Allan Holdsworth

Hello,

Are there any jazz-fusion guitarist who play like Allan Holdsworth? I mean playing unpredictable and "outside" sounding solos. Also it would be awesome if the guitarist plays same genre as Holdsworth (rock jazz fusion).

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, I'd like to know how to minimize pick attack to the max, until it's really not heard, to get something like a when a trumpet starts sounding softly. How many ways are there to do this? I figure the options are a volume pedal, volume knob and an ebow. Are there more options/techniques/pedals/effects/plugins...?

I'm basically looking for the sound Allan Holdsworth gets in songs like "Was there?" at 0:27, after the first verse (not sure if links are allowed).

How does he do it?

Amongst legendary musicians, he always received almighty praise, from artists who you would never expect, given how extreme his style was i.e. Robben Ford, George Benson, Van Halen and Santana.

Van Halen was so stunned at his lack of success he even went out of his way, in the peak of his career (1984) to get Holdsworth a major label deal.

Alot of his playing has found its way into mainstream music, Tom Morello cites him as a major influence, Stone Temple Pilots used his legendary chorusing effect on their album Core, Van Halen got the idea for his whammy bar tricks from him and some of his licks with wide intervals were inspired by Holdsworths massive legato stretches, and alot of modern metal draws on his style of playing, with bands like Meshuggah and Periphery citing him as a major influence.

However, his playing largely went under the radar for most guitar players and he was never a household name, he died in near financial ruin without enough money to cover expenses for his own funeral.

Holdsworth was described as 'The man who changed guitar forever'. From the wild ambient effects he invented, to the amp attenuators he designed and built literally in his own back yard (this was long before these were produced for the market) and the phenomenal 'stream of consciousness' improvising that puts him firmly alongside the greatest of improvisers such as Coltrane and Parker. This was the man who even John McLaughlin had no clue how he was able to play like he did.

I'll leave some of his coolest moments here, and remember, this is in standard tuning. No gimmicks here.

Hello all! I've recently been listening to a lot of Allan Holdsworth, having heard him for the first time on "Bundles" by Soft Machine - this guy is just amazing! I love his two albums "Metal Fatigue" and "I.O.U" but something I just can't get past (and please don't take offense) is the singing on these albums. I really prefer instrumental jazz fusion, and I just don't find these vocals very enjoyable.

Does anyone know if there is somewhere I can find instrumental versions of these two albums? I've been searching, and I don't see that instrumental versions were ever officially released. Any help is appreciated - but no biggie if we can't find anything :)

Incredibly cool, you can see its symmetry in visual form, from the 'harmonic compass' picture he uses below.

Been on a deep dive into Allan Holdsworth's music recently. Dude is one of a kind and I'm shocked at how so many people haven't heard of him. Of course nobody truly plays like Holdsworth, but are there any similar artists with an unpredictable and outside sound? Only musicians I could think of were Eric Dolphy and Aydin Esen.

And I still miss this guy a lot each day. His death hit me like a freight train 2 years ago. Its always disappointed me to not see him on the banner of this sub but I guess its because he was never overly mainstream. Every time I hear him play, I want to play the guitar. Its amazing how much of an influence he is for people who've played guitar for a lifetime, he is almost like a 'final boss' of the guitar to me. Van Halen, Malmsteen, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, they all looked up to him for years and it seems like no one has been able to copy him yet after all this time.

He's just such a unique and great musician with a style that seems impossible, yet he made so natural. Love him or not, you can learn a lot from this guy if you really study it. He changed the way I look at the guitar forever and without him I would have been stuck playing so much of the same stuff as everyone else.

Anyway to share his legacy, I'm gonna link some nice videos:

Feel free to share anything else. I hope this great musician is never forgotten for years to come.

RIP Allan.

So I’ve been watching and listening to Allan Holdsworth and his style of playing which is really something else, and I’ve been wondering how he thought about his theory, he had an unorthodox approach that unlocked like a new level of guitar for him, if anybody knows how he thought about scales, patterns etc. and could maybe explain it.

Thanks in advance.

Do George Benson licks work for fusion/rock? Frank Gambale/Allan Holdsworth - NO TALKING!

This Bm7 lick uses a george benson slide but performed with sweep picking as well and overdrive, giving it a benson meets gambale kind of feel. Allan Holdsworth style backing chords.

#GeorgeBenson #FrankGamble #allanholdsworth

#sheetsofsound

#jazzguitarlessons #guitarlessons

#jazzguitar #modernjazzguitar #jazzguitarriffs

#YamahaSG #quartalharmony

I seem to not be the only person that doesn’t understand it, but I’ve been obsessed with guitar going on a decade now, been playing and practicing it endlessly and feel like I’m a good player, and I’ve seen endless guitar greats cite Allan Holdsworth as a major influence and some like EVH going on to say he’s one of the greatest of all time. I’ve listened to his playing and I can’t figure it out. Can a more experienced guitarist or a Holdsworth fan explain what’s so magical about his playing and technique so maybe I can start to understand what I’m missing? His music just sounds like a guy using legato to play random arbitrary notes from what my ears hear.