TestimonialsSpy Tunes Still the best guitarsite on the planet!

Shopping Cart

Ask A QuestionI'd love to help you with any guitarrelated questions you may have.

Ask a Question

Search Site

Search

TagsA change is gonna come acoustic guitaraeolian ain't no sunshine Angel eyesarpeggios Axe Fx b.b. king Baby won'tyou please come home bill withers

Learn Guitar Blog News Scott Henderson Melodic Phrasing

Your shopping cart is emptyVisit the shop

Scott Henderson Melodic Phrasing

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Guru

Scott Henderson teach usmelodic phrasing!One of the greatest guitar lessons Ive had came inthe form of an instructional video by Scott Hendersoncalled Melodic Phrasing.

This is one of those videos that marked a breakthrough in guitar education, Scott Henderson was atthe time heavily involved in the legendary GIT in LosAngeles.

GIT was in the 80s and 90s the Mecca for seeminglyevery jazz and rock guitarist who wanted to advanceon the electric guitar.

So in the name of great guitar tuition, lets take a look at a 10 minute clip from this video and learn abouthow to phrase by one of the greatest jazz and blues guitar players of our time.

At 1:33 Scott says how the third most important component to phrasing is the note choices and how heexclusively deals with this in his previous full length instructional video.

Following the concept of the S-E P R, you could translate that to all major and minor pentatonic shapes,all your modes, major and minor arpeggios.

From this standpoint you could then apply everything Scott talks about when you practice yourpentatonic shapes over for example the 2 Chord Loops.

Dont be intimidated by Scott Hendersons seriously advanced playing, listen to his wise words and applyhis ideas to the progressions and pentatonic shapes you are working on at the moment.

Learn Guitar Beginner Intermediate Advanced Master Spy Tunes Method

http://www.spytunes.com/ask-a-question/http://www.spytunes.com/tag/a-change-is-gonna-comehttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/acoustic-guitarhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/aeolianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/aint-no-sunshinehttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/angel-eyeshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/arpeggioshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/axe-fxhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/b-b-kinghttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/baby-wont-you-please-come-homehttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/bill-withershttp://www.spytunes.com/http://www.spytunes.com/bloghttp://www.spytunes.com/category/newshttp://www.spytunes.com/shophttp://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasinghttp://www.spytunes.com/author/Guruhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769248136/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=spytun-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0769248136http://www.mi.edu/aboutmi/historyhttp://spytunes.com/intermediate/minor-pentatonichttp://spytunes.com/advanced/what-is-a-modehttp://spytunes.com/advanced/min7-arpeggioshttp://spytunes.com/intermediate/2-chord-loopshttp://www.spytunes.com/http://www.spytunes.com/http://www.spytunes.com/beginnerhttp://www.spytunes.com/intermediatehttp://www.spytunes.com/advancedhttp://www.spytunes.com/masterhttp://www.spytunes.com/shophttp://www.spytunes.com/shop/guitar-courses/beginner-guitar-course

blackbird bob dylan bob marleydan lundholm dorian Dream A LittleDream Of Me EricClapton GuitarConspiracy GuitarLesson guru I'm YoursInterview ionian I shot the sheriffjason mraz jimi hendrix learn guitarled zeppelin lydian Mad World majorpentatonic minor pentatonicmixolydian modes musictheory lessons open position chordsover the rainbow paolo nutini PaulSimon phrygian pink floyd red Sunshineof your love The Beatles wish youwere here

Scott Henderson Melodic Phrasing lesson breakdown1. What is a phrase 0:24 4:12

In this part of the video Scott talks about the three components to phrasing being; rhythm, shape andnote choices.

I couldnt agree more with Scott about putting the rhythm first, rhythmical interplay is everything in hitwriting, part writing and improvisation.

However, as Scott stress; if you dont have the note choices down, learn them!

When I was 17 and first saw this video I didnt do that, if I would have I can now in retrospect see howthat would have saved me almost a decade of fumbling around before I finally sat down and worked myscales and shapes out, just like you see in Chordacus.

Dont make the same mistake I did, realize now that by cracking the fretboard, making musical harmonyeasy to execute anywhere on the neck will enable you to drop this as your focus, allowing a move offocus towards rhythm and expression.

You can see/hear in Scott Hendersons playing that he has without a doubt done this.

Every time the chord changes he swaps scale, even when he is trying to play badly, demonstrating howto play without rhythmical punctuation and repetition; he still automatically change over each chord!

The scales, the note choices are to Scott Henderson never a problem. This plays a huge part in why heis so free in his guitar playing.

Id like to sum this up as:

The note choices dont matter as long as you know them!

The example of no rhythm in your improvisation happens at 4:30 in the video.

Can you tell how he is still switching scale, following the chords?2. Rhythmical repetition 4:58 9:08

Great stuff here from Scott, take his advice, let for example the pentatonic scales guide you to the notechoices, allow the rhythm to bind your phrases and shapes together.

In the video Scott is playing Blues but dont let that affect you, this really is universal stuff.

The concept on blues phrasing could easily be translated to writing a melody for a verse of a song, or aguitar part in a band arrangement.

3. Milking an idea 9:08 9:54

In the last part of this beautiful guitar lesson Scott talks about milking an idea, what he says is brilliant, Ijust want to add one more perspective here.

Lets take the song Whistle For The Choir as an example. The first melody, scanning with the words:

Well its a big, big city and its always the same, this phrase use the E major pentatonic.

http://www.spytunes.com/tag/blackbirdhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/bob-dylanhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/bob-marleyhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/dan-lundholmhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/dorianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/dream-a-little-dream-of-mehttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/eric-claptonhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/guitar-conspiracyhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/guitar-lessonhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/guruhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/im-yourshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/interviewhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/ionianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/i-shot-the-sheriffhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/jason-mrazhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/jimi-hendrixhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/learn-guitarhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/led-zeppelinhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/lydianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/mad-worldhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/major-pentatonichttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/minor-pentatonichttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/mixolydianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/modeshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/music-theory-lessonshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/open-position-chordshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/over-the-rainbowhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/paolo-nutinihttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/paul-simonhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/phrygianhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/pink-floydhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/redhttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/sunshine-of-your-lovehttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/the-beatleshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/wish-you-were-herehttp://chordacus.com/http://spytunes.com/intermediate/acoustic-songs/whistle-for-the-choir-chordshttp://spytunes.com/intermediate/major-pentatonic

About GuruI have made up my mind: You Can Learn Guitar!View all posts by Guru

Can never be too pretty, tell me your name, this phrase use the G# minor pentatonic.

The notes and rhythms are almost identical, but the change in chord, from I to III provide the variation!

This would be another example of milking an idea; keep the melody, allow the chord behind it to changeits meaning!

Buy Scott Henderson Melodic PhrasingIf you like what Scott is talking about in the video, why not check out the whole thing by getting ScottHenderson Melodic Phrasing on Amazon?

The video contain even more genius tips for guitar players who wish to learn more about melodicphrasing.

This entry was posted in News and tagged Buy Scott Henderson Melodic Phrasing, chordacus, GIT, M.I, minor pentatonic,modes, Scott Henderson.

Post to FacebookPost to TwitterAdd to Google Bookmarks

Post to FacebookPost to TwitterAdd to Google Bookmarks

7 thoughts on Scott Henderson Melodic Phrasingstan July 28, 2011 at 8:57 pm

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Scott-Henderson-Jazz-Rock-Mastery00-27516.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Henderson-Jazz-Rock-Mastery/dp/0739045067

i think these are better links for a combined DVD with PDF

Guru Post authorJuly 28, 2011 at 9:39 pm

Yeah thats the two videos, first is rules, second is what to do with them.

Scott is a legend.

stan July 28, 2011 at 10:49 pm

so whats your favorite song/album ?

for someone to start getting into scott?

Guru Post authorJuly 28, 2011 at 10:57 pm

I like Reality Check

http://www.spytunes.com/author/Guruhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769248136/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=spytun-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0769248136http://www.spytunes.com/category/newshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/buy-scott-henderson-melodic-phrasinghttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/chordacushttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/githttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/m-ihttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/minor-pentatonichttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/modeshttp://www.spytunes.com/tag/scott-hendersonhttp://www.shareaholic.com/api/share/?title=Spy+Tunes+%26%238211%3B+Scott+Henderson+Melodic+PhrasingSpy+Tunes&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spytunes.com%2Fnews%2Fscott-henderson-melodic-phrasing&notes=&short_link=&shortener=google&shortener_key=&v=1&apitype=1&apikey=8afa39428933be41f8afdb8ea21a495c&source=Shareaholic-Publishers&template=&service=5&ctype=http://www.shareaholic.com/api/share/?title=Spy+Tunes+%26%238211%3B+Scott+Henderson+Melodic+PhrasingSpy+Tunes&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spytunes.com%2Fnews%2Fscott-henderson-melodic-phrasing&notes=&short_link=&shortener=google&shortener_key=&v=1&apitype=1&apikey=8afa39428933be41f8afdb8ea21a495c&source=Shareaholic-Publishers&template=&service=74&ctype=http://www.shareaholic.com/api/share/?title=Spy+Tunes+%26%238211%3B+Scott+Henderson+Melodic+PhrasingSpy+Tunes&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spytunes.com%2Fnews%2Fscott-henderson-melodic-phrasing&notes=&short_link=&shortener=google&shortener_key=&v=1&apitype=1&apikey=8afa39428933be41f8afdb8ea21a495c&source=Shareaholic-Publishers&template=&service=5&ctype=http://www.shareaholic.com/api/share/?title=Spy+Tunes+%26%238211%3B+Scott+Henderson+Melodic+PhrasingSpy+Tunes&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spytunes.com%2Fnews%2Fscott-henderson-melodic-phrasing&notes=&short_link=&shortener=google&shortener_key=&v=1&apitype=1&apikey=8afa39428933be41f8afdb8ea21a495c&source=Shareaholic-Publishers&template=&service=74&ctype=http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41262http://www.alfred.com/Products/Scott-Henderson-Jazz-Rock-Mastery--00-27516.aspxhttp://www.amazon.com/Scott-Henderson-Jazz-Rock-Mastery/dp/0739045067http://spytunes.com/members/Guru/http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41276http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41302http://spytunes.com/members/Guru/http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41303

Email Address* Name* * = required field

Subscribe

News Letter

SpyTunes 2011 - All rights reserved Terms of Use Site Credits Contact Us About Us FAQs Blog Site Map Friends

Pingback: Scott Henderson Pentatonic Secrets | Spy Tunes

Guru Post authorJuly 29, 2011 at 3:07 am

Check this video of Scott almost two decades later! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_VSjadCiU&feature=related

Rob Gagnon July 29, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Great video. I think Eds girlfriend must be pretty darn hot! No?

http://www.spytunes.com/terms-of-usehttp://www.spytunes.com/site-creditshttp://www.spytunes.com/contact-ushttp://www.spytunes.com/about-ushttp://www.spytunes.com/faqshttp://www.spytunes.com/bloghttp://www.spytunes.com/sitemaphttp://spytunes.com/friendshttp://spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-pentatonic-secretshttp://spytunes.com/members/Guru/http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41371http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_VSjadCiU&feature=relatedhttp://spytunesblog.freshegg.com/members/CosmicCharlieNH/http://www.spytunes.com/news/scott-henderson-melodic-phrasing#comment-41527