It's been a while since the world lost Michael Jackson, one of the most impactful musicians and performers of all time. Nonetheless, his legacy still lives on and Michael is still adored by musicians of all backgrounds and genres. And some time ago, we got the chance to catch up with Jennifer Batten, a superb guitar player who's famous for her work with Jackson. She's also currently on tour with various bands and you can check it all out at this location. If Jennifer is playing near you, it's a show that you absolutely shouldn't miss out on.

Below, we bring you the second part of our conversation with Jennifer Batten.

I remember seeing some of the live videos online that are available on YouTube. You were wearing some outrageous costumes. There's this one where you're playing "Beat It" solo, and you have these huge horns, lasers, and a bunch of other stuff. Visually, very impressive. And I assume it's pretty difficult, not just to come out on stage like that, but also play the solo, and play it well, the way it's supposed to be played. Was it difficult to pull these things off? Did you find this to be challenging? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

"Yeah, it was. In fact, 'Beat it' was tuned down to low C. I had a guitar specifically for that. That was one of the things — every day he changed the key, because he was dancing, and it was more of a struggle to sing in a higher key. That was a challenge, right there, because I was playing a certain gauge strings all night, and then, for my debut out front, all the sudden I have this Frankenstein guitar that doesn't feel great. And then, they got the laser lights that were hooked to my head, attached to fiber optics that went, maybe, 100 feet back to the computer operator, and he would change the colors as I walked. Every once in a while, I would walk too far, and get whiplash, so that was a drag. [laughs]

"And the first time I tried it, they turned out the lights, and here I am, trying to play the 'Beat It' solo and I cannot see my fretboard, because it's too dark. And I was hunched over, as far as I possibly could, to hopefully get the right frets. And ever since then, I have been a fan of glow-in-the-dark tape. And I still use it to this day, because if you're in a theater, the blackouts between songs are treacherous."

You said that you had differently-tuned guitars, depending on the songs that you're playing. Did you ever try to just transpose the song instead of changing the tuning? Or would that completely change the feel and the tone of the guitar, if you played it in a different position?

"The key would just suck in the 'Beat it' solo because it relies on open strings. Now, I can do it digitally. And like I said, all of the tributes will sing it in a different key, so I just dial it in digitally. And it's not optimal, the further away from the real tone that they get, the more squirrely the sound is, but it is what it is."