Scott Henderson Discussion

[randope]

Hey Scott,

I just got a new guitar with 3 single coils in it. It seems to me that in order to get the best tone out of it, I have to crank my amp really hard but pick really softly.
How are you able to play those fast runs in this situation? Seeing as, like me, you were using humbuckers previously, do you have any tips to get used to playing single coils?

[Scott Henderson]

It's a different animal, that's for sure. I turn up the gain on my pedals more, and just a little more gain from the amp. I went from using 9's with humbuckers to 10's with single coils, so it took awhile to get used to that, and my left hand developed more strength for hammer-ons and legato playing. Picking soft is essential to that style no matter which pickup you use. I turn the tone on my bridge pickup down to 3 or 4, and that makes the notes much fatter - on the neck pickup the tone is around 8. This also takes away some of the brittleness from single coil guitars and makes fast runs sound smoother.