Scott Henderson Discussion

[JaydenWiggins]

Hey there Scott, I've recently discovered your playing and have been totally blown away! I love your blues records and have been enjoying some of the other fusion projects too.

I wanted to ask your advice on something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm a 21 year old blues/rock guitar player who loves Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, Gilmour, Beck, Clapton etc.... I'm enrolled in the Bachelor of music program here at the conservatorium of music here in Australia because I really want to go on to do a master of teaching degree so that I have the qualifications to teach in schools. The problem is that my Bachelor degree is VERY jazz based... While I like a few jazz guys and have nothing against jazz at all they really push it here and expect that 100% of your time goes into playing that music. I have no problems understanding the theory of that music (have passed all theory classes so far with ease) and while I have a good ear and can transcribe jazz solos pretty easily, I find it hard to implement any of it into my playing and I also can't help that feel that for what I want to do with music, my time would be better spent transcribing the other blues and rock music that I like.

Any suggestions on how to progress quicker with any of this stuff or how to think about it differently when in a situation where I have to play good enough to pass while still being very much a blues player at heart?

I've transcribed solos from Charlie Christian, Grant Green and George Benson.

[Scott Henderson]

I really don't like schools that push students into jazz when it's not their main interest, but unfortunately that's how a lot of schools are these days - close minded and one dimensional.

I don't quite understand your question... If you're asking how can you become a better jazz player in a shorter amount of time - sorry, it doesn't work that way. The only answer I could give you is practice twice as hard. Learning jazz isn't about transcribing whole solos - that doesn't do you much good. Look at it as a language - you need to learn words before making up sentences, and then paragraphs, and then finally stories.

Small groups of 4 to 8 notes = words
Two measure or longer phrase = sentence
Melodic idea which is motifically developed for awhile = paragraph
Whole solo = story.

Just like a language, you need to learn hundreds of words, and learn to cut & paste them into meaningful phrases, while using those phrases to tell a story. It doesn't happen quickly - if you can accomplish that in five years, you're doing great. Transcribe words, not whole solos, and learn to use them in your own way so they don't just sound like quotes from another player - that's what transcription is about.

Even if you don't want to be a jazz player (and I don't blame you), you can still take some of the vocabulary from jazz and apply it to blues. Not trying to make a sale here, but I have a video called "Outside The Blues", which was made specifically for that purpose, so you might want to check it out.

https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/scott-henderson-blues-guitar-lesson-1/

[countandduke]

I'm interested to hear Scott's opinion on this topic too. I think the old school guys learned and taught music a certain way. I know Oscar Peterson taught and certainly guys like Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, and the list goes on. BUT, I think the state of teaching music has changed and I can't say for the better or worse but to me, I wonder if enough attention is being put on students to develop their own voices and hopefully not pigeon-holing them too much.

The late great Shawn Lane once said, "Once you define a genre of music and decide what can go in or out, you've just killed it..."

Best
Chris

[countandduke]

So obviously I wrote my response a tad after Scott's. Thanks for your input Scott. My own .02 is that to become good at anything takes practice and GOOD productive practice. MANY hours a day. I had a Grandpa that played in Big Bands for years and actually taught music for like 30 years at his local District schools... Dude was like 85 and STILL played to those Jamie Aebersold cd's 4-5 hours a DAY!!!

Best,
Chris

[JaydenWiggins]

Awesome Scott, thanks for your reply. I will definitely check out your masterclass video.

[daschwarjazz]

My advice: it's not enough just to transcribe solos. Doing so will certainly help your technique, but you need to be listening to jazz constantly to get the language into your head. When I went to school to study jazz guitar, I probably spent at least a couple hours before bed doing nothing but listening to jazz through my headphones. That probably did as much good as actually playing the instrument.

It'll also help to listen to guitarists that bridge the gap between rock and jazz:

Scott Henderson (obviously)
John McLaughlin (early Mahavishnu Orchestra is best, in my opinion).
Return To Forever with Bill Connors (Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy).
Early John Abercrombie (the Timeless album and on Billy Cobham's Total Eclipse)
Early Larry Coryell (Eleventh House)
Allan Holdsworth with Bill Bruford (Feels Good To Me and One Of A Kind)
Jeff Beck (Blow By Blow and Wired)

Many of these albums have a similar vibe to the music you like, but are more jazz oriented.