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Mr. Big

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To Be With You - Guitar Tab

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To Be With You - Guitar Lesson

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Band Overview

History and Guitar Legacy

Mr. Big emerged from Los Angeles in 1988 as a Hard Rock supergroup featuring bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist Paul Gilbert, vocalist Eric Martin, and drummer Pat Torpey. Their 1989 self-titled debut introduced their fusion of virtuosic instrumental chops with melodic songwriting. The 1991 album 'Lean into It' achieved mainstream success through the acoustic ballad 'To Be With You,' while their technical proficiency distinguished them from most hard rock contemporaries of the era.

Playing Style and Techniques

Paul Gilbert is recognized as one of the fastest and most precise alternate pickers in rock history. His approach blends neoclassical shred influences with blues-based phrasing, string-skipping patterns, and legato technique. Gilbert's defining quality is maintaining musicality alongside speed, composing melodic solos filled with personality rather than sterile displays. His work demonstrates that technically demanding playing can remain exciting and emotionally engaging throughout.

Why Guitarists Study Mr Big

Mr. Big provides excellent material for developing alternate picking, string skipping, and speed within hard rock contexts. Songs like 'Addicted to That Rush' and 'Colorado Bulldog' showcase blistering alternate-picked runs, complex unison lines between guitar and bass, wide-interval string skipping, and tempo changes requiring serious right-hand discipline. Gilbert's compositions offer masterclass examples of balancing technical excellence with musical composition.

Difficulty and Learning Path

Mr. Big spans an unusually wide difficulty range for guitarists. 'To Be With You' remains beginner-friendly with simple open chords and singalong melody, but represents the exception rather than the rule. Most catalog material demands intermediate to advanced skills. Guitarists seeking technical growth will find their body of work invaluable for building speed, precision, and complex technical vocabulary in hard rock settings.

What Makes Mr. Big Essential for Guitar Players

Paul Gilbert's alternate picking is legendarily precise and fast. He favors strict down-up-down-up motion even across string changes, which gives his runs an even, machine-gun articulation. Practicing his licks at slow tempos with a metronome is one of the best ways to develop your own alternate picking accuracy.
String skipping is a signature Gilbert technique, he regularly leaps over one or two strings to create wide-interval arpeggios and angular melodic lines that sound nothing like standard pentatonic runs. Tracks like 'Addicted to That Rush' are loaded with these patterns.
The guitar-bass unison lines between Gilbert and Billy Sheehan are a hallmark of Mr. Big's sound. These tightly synchronized passages (often played at blazing tempos) require metronomic timing and excellent fretboard knowledge. 'Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy' features one of rock's most iconic unison riffs.
Gilbert's vibrato is wide, controlled, and typically executed from the wrist rather than the fingers. It adds a vocal quality to his sustained notes and is worth studying closely, great vibrato is what separates a good player from a memorable one.
'To Be With You' is an ideal beginner song built on open chords (D, A, E, G, Bm) with a simple strumming pattern. It's a great entry point for learning chord transitions, basic rhythm guitar, and dynamics in an acoustic setting before tackling the band's heavier material.

Did You Know?

Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan famously used power drills with guitar picks attached to perform rapid tremolo-picked passages live. This visual gimmick became one of the band's most iconic stage tricks, first showcased in 'Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song).'

Gilbert attended the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in Hollywood and was one of its youngest students ever. He later became an instructor there before joining Racer X and then Mr. Big, so his playing has a distinctly pedagogical clarity that makes it surprisingly learnable despite its difficulty.

'To Be With You' hit #1 in 15 countries and remains one of the best-selling rock ballads of the early 90s. Ironically, it's by far the simplest song in Mr. Big's catalog, proving that sometimes open chords and a great melody outperform shred.

Paul Gilbert typically records with relatively low-gain amp settings compared to what you'd expect from a shred player. He relies on picking dynamics and volume knob control to get his distortion, which is why his tone retains so much note definition even during fast passages.

Billy Sheehan's bass tone is so aggressive and distorted that it often functions as a second guitar in Mr. Big's arrangements. This pushed Gilbert to carve out his own frequency space more carefully, contributing to his famously clear midrange-focused tone.

Pat Torpey was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014 but continued to perform with the band in a limited capacity until his passing in 2018. The band's later albums carry an emotional weight that contrasts beautifully with their technical fireworks.

Gilbert has cited Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads as primary influences, but he's also a massive Beatles fan. You can hear this pop sensibility in Mr. Big's song structures, which are far more hook-driven than typical shred-oriented bands.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Lean into It 1991

This is the essential Mr. Big album for guitarists. 'To Be With You' teaches clean acoustic rhythm playing and open chord transitions, while 'Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy' offers blistering alternate picking, unison lines, and the famous drill solo. 'Alive and Kickin'' and 'Green-Tinted Sixties Mind' balance melodic lead work with tight rhythm playing, perfect for developing versatility.

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Mr. Big 1989

'Addicted to That Rush' alone makes this album mandatory, it features one of rock's most demanding guitar-bass unison intros and is a benchmark for alternate picking and string-skipping technique. 'Wind Me Up' and 'Rock & Roll Over' showcase Gilbert's ability to blend pentatonic aggression with neoclassical precision. The production is raw and guitar-forward, making it easy to hear every nuance of Gilbert's technique.

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Bump Ahead 1993

A slightly more mature and melodic follow-up that rewards guitarists who want to study phrasing over pure speed. 'Wild World' (a Cat Stevens cover) shows how to adapt shred sensibilities to a pop framework, while 'Colorado Bulldog' is another technical monster with rapid-fire picking and tight rhythm work. Great for learning how to serve the song while still showcasing technique.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Paul Gilbert is synonymous with Ibanez, having played signature models since the late 1980s. His early Mr. Big era featured the Ibanez PGM series (PGM300, PGM100), superstrat-style bodies with painted-on f-holes, a reversed headstock, and a fixed bridge (no Floyd Rose, which is unusual for a shred player). He later developed Ibanez Fireman models (essentially reversed Iceman shapes) with a distinctive body contour designed for comfort while standing. He's also a known fan of Gibson Les Pauls and SGs for their thicker midrange character.

Amp

During Mr. Big's classic era, Gilbert relied heavily on Laney GH100L and Marshall JCM800/900 heads for their punchy British midrange and natural tube breakup. He typically runs them at moderate gain, not as saturated as you'd expect, to retain pick attack and note clarity during fast runs. In later years he's used Mesa/Boogie and his own signature Marshall models. The key to his amp tone is keeping gain lower than most shred players, letting his aggressive picking hand provide the percussive edge.

Pickups

Gilbert's PGM guitars originally came loaded with DiMarzio pickups, typically a PAF Pro or Super Distortion in the bridge and an Area 67 or similar single-coil-voiced humbucker in the neck. The PAF Pro (around 8.5k output) is a key part of his sound: hot enough for sustain on lead lines but dynamic enough to clean up when you back off the volume knob. His later Fireman models use DiMarzio Injector pickups, humbuckers designed with single-coil clarity and minimal noise.

Effects & Chain

Gilbert's pedalboard during the Mr. Big era was remarkably simple. A Boss DS-1 or Ibanez Tube Screamer for a midrange boost into an already-cooking amp, a delay unit (Boss DD-series) for leads, and occasionally a chorus or flanger for texture. He's not a heavy effects user, his tone philosophy centers on fingers, picks, and tubes. In later years he's added a TC Electronic Polytune and a few signature overdrives, but the core approach remains: hit the amp hard, keep the signal chain short, and let technique do the talking.

Recommended Gear

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Paul Gilbert uses the Les Paul for its thick, warm midrange character, providing a tonal counterpoint to his bright Ibanez shredders. The guitar's body mass and traditional humbuckers deliver sustain and harmonic depth for his bluesy lead work alongside Mr. Big's harder material.

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Custom variant appeals to Gilbert for its premium craftsmanship and enhanced tonal resonance, offering the same midrange richness as the Standard but with refined sustain. It serves as a go-to for studio recordings where tonal warmth and presence matter as much as his signature picking aggression.

Amp

Marshall JCM800

This amp's punchy British midrange and natural tube breakup define Mr. Big's classic tone. Gilbert runs it at moderate gain to preserve pick attack and note clarity during lightning-fast runs, letting his aggressive technique provide percussion rather than amp saturation.

Pickup

DiMarzio Super Distortion

The Super Distortion's hot output and harmonic richness made it essential for Mr. Big's bridge pickup tone, delivering sustain on lead lines while remaining responsive to volume knob dynamics. Its midrange presence cuts through dense arrangements without sacrificing articulation.

Pedal

Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Gilbert uses the TS9 as a midrange boost into his already-cooking amp rather than primary distortion, tightening the signal and pushing the front end. This approach preserves picking clarity during shred passages while enhancing sustain on slower, bluesy lead moments.

Pedal

Boss DS-1 Distortion

The DS-1 serves as Gilbert's go-to distortion pedal for adding aggression without compromising note definition. Its relatively moderate saturation complements his philosophy of letting technique and tube amp punch drive the tone rather than pedal-based heaviness.

How to Practice Mr. Big on GuitarZone

Every Mr. Big song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice To Be With You - Guitar Lesson Practice To Be With You - Guitar Tab