Scott LePage

Biography

Scott LePage is the other half of Polyphia's twin-guitar engine, the co-founder who has spent more than fifteen years trading, doubling and harmonizing lines with Tim Henson in the most influential instrumental band of the streaming era. He was born May 9, 1993, in Dallas, Texas, and he and Henson started Polyphia in Plano in 2010 as teenagers with a simple, slightly crazy idea: take the technical guitar playing they loved from death metal and shape it into songs with the structure and hooks of pop music. The band's name comes from polyphony, music built from interweaving melodic lines, which is exactly what two guitars locked together are meant to do.

His guitar education started at home. His dad taught him to play and passed on most of what he knew, beginning with the pentatonic scale, which Scott still calls the best scale in the world, and then Black Sabbath songs. Discovering Yngwie Malmsteen sent him after arpeggios, and his father arranged a couple of years of weekly lessons with a local teacher, Earl Bailey, who drilled him on modes, triads, arpeggios and theory. As teenagers, he and Henson pored over technical death-metal bands like Job for a Cowboy and As Blood Runs Black, and Scott eventually learned to work out songs by ear, a skill that matters in a band where nobody reads charts.

Here is the gem. For years the two guitarists learned each other's parts their own way, but on the Remember That You Will Die tour they started matching every detail, every slide, bend and bit of timing, so the doubled lines sound like a single, impossibly precise guitar. LePage summed up the band's whole philosophy in one line: they like to make easy-sounding things complicated. He has also said a guitar riff should be able to stand on its own and still sound good, which is the test every Polyphia part has to pass.

The results speak for themselves. A playthrough video of "Impassion" from the 2013 Inspire EP went viral, Muse (2014) charted and landed the band on Equal Vision Records, and Renaissance (2016), New Levels New Devils (2018) and Remember That You Will Die (2022) pushed them into the Billboard 200, the last debuting at number 33. LePage calls "Ego Death," the track featuring Steve Vai, the band's best creation ever. Ibanez has given him signature guitars, first the SLM10 and then the KRYS10 with Fishman Fluence pickups voiced for him, and Polyphia's first live album, Live at the Factory in Deep Ellum, captured the band at full strength in their home town. A fifth album, Be Not Afraid, is set for October 23, 2026.

Legendary Performance

Live at the Factory in Deep Ellum

April 14, 2023 · The Factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

On April 14, 2023, during the tour for Remember That You Will Die, Polyphia played The Factory in Deep Ellum in Dallas, a homecoming show for a band that started out in nearby Plano. The night was recorded, and on November 24, 2023 it was released as Live at the Factory in Deep Ellum, the band's first live album, with 16 tracks spanning their catalog.

The record matters because Polyphia's music is so heavily produced in the studio, layered with trap beats, synths and edited guitar takes, that many listeners wondered whether it could survive on stage. Live at the Factory answered that. With Clay Gober on bass and Clay Aeschliman on drums, LePage and Tim Henson trade and double their intricate parts in real time, and the unison lines are so tightly matched that they often sound like one guitar. LePage's precise picking and rhythm work hold up the songs while Henson's leads fly over the top, and the two swap roles constantly.

Playing to a hometown crowd at the peak of the band's success, the album captures Polyphia as a real live band rather than a studio project, and it stands as the best document of how LePage's role as the steady, detail-obsessed partner makes the whole Polyphia sound possible.

Gear

Ibanez KRYS10 signature

Known for: his signature model with Fishman Fluence Scott LePage pickups

Scott LePage plays Ibanez signature guitars. His first was the SLM10, with a roasted maple neck, a Gotoh tremolo bridge with locking tuners, DiMarzio pickups and a quilted maple top in a transparent red matte finish. It was followed by the KRYS10, which keeps the roasted maple neck, Gotoh tremolo and locking tuners but swaps in a set of Fishman Fluence Scott LePage signature humbuckers. The Fluence pickups give him a consistent, low-noise tone with multiple voices, which helps when every note in Polyphia's clean, articulate parts has to be heard.

He has also been seen with Ibanez Xiphos models, including the seven-string he played in the "Ego Death" video, and in 2024 he previewed what looked like a signature Xiphos with a beveled body, a Gotoh bridge and an ivy-style inlay during a playthrough of his "Bloodbath" solo.

Neural DSP Quad Cortex into Orange cabinets

Known for: Polyphia's modeling-based live rig

Like Tim Henson, LePage relies on digital modeling rather than traditional tube amps. Polyphia's live rig is built around the Neural DSP Quad Cortex running through Orange cabinets, which lets the band recreate their polished studio tones exactly from night to night and switch instantly between the crystal-clean sounds of their pop-influenced songs and the heavier, distorted riffs from their metal roots.

Quad Cortex onboard effects, Ernie Ball Titanium strings, Dunlop Tortex Sharp 1.12mm

Most of his effects live inside the modeler, where delays, reverbs, pitch effects and compression are programmed per song so the guitars sit perfectly against the band's electronic backing tracks. The rest of his touch comes from the basics: Ernie Ball Titanium coated strings and Dunlop Tortex Sharp 1.12mm picks, which give a crisp, defined attack for fast picking and hybrid patterns.

Signature Technique

Twin-Guitar Precision, Hybrid Picking and Trap-Pocket Rhythm

Scott LePage's playing is built on precision. Polyphia's music is full of unison and harmony lines between him and Tim Henson, and LePage is famous for matching every slide, bend and rhythmic accent so closely that the two guitars sound like one. That demands rock-solid timing, clean alternate picking and complete control over how each note starts and ends.

His foundations are classic: the pentatonic scale his father taught him first, Black Sabbath riffs, then the arpeggios and modes he chased after hearing Yngwie Malmsteen. On top of that sit the techniques of modern progressive guitar, including sweep picking, tapping, hybrid picking and fast legato, which he uses in tightly composed parts rather than open-ended solos.

Rhythm is where he shines. Polyphia's songs lean on hip-hop and trap grooves, so LePage plays syncopated, percussive patterns that sit in the pocket with the drums and programmed beats, and he often holds down the rhythm while Henson plays the lead before the two swap. His philosophy that a riff should stand on its own and still sound good keeps his parts melodic and memorable rather than just technical.

His influence has grown with Polyphia's. Together with Henson he helped define a new style of instrumental guitar that mixes virtuoso technique with pop structure and hip-hop rhythm, and a generation of young players now study their doubled parts and playthrough videos to learn how two guitarists can work as a single instrument.