Scott Henderson Discussion

[jason3000]

Hey Scott,

Loving your recording tips on my music masterclass. Was wondering when you record with pedals do you just use the one pedal that you use by itself at that time? Or do you go through your regular pedal chain generally?

Also, have you experimented with different tuners? I have been recording with the korg pitch-black first in my chain, but even though it's considered true bypass I definitely have felt a different than going directly into my first overdrive pedal. Seems to be a touch smoother if I skip the tuner for some reason

[Scott Henderson]

I only go through one pedal at a time when recording, unless I'm combining two, which is rare. I'd advise not going through a tuner, even if they say it's true bypass. Every relay switch you go through degrades the tone a little - that's why even though all my live pedals are true bypass, I only use 5 on my board.

I'd use a headstock tuner and just put it on when you need it, or if you're using a DAW, send one of it's outputs to a tuner.

[Alessandro_Iglesias]

Hey, Scott! Happy new year, to you and everyone on the message board.

Which headstock tuners would you suggest?

Thanks in advance.

[Scott Henderson]

I like the Snark - it's big but I like what it does to the guitar tone in live situations. By adding more mass to the neck, the low end gets tighter, and the sound is punchier. It's kind of amazing - I demonstrated it for John Suhr and Jim Kelly and they were surprised. I played a hammer on from C to D on the G string without the Snark and it sounded normal, then did the exact same thing with the Snark - the D came out much louder and easier, so if you play legato the Snark is really cool.

[Alessandro_Iglesias]

I'm playing legato more often (influenced by you and Alan) and that's a great hint. Btw, you tone class on sale on MMMC has changed my tone approach a lot, plus, the use of a shorter trem bar. Thanks for the insights

[Thanasis]

Alessandro, I quite like the short trem bar too. It helps with picking when you have it in your hand. Otherwise you're scraping the 22nd fret and the sound is too mellow and the feel of the strings too. They seem like they don't give you back anything from what you feed them.

Scott, I remember you said that you found a new position on the picking hand which if I can remember well it is further down the bridge? Does that make you leave the arm from your hand so it doesn't get in the way?

[Scott Henderson]

I don't hold the bar in my hand as much as I used to because I like the tone when picking closer to the bridge. It's not necessarily better, just different. I switch back and forth a lot. Of course there's that really cool tone which comes from picking really close to the bridge - almost sitar sounding. Jeff Beck used that picking style a lot on the bridge pickup, and I've heard Ritchie Blackmore use it more on the neck pickup.

[Thanasis]

Yeah the one very close to the bridge sounds really good too.

A few of your pieces come in mind, like some phrases in Lady P during the solo, Church of exotic dance first bend (D to E on the G string). Can you recall playing this way when you switched to the 2 position too? Sorry if I'm asking too much.
I would dare to say that the single coil on the bridge position enhances the sitar effect as opposed to a humbucker, plus when you use the fuzz pedal (a sonic reference from the rituals solo could be relevant I suppose) That is a great sound. Kinda feels like the sound is squeezing itself out of the fuzziness in an oriental manner

[Scott Henderson]

I'd only remember doing it if I listened to the recording, which is something I hardly ever do. There are too many amazing albums out there for me to listen to my own stuff. I do remember the Lady P solo and that I was picking very close to the bridge in parts of it, and the Rituals solo with the Octafuzz is very high gain and compressed. I'm about to use that tone again on a solo on the new album.

[KW1234]

[Scott Henderson]

A lot of guitarists prefer a bigger headstock, but I'm not sure if it's for the legato reason or because they like the tone more. I haven't had much experience in comparing headstocks, but I guess the best way to do it is to compare two guitars which are as similar as possible, with different sizes of headstocks.

There was a company making a metal clamp for the headstock just to increase it's mass, and it was pretty popular for awhile. I don't remember what it was called.

Anyway, what the Snark basically does is tighten up the bass, which seems to allow notes to pop out more easily, especially in high volume situations. In the studio, I like the tone better without it - the fuller bass makes the guitar sound bigger. A trade-off, as usual.