Scott Henderson Discussion

[Kung Bore]

Hi Scott,

First of all thank you for your fenomenal guitarplaying. I have been listening to your music since -97. Even saw you live in Gothenburg about 3 years ago.

Now to my question:
Have you seen the new (and young) guitarplayer Tina S on youtube. I think she is a star (she is only about 15 years old). What do you say? Impressive, I wish I was close to her skill at that age, guess it's to late now (33).
https://www.youtube.com/user/malabar777
It would be interesting to hear your opinion if you have the time to have a peek.

Keep on playing!
/Tobias

[Scott Henderson]

I respect her ability to play difficult and technical things at the age of 15. When I was 15 I could barely get through Brown Sugar without making a mistake. That being said, we have about 30 to 40 students at MI who sound just like her and they're only 18.

Personally I don't like this kind of music much and feel it's mostly about technique. I'd be much more impressed if she was able to play a simple blues with good phrasing and tone. It's become common to see YouTube videos of kids with their fingers flying 100 MPH, but rare to see them playing musical phrases with soul. I see kids at MI practicing their shred licks and it seems to be about "I can play this at this tempo". It's more like a video game than real music.

If she manages to get away from shred and into some soulful music, she has a good head start to become a great player.

[Kung Bore]

Thanks for your straight answer. Myself I play mostly blues, but I ain't even close as fast. But on the other hand I like blues artists like John Lee Hooker. Of course Stevie Ray Vaughan is close to God for me and he had speed and feeling. So do you Scott. I think I one day will tell my grandchildren "I saw Scott Henderson with my bare eyes in 2012" . Actually I also asked you a question about the Dog party album. Well thank you for your honest opinion!

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks, and I don't want to come off as a blues snob - I'm a big Van Halen fan and shred guitar can certainly be awesome when played with mature phrasing and great tone. Unfortunately millions of guitar players have copied Eddie's technique and forgot about the rest - when that happens it sounds completely generic to me and I hate it. I can't tell one guy from another - in fact it may have become the most formulated style of guitar playing there is.

When I hear Eddie's solo on Outta Love Again on Van Halen II - yeah, it's fast, but the rhythmic ideas are wicked and it's about the phrasing and tone more than the speed. That's everything I miss when I hear 90% of shredders.

[jens_p]

[Scott Henderson]

I don't really want to get into commenting on other players, especially after only hearing one song. Obviously he's really good and has incredible chops. The vibrato is too wide for my taste, but that goes with the style. A lot of people aren't fans of the whammy bar, so to each his own.

Thanks for the offer but we always stay in hotels very close to the venue - we don't need to stay in Santiago. I always run back to the hotel after the gig to Skype with my 11 year old daughter who misses me a lot when I'm on the road.

[ajay]