Scott Henderson Discussion

busybox · Joined: 15 Jul 2015 Posts: 3

Hi Scott,

Assuming you had to do this- how would you approach playing high notes on a 21-fret guitar that were originally played on a 24-fret guitar? For example, the climactic scalar lick on "The Necessary Blonde" goes up to an F, which is easily bent up from E on a 24-fret guitar, but not realistically possible on a 'normal' 21-fret Strat.

I guess the options are:

1. Just forget it. Use a 24-fret guitar or don't play the tune at all.
2. Transpose the whole tune down so that the highest notes are accessible with 21 frets.
3. Use some sort of pitch shifter to raise just the minimal number of high notes you can't hit.
4. Use some sort of pitch shifter to raise the pitch more than you really need (e.g. perhaps a fourth in "The Necessary Blonde" case) so you can play a significant portion of the lick lower.

I'm thinking #3 is the most viable option. The pitch shifter will certainly change the timbre, but as long as you don't shift any more notes than you really need (as in case #4) you can probably minimize their differences.

Thanks!

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

I agree that #3 would be the best option. Just for the record, that tune is my least favorite tune by Willis, and the person he wrote it about is my least favorite person, totally by coincidence.

harmonicator · Joined: 23 Jun 2004 Posts: 20

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

Not quite as glamorous as a hot actress - it's his ex-wife. Yuck.

I like a lot of Willis's tunes - Wasteland, Night Club, Self Defense, Dense Dance - too many to list. He's a great writer! I didn't like Necessary Blond because it's too Pina Colada for me. ha ha

tribalfusion · Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 45

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

Wow, their version is so much better than ours! The guitar player plays it much better than I did and is a better improvisor than me for this style of music. I even like the tune now. But I still don't like Willis's ex-wife.

TaeKwonDonut · Joined: 20 Apr 2015 Posts: 101

Does this mean your house isn't decorated in southwestern tapestries? I bought one a few years ago.. it was signed 'Yoko'

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

OMG - so I must know you....

No, I don't have any of her fucking tapestries in my house. ha ha

dizzy · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 406

OK now I am curious scott.
Details please? What did this woman do?😝😈😍😭😏

Scott Henderson · The Man Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2135

Sorry Dizzy, I don't think Willis would appreciate me going public with details about his ex-wife, as much as I'd like to.

dizzy · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 406

I understand as I have some friends with ex wives like that.
I'll bet the words Satin and Horrible sum it up.

tribalfusion · Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 45

tribalfusion · Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 45

They also did "Outskirts" for big band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4midm-PaM

tribalfusion · Joined: 10 Aug 2009 Posts: 45

Maybe I should make this a new topic so people know about it here

Thanasis · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:03 pm Post subject:

Wow I'd love to play tribal tech in a big band.. I suggested Spears in the jazz workshop class that I take lessons and it got instantly rejected by the teacher cause he said that we would all be working on that tune for a year or more to get right. Bum. He was probably right, but where the hell does one have to go to play this kind of music?

This music is so rare in Greece that I only have the chance to suck at fly me to the moon. Please can't we all just play Astro Chimp and have fun just for once? I wanna play the doubling bass riff before the guitar solo and look at the bassist in the eye and reassure each other that this is the real sh*t. - "No. Just comp on fly me to the moon with the piano simultaneously and have no idea what his voicings are for the whole set"