Scott Henderson Type Licks

by Christopher Sung Scott Henderson (of Tribal Tech fame) is quite simply a monstrous player. Equally adept at blues as he is at Giant Steps, he can play over anything. In particular, he excels at playing great lines over static progressions (of course, it also helps if Gary Willis is laying down the groove). In this lesson, we'll look at his use of superimposing unrelated chords over a static groove to create complex lines. The main devices he uses to make even outside notes sound "inside" is:

• Phrasing
• Blues scale notes
• Always coming back to the main chord after going "outside"

In the example below in C, there's extra emphasis placed on the blue note (F#), and the duality of using both the major 3rd (E) and the minor 3rd (Eb) in the same line, which is the case in mms 4-6.