Scott Henderson Discussion

[ErfanAkli]

Hey Scott , I have questions about your techniques , when i listen to your live solos in Tribal Tech like your facefirst solo , sometimes you play speedy and i know you do more legato for those kind of solos , and l've listened that you said you've never practiced speed in your whole life !! when i want to play speedy legatos , I Collapse !! I know there is no secret for that but i don't know what kind of practices i have to do , Is there any book for that? What do you recommend?

Your big Fan , Erfan

[Scott Henderson]

Even before hearing Allan Holdsworth, I knew that hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides were much easier for me to play than picking every note. I've always been a terribly uncoordinated picker. Everything I've learned was practiced with the least amount of picking possible.

If you're doing that and it's "collapsing", there could be a few reasons for it.

Strings too big: lighter strings are better for legato. I use 10's but a lot of players use 9's or even 8's.
Action too high: That's pretty self-explanatory.
Not enough compression or gain: for legato playing, the pickup needs to hear everything your left hand does, so a blues type tone doesn't have enough gain or compression to make that happen.
Picking too hard: this is very important. You shouldn't be able to distinguish the picked notes from the hammer-ons and pull-offs. That can only be accomplished with very light picking.
Playing too loud: when the guitar is on the verge of feeding back, it's harder to release a note in order to play another one, and fast legato notes have a harder time punching through the sonic mess created by the high volume.

[ErfanAkli]

Thanks, another thing I think is important is the neck shape for me
I have a fender american elite strat and I think neck is too big for me
That's not comfortable and I think the best choice is your Suhr Signature Model.
My teacher says I try copy from your style , tone , and materials , but I think thats not true , I call this your influence in my playing. I have the materials are mine too!

[Scott Henderson]

Yes, the neck shape needs to be comfortable, and I love the D shape neck of my signature guitar. Don't worry, many people own them and don't sound anything like me, because they're smart. ha ha

Seriously, that guitar is the closest thing you can get to a real vintage strat, but easy to play. It's an amazing guitar!

[ErfanAkli]

Thanks for helping my master

[Maniac]

[Scott Henderson]

I don't know - I've never tried to figure out his technique. If he said that I'm sure it's true - he played with his thumb behind the neck which would make descending hammer-ons easier. I have a hard time doing those with my thumb in the "blues position".

[countandduke]

Allan didn't do traditional pull-off's where you pull off towards the floor. He didn't like the "meowing" effect that type of pull off gives. His pull offs were more pull-UPS, towards the sky. You can see it in his videos. He would also do the "hammer ones from nowhere".

Dude had great ears like Scott's!

Best,
Chris