Scott Henderson Discussion

[SwampDonkey]

Hey Scott - my names Justin and have been a huge fan of your playing for years... I caught you in Chicago with HBC and you guys blew the roof off the place and even showed us some videos of your daughter ice skating haha... i think, i had a few but I have 2 quick questions -

1. How much of your guitar is in your monitor when your playing live? Im sure it depends on where the gig is or how big of a venue it is but I've found that all my tone get sucked out when i have my guitar in the monitor out front so I just keep it out. (My band doesn't have our own monitors so we are usually stuck with the shitty house monitors and the horns are usually blown) Just seeing what your stand on this is.

2. You've mentioned in the past that you wont eat before a gig... I've also heard people say this but I'm curious as to why.

Cheers Scott and thanks for reading!

[Scott Henderson]

It does depend on the venue - if we're playing a small club, I need to keep my volume down so the sound man can do his job properly. Putting some guitar in the monitor helps a lot. I usually go for about 60% from the cab and 40% in the monitor. I usually have to take high end out of the monitor, or sometimes I just put a towel over the horn. In a large room, I still put a little bit in the monitor because I can hear the details of my tone better.

I put some drums in my monitor too, and I like to hear drums and guitar coming from the same place - I feel like it helps me lock in with the drummer more, especially in rooms that are boomy and unclear.

I never eat after 12PM on a gig day - I like to be hungry when playing. I'm not an expert, but I've heard that more blood goes to your stomach when you're digesting food. I can only judge from my own experience, but when I'm full of food I get lethargic and don't think very clearly. Every time I've tried to play after eating I feel like my edge is completely gone.