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8/20/2019 Allan Holdsworth - Guitar Techniques
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/allan-holdsworth-guitar-techniques 1/682 December 2015
LESSON } JAZZ
Zappa and Shawn Lane loved him. Frank
Gambale calls him the ‘Grandmaster’
and other famous guitarist fans include
Eddie Van Halen, Kurt Rosenwinkel,
John McLaughlin, Greg Howe, Joe Satriani
and Yngwie Malmsteen. Holdsworth is a
special artist, with a unique approach to
music and one of the most recognisable
sounds from the late 60s to the present day.
Born in 1946 in Bradford, Yorkshire,
Holdsworth’s pianist father encouraged him
to practise and, with remarkable discipline, he
set about learning to play entirely by himself.
Inuenced by artists such as saxophonist
John Coltrane, he determined to sound
entirely like himself and worked out a
personal approach to creating music, with
improvisation and harmony at the core.
Allan’s illustrious career began with jazz
crossover groups such Tempest,
Igginbottom’s Wrench, Gong, Soft Machine,
Jean-Luc Ponty, Bill Bruford and Tony
Williams’ Lifetime. This led to a career as a
bandleader; each new release awaited by his
fans and live performances attaining almost
mythical status.
Holdsworth has access to a sophisticated
vocabulary that is steeped in the tradition of
jazz but is undeniably his own. We’re looking
at his soloing style here; we’ll leave the other
huge components of his playing to a later date.
Our nine examples should form the basis
of your research into his style. They are mostlyin common time signatures and based around
relatively conventional sequences. His
compositions are often hugely polyrhythmic,
so removing this aspect from our studies
allows us to concentrate on note selection,
their groupings and the articulation required
to execute them cleanly. Your challenges are
timing, projection and intonation. Allan
employs a largely legato approach, so avoid
rushing and any sloppy rhythms, especially at
fast tempo. As his technique employs lots of
hammer-ons and pull-offs, you’ll need to
balance the volume of picked and slurred
notes. You might need to de-emphasise the
pick volume, although Holdsworth has
developed this skill to a degree that he canplace an accent at any point, on any nger
within a urry of notes. The nal
consideration is intonation, especially with
regard to the use of light strings and
performing pull-offs. Make sure you’re not
unintentionally bending as you pull, as this
will drag the notes undesirably sharp.
IT TAKES MAYBE
A COUPLE OF YEARS
BEFORE SOMETHING
I’M WORKING ON NOW
WILL FIND ITS WAY
OUT NATURALLY
Allan Holdsworth
Allan HoldsworthJohn Wheatcroft looks at the soloing styleof a legendary and totally unique guitarist: the phenomenal Yorkshireman, Allan Holdsworth.
Allan Holdsworthwith his CarvinFatboy signature
TRACK RECORD Tales From The Vault, a compilation of unreleased tracks funded by an online Pledge campaign is awaited with baitedbreath. I.O.U (Enigma 1985) features breathtaking playing and beautiful compositions; The DVD, Allan Holdsworth and Alan Pasqua – LiveAt Yoshi’s (Wienerworld 2008), featuring Jimmy Haslip and Chad Wackerman, is great too, as are Sand, Metal Fatigue and.
Holdsworth’s overdriven lead tone is full
bodied, with a smattering of reverb, more
recently delay, and with a pronounced
mid-range bias. Go easy on the gain, as the
fluidity of his tone is a product of his accurate
legato technique and too much distortion
adversely affects both dynamics and changes
the vowel sound of a sustaining note.
GAIN BASS MIDDLE TREBLE REVERB
76 5 5
4
ABILITY RATING
Advanced
Key: VariousTempo: VariousCD: TRACKS 73-90
Info Fluency and articulation Technique and timing Melodic sophistication
Will improve your…
✪✪✪✪✪
NEXT MONTH John looks at the jazz playing of
another legato master,Tim Miller
C L A Y T O N C A L L / G E T T Y I M A G E S
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8/20/2019 Allan Holdsworth - Guitar Techniques
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/allan-holdsworth-guitar-techniques 6/6December 2015 87
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SUBSCRIBE TO THEDIGITAL EDITION OF
GUITAR TECHNIQUES ANDGET YOUR FIRST 2 ISSUES
COMPLETELY FREE!
GE T YOUR
FIRS T 2 ISSUES FREE!
h t tp://m y f a vm.ag/G TDigi tal
● Instant digital access● All styles and abilities from intermediate
to advanced ●Lessons from world class players, all
clearly explained
● iPad version includes moving tab perfectlysynched to top-quality audio for every lesson
● Full tracks transcribed, the world’s besttuition guaranteed
LLAN HOLDSWORTH LEARNINGZONE
EXAMPLE 9 STRAIGHT 16THS OVER A SWING GROOVE
Another Eb9 chord backing but this time some snakey 16th-note action on the top two strings (bars 4-5 especially). With harmonically varied playing like this, see
what ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ notes tie in with the Eb9 chord. Most interesting!
ON THE CD TRACKS 73-90
CD TRACK 89