GUITARIST REACTS TO | Allan Holdsworth - Looking Glass 

Dude, he's the only one. Steve Vai loved him, yet, he couldn't figure him out. He's one of a kind. By the way, that's the title of Bruford's album.

Just an FYI. Allan didn't sweep pick and he always claimed he "couldn't do that" (but admired Frank Gambale).....he also didn't pick a great deal and in fact worked to de-emphasies that pick attack. What you're hearing is wide-interval phrases, blistering scales and arpeggios incorporating string-skipping using left hand legato. His legato technique is widely lauded as the best ever but even from the late 60's it was staggering, to say nothing of the fully developed version we saw in the 80s and 90s. He practised placing accents wherever he wanted, with whatever finger he needed in order to develop a much smoother, saxophone/windinstrument inspired tone. Let me hit you with a couple of quotes: "“I’ve practiced playing scales where you put the accent anywhere, whether on a note you pick or one you don’t. You can say, ‘I’m going to play four notes and accent the second note, but I’m only picking the first note.’ So you make the first a really gentle touch, and then you have to whack the string with your finger on the second. For the third you can be a little slower when it hits the fret, and so on, so that eventually you can put the accent where you want it" "“Over the years I’ve learned that by using the legato technique, I can physically play anything that anyone else can play any way, just by accenting unpicked notes and finding different fingerings.” "one problem with legato technique is that it tends to make you play all the notes running in one direction, and that’s something I tried to stop doing two or three years ago. I try not to play more than three or four notes going in one direction" The man was technically unsurpassed but his compositions and use of theory is where he really blows my mind - it's extremely unconventional.

Good lord, there's no bass backing track. Dave Carpenter (RIP) is a virtuoso, who absolutely thumps with this thumb while playing chords with his fingers. There are vids of Slavic classical guitarists who teach you how to play polyrhythms with different fingers ;) Allan would be appalled that anyone suggested he used a backing track.

Bassist Dave Carpenter on here, was fantastic and yes, that was all him multitasking the lower bass lines and upper chordal harmonies on that 6 string bass. He was just that damn good, rip.

Gary Novak at the Drum Kit is an all timer ... Holdsworth settled for no less .

Give "Nevermore" from UK's self titled debut album a listen, it's a prog masterpiece as is the entire album, it has beautiful form and incredible virtuoso playing from Holdsworth and keyboardist/electric violinist Eddie Jobson (ex Curved Air, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa) not to mention superb drumming from former Yes/King Crimson member Bill Bruford and great bass work and vocals from former Family/Uriah Heep/King Crimson member John Wetton. Cheers

Also, there is no backing track. That's just Dave Carpenter (RIP) being an absolute monster. Keep in mind, the video you are watching is out of sync with the audio.

There is no backing track. Old school live playing. To this day no one touches Holdsworth in my opinion…and Eric Johnson sounds like Holdsworth not the other way around.

Check out his playing on the prog metal tune Desert Girl, by Planet X in 2007 or Day of The Dead by Derek Sherinian, or perhaps an older appearance like 'in The Dead Of Night' from the band U.K. in 1978. In the early 70s he was still playing like this, try Hazard Profile pt.2 by Soft Machine. I love his solo output but his band playing has often been more accessible for people used to more conventional jazz or prog

One thing that's awesome about Allan Holdsworth reaction vidoes: There's always that 'Holy sh*t' moment on the viewer's face where they see him playing and think 'Is that even possible?'.

Nice video, man. But if you really want your mind blown and really hear what Allan is all about, do a reaction video to his track _The 4.15 Bradford Executive._ People think Allan was some kind of "jazz guy". He was not. During the time period this live performance occured was around the time of his album _The Sixteen Men of Tain,_ by far his most "jazz sounding" record, aside from _None Too Soon,_ which was an album mostly consisting of jazz standards.

Stu Hamm also played bass and chords quite a bit, especially during the Joe Satriani early days (1987-1990).

Good video - I like your laid-back style fella. I'm a British guitar enthusiast and never heard of Allan Holdsworth (maybe somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind), so thanks for introducing formally.

Dave Carpenter was a fantastic bassist. So sad that he died so young. The contribution of Allan Holdsworth (1946-2017) to music cannot be overstated. Check out Devil Take the Hindmost from the Koln concert in 1992 - the solo looks physically painful to play.

Allan Holdsworth's music is like a circus flying thru the air.

Hope you persevere with Allan’s music as it is a universe of inspiration once it stars speaking to you. Btw, he definitely did not use alternate picking, but was in fact the master of legato playing.

Novak's work with Chick Corea remains astounding .

The only place the GOAT, Allan ever used backing tracks was at clinics or NAMM, his concerts were always all live; it's just world class musicianship from all.

The biggest mistake people make when hearing Allan Holdsworth for the first time is trying to place him in a familiar genre and then judging what Allan Holdsworth and his colleagues are actually playing. Holdsworth was a genre of its own! R. I. P.

There is no "backing track". Three people doing what you can't imagine, little boy.

Jazz Fusion is usually a fusion of rock and jazz. Good ear about that tone, man!

No backing track.

Nope, there is no backing track. I play a 7-string, and it is quite possible to play that way, it actually helps a trio, so Allan can solo without needing a keyboard for the chords. As for the guitar tone, it is quite common, listen to Frank Zappa, or the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The picking style is called "legato", which means slurring, or sliding note to note, while picking others. As for "genre" there is no such thing, Jazz was, from birth a fusion of European scales and harmonies, with African rhythms, so as music evolved, "jazz" incorporated all emerging elements, including "rock tones". In fact, the naming of "genres" started out as a classification of the ethnicity of the artists, the word "jazz" evolved from the French word for "garbage" (jass), then it was used as a pejorative term for copulation, then applied to the music of Black players, before becoming a mainstream term for music with improvisational elements. Here's a tip, lose the word "genre" from your vocabulary, hear music as just music. Unbox your brain from the stereotypes taught by the industry "gatekeepers", your music horizons will expand greatly, as will your ideas for playing.

There are no backing tracks going on.. watch another live version of looking glass that shows better angles.. they are all playing on a whole other level than most musicians even know is possible, so i won't fault you for that lol

The backing track... really

I've seen this video many times over. Such a shame that it's out of synch with the music. Holdsworth was way ahead of his time and though he passed in 2017 his catalogue of music is with us forever. And yea, the Bassist is covering everything you hear. This is as live as it gets. I saw him perform twice in the mid 1980's. RIP the master, Allan Holdsworth.

Backing track, LMAO. Thats bassist Dave Carpenter

the only guitarist in his league is Phil Keaggy

Hey nice jawb bro u are someone that I could actually enjoy listening to and you seem very intellectual. But I'm not sure I know why are confused about what the bassist is playing and what he's not, cause idk it's sounds like he has 18 fingers to me jus like the other guy.

A guitarist admired by people like Van Halen, Vai, Satriani, Zappa, McLaughlin, Santana, Alex Skolnick and more, Holdsworth was too jazzy for the rock crowd, and too rocky for the jazz purists, so only guitar fans bought his albums, and he was so broke when he died in 2017 that they had to do a GoFundMe to pay for his funeral.

Chances are he is using pedal effects to comp himself…. There are no backing tracks being played here …

It is easy to be awed by Allan's technical prowess and effortless command of the fingerboard. His scalar and melodic palette are extraordinary, and, to me, incomprehensible. All that said, I tire quickly of his soloing--after a few minutes it all sounds the same and I'm ready to listen to something else. Just my personal taste, but I'd much rather listen to some of the great current fingerstyle players like Tommy Emmanuel and Mike Dawes.

backing track? nope

Do you still want to call yourself a guitarist? 🙂

It's easy doing a Holdsworth reaction, just sit there with your mouth open and a completely stupified look on your face.

Not loving it. Seems completely directionless. A lot of technical skill, but where is this music going? All bridges with no theme in between.

He’s a Progressive player…listen to U.K……The Bill Bruford Band.

The performance video is grossly out of sync. . . . . . . .