Gary Willis – Bass

I hear a lot of Gary Willis in the younger players like Hadrien Feraud but a lot of it is just Jaco on steroids (testosterone?). The use of ghost notes at this level of intensity is challenging and it is for that reason that I have tried transcribing a lot of the Willis stuff as he is a master of this technique. I remember seeing the instructional video he did in the 80s or 90s explaining his technique and I still use in all the time as a way of controlling articulation whilst avoiding ringing notes and intrusive harmonics.

This is a tune from the 1995 Tribal Tech album, ‘Reality Check’. It is entitled ‘Stella By Infra-Red High Particle Neutron Beam’ although I can’t actually detect any harmonic or melodic relationship to the previous tune on the record, ‘Stella By Starlight’. The transcription is only partial and goes up to the 2:14 mark where a guitar/drum duet starts. There is a lot to get into and there are some issues with interpreting the different octaves as I think (but am not totally sure) that GW is using an Octave Divider of some sort so I am not sure what note he is actually playing. It’s a tough read but playable.