Scott Henderson Discussion

[collapsar]

Here's a copy of an email I sent to Scott, which should have really been posted here instead for all to see and contribute to, so my apologies. I know there are others who have gravitated toward this tune...


Scott,

I hope you don't mind me emailing again...just raging fandom here. I want to ask you briefly about Festival of Ghosts, which is far and away my favorite tune on the album (not to minimize all the other excellent ones).

It strikes me - in my own, subjective way - as the one that took the most work to get just right. I absolutely love the mix of sounds on this one, especially during the main "theme".

I want to know if this tune holds some special significance for you or the band - you know, apart from working you ass off to make it happen. What do you think of it?

Cheers, from yet another flight. I'll see ya in Austin.

-Drew
SFO/DFW

[Scott Henderson]

It is a special tune for me, because it was the most difficult to compose, and also the most difficult to arrange for the record. But difficult isn't a negative word for me - more challenging is a better way to put it. It's a long tune, with many sections and motifs, so the challenge was to make it feel like it's flowing, and not just a bunch of individual ideas sewn together.

Sonically there's a lot going on during the main theme - there's a main track, which is what I play on stage, but it's in stereo with the Marshall on the left and the Fender on the right. In the middle there's a guitar with a humbucking pickup playing the melody down an octave, and behind that are the Holdsworth style chords which are multi-tap stereo delays with chorus. The top note of those chords is a background melody to the main theme.

This song has my favorite solo on the album. The Fuzz Factory is the most fun pedal ever made, and I loved playing such a crazed, demonic solo through those pretty chord changes which are mostly m11's and MA7ths. Totally The WAVE chords. ha ha But the solo assures that this song will never be played on that station.

This is also one of the first songs written for the album, so we played it for years before we recorded it, and Alan plays the shit out of it.

The only down side is that the bass part has absolutely no room for improvisation, and though Travis likes the song, I doubt if it's much fun for him to play. He has to play those chords over and over... on the play along version bass chart I wrote "handorthopedic.com" in that section as a joke, but I doubt that bass players who try to play it will think its funny.

Alan suggested that I use a shorter "slap-back" delay for this tune instead of my usual 450ms delay time, and I think it fits the tune nicely.

Sorry for such a long answer, but you were right - it's a special tune for me too.