No offence to you or him but.. how can I know if he play something wrong? The sound overall is kinda foggy blurry cloudy all the time and the solo note can jump and land on anywhere. I have nothing to hold on to. I know it's me, so I want to consult you (anyone) here.

@@blizzbee I can feel where your coming from, but the whole point of jazz is to explore and revise our own evaluation of polymaths. To answer you question though, you can only hear what he is playing, not what he "wants" to play.

@@joeymiller6544 does that mean there is no wrong??

@@blizzbee Yes, it will only sound "wrong" when you feel that the sound has rejected your pallete.

Blizzbee R. Hold on to the bass line. Other than that - he might just be playing all the “wrong” notes . . thank got it sounds awesome !

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irOTY6SFsN2neZ8.html❤❤❤❤

Peace from Philadelphia, Pa

You know what you're talking about. Glenwood, Il.

Southfield, MI

I don’t know about taste but this man has put me where I always wanted to be . Maybe we’ll meet there sometime , I hope ..

Lucky you

Well I have been following Holdsworth since 1985...I’ve bought every album..every tape..CD..videotape..DVD..you name it. ..and I never got to see him. Not even once I envy you

Only saw him once, in Manchester 🇬🇧, I was intrigued by seeing him play synth axe on rock school. I figured anyone messing with electronic guitars had to be ahead of the game.

Just curious, does he stick around after shows? or do you talk while he's packing up? or before the show he's at the bar? Thank you!

I've seen him 10 times but only had the chance to have a beer with him . The club in upstate NY only had 25 people all guitar players I'm guessing .

Amen

Allan was 20 years ahead of his time and probably himself to. RIP

When did he die?

@@Subilon 1997

jbognap thanks mate

He chose not to achieve it; never caring for that. He could have, for example staying with U.K., holding it together longer that they did and evolving towards sort of a proto-Asia. But that wasn't his choice. Here he is dressed and looks like an old fatigued cobbler repairing a worn shoe. Not exactly visually attractive to build fame and fortune. Many musicians look happy, elated, radiating as they play - he only looks focused, introvert, not a sign of joy on his face. He was simply absolutely dedicated to the craft, ignoring any superficial aspect of his career. He also ignored music theory to a certain extent: he developed his scales and called them wrongly (to him it made sense) but used them effectively, never mind the proper theory. Just total dedication to creating HIS music. A very unique, difficult case indeed.

Please, keep in mind that fame and fortune are not the end. What his gift was, he did put out there for us, and it is beyond our imagination and that is a gift in itself that takes us beyond with his vision. I think I'm right on point. This presentation continues to Blow me away with its excellence. Study, study, and Note! Take this example with you if you are a musician!

Um.. no. While he never achieved fortune, every guitar player knew that Allan was the greatest guitarist on the planet. He was famous among musicians. I don't know any serious musician who doesn't know who Allan Holdsworth is.

@@waltzguy14151 A lovely tribute to Allan.

​​@@waltzguy14151'm from Brazil. The Allan Hodsworth is my favorite guitar player. ( Sorry, i not speake english 😅)

deet... are you thinking what i'm thinking

I think Alan was also a bit autistic/on the spectrum. This shows that it doesn't have to be always something that's holding people back but can be a valuable resource as well by allowing a different approach to certain things that other people are taking for granted like traditional musical harmonies.

@@afanasymarinov2236 You don't know that. Don't make assumptions.

geez you are really making me think about my own head now

Most significant metal guitarist are influenced by Holdsworth. Thank God because metal would sound so one dimensional without his influence.

Holdsworth's legacy has crossed over to many in the modern progressive rock and metal genres. He is still being discovered by todays virtuosos.

I would agree with you. History only remember innovators and pioneers... not clones and imitators. The true greatness of any musician is best understood when seen in the context of the music of the day, when they emerged. Holdsworth, like musicians from Thomas Tallis to Hendrix, brought something unprecedented into the landscape they entered and left it changed forever.

Holdsworth is a one off. To the uninitiated he sounds like some old bloke farting about trying to find the correct key. To fusion fans it’s just a never ending flow of inventive, moving music. Ironically what makes his music great is the also what makes it inaccessible to others. I think his stature will remain high with guitarists, but I doubt if he’ll ever held up alongside Hendrix although he’s streets ahead as a musician.

Nicely worded!

never heard about Gary Moore?

Recently heard someone (I think it was Tom Bukovac) say 'he is the only guitarist that sounds like he never ever heard anyone else play guitar' meaning he had completely his own grid / compass

@@cristianocollarin2236 there's always one

Accurate statement . And to those replying - the one about Gary Moore an excellent guitarist for sure - Gary and many other well known players do not delve soo deeply into the intricacies of modes scales and then create something completely different from them all. It takes alot of time and dedication to stay true to your own course in order to go further, expanding the possibilities. A big part of the reason why Allan never stuck with any one band for more than an album, preferring to do 'guest' sessions. Its not a competition out there as to who is the best , better, etc. Simply Allan went deeper and came back with what he creates. Beautiful music.

This Century??? As for the Gary Moore comment... What a joke 😂🤣

there's a pretty famous story from an interview with him. he methodically figured out every possible voicing combination and wrote them down, not necessarily analyzing them in terms of conventional harmony. it ended up being a stack of phonebook sized notebooks of chords mostly unknown to us humans.

Gary is great keyboard player too, thats the reason why he is so musical...

+Ø This is pretty fast playing, but moreover it is complex and fast, as well as innovative, which is extra impressive.

+srvrip41 Holy crap, thanks for turning me onto this guy!

+srvrip41 Add to that country picker Albert Lee and Jeff Beck, who's playing stuff a lot faster than when he released Blow by Blow and Wired.

+britvox95z Add Ray Gomez in there as well who at 63 still has it goin' on.

I agree with you man, I doubt very much that speed on the guitar declines with age, its not like boxing or something where these things matter.

This is the first I've heard of the guy, but you're right. Groove and chops. I'm really impressed.

@@MichaelJohnson-zx3lz He also plays keys and drums with John McLaughlin.

He's probably a fantastic husband

Ahahah

@@marmelademeister8957 He also plays keys with Billy Cobham.

Allan

Hell no. He is really creative tho. Just because you play fast doesn´t mean you are playing something difficult to play, most of the things he plays its legatos. Every jazz fusion guitarrist sounds the same. The harmony, and voicing are really cool tho. But there´s several other artists that bring these kind of harmony or voicings into more digestable music that actually emphatize the voicings themselves. Just because something is complex, doesn´t mean it is good or hard to play. Julian Lage for example is way more technical, musical, faster, capable of making really slow lines in a very expressive way, just a way better musician overall. I think Allan is incredibly overrated. His sound is really particular tho.

And he plays keys too. I saw him with McLaughlin two Octobers ago and he was the keyboard player in the band. Freakin world class on two instruments. It just isn't fair!

Thanks for the kind words Zipp43! 🙂🙏

If it makes you feel better, a lot of this stuff is just people following their ear and trying to come up with something that sounds fresh. There usually is not a theoretical justification for every chord and note choice at the time of writing. They just come up with a nice-sounding set of chords, write a melody that works over it, then figure out now to solo over it. Scott Henderson has said in interviews that a lot of his writing is just following his ear, and he knows as much about harmony as anybody. It takes a lot of work to develop that ear and be able to hear where things can go harmonically, but the important point here is that this music is usually written by feeling around in the dark, not by thinking it through.

A friend of mine who introduced me to Allan's music told me (whild lendind me a copy of the atavachron cd) "I like hin because I don't understand him". That statement still holds-worth to this day. Pun intended

@@Guitarraeficaztutorialesytabs My username is one L short of his name

I just hear Charlie Parker, mixed with middle class cross roads, quite elegant l mean it is sense and sensibility. Inclusion and exclusion, it is not meant to be exciting, but the expression of confusion itself that is the genius of it.

if you’ve been a “professional” musician for TWENTY YEARS and you don’t understand a single note of this, you may want to rethink calling yourself a professional musician.

In my experience, one must let it take him/her where it will. Letting go of what you know so far will allow you to understand where this tune goes and is going. It does have a structure; please follow the chord progression and the improvisation from Jimmy and Gary as they transverse the chord progression. It's progressive. This tune BLOWS ME AWAY in its innovative-ness. I could hear it many times/day and still not be tired of it. :)

That's the beauty of it haha

Perhaps not the best analogy, but: we barely understand ourselves at times, let alone others. That doesn't mean we cannot appreciate each others company.

You're not alone brother. I consider myself to have better ears than most of my compatriots but that's not a patch on these cats and they are talking to each other musically better than I can swear.

hahahah best comment ever.

Like Picasso!

It's a left hand bass with the strings in reverse order.

8)

@@ElianaDAngelo heeey Eliana! I hope you are doing great 😊

@@DimiKaye likewise. surprised to see a 2yr old comment of you here lolol

Gary is a beast, and the kindest person in the bigness, - 👑

Totally agree. He's also made a great solo piano version of this song by the way.

No doubt that Mr. Husband has a calling.. Yes! Namingly, to play drums in his amazing virtuosity, and how he contributes in real-time to the moment. This whole freaking composition and the musicians' innovative improvisation BLOWS ME AWAY!!!

"compositionally aware" lol that doesnt mean anything

@@rickdeckard1075 "compositionally aware" AKA non-jazz musicians.

+Marc Babin ,puts your video and compare with Allan, talk is cheap, I do see

+julio cezar pereira You miss the point of Marc's post, or you perceive speed as the only positive virtue a musician should aspire towards. In my opinion Allan went too far towards shredding in his '80s/'90s career and it is brilliant that he has evolved beyond that stage.

+Alan Donnet I think he is not about flash or shredding but that's just what he hears and is thankfully able to play it. What a mind. We will not see his like again.

+ferd burfle I couldn't agree more. Alan is, by far, the most original, stand alone guitarist ever. I believe his music and playing will be talked about centuries from now.

i agree

Read your comment just as I heard an amazing run of notes, and I thought, “Was that the spot? “ so I checked, and sure enough, it was right at the three minute mark. Funny that I read your comment just as I heard those notes.

Actually, it's nothing "special". Just some random note's structure, not connected to harmony. It could be basically anything - a key is only rhytm and some logical structure of notes, chromatic scale, double chromatic scale, mixed triads or any else - it's work cause of this and cause of he end on one of the "correct" notes in 3:08 (it's E, btw). I think a lot of people overestimate Allan Holdsworth lines only cause don't really understand them. He was very interesting musican with a lot of original concepts but they wasn't as complicated as they look in their basic principles (maybe for guitar players it was something new at some point of music history, but not for pianists or sax players for sure).

@@advicenet4098 Yes, that's true that other instrumentalists have traditionally explored this stuff more than guitarists...but obviously it's refreshing to hear a guitarist do it. I like his note choices. I'm a bit more critical on the amount of space he leaves in between them!

I’ve seen Van Halen do that kinda thing a lot.

Pienso que Alien Holdsworth es mas un genio virtuoso. Algo natural en él, como respirar. Aunque obviamente practica y ha practicado, sin el don, no hubiese llegado tan lejos como lo ha hecho.

There's a duality between chords and scales, long story short, chords are collections of scale tones ringing simultaneously. There's this thing called functional harmony which loosely forms most western music into shapes you recognize (sad, eerie, joyful, etc), I guess it suffices to say that it's largely ignored here, each chord is it's own key, achieving this odd, MegaMan-final-boss-on-acid sound. So he constructs a bunch of chords that he likes, often very awkward and uncommon chords and starts shredding on top of them like a metal player would: dissonance and speed are your friends, they both make you sound super smart, skilled and sophisticated. That's why a lot of shredders love this guy (they're often the ones pooping on other metal and rock players that don't "get" this music). Not to poop on his thing, there's definitely genius in there, I just mean to undress the emperor a little.

you obviously don't understand how many times he's not playing "outside" or chromatically at all

Dude its as easy as pop music, you just have to know the melody

@and then I said - Dude, ridiculously wrong analysis... borderline embarrassing

Allen, underrated? Are you for real? He's usually referenced as the greatest electric fusion guitarist ever.

True. I think Anton is speaking from a broader perspective. :)

Internalize the rhythms. Most players don't always count, but know the sound of the different time signatures they play. I'm sure you already do this for what are simple rhythms for you already. Working with a metronome can help this too, especially if you have an audibly different sounding click on the one. Even better if you can move that click to different places, like say the "and" of the 3rd beat, but still being aware of where the 1 beat is.

they are 'following' allan....telepathic.... I've played bass for a long time....there was 1 drummer and 1 guitarist....and we had a connection....we KNEW what each other was going to play.... this is allan and the lads times a million....

@@volpeverde6441 very true

I too used to think that about Jimmy Johnson early on in the 80's and 90's. But after they play with each other for years, it's like a walk in the park for them. When you are talking about Wackerman and Husband well they played with Allan for over 3 decades. It's a musical family at that point.

Practice until it becomes automatic.

Thanks Alan. Your additions to the instrument I've called my own since I was a kid can never be measured, but will always be appreciated.

He changed music, not only guitar

He's with his buddy EVH. May they be jamming and as earthly bodies R.I.P.

Forever.

Husband is the type that can't be copied, he's not the most technical drummer, but the most musical and his key playings too, and such a kind man. Absolute music god!

@@JJ-vg9du I actually think he's quite technical, it's just that his playing is so effortless and intuitive it doesn't sound as "calculated" as other fusion drummers. The way he plays melodies on the toms is probably a direct connection to his piano playing :)

@@t3hgir Yes, but when i mention technical, i rather look at him as a seperate being, he's not a drummer you can place with Virgil or Mangini, wich makes him one in a life type of drummers imo

Not sure if he compares, not to Gambale at least, but Zappa plays some mind bending music as well. Gambale is from another dimension I think, Probably Holdsworth too.

#1 Allan #2 Joe Pass #3 Michael Hedges

@@wai701b6 1. Holdsworth 2. Lane 3. Everybody else

guthrie govan

@@jackbenson8228 Guthrie is not better, he's tremendously talented of course and is playing the way he does precisely because of Allan, i.e.: he is standing on the shoulders of a giant.

Graham Exton I am in no way disrespecting Allan, (Because I am a very obssessed fan) but you should check out his earlier live performances, try to listen to shows from around 1991-1995, it’s some of the most fiery insane brilliance I’ve ever heard on ANY instrument. Knowing a bit about him, I’m pretty sure he had fallen back into drinking and apparently other things, it’s very apparent to me, simply because I’ve listened to soooo many shows, gone to over a handful, have a pretty big collection of bootlegs, over 20, anyways, it’s worth checking out, “Devil Takes the Hindmost” from European tour 1991, that’s the one! Also “non brewed condiment” off of the live album “THEN” it absolutely slays, it’s insane.

I was going to ask which one, the drum solo or guitar solo but the answer would be "yes".

Everyone in the industry has said that since the early 80's. All it would have taken was a little exposure, and he would have had commercial success.

Poverty? Hardly.

@@musopaul5407 Right, seemed that success and fame was the least of his priorities.

4 words: He never sold out

I wanted to hear him with Pat Metheny

You can hear him playing on several Brecker tunes on his album with Frank Gambale, Truth in Shredding. It's on KZfaq, enjoy!

@@reubennb2859 I will search! Thanks!

Thanks Matt for the very kind words. I appreciate it. Please join my channel here if you feel so inclined to also!Best wishes and thanks again! 🙂🙏

You only knew him as a Pianist/Keyboard Player? He played on Level 42's Guaranteed Album. As well as many Holdsworth Albums, as a Drummer.

@@spookybaba Hi , yes i know Holdworth and prefer him with Tony Williams Lifetime than his solo career ( sorry for my english ) and discover Gary Husband with Billy Cobham.

@@spookybaba he played with Jack Bruce too, as a drummer. saw them in '93

Yes and no. Coltrane had Naima. Holdsworth never had a ballad. And thus.....I have to say the lines are great. But a timeless ballad. You have to give that to me to compare the two.

@@JDChicago Coltrane is rooted in Jazz and his language is totally different from AH. AH is rooted in his own fucking world, he created a totally new kind of musical universe...it's silly to say they are similar, I would say they have nothing in common. A timeless ballad from Holdsworth ? He does not need one, because his solos contain thousands of different timeless ballads.

@@Simon-xi8tb I could not have said it better. Stop with the Coltane comparison. They were nothing a like.

@@cockcockson7965 holdsworth said in a number of interviews that the record "coltrane's sound" was his biggest influence, so "nothing alike" is kind of a stretch.

Agreed

Gary Husband was never in Mahavishnu Orchestra. He joined McLaughlin for his Fourth Dimension lineup, which did include the 2017 U.S. tour with Jimmy Herring's band doing a third set devoted to a Mahavishnu tribute.