Another fantastic video John, thank you! I remember buying the IOU album when it first came out and hearing Allan's chordal work in vivid detail for the first time. Up till then I'd only heard glimpses of it on the Bruford, UK and Tony Williams Lifetime albums but the minute I heard "The Things You See" leap out of my speakers I thought, "Oh my god, his chordal ideas are even more original and amazing than his soloing!". He was a legitimate genius and will never be replaced.
Thank you SO much for taking the time and watch. I'm sure for chordal stuff you knew all this stuff already! 😆. Allan was just such an incredible and innovative guy, I'm always amazed at the simplicity and brilliance of his playing and the concepts he used.
it seems like we are exploring a dark and immense forest , and you are the only one with the torch and that know the righ path, i literally hang on every words you say. Thank you john for all your incredible work, everytime seems everything possible with you on the lead
I've been mesmerized by the harmonic choices utilized by Allan throughout his music. After some time I came up with a way of writing that allows for imitating this sound. They way I think about it is the following: the most important notes, the most audible ones, are the lowest note you play and the highest one so you write those first, only filling in the space inbetween them later. I got inspired to do this by watching reharmonization videos from Gil Evans Inside Out on youtube. This approach is quite flexible because the results can go from more "classical" sounding (if you choose chords with 3-4 notes) to more old-school broadway/ Barry Harris (if you go for a lot of 6th chords and diminished chords) to Debussy/Holdsworth (if you use a lot of sus chords and chords with many extensions and avoid too much functional movement). You can try putting in entire chords after creating the framework, since having 2 notes already limits the available choices of possible chords by a lot. Alternatively, you can think chorally and literally put in one note at a time. Hope this helps somebody in composing, cheers.
Definitely yes ! Harris method, Ravel’s or Debussy’s writing - these are just examples of “free” writing, without “scale degrees”. You only have sonorities to worry about. Filling in the gaps between the highest and lowest notes is a very good method. It DOES work! I use it often myself. The hardest, but most rewarding is trying to visualize entire scale across available range (keyboard, guitar, orchestral section etc.), treat the notes-ingredients evenly, especially in close clusters (coloristically). Since the concept is difficult to master for most of us (definitely for myself, ha, ha !) I can focus on just one scale-tonality even for few days, stick with it for a while, check the next day if you’re comfortable and then move on to the next scale…
You know, I really get the feeling that this "lowest note / highest note" method was quite commonly used in 80s-90s japanese video game music. Basically, create a good melody with some bass note(s) to go along with it, then fill in the rest inbetween with whatever sound channels you have to spare. If that's due to hardware limitations (can only play a few notes at once) or how japanese musicians are typically trained I cannot say. ...maybe this sounds like an oddly specific thing to point out, but I 1) like that style and 2) I get excited when someone else mentions this method. 😂
@@Hubip I mean, the Japanese were writing counterpoint more or less, just not the baroque kind, typically. Yet, even when looking at baroque music, like Bach's chorals, you see that the middle voices are typically the boring ones and everything happends in the outer frame which makes me think that perhaps even the old masters used to first write the most audible voices first, only later filling in the voices in the middle.
Thank you @TurrigenousOfficial for this video. We who are fascinated and ever curious to the insights into Allan's style really do appreciate your hard work and great content. I like the fact that Allan used the same chord pattern and moved it around. This is very interesting and helpful. 💯
It's Friday evening here, just got home from work and cracked open a bottle of wine. Switched on YT and glad to see a new Allan vid - the night's entertainment sorted... cheers man.
This is the one video I've been waiting for, his lines are iconic but the harmony behind it really makes it what it is imo. I felt like I knew what he was doing, but this video solidified it for me. Thank you John! Btw, have you ever considered doing SNW by Fredrick as a lesson?
This is by far the best video I’ve ever seen explaining any of these cords. They sound right on to me and honestly like he’s explaining it at a theory level that for whatever reason makes complete sense to me I am pretty shocked that I’m understanding this.
man, i came across your channel after listening to holdsworth over a summer road trip two years ago. I’ve learned more from hearing you talk about his songs than I have in my music theory courses in highschool. Appreciate all the good work mate. (Opeth fan too btw :))
pretty sounds. even pop music seems clued into this, i see those mi9ths next to mi3rds often, also, older pop, like 'closer' by neyo, with that #11 to 5th sound, a rare sound in pop, great song. even those whole tone chords are slightly dissonant, but prettier than wide open , boring triads. haha.
Fantastic! Spent a week with Robert participating in his Guitar Circle in Argentina this April. Was just invited to join The Guitar Craft orchestra on Italy next April! Amazing experience! Here is a little preview of what it was like. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xFxqrdbCMa4.htmlsi=O2deILhVx5yvEahN
I really, really appreciate your work on this. Somehow this one in particular really resonates with me. I guess you are playing many of my favorite chords. Ugh that BM#11 at 12:45
Playing some of my favorite tunes and voicings on the piano right now thank to you John. I will be grateful to you forever! Thanks for the staff notation. 🙏
5:46 ! Bingo ! That's what it really is. John, you truly "saved the mankind" !! (I love that comment below). I have been using this concept forever, especially in orchestral writing. In piano soloing too, especially in free improv or composing... The main thing here is that Alan while playing ANY chord, he automatically and instantaneously visualized entire scale ! And this is a genius in itself. Then he moved to another chord, and automatically "heard" that upcoming entire scale... Holy cow ! Here's the method that helped me to apply the concept to the piano : 1. Identify all notes of the scale. 2. Treat them evenly as "bricks in the wall" to construct ANY combinations of these notes vertically. No note is more important than the other, so the concept of scale "degrees" doesn't really apply here, just like in some Ravel, Stravinsky, Bartok, Williams, Goldsmith, and plethora of orchestral writers, film composers etc. 3. You do NOT need to name these "chords" (or rather sonorities) separately. Just focus your mind on visualizing corresponding scale. And that's hard at the beginning, but then it gets easier and easier 🙂 4. Similar approach applies when you study Barry Harris concept for example. You build these chords of corresponding notes of the scale (in all 12 major and minor keys). Or when you study Messiaen modi of limited transposition. Bravo John !! You did a remarkable job for all of us and for posterity... I've watched Alan's videos (the ones from the 80s), studied the "Reaching For The Uncommon Chord" - all of that is OK, but your explanation of "everything Holdsworth" sheds a new light of narrowing down to his concepts, and favorite choices. Something that Alan had sometimes difficulties to explain himself, when asked in workshops or after the concerts. I already went through your entire videos, including my favorite - "Spokes" (something i can really apply to the keyboards).
Thank you so much! I'm glad that you also see these things in a similar way. The ideas are so exciting cuz it's endless in a way. That to me USED to scare me, now it excites me!
Thank you for an excellent video about his music. How important is the bass/keys player in his ensemble? If you have these instruments anchoring the root of the chord, then that would give Allan all the freedom to play his chordal voicings on top? Cheers - Mark
Thanks! For keys he generally showed the player what he played and the voicing. For bass he would have the bass player often choose what THEY heard the root to be altho sometimes Allan may have been specific about something
Amazing work! Do you feel,now, after played almost every chord and invertion, combination that Allan did, if that explains why he did recognize an particular scale or scales inside of theses strucutres(?)... meaning why he did not call the chords names!!!? I don't know if I agreed with some notations like the ""maj with 11" in some cases, or "m75+" (sometimes sound like a triad with 9), and specially on this kind of "sound" and as we knew the music Allan was listening to; Bartók, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Debussy and jazz, etc... but I still recomend all of your videos for everyone who knows or likes Allan's music. Thank You!
Thanks! Again, the names aren't important and interperative. Sometimes it's easier to think of those chords with a simpler name than a more complex one because of how it sounds. It's good to be familiar with those chords in as many ways as you can in order to use them in interesting ways. As for seeing chords as parts of scales, I'd need to see more of his lead sheets. So far it seems every maj7#5 chord is always used as Melodic Minor, as a min/maj9 with no root and any of those min/maj7#11 chords as part of the Diminished scale.
@@TurrigenousOfficial Cool!! There is some other structures based on that 9 note Scale from Thesaurus - "Tcherepnin Scale" or major-minor chords maybe!?!!? I believe he said that used like 5 note scales also... like sub sets from this scales... non diatonical ....
@@TurrigenousOfficial I am positive Allan looked through "Thesaurus" at some point early in his development (as did Coltrane and tons of others who ended up as masters as a result). Then he decided that he knew pretty much everything for his own comfort and developed unique style. You are right here. He didn't rely on anybody's observations (Slonimsky's etc.) anymore. He visualized everything - entire fretboard.
Hey John! This is random, but at 34:54 I noticed that this section of Grey Day doesn't appear on the souncloud version uploaded by Gary Husband. Do you have access to an alternate version? Only asking as I am trying to transcribe it myself and rework it in my DAW, thanks!
Oh wow good catch. I may as I don't know where it came from, BUT I did have two versions and that one part came from only one of the versions that doesn't fade out. I only guessed it came from Garys SoundCloud cuz I dunno where I got the other. That section is really the only new section. IIRC correctly it goes back to the head, maybe a whole step down or something but it just kinda peters out
@@TurrigenousOfficial Ah OK, I'm trying to look for that version without the fadeout, but are you implying that you lost that version? I was mainly asking only if you possibly able to send that by email (if you're willing to), not sure how valuable it would be to you, but I've been doing guitarless backing tracks of some AH songs with fairly accurate lead sheets I can send if you're interested, thanks anyways man!!
@wesleylakemusic I have it, but I'm not sure if I can give it out because I don't remember where it came from, sorry! It may have been given to me in confidence. If it ends up not being a big deal I'll send it over.
Holdsworth’s compositional approach in harmonic terms was actually quite simple, with little in the way of complexity or theoretical density. Rhythmically there was almost always more to it, and of course there were the fearsome challenges in the execution. But this constant stuff about the compositions themselves being somehow very complex is just wrong.
True. The complexity is more about the amount of variations and changes within the piece as well as the changes in times altho those feel very natural. Soloing over those changes are usually tricky because often there are a LOT of different changes to remember. His chart for Lanyard Loop is a nightmare!
Okay, so kind of a modal approach to chords, not functional harmony.. in terms of internal logic, using sequences and following the melody.. what about going between modes or keys, did you notice any patterns to those movements? (Maybe a song has 3 chords that could be considered part of D Dorian, and then another 4 chords that belong to A melodic minor, etc..) I wonder if Allan chose the modes/scales and key centers before choosing the chords, or the other way around
Allan was familiar with modes but never used them the way we are familiar with them. As for keys, there may be some sort of style to them but I never got that far. Allan would certainly choose the scale AFTER the chord IMO most of the time. He may have an idea before hand but he's often said he'd write a chord sequence THEN figure out the scale for the solo so I'd imagine the head parts would be the same idea.
@@TurrigenousOfficial thanks! That’s awesome. Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have used the word ‘mode’.. it has multiple meanings. I just meant modal like modal jazz, like staying with one scale for some time and playing chords that are basically clusters of notes from that scale; nonfunctional… so I think I could have just said ‘scales’ to convey the same idea. In my own music, I’ve done the same thing; chords first.. but I think it might be an interesting approach to stay with one scale for a bit longer, play some more chords there.. before moving on to the next one.. so kind of a hybrid of the two approaches
@@TurrigenousOfficial oh, one other thing.. yeah when it comes to patterns for moving between scales.. something I’ve found is that different root movement intervals have a sound of their own.. so for example, moving to a scale with the root half a step down.. that movement itself has a certain flavor, no matter which two scales you’re moving between
@ClearColorCloud Ah I get it. Allan didn't really have parts that had elements of modal jazz. The closest thing would be in his charts where he would have a scale and alternate scale that could fit a specific chord.
Man i need a tutorial to use YAMAHA MAGICSTOMP for eletric guitar . Please ! I need the presset of Allan Holdsworth but my computer dont identify the pedal because o use Win 10
yay. hi. allan hated ii V I. i learned to love it, esp after realizing that ii V I is crucial to Giant Steps, countdown and lots of other favorite pop and jazz tunes (bach, too esp the last few pieces of WTC) . ALLAN IS TO BE APPRECIATED FOR SHUNNING THAT, but don't shut it your self. god, drunk, hard to type...
Is this James Theobald? I often think of your great playing and composing that I heard and saw back in the UnReal Allan Holdsworth group. I hope you are keeping well and playing as great as ever. Matt
51.00 Idiomatic for guitar, and relatively not-so-difficult to execute. On the keyboard to the contrary : these parallel movements can be "finger breakers" ha, ha !
Haha it's interesting how some things so easy on the guitar are so hard for keyboards and vice versa! When Allan tuned in 5ths he would often play chords too wide for a keyboardist to play!
If you really want it- Stop being another guitar player and go study tonality- Harmony and counterpoint. Go on to study the music of Bach, Messiaen, R. Strauss, Wagner. Take few years to dive into that and thank yourself later.
