Welcome to the bottomless rabbit hole that is Allan Holdsworths's music my friend! It's so great to see your enthusiasm and enjoyment upon discovering the man who changed guitar forever.
Allan Holdsworth was honestly one of a kind guitar legend. No one even comes close to mimicking his style. Guy literally sounds like a saxophone player.
Check out out Alan Murphy of Kate Bush and Go West fame but greater featured in Level 42 live album and was replaced by Allan Holdsworth after his untimely death. Also check out Allan Holdsworth former bandmate Ollie Halsall of Tempest where Ollie and Allan played dueling guitars on the song "Brothers".
I don’t play any instrument and I am listening to Allan since 1981. I have no clue on notes or scales. Saw him two times live in the Netherlands. Could not sleep for 48 hours after that (really🤞🏽). Both times is think I was the only non musician in the audience. Thanks for your explanation on what he does. I now understand that he plays (near) the same note at the same time on different strings. That’s what I have always called his double sound. That sound resonates with something inside me, maybe it’s my soul? Allan is my forever musician. No doubt about it.
10:32 I think he's moving horizontally on the fretboard rather than vertically because it helps him land on a much higher note abruptly at the end of his phrases
I remember having that same sense of “what did I just listen to?” when encountering Holdsworth’s music for the first time. I was completely lost. I didn’t know if I liked it or not but I couldn’t stop listening out of sheer awe. The music in totality was a large harmonious flowing, living and breathing mass of rich sound. At some point the emotional depth of the music hit me like a brick and I’ve never stopped listening since. That was over 30 years ago and people still haven’t caught up to the great Holdsworth. It was truly priceless to watch an accomplished player react cold to Allan. Pure gold. There’s nothing like discovering Holdsworth music for the first time…yet it never gets old to me either.
I was at a friend's house in the mid-70's, just chillin' and chomping on Chee-tos or something, listening to his great collection of import vinyl. He dropped the needle on the opening cut of that Tempest album, which starts psychedelic, then gets power chord-y. I didn't pay much attention, even to the first few bars of the guitar solo. But when that never-ending hyper-speed run started in about bar 9, I stood straight up, stared at the speaker, and probably spat bits of Chee-tos everywhere when I yelled "who THE FUCK is this guitarist??!!!??? It was then that I "enrolled" in the A.H. Impossible Music Appreciation Course. 😁
You're not alone there....Allan's playing, be it harmonically or melodically is 'off the chart'......as a composer, he was, and will continue be unrivaled.....until he's delivered, reincarnated from whatever dimension gifted planet earth with his brilliant, awe inspiring, jaw dropping talent....be blessed.
I like him and his talent is clear but I'm having a very hard time with some of his stuff. I like exploring but sometimes I feel like someone just gave me a fancy bottle of wine when a $12 dollar bottle would have been fine.
@@jerbear7952 I get where you’re coming from. The difference that makes or breaks things is nowadays there is an over saturated music scene and that has contributed to a short attention span. Back in the day music was less available so sounds like this one had to spend more time with because new music that was easily digestible wasn’t a click away. This is not easy music that can be understood in a couple listens, it needs to be absorbed through focused attention and patience which is not the order of the day. I will say from personal experience that I just didn’t get it at first but now I can honestly say this is still to this day some of the most rewarding music I ever heard and I listen to it all. Nothing satisfies me musically like his music. If you have the patience it will pay off in dividends but if you don’t it will just sound like random notes. Like all great things in life, you get what you pay for. $12 won’t buy much…plus this is priceless anyway.
There has never been a more unique voice on the instrument than Allan, such an inspiring player. I would recommend listing to the Sixteen Men Of Tain album for all those interested.
Absolutely. I've been an AH fan since 1982 or so but I only recently discovered The Sixteen Men Of Tain. Absolutely the best album for an overall AH experience. My first goto albums were I.O.U, Metal Fatigue and Hard Hat Area. For a one-off Allan Holdsworth guitar solo full of soul and passion, I'd recommend 'The 4.15 Bradford Executive' from the 1987 album 'Sand'.
@@_tgwilson_ Rick Beato did a great video of his conversation with Vinnie about the City Nights intro from the Secrets album. He tries to imitate that part with the same gear AH used and didn’t succeed!
Holdsworth basically invented his own harmonic language. Some of it could be called bitonality, where he's working in two different keys at the same time, and that could probably explain some of the odd runs/shapes. What I love about Holdsworth is that, despite being one of the most technically gifted and harmonically advanced guitarists ever, he was also the nicest, humblest guy who made some stunningly beautiful music. I think his legacy lives/lived on in guitarists like Shawn Lane and Guthrie Govan.
I think Guthrie is the greatest electric guitar player alive and making music right now. I hear so many influences along with his endless ideas and although I’m relatively new to Allan besides knowing who he was, it would not surprise me at all if Guthrie has went way down the rabbit hole chasing his knowledge.
@@riceflatpicking4954 I agree with you. Love Guthrie and The Aristocrats especially. I don't know if Guthrie is quite as harmonically advanced as Holdsworth was, but he has a lot of other strengths (like his tremendous versatility) that Holdsworth didn't have.
@@riceflatpicking4954 dude, guthrie is great but he's got nothing on holdsworth. i love GG as much as the next guita rplayer but "way down the holdsworth rabbit hole"? dude, he just found the entry, that's about it. the only guy that has more than half a foot in that hole is probably Brett Garsed. Also worth mentioning is Fredrik Thordendahl who approaches it more from a side, especially on his solo album
@@hazardeur The advanced legato of holdsworth is pretty ubiquitous today. Most modern fusion players have a lot of the technique of AH while still perhaps lacking in his harmonic approach to playing. Check out Ben Eunson for a lot of AH influence though.
Bwahaha. I've honestly have never seen somebody take on Holdsworth. I appreciate your enthusiasm. He blew Ed Van Halen's mind and Ed put some Holdsworth style things into his playing around Diver Down. I got to talk with him twice, once at BYU when IOU played in 1984 and I got to talk to him when he arrived at the LA. Guitar Show like 1986. We were in the elevator and he was complaining that he was supposed to be demonstrating the Synth Axe in a booth and the promoters billed him as giving a show in the ballroom at the Roosevelt Hotel. He kept those complaints to himself and.the promoter and he agreed to give a demo show in the ballroom of the synth Axe with the biggest JBL studio monitors I've ever seen. There were literally 2000 guitarists in hushed silence as he improvised on the bizarre synth axe for about 20 minutes and explained the instrument and did a Q& A.
Dude, this is my favorite video I’ve seen you post. So cool to see such an honest reaction, and I love the fact that you posted this one, where you really couldn’t even give analysis. Holdsworth was such a unique player, and I think your reaction closely mirrors that of most people on the planet on their first (and for me every) time hearing him. Great video, kudos for posting it. Not going to lie, your reaction had me cracking up.
Glad I’m not the only one who has this reaction to Allan. I’ve said for a while, without exaggeration that I’m not smart enough to even UNDERSTAND how good he was.
With all due respect, Allan Holdsworth is the best electric guitarist on earth. Or the Coltraine of guitar. He also used to play jazz violin, and took violin playing technique to the guitar's fretboard. Using 4 fingers per string playing 4 notes before going to the next string etc.
@@uraniumcranium2613 Yeah, the 4 fingers per string idea was more him just trying to encourage people to move more freely around the fretboard, because he generally added that the chief advantage was to move up and down the fretboard and not simply stick to one area.
Yes Coltrane If you listen deeply to alot of JC you will hear how he influenced Allan in his solos or rather the approach AH created to modulations and soloing over them. BUT really as much as he was influenced by others early on, those solos are truly Allan's all the way.
I used to play a violin. Violin viola etc violin family has backward(?) tune compared to a guitar. Guitar : E A D G B E Violin : G D A E Guitar: E-A 4th A-D 4th D-G 4th Violin: G-D 5th D-A 5th A-E 5th So, guitar’s 3 fingers per string and violin family’s 4 fingers per string are very natural. Thus, if you use 4 finger per string backward in a guitar. It works as a violin scale with weirdly jumps octave down.
Watch his scale/chord relationship vid if you want to understand why/how he plays this way. His intervallic approach is all his own. Also, he had huge, Tal Farlow-like hands. I got to see him up close in a small, private gig in the 80s. He was overwhelming.
He blew my mind, seeing him in a really small club and up close... but visually, I couldn't stop marveling at the size of his hands. Biggest spread I ever saw on a guitar player.
I have to assume it was The Blue Note or Fat Tuesdays..?? That's where I used to catch all the Holdsworth era / genre musicians. Even something as small as The Pier was typically too big for these guys unless you were opening for, say, Miles.
@@tripives1858 no, it was French's Tavern in Sydney, Australia. Sadly, at the end of the gig, he announced he was selling his gear, and was open to reasonable offers. Clearly, his financial position at the time wasn't rosy. We were sad for him, but most of us at the time weren't flush enough to make offers.
I saw Holdsworth in Cleveland back in the 90's. The entire crowd was guitar players. He came out and showed off for 10 minutes. The doubters got schooled .
My favorite thing is that this song was written in a bizarre tuning on the Synthaxe where the first two strings are standard but everyone below are perfect fifths, and then Holdsworth adapted it for standard tuning.
There is some fantastic live footage of Holdsworth on YT when he was in Bill Bruford's band with Jeff Berlin. That band did support Van Halen early doors in Europe....and Eddie didn't know until he heard Holdsworth from backstage. He said he cried because the VH fans booed them and because one of his heroes was actually opening for his band.
I'd heard about that incident for many years now. Unfortunately, even if you are a musician and you hear another musician who has completely shredded the traditional way of playing his or her instrument, it can wreak havoc with even the so-called music nerds. When Stravinsky debuted the Right of Spring in Europe, the audiences just couldn't handle it at that time. In the summer of 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was opening for the Monkees and as you could guess, it didn't go well in the eyes and ears of Monkees fans. The bottom line for me, is that very few people are naturally musical. Therefore, if it's outside of their musical experience, they typically just can't handle it. Maybe in another 10, 20, years, there will be exceptionally intellectual and gifted guitarists who can actually conceptualize what Allan Holdsworth was doing as far back as about 1975. But for now, there seem to be only a small number of folks who can even "tolerate" such evolutionary guitar playing. Sad.
Michael, watching you turn into a student (and the fact that you posted this one) and your remarkable full transparency about not knowing or knowing what you heard -- this is SUPER encouraging. I love this video. It's so helpful. :) Peace.
Allan Holdsworth is ridiculous with phrasing and legatos it’s no wonder Michael is in awe as all of us are when hearing Allan Holdsworth other worldly playing
A display of a really good teacher. One who learns all his life and feels passionate about teaching and discovery. Other than technical ability, Holdsworth was an amazing song writer. Something not easily found today in the craft of guitar.
Alan wanted to be sax player, but they couldn't afford saxophone when he was a kid if you listen his sound and phrasing it has certainly sax influences.... also you can hear horn players breathing in between phrases
I remember once Steve Vai was asked about Allan Holdsworth playing and he said it’s no wonder that Eddie Van Halen was a fan , because both play unapologetically, and without rules , also said Eddie is probably the only guitarist that can relate , both mad scientists. Interesting
I saw him in the early 90s and his playing blew my mind. He plays a guitar like its a woodwind - unique sounds and a unique technique. A true original. And the scariest thing of all is that he isn't noodling - the next gig he'd be playing exactly the same notes.
Allan just saw through the matrix when it came to guitar. He wasnt indoctrinated by the guitar history that proceeded him, he just saw the instrument totally different. Its like he saw around the illusion of time and space and could time travel. Still stunning all these years later, a totally unique mind
Allan is a "descendant" of the late great Ollie Halsall. Ollie played very much like Allan, but before Allan. His playing was really smooth and fluid and if you listen to Ollie you can hear his influence on Holdsworth. Unfortunately, he died before he got the recognition he deserved. There are great videos of his solos on RU-vid if you're interested.
@@ari1234a That's not correct. Allan was playing wild stuff back in '69 with Igginbottom's Wrench. The only thing Allan picked up from Ollie was his use of the tremelo bar. Allan went his own way with the legato style, chords, amps, and chambered guitars too. Something that Ollie never did.
@@ari1234a I've heard this old tale before. They played together for a short time in Tempest. Allan was already forming his own ideas. Ollie was fantastic no doubt and is one of Southport's finest and criminally unknown. He went on to play with Kevin Ayres and the Rutles. Sadly he lost his battle with drugs in the 90s.
I brought Allan's guitar tutorial book and DVD years back in what I can only call vain hope. He was on a completely other level. I love how some of his songs have been sampled and included in modern music. He was amazing.
Please do more videos like this from some of the musicians that absolutely have complete command of their instruments. A beautiful exploration and incredibly demanding listen…inspiring. We only have so many people who can play like Allan. Love your humbleness 🙏🏻
Still hard to believe he's gone. I saw him live in Toronto at the Diamond club in 1986. It was a small venue. I was right up front and couldn't understand what he was doing. It was absolutely amazing to see him live
Allan Holdsworth was that guy whose influence on Meshuggah was incredible in 1995 album Destroy Erase Improve. Fredrik Thordendal was and I think still is his big fan. Allan is a genius in its own way!
and this is an older video - he got better as he got older. All of us who loved Allan loved him, his style and the uniqueness he gave us. Such a sad loss for all
Had the opportunity to see him twice. The man was in constant agony about his "faulty" playing, and us mortals were just standing there totally blown away. Such a brilliant character. His music has no boundaries: rythmically, harmonically and melodically. It's not from this planet.
Saw him live, many, many times starting in the early 80s. Your comment is spot on, he was always harping on how terrible he was while being the greatest guitar player on the planet, miles above everyone else. He was also super approachable and super humble.
@@millsdude Indeed, more than approachable. I saw him packing up his gear at the end of a concert (looked a bit clumsy) and I was thinking about the contrast with the number of trucks and personnel used to carry around a Van Halen world tour. And Alan was a super hero to Eddie. Such a strange juxtaposition. However, It really adds to the beautiful phenomenon that is Alan Holdsworth.
I listened to Meshuggah before I heard Allan Holdsworth. When I started listening to Allan, I instantly knew, “Oh so THAT’s where Meshuggah’s guitar solos get their inspiration 😊”
Watching an interview of Allan, he said he dove deep into the scales to understand them. To get them to make sense he had to understand the math behind the chords and then defined the 10 most useful scales to learn. Definitely a guitar master that you don't hear enough about. 🔥🙌❤️ Keep up the great work and I love these breakdown videos! 😁🙌👍
Hey Michael, I was intrigued to see how you'd react to this tune when you said you hadn't heard much of Holdsworth''s playing. The "what was that?" remark when he started his solo was classic. There is legato technique and then there's Allan's legato--so liquid, molten and flowing, very violin and horn-like. I liked that you were game for it and voiced your honest opinion on the experience. Props for just stating it isn't the realm of music that you listen to. As many people joke about it being so alien sounding at times, that's really the actual case. It isn't necessarily from THIS solar system-ha ha. Maybe our galaxy. I don't grasp everything Holdsworth plays either, but I do appreciate his immense talent. Cheers!
I'm old enough to have seen UP CLOSE guitarists from Larry Coryell and Leo Kotke to Leslie West, Jimmy Page, Pat Metheney and Joe Walsh (and hundreds more,) but seeing Alan in a small club absolutely fried me. I cried buckets of astonishment. And he had the biggest hands I ever saw on a fret board, which I think helps to inform his style.
That was such an honest and humble reaction. You clearly know when you’ve encountered greatness, as I’m sure we all did when first hearing Allan’s genius. He shows us just what is possible when cutting the ties of traditional music theory and engaging our true self.
I was lucky enough to spend some time with Allan. He was humble, shy, self effacing and on that occasion almost crippled by stage fright. Not only was he the greatest ever exponent of the electric guitar (my opinion), he was an absolute gentleman.
I had the honour of meeting Allan at a gig in the UK. He had just played the most amazing music I'd ever heard live and I've never seen any musician with the level of fluency and mastery on any instrument. When I spoke to him (and I was nervous AF) he was so humble, down to earth and lovely. What an utterly amazing person he was. The world misses him.
You cannot jump into Holdsworth at Looking Glass, you need to start at some 70's stuff and work your way forward. In this order: Tempest with Jon Hiseman released around 1974 and the live cd for a rock band context, Soft Machine Bundles, Gong Gazeuse! , New Tony Williams Lifetime Believe It (One of his best solos on Red Alert), Jean-Luc Ponty Enigmatic Ocean, Bruford Feels Good to me and One of a Kind. Then start with his solo releases in order. We can hear his style develop and better appreciate his later stuff....
This, but I'd add that just because of the musical context, for rock guys, the 1st UK album and the 1st two Bruford albums are probably the best intro to Allan. The "In The Dead Of Night" solo was amazingly influential to players like EVH, Alex Lifeson, Ty Tabor, Yngwie, etc...
Yeah Clifford, the Tony Williams Lifetime music with Holdsworth is incredible. Fell in love with that stuff in my late teens, when I was obsessed with Tony's drumming.
@@johncasu4066 Right, In my haste I forgot UK. Off the top of my head I would consider Tempest more hard rock, UK more prog. What about the Annette Peacock songs on One of a kind? An amazing amount of great music produced by AH in the 70s.
I love how you immediately started trying to play ideas like him! That’s what hearing Allan for the first time made me do, and it changed my playing for the better, instantly. It’s a physical metaphor, think about it, the actual stretching and fret spreads are forcing you to find new path ways, to think outside the box and you are literally stretching your hand to think outside of these fret boxes, it allowed me to find string skipping patterns and connect pathways vertically instead of horizontally and not feel stuck with sweep arpeggios when doing so, you’re actually jumping further out than your basic sweep arpeggio. Allan is a treasure, I hope this brings Allan to more and more people. Really love that you made this video, Allan is the most underrated, scratch that, Unknown giant, it’s sad and poetic at the same time that the greatest of all time is also the least known, I hope that changes before I pass away
Wow he is melting into that violin tone even when he squeaked it like a bow hitting that high note and kind of scraping off the edge that was cool if you caught it
I first learned of Allan from Guitar Player Magazine in the early 1980's, Eddie Van Halen mentioned him in an interview, so of course I had to check him out. I bought a couple of his solo albums; "Road Games" & "I.O.U" and I was blown away. I also bought his book, "Reaching for the Uncommon Chord." (ISBN 978-0-634-07002-0) I read it cover to cover multiple times because it was so far over my head musically, but I really loved what he was doing. His tone and composition was so interesting and captivating, when I played his music at work, the reaction from coworkers was always the same: "What the f**k are you listening to?" A quote about Allan from Wikipedia really encapsulates what he was doing: "His unique legato soloing technique stemmed from his original desire to play the saxophone. Unable to afford one, he strove to use the guitar to create similarly smooth lines of notes."
I hope people that don’t play guitar can have the same experience I did. It was like meeting Jesus and finding out he is just some regular person except he is performing miracles and making you cry and laugh at the same time. I’ve played guitar since I was 6-7 and I discovered Allan when I was 20, I’m almost 40 now, it’s hard to explain but it was very much a spiritual experience for me, I’ve been obssessed with music and guitar since before I can remember, had a saxophone playing father who practiced everyday in his room, I could always hear scales and breathy soulful tone, I heard it my entire childhood and thensome. I loved SRV and David Gilmour and soulful bluesy playing, but also love love love the growling yet singing tone EVH conjured… later on getting into metal music and then Meshuggah being the catalyst to finding Holdsworth, finally hearing Allan was the greatest thing that ever happened to me beside getting married and having beautiful kids. Allan is a treasure and I hope more and more people get to experience his legacy and let it affect their own Sonic landscape. R.I.P.
I’ve seen Allan 5 times. Drove 1,200 miles to see him in Alexandria, VA from TN. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. He was truly a special player, and person. He’d always mingle in the crowd before his concerts. RIP, Allan. We’ll never see another like you.
@@frankfertier34, indeed, but I don't think I've ever heard a rhythm section that was less that top shelf when playing with Allan. They HAVE to be top rate to be able to keep up and be an integral part of that weaving tapestry. Tony Williams, Bill Bruford, Billy Cobham, Narada Michael Walden, Chad Wackerman, Gary Husband, Gary Novak, the list goes on and on. This is why I laugh at neophyte Rock fans who believe Neil Peart and John Bonham are the Alpha and Omega and the Final Word on drumming...
1000% agree with you!. He's so far beyond it's astounding that he was really among us & left so much music that STILL sounds modern! He was always a must-see for me, when he was in town.
Once again you have me so throughly entertained by your comic approach to this shenanigans and trying to figure out the complete insanity of it. Fantastic content. I'm literally in tears here laughing hysterically and I can't explain how much joy you bring to us when you do these videos.
i would argue bc AH wasn't classical trained and came with his "own" theory is the reason why he was so unique. His REH is for 1st time overwhelming but if you dig in, you will see some logical reasons for his approach. Forget the classical trained stuff and try to figure out by your own and your musical mind will expand. Like Charlie Parker said: learn theory and then forget it.
he figured stuff out on the guitar in his own super unique way, not diminishing that, but he played clarinet and violin in school when he was young, and early on in his guitar journey his dad who was a jazz pianist taught him piano style chord voicings on the guitar. so he definitely had some classical theory training
@Sami B i agree what you saying but still, he came with his “own“ theory. Ive never seen a guy who taught like that about music theory, at least im aware of. 🤷♂️🤔
@@ericfurst6091 I also agree with that. im just saying it for anybody that reads your comment and thinks "sEe?? yOu dOnt neEd mUsiC tHeOrY!!" allan would not have gotten to his own unique theory without some prior knowledge
Pat Martino was asked what he thought of Holdsworth during an interview and replied "I'd steal everything he does if I could only figure out what the hell he's doing".
I almost enjoy musical theory lesson videos with Allan as much I do watching and listening to him play, the guy is on an entirely different level and listening to him explain what he does is mind blowing.
Man, I love your insights and your courses give me so many aha moments, music theory is just so logical and so fun to learn, I don't know why many refuse to do it. Maybe it is like long distance running, you get to like it better with age :)
I really appreciate your candor Michael, and willingness to show your response. It was really fun to watch your very first impression, and to see you find and describe points that you could understand - showed that you yourself have some good depth. An amazing experience just to watch an accomplished player watch Holdsworth for the very first time. Holdsworth was just beyond beyond. I’m not a Holdsworth expert, I’m sure there are many you can find on the net that know a lot about him (including what he’s doing technically), but I’ve been a huge fan of his for over 40 years, saw him live a LOT. As I recall, he originally wanted to play sax and was inspired by sax players. My music mentor at 17 years old got me into fusion, jazz, avant garde jazz, then classical and modern 20th century classical music. Artists historically reaching for something new. Some of it made ZERO sense to me when I first heard it, to my ear it was incomprehensible noise at first (I recall a McCoy Tyler piano solo, and a John McLaughlin solo that was way out there, both blindingly fast) - but my ear eventually came up to speed and I could follow the melodic journey these guys were creating. Allan created something brand new, never done before. “… the Coltrane of guitar” per SimulchronX in a comment below. That’s a **great** description. Furthermore, he was really humble, sometimes really shy and even introverted, feeling he was off and not playing well on a particular night (more than once). No way any of us musicians in the audience could have known had he not displayed his own emotional reactions. It’s a weird experience scraping your own jaw off the floor watching a virtuoso that can’t be from this universe, then see him be really disappointed with what he just did. Just a couple times, he wasn’t like that all the time), but to think that HE was humbled - how low on the humble scale did that leave me??? I also recommend you go back and listen more to Jimmy Johnson on bass and Chad Wakerman on drums - these guys are so BEYOND great! Anyway, thanks again.
I think a reason to move up the fretboard to lower strings (the unintuitive diagonal pattern you noticed), is to allow for three note per string runs. Lets say you want to play A-B-C and then F-G-A. You can do that by playing the first three notes on the sixth string positions 5-7-8 and then on the fifth string positions 6-8-10. In a more traditional approach you will have to go fewer notes per string and that will slow you down.
Shawn Lane was the most technically skilled and advanced guitarist that will most likely ever live and his favourite guitarist was Allan so there is that.
Still think Holdsworth is considered better, if that even means anything. Lane, Holdsworth, Gambale, Henderson, McLaughlin and Bryan Adams are all great fusion musicians
@@irena7777777 And to clarify. Not really dude, Shawn Lane was far more advanced than anybody, including Allan, and ridiculously so. This is well known by most serious guitarists. That doesn't mean any disrespect to Allan who was very special clearly and nearly unmatched by most others in many of his own ways. McLaughlin is not in the same kind of league as these guys in any sense. Gambale is a beast and deserves a mention when talking about the top dogs.
The videos of Allan explaining just sitting and learning every scale down the whole fretboard are so nuts. Very complete way to teach himself! Same as when you watch Pat Martino talk about guitar it sometimes seems like an alien's concept of guitar.
I've been following Allan's music for over 40 years, I had the opportunity to become friends with the man in his later years. I've played his guitar. And like you, I am a very competent guitar player. But for all of that, I am just as clueless as you about what he is doing.
One of the most real, layman friendly, heartfelt discussions and analysis of Allan holdsworth and there aren't many. It's rare. I like this guy. Immediate subscribe for me.
Just to try make things more clear for people lol. Allan's music is not for your average listener, it's for very serious jazz fans who enjoy alternative niche kinds of jazz. He himself would mention that his music was not for the vast majority of people. I spent a lifetime developing an ear for pretty much everything in the guitar world, you kind of need to dig deep once you've gone through everything I guess. I can enjoy some really different stuff, and I appreciate the general musical madness going on here in many ways. Like that run at 11:12, that sounds pretty much awesome to me and would to most serious jazz guitar fans haha. All of that being said I don't even always enjoy Allan's music so this is definitely not something you would appreciate without knowing what you are trying to appreciate in it.
Allan uses chromatic pattern’s to get to another note. The thing is he does it in a way that’s mind blowingly fast and ends somewhere you don’t expect. His sweeps are ridiculous, everything he does is on a level of virtuosity above the rest. Frank Gambale is another guy like this. It’s just mind blowing.
I wonder how much the questions of "why" don't apply when your physical capability is at that point. Like that stretch might be something for us normal humans but it was just a total shrug for him. I mean for crying out loud it looks like his eyes are closed nearly the entire time! 😄
It’s always a pleasure to see someone’s reaction, that is a great player as Michael is, reaction to Allan’s playing. There is no shame in it. He was one of a kind, and a complete gentleman to boot. Thanks.
Steve Vai was once asked who was the "best guitar player", and while he said the answer is always subjective, he then went on to say in his opinion it's Allan Holdsworth. All because his take on Allen is the same as yours Mike. Quote, "I can watch and listen to a guitar player, and pretty much know what they're doing. Even if I can't play it right then and there, I do understand what going on. With Allan, I have absolutely no idea what he's doing. Allans guitar playing will still be studied 1000 years from now." - Steve Vai
You have been Alonized, I’m 59 years old and it happened to me when I first heard him play on Jon Luc Ponty’s Enigmatic Ocean, and then with his short lived stint with UK which he left because they required him to play the same solo every night and never improvise. And when his first solo album came out “IOU” I was in love musically. My aural world had changed forever. There are a handful of lifes memories that are emblazoned in you permanent memory. Putting IOU on my radio shack turntable with plastic housing speakers in my teenaged bedroom. Would change my entire musical life forever. Allan as he says has been truing to emulate the great horn players of jazz’s beginnings. He could not afford a saxophone, so his dad (biological grandfather) bought him a guitar. He would spend the rest of his days teying to make it sound like the sounds he had in his head that were never intended to be made by such a terrible out of tunes fretted instrument.
if you want to study and play like Holdsworth ,then i highly recommend the book "Bert Weedon's Play in a Day: Guide to Modern Guitar Playing , " Artists who learned to play guitar from Play in a Day include Eric Clapton, Brian May, Hank Marvin and Paul McCartney. Play in a Day is easy to use, inexpensive and can help to turn you into a legendary performer like Holdsworth too.
And while you're at it, pick up a copy of Slonimsky's Thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns. Holdsworth gave this book to Bill Bruford as a present and an indication of something that Allan found quite interesting. It just might unlock a secret or two.
Please watch some Shawn Lane with us. The version of Get You Back that’s most popular on RU-vid, it’s just pure magic. Holdsworth mixed with more accessible melody and unbelievably fast runs and tasteful phrasing.
