enough,
with its niche, where it was in the market,
that we could do the ultimate, to me, perfect finish on it.
So that's kind of the history of the latest change that we made to it.
When we first did the instrument, I always had light bodies,
and the tuners would always weigh the bass down and make it off-balance.
So I did this mod myself,
where I put knobs in place of the wings, up here.
So it would kind of look like mag wheels on your bass.
And so Ibanez did some patent searches
and found out that somebody had a patent on round and parallel,
so we couldn't do the knob.
So their engineers came up with this 3-triple-wing design,
but actually the first version didn't have a place for your finger.
It was kind of rounded, but it was like a big kind of triangle.
And so they sent me a prototype, and I got a file, and I started hacking on it.
And now you can stick your finger in there, just kind of twirl it on or off.
But it was a big deal 15 years ago
that CNC was not really readily available.
To make a second mold with my adaptations
was going to cost like $10,000.
[Gm] But I begged and begged, I got a practical out of my knees,
and they did this [Gb] version.
So this is ABS plastic with a [Bb] plating, with a coat of metal on it.
So it's still light, but it's durable.
And in a gig bag, it doesn't get knocked out of tune so easy.
So that's one unique thing about it.
The other thing is [G] the ramp.
[Gm]
I originally got the idea when I put two jazz pickups next to each other.
It was kind of a fad back in the 80s.
And I didn't like the sound, but because I was playing with 3 fingers,
I liked the way it felt, having that contact place.
And a lot of bass players play over the pickup for that reason,
for a place for your thumb and a place to kind of feel where you are.
I think there were DiMarzios at the time.
DiMarzios had this option where you could raise the pole pieces higher in the middle
to compensate for the radius, because the middle strings are higher.
[G] So I would do that, but those screws were sharp.
And I was losing, the end of my fingers was getting cut to pieces.
So I punched some holes in some tape
and built up this kind of protective radius [N] to keep my fingers from being cut.
And that became kind of the surface
that the next bass I got, instead of putting two pickups,
I just put a piece of wood there.
So it gave my fingers a place to be.
And over the years it just kept getting bigger,
and [E] finally once I got [G] rid of the front pickup, it just came from there to there.
So when I had the opportunity to design the bass,
first I worked with Bartolini.
We went through about, honestly, 40 versions of this pickup.
But one of the main things is that
it's radiused to match the fingerboard.
And then inside there's really specific control of the coil height.
So for me, I want the B string to be the loudest,
so I don't have to play it as hard.
So that's the way the strings are balanced within.
And also, as it gets to the G string, it moves away from the bridge a little bit.
[Bb] And to me it warms up the G string.
So it's about a 5mm difference as you get to the G string
to warm up the sound of it.
And then that radius is matched with the ramp.
So if your fingers are really [Ab] thick or thin, you can adjust it
to have just [G] enough string to get the sound you want
without the temptation of digging in, which is
the way that I play is really light.
I can probably play without it,
but it just reinforces that style of playing
where you get big sound from the amp, but you play soft here.
[N]
[Abm] then it allows [E] light wood to be throughout the [Gb] body,
and light wood resonates low frequencies.
To [N] me, it's warm and big.
And so this light body with a bolt-on
has the perfect mids that I want,
and I don't want any mid adjustment.
It's all there.
So the only thing you might need,
depending on the amp or the room,
would be lows or highs.
And those we kind of tweaked frequency-wise
and slope-wise with Bill
to be exactly what I think it should be.
It normally comes with 2 switches and [F] a potentiometer,
and the potentiometer is used as a switch sometimes.
So I wired those to be here.
So right now when I'm not using Ableton Live,
then I'll just use it for patch change,
so I can go up and down, and I'm not using the 3rd button.
[Ab] When I'm using Ableton Live and looping and stuff like that,
then this is assigned to scenes.
So we have the music prepared, we're jamming, blah, blah, blah,
and the next section comes up,
then I just hit a button and it goes, it launches.
[N] So I can navigate up and down scenes,
down, up, or launch with the 3 buttons.
And just before the tour, this is the pickup here.
Normally it's a big, ugly
Compared to the way the bass looks,
I prefer this really streamlined, so I actually cut it.
I just covered it with tape and it's wired through here.
And I made this install here.
So instead of going through this way,
I made a little carbon fiber bracket
that allows you to plug it in.
It just so happens the very first bass
that the Signature instrument was based on
was this bass with a rosewood fingerboard that I finished myself.
But at that time,
it was the first time I'd ever done any Signature basses.
So they were kind of hesitant about how much to invest
and how much the price was going to be in the price range.
So they said, OK, we can't put a finish on this.
It's too [Gm] labor-intensive,
and we don't know whether this is going to work or not.
So [N] the first version was done with the ebony fingerboard.
I worked with Bartolini,
and we dialed the electronics to compensate,
to get a little brighter,
because the finish on a rosewood is a nice, bright sound,
or it's a warm, bright sound.
The ebony is a little darker, so we altered the electronics.
And then when we came out with the GWB-35, the black one,
that was with an ebony fingerboard, synthetic.
And I thought that was closer to the finished rosewood.
So we put that on this bass, and it was there until last year.
And finally, they felt comfortable enough,
with its niche, where it was in the market,
that we could do the ultimate, to me, perfect finish on it.
So that's kind of the history of the latest change that we made to it.
When we first did the instrument, I always had light bodies,
and the tuners would always weigh the bass down and make it off-balance.
So I did this mod myself,
where I put knobs in place of the wings, up here.
So it would kind of look like mag wheels on your bass.
And so Ibanez did some patent searches
and found out that somebody had a patent on round and parallel,
so we couldn't do the knob.
So their engineers came up with this 3-triple-wing design,
but actually the first version didn't have a place for your finger.
It was kind of rounded, but it was like a big kind of triangle.
And so they sent me a prototype, and I got a file, and I started hacking on it.
And now you can stick your finger in there, just kind of twirl it on or off.
But it was a big deal 15 years ago
that CNC was not really readily available.
To make a second mold with my adaptations
was going to cost like $10,000.
[Gm] But I begged and begged, I got a practical out of my knees,
and they did this [Gb] version.
So this is ABS plastic with a [Bb] plating, with a coat of metal on it.
So it's still light, but it's durable.
And in a gig bag, it doesn't get knocked out of tune so easy.
So that's one unique thing about it.
The other thing is [G] the ramp.
[Gm]
I originally got the idea when I put two jazz pickups next to each other.
It was kind of a fad back in the 80s.
And I didn't like the sound, but because I was playing with 3 fingers,
I liked the way it felt, having that contact place.
And a lot of bass players play over the pickup for that reason,
for a place for your thumb and a place to kind of feel where you are.
I think there were DiMarzios at the time.
DiMarzios had this option where you could raise the pole pieces higher in the middle
to compensate for the radius, because the middle strings are higher.
[G] So I would do that, but those screws were sharp.
And I was losing, the end of my fingers was getting cut to pieces.
So I punched some holes in some tape
and built up this kind of protective radius [N] to keep my fingers from being cut.
And that became kind of the surface
that the next bass I got, instead of putting two pickups,
I just put a piece of wood there.
So it gave my fingers a place to be.
And over the years it just kept getting bigger,
and [E] finally once I got [G] rid of the front pickup, it just came from there to there.
So when I had the opportunity to design the bass,
first I worked with Bartolini.
We went through about, honestly, 40 versions of this pickup.
But one of the main things is that
it's radiused to match the fingerboard.
And then inside there's really specific control of the coil height.
So for me, I want the B string to be the loudest,
so I don't have to play it as hard.
So that's the way the strings are balanced within.
And also, as it gets to the G string, it moves away from the bridge a little bit.
[Bb] And to me it warms up the G string.
So it's about a 5mm difference as you get to the G string
to warm up the sound of it.
And then that radius is matched with the ramp.
So if your fingers are really [Ab] thick or thin, you can adjust it
to have just [G] enough string to get the sound you want
without the temptation of digging in, which is
the way that I play is really light.
I can probably play without it,
but it just reinforces that style of playing
where you get big sound from the amp, but you play soft here.
[N]
Key:
G
Gm
E
Gb
Ab
G
Gm
E
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The idea was _ that if you have a bolt-on _ _ _ neck,
[Abm] then it allows [E] light wood to be throughout the [Gb] body,
and light wood resonates low frequencies.
To [N] me, it's warm and big.
And so _ this light body with a bolt-on
has the perfect mids that I want,
and I don't want any mid adjustment.
It's all there.
So the only thing you might need,
depending on the amp or the room,
would be lows or highs.
And those we kind of tweaked _ frequency-wise
and slope-wise with Bill
to be _ exactly what I think it should be.
It normally comes with 2 switches and [F] a potentiometer,
and the potentiometer is used as a switch sometimes.
So I wired those to be here.
_ So right now when I'm not using Ableton Live,
then I'll just use it for patch change,
so I can go up and down, and I'm not using the 3rd button.
[Ab] When I'm using Ableton Live and looping and stuff like that,
then this is assigned to scenes.
So we have the music prepared, we're jamming, blah, blah, blah,
and the next section comes up,
then I just hit a button and it goes, it launches.
[N] So I can navigate up and down scenes,
_ down, up, or launch with the 3 buttons.
And just before the tour, this is the pickup _ here.
Normally it's a big, _ _ _ ugly_
Compared to the way the bass looks,
I prefer this really streamlined, so I actually cut it.
I just covered it with tape and it's wired through here.
And I made this install here.
So instead of going through this way,
I made a little carbon fiber bracket
that allows you to plug it in.
It just so happens the very first bass
that the Signature instrument was based on
was this bass with a rosewood fingerboard that I finished myself.
But at that time,
it was the first time I'd ever done any Signature basses.
So they were kind of hesitant about how much to invest
and how much the price was going to be in the price range.
So they said, OK, we can't put a finish on this.
It's too [Gm] labor-intensive,
and we don't know whether this is going to work or not.
_ So _ [N] the first version was done with the ebony fingerboard. _ _
I worked with Bartolini,
and we dialed the electronics to compensate,
to get a little brighter,
because the finish on a rosewood is a nice, bright sound,
or it's a warm, bright sound.
_ _ The ebony is a little darker, so we altered the electronics.
And then when we came out with the _ GWB-35, the black one,
_ that was with an ebony fingerboard, synthetic.
And I thought that was closer to the finished rosewood.
So we put that on this bass, and it was there until last year.
_ _ And finally, they felt comfortable enough,
with its niche, where it was in the market,
that we could do the ultimate, to me, perfect finish on it.
So that's kind of the history of the latest change that we made to it.
When we first did the instrument, _ I always had light bodies,
and the tuners would always weigh the bass down and make it off-balance.
_ So I did this mod myself,
where I put knobs in place of the wings, _ up here.
So it would kind of look like mag wheels on your bass.
And so _ Ibanez did some patent searches
and found out that somebody had a patent on round and parallel,
so we couldn't do the knob.
So their engineers came up with this 3-triple-wing design,
but actually the first version didn't have a place for your finger.
It was kind of rounded, but it was like a big kind of triangle.
And so they sent me a prototype, and I got a file, and I started hacking on it.
And now you can stick your finger in there, just kind of twirl it on or off.
_ But it was a big deal 15 years ago
_ _ _ that CNC was not really readily available.
To make a second mold with my adaptations
was going to cost like $10,000.
_ [Gm] But I begged and begged, I got a practical out of my knees,
and they did this [Gb] version.
So _ this is ABS plastic with a [Bb] plating, with a coat of metal on it.
So it's still light, but it's durable.
And in a gig bag, it doesn't get knocked out of tune so easy.
So that's one unique thing about it. _ _ _
The other thing is [G] the ramp.
_ [Gm] _
_ I originally got the idea when I put two jazz pickups next to each other.
It was kind of a fad back in the 80s. _
And I didn't like the sound, but because I was playing with 3 fingers, _
I liked the way it felt, having that contact place.
And a lot of bass players play over the pickup for that reason,
for a place for your thumb and a place to kind of feel where you are.
_ _ I think there were DiMarzios at the time.
DiMarzios had this option where you could raise the pole pieces higher in the middle
to compensate for the radius, because the middle strings are higher.
[G] So I would do that, but those screws were sharp.
And I was losing, the end of my fingers was getting cut to pieces.
So I punched some holes in some tape
and built up this kind of protective radius [N] _ to keep my fingers from being cut.
And that became kind of the surface
that the next bass I got, instead of putting two pickups,
I just put a piece of wood there.
So it gave my fingers a place to be.
And over the years it just kept getting bigger,
and [E] finally once I got [G] rid of the front pickup, it just came from there to there.
So when I had the opportunity to design the bass, _
_ _ first I worked with Bartolini.
_ We went through about, honestly, 40 _ versions of this pickup.
But one of the main things is that _
it's radiused to match the fingerboard.
And then inside there's really specific control of the coil height.
So for me, I want the B string to be the loudest,
so I don't have to play it as hard.
So that's the way the strings are balanced within.
And also, as it gets to the G string, it moves away from the bridge a little bit.
[Bb] And to me it warms up the G string.
So it's about a 5mm difference as you get to the G string
to warm up the sound of it.
And then that radius is matched with the ramp.
So if your fingers are really [Ab] thick or thin, you can adjust it
to have just [G] enough string to get the sound you want
without the temptation of digging in, which is_
the way that I play is really light.
_ _ I can probably play without it,
but it just reinforces that _ style of playing
where you get big sound from the amp, but you play soft here. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
The idea was _ that if you have a bolt-on _ _ _ neck,
[Abm] then it allows [E] light wood to be throughout the [Gb] body,
and light wood resonates low frequencies.
To [N] me, it's warm and big.
And so _ this light body with a bolt-on
has the perfect mids that I want,
and I don't want any mid adjustment.
It's all there.
So the only thing you might need,
depending on the amp or the room,
would be lows or highs.
And those we kind of tweaked _ frequency-wise
and slope-wise with Bill
to be _ exactly what I think it should be.
It normally comes with 2 switches and [F] a potentiometer,
and the potentiometer is used as a switch sometimes.
So I wired those to be here.
_ So right now when I'm not using Ableton Live,
then I'll just use it for patch change,
so I can go up and down, and I'm not using the 3rd button.
[Ab] When I'm using Ableton Live and looping and stuff like that,
then this is assigned to scenes.
So we have the music prepared, we're jamming, blah, blah, blah,
and the next section comes up,
then I just hit a button and it goes, it launches.
[N] So I can navigate up and down scenes,
_ down, up, or launch with the 3 buttons.
And just before the tour, this is the pickup _ here.
Normally it's a big, _ _ _ ugly_
Compared to the way the bass looks,
I prefer this really streamlined, so I actually cut it.
I just covered it with tape and it's wired through here.
And I made this install here.
So instead of going through this way,
I made a little carbon fiber bracket
that allows you to plug it in.
It just so happens the very first bass
that the Signature instrument was based on
was this bass with a rosewood fingerboard that I finished myself.
But at that time,
it was the first time I'd ever done any Signature basses.
So they were kind of hesitant about how much to invest
and how much the price was going to be in the price range.
So they said, OK, we can't put a finish on this.
It's too [Gm] labor-intensive,
and we don't know whether this is going to work or not.
_ So _ [N] the first version was done with the ebony fingerboard. _ _
I worked with Bartolini,
and we dialed the electronics to compensate,
to get a little brighter,
because the finish on a rosewood is a nice, bright sound,
or it's a warm, bright sound.
_ _ The ebony is a little darker, so we altered the electronics.
And then when we came out with the _ GWB-35, the black one,
_ that was with an ebony fingerboard, synthetic.
And I thought that was closer to the finished rosewood.
So we put that on this bass, and it was there until last year.
_ _ And finally, they felt comfortable enough,
with its niche, where it was in the market,
that we could do the ultimate, to me, perfect finish on it.
So that's kind of the history of the latest change that we made to it.
When we first did the instrument, _ I always had light bodies,
and the tuners would always weigh the bass down and make it off-balance.
_ So I did this mod myself,
where I put knobs in place of the wings, _ up here.
So it would kind of look like mag wheels on your bass.
And so _ Ibanez did some patent searches
and found out that somebody had a patent on round and parallel,
so we couldn't do the knob.
So their engineers came up with this 3-triple-wing design,
but actually the first version didn't have a place for your finger.
It was kind of rounded, but it was like a big kind of triangle.
And so they sent me a prototype, and I got a file, and I started hacking on it.
And now you can stick your finger in there, just kind of twirl it on or off.
_ But it was a big deal 15 years ago
_ _ _ that CNC was not really readily available.
To make a second mold with my adaptations
was going to cost like $10,000.
_ [Gm] But I begged and begged, I got a practical out of my knees,
and they did this [Gb] version.
So _ this is ABS plastic with a [Bb] plating, with a coat of metal on it.
So it's still light, but it's durable.
And in a gig bag, it doesn't get knocked out of tune so easy.
So that's one unique thing about it. _ _ _
The other thing is [G] the ramp.
_ [Gm] _
_ I originally got the idea when I put two jazz pickups next to each other.
It was kind of a fad back in the 80s. _
And I didn't like the sound, but because I was playing with 3 fingers, _
I liked the way it felt, having that contact place.
And a lot of bass players play over the pickup for that reason,
for a place for your thumb and a place to kind of feel where you are.
_ _ I think there were DiMarzios at the time.
DiMarzios had this option where you could raise the pole pieces higher in the middle
to compensate for the radius, because the middle strings are higher.
[G] So I would do that, but those screws were sharp.
And I was losing, the end of my fingers was getting cut to pieces.
So I punched some holes in some tape
and built up this kind of protective radius [N] _ to keep my fingers from being cut.
And that became kind of the surface
that the next bass I got, instead of putting two pickups,
I just put a piece of wood there.
So it gave my fingers a place to be.
And over the years it just kept getting bigger,
and [E] finally once I got [G] rid of the front pickup, it just came from there to there.
So when I had the opportunity to design the bass, _
_ _ first I worked with Bartolini.
_ We went through about, honestly, 40 _ versions of this pickup.
But one of the main things is that _
it's radiused to match the fingerboard.
And then inside there's really specific control of the coil height.
So for me, I want the B string to be the loudest,
so I don't have to play it as hard.
So that's the way the strings are balanced within.
And also, as it gets to the G string, it moves away from the bridge a little bit.
[Bb] And to me it warms up the G string.
So it's about a 5mm difference as you get to the G string
to warm up the sound of it.
And then that radius is matched with the ramp.
So if your fingers are really [Ab] thick or thin, you can adjust it
to have just [G] enough string to get the sound you want
without the temptation of digging in, which is_
the way that I play is really light.
_ _ I can probably play without it,
but it just reinforces that _ style of playing
where you get big sound from the amp, but you play soft here. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _