Hope you like the video! Let me know what you think of the analysis 😎

My favorite album too! Fastest click ever lmao

Had a Holdsworth cd , back in the 90's. No clue what i was listening to. Saw his lesson on scales(?).. and returned to my Calculus college course with a smile.

I always like to think of Allan's harmonic approach as "Lydian Chromaticism". You will notice in both his chordal work as well as solos he delays resolution for as long as possible, rarely relying on dominant chords or arpeggios functionally, sparsely using them at all in fact. I'm a pianist, but hugely influenced by Allan's playing, and have spent a lot of time analyzing his lines. My favorite lines are when Allan plays what I call "chromatic elaboration over static harmony" such as on Devil Take the Hindmost. If you look at completely non-functional changes such as what is found on much of "Non brewed condiment" he superimposes and substitutes various modes over the changes without any discernible relation to the chords. Sometimes he plays whole-tone, sometimes he plays pentatonic, sometimes he plays angular Slonimsky shapes. Like you said I agree that sometimes he plays whatever he feels is right, and MAKES it work. That is a brilliant and inspiring approach to music- it takes great confidence and many years to master, and I think his playing will mystify us forever.

Holdsworth truly was the master. There will never be another like him. May he rest in peace

Thanks for this. There’s not enough on Allan the jazz musician IMO. Everyone goes nuts for the shred, but his medium tempo playing alone is so distinctive and amazing.

3:57 thank you for saying that. Holdsworth is brilliant in playing melodically through crazy polychords and changes, but I dont think he was constantly within a scale or not playing passing tones in order to get to the next key center. It was the way that he got to the next key center and made them sound related that was incredible.

Great video, Jens. Indeed, a daunting task to explain what Holdsworth was playing/thinking over the changes. I feel along with his harmonic sophistication, it was his tone and technique that set him apart. You have done an excellent job here. Thank you.

I love this video the same way I love Holdsworth’s music… I don’t understand it but I love hearing you say it.

3:50 Holdsworth is an extraordinary player really. He actually made his own music theory, scale and "found hidden chords" in them. There is one or two videos where he talks about his scales. And as im concerned he gave this scale name "Bb r". He actually dont use A lot of temporary notes - all those tension notes are beneath his scales. I think People won't ever discover his true theory. Trully amazing.

Thank you Jens. Adam Neely has not been keen to analyze Holdsworth so your efforts are much appreciated.

Brett Stein made a similar analysis of a huge number of Allen's tunes and Messiaen appears everywhere. The fact you both arrived at that conclusion confirms, for me at least, that the symmetrical patterns aren't expedient shapes a la EvH or similar players. Sonically there are similarities (Eddie obviously transcribed a few ideas here and there to define the mechanical principles) but the source material was an awesome understanding of harmony and the shapes are utilised to make life a little easier while improvising. Fantastic video, thanks for your work over the years.

You gotta love Allan. Every line was an intimidation lick. RIP.

Fascinating that this immense talent comes from an enigmatic ocean

I have played or attempted to play the guitar since 1987. Videos like yours make me realise to look at the big picture instead of diving off of the deep end and attempt some hopeless pentatonic hellscape. But good to keep learning. 😊

Damn, I can't believe I just came across this now! Killer job making sense of all this and taking it apart. (And thanks for the shout out!)

Great video! I think odd sounds like altered chords against altered scales doesn't have to be too clinical. In other words just because someone is playing an E7#9 chord doesn't mean you have to play a scale that emphasizes the E7#9 notes. It's good to know that but any odd sounding scale with accidental notes can be used if the musician can tastefully apply those melodies against a strange sounding chord. Not trying to take anything away from this video which is excellent but just trying to share more angles and possibilities. Thanks for sharing Jens!

I remember him describing a Major 7 chord as 'disgusting'. That's quite a strong word & suggests he was emotionally invested with the actual sounds he produced & was responsible for.

Another great lesson my man! Really substantiated and in depth content. Allan is a very prominent guitarist indeed!

I've always tried to focus on his words rather than his solos. In the REH instructional videos of '92 he states some interesting things when talking about his approach to music. What I've come to understand during the years is that he found scales by permutation of notes, meaning he didn't develop any harmonic approach from this point of view. This means that there isn't any specific knowledge of music theory, as he always stated. He created, however, is harmonic approach when he figured out chords from specific scales. I don't know why people try to justify his playing by talking about which scales he used at that specific section or that. The thing here is really simple, but it just gets complicated if you try to find a reason behind his musical choices. When I figured out what he tried to say in that video, I got it, I knew I got the point. I approached the same way, looked at scales as all possible notes for that specific interval separation and then played over changes trying to make melodies in my mind. There no such thing as what mode you're using, it's just playing music with all the available notes on your guitar. This method frees you from pattern based playing, giving the opportunity to rethink of music itself. After so many years, everytime I play over something is like a new musical experience... What I have in my mind today? Dunno, let's translate it on my guitar! Peace

Great vid Jens :) my fave Allan album is Secrets, which is almost 30 years old, composition and playing wise it doesn't get any better as far as i'm concerned (and of course i know all the music he's recorded very well) thanks for posting, peace from France

nicely done. he certainly used the third Messiaen Mode a lot. once you learn to identify it by ear, you hear it all over his solos. often used to create tension preceding chord changes, or during one chord vamps. part of his genius was being able to find patterns within it on the fly and sequence them at blinding speed. there's a terrific example in the tune San Onofre at 1:40. i agree that his solos are really tough to analyse, because it can be difficult to fathom the source of his outside ideas. could be scalar, or bebop enclosures, or as you pointed out in this video, just what he happened to hear in his head at the time. i think people will be poring over his music for many years to come and learning from it. thank you for taking the time to do this, jens.

thanks a lot...what a great lesson.......20 years back we used to say that AH was 20 years ahead...today it seems he is still 20 years ahead...by the way, who knows whether really AH had such deep knowledge of music (ex Messian modes..) or is was more instinct..? anyway it was and it is the greatest ever in my opinion...

Just talking about Allan Holdsworth, is al ready a great thing !! THNX-PEACE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like your stuff Jens. Have been transcribing Holdsworth/Mahavishnu for decades and schooled myself with it rather thoroughly.....and whilst I am working on other stuff right now(7String Classical)I still check your stuff regularly. I think you are my age(I was born 66 and started playing in 74,professionally since 85),if not and you are much younger,sorry.Regards from Bavaria...

I agree with your interpretations of the material here--well done! Allan also had a lot of lines in his solos that are, I think, pretty free and don't really yield to music theory analysis. A lot of times, those parts of his solos are my favorites. And 16 Men is my overall favorite Allan album too--just very consistently great, end-to-end.

Vai said Holdsworth was doing stuff that hasnt even been invented yet...lol. Both Vai and EVH say Holdsworth was the best they've ever seen.

Really enjoyed that mate!

Hey Jens! Nice to see you on KZfaq :) I just wanted to thank you for sharing you knowledge in Jazz FOR FREE! Thanks to you I can understand Jazz and play Jazz, which I consider the most important thing. Thanks a lot! 😊 I admire you and hope to play like you someday.

Great stuff! He is using Violin fingerlings within a Mick Goodrich position format. You can play whatever you want over any altered dominant chord. And I love the big interals! Peace.

Thanks so much for your work on this, Jens! Best, Daniel

If you know the harmonic structure ,you can be as free as you want combining source material on your way from point A to point B. At the point of execution ,for a high level player, it would be on an unconscious level .These guys are the best and ,as in art, the artist may not be able to tell you how he arrived at any unconscious decision after the fact. Tonal gravity is at the heart of jazz.

You are brilliant.. I love the way you teach.. Simple and clear.. Thanks..

Love this. I live in Tain of the sixteen men and often wonder about what influenced Allan when he wrote this stuff.. Its beautiful Glenmorangie whisky country of course! thanks.

I was waiting for this video. Really nice

The best approach for beginner like me. So when i heard first, the sound of allan holdsworth is similar to kurt rosenwikel (sorry because i just heard some pieces of them). Overall, this lesson very helpful to improve my vocabulary. For jazz guitar, you are the best. And for blues, i chose Mr. Robert Renman. From Indonesia; Asian Games 2018 is in my country now 😊 Assalamualaikum..

Fantastic presentation, thank you Mr Larsen

You have the gift of the gab...

Great job Jens !! is all i can come up with really, cause you have just saved my day :)

it is a great pleasure to discover your channel.

Sounds good to me, and Holdsworth is one of my favorites.

Hi! I translated the subtitles into Japanese and sent to KZfaq. I hope it can help other Japanese audiences. Thanks.

Greatest fussion guitarist ever frm my point of view

Nice work, Jens!

Any chance we could get a Chris Poland video ? Love the vids Jens !

You have no idea how pumped I am to see this!

Just listened to the Sixteen Men Of Tain album last night.

Marshall Harrison has a favorite Holdsworth licks it is killer. His tone phrasing and odd meters also contributes to his unique approach

Jens , this episode's stupendous ! When you showed that last Messiaen MODE (#4) , I got confused. I thought , "This is not the 4th mode of that one you showed us at first." It is a completely different scale pattern. But then I thought , " Oh , Messiaen must have used the word mode just to mean , pattern or scale. I have also told students that a scale is a mode. I just usually thought of modes as different modes of the same scale. Like , Dorian is the 2nd mode of the Major scale. But then again , the Major scale is the Ionian mode. If someone said the Ionian mode , I would totally know that they meant the Major scale. Like , I never called the Harmonic Major scale , the Harmonic Major Mode. But it surely is. Thank you for getting me to think correctly ! Yeah , I guess like the Church Modes , which I assume those are from . The FIRST one you showed us , I always called "the Holdsworth scale. I knew no other name for it. I usually thought of it as the Whole Tone scale with an added Augmented triad stuck IN BETWEEN those Whole Tone scale notes , so as not to overlap any notes of that Whole Tone scale. Your lessons are the BOMB , thanks again !

I lovewhen Allan nails the changes

I hear a lot saxophone phrasing in his playing. Which goes with the fact that he wanted to be a saxophone payer when he was younger, but his dad couldn't afford one. Even his note choices are somewhat skin to what a saxophone would play when soloing.

The Messiaen mode he’s talking about Holdsworth would call the Double Augmented Scale. Mike Stern also uses this quite a bit.

You did well Jens, nice theoretical lesson on Big Al!

I often wonder how A.H arrived at his decisions regarding the strange time signature and meter in his composing. All I know is that I haven't a clue but it fits and works, is beautiful and is unlike anything else I've heard. I'm thinking that these strange timings may be determined and inspired by the numbers of notes in his lines. But that's a guess.

Very interesting analysis, because I am not fan of Alan Holdsworth music, although I appreciate his knowledge and skills about music and playing guitar. Simply for me lack of melody part of this music, it seems to me as random sounds/notes but I know and hear that it has deep scales and chords background. It's seems to me even more difficult to make analysis of these solos and understand all the scales and other music solution being used. Ofc I gave Like and Sub :)

The line over the Cmaj7#11 seems more like a line in the C half-whole diminished rather than anything augmented. I see your point that the fragments look a lot like those from the six note augmented, but the collection all together does come from the octatonic. The line could be a use of a shape within the scale and moving it around. Allan also had the same philosophy with chord voicings. As to why Allan would play such an idea, I would guess he was just wanting to create tension.

The example at around 5:00 is just a typical way of how Allan approaches an octatonic scale if u d ask me. A selection out of the halfstep wholestep halfstep wholestep scale. Great job anyhow, cheers!

Hi I watched a film of Allan talking about scales etc with a roll of paper with black dots representing fingerings I suppose! It reminded me of the roll of paper tape that used to go around a wheel (at seventy miles an hour) that fed the computer called Colossus! used at Bletchley park in the second world war until the eighties it had holes rather than dots where light was passed through and processed by thousands of valves ( using about 10 kw of electric ) to help solve the German high command codes!! I wonder if they had any thing in common with Allan's brain it's ok playing fast but you have to make it work and pleasing to the ear I liked Allen at all stages of his career but I particularly like his playing on the Tempest record such a breath of fresh air.

I love your videos! I'd love to see an analysis of Johnny Smith! :)

In that first figure over the BbMaj7(#11) there's really no need for all that stretching. That whole lick can be done between the 10th and 12th frets quite easily. Just find the notes E, G, A, C, F#, A ascending from the low E for the first measure. Which I look at as an Amin13. Then A, C, F#, A, Bb, Eb ascending from the A string. You still have that Amin13 tonality but you're introducing the b9 and b5 color tones. Nothing special about going from the first arpeggio to the second. The genius here is that it's being used over the BbMaj7(#11) which I spell as Bb, A, D, E. Now that's jazzy. Another great Vid, Jens!

Great analysis. Have you ever done any Wayne Shorter Analysis? Like E.S.P. Or Fall.

Incredible videos Jens

oh wonderful.................I love this......It's no wonder just about anything I play with this album sounds right.

these symmetric scales do incircle target tone's like jazz players do when you can instinctively move them to suit the harmony

I think Allan might have got the symmetrical Messiaen scale out of the Slonimsky book - Jeff Berlin says he practiced from that book a lot.

Thanks brother!!!

Muito obrigado.

enjoyed it introduced me to Messiaen Modes good work be safe, be happy, work hard peace \m/

Love that Yamaha SG . Great video. Thanks

This is a really interesting and intelligent video

Great video here covering the great master

i like very much his play ,genius ,

Ab A Bb -C Db D- E F-F#...the B D# G(Gaugmented is missng) Cmaj7 upper structuring something F#isch(F#dominant- the Cchord is reanalysed..)your Messian analysis is great I didn't know such only the 9tone skale of Eef Albers... I guess, because C#-F# are comen outsight tones

Thanks for another great video!

Although Holdsworth's jazz solos were displays of genius musicianship, his rock solos were more pleasing to hear due to their more melodic form.

Great work, thank you 😊

So, in a sideways way, this kinda looks at an aspect of guitar improvisation that we’re somewhat embarrassed by - the role that physical patterns play. The thing is that, at a certain level, if it sounds good any subset of the 12 available tones will sound ok - or at least have their own distinguishable flavor - in respect of any other cluster of tones. So how far do you push it? And where is the dividing line between music and noise? And who decides? I’m not really that nihilistic - I’m just not sure standard theory is that helpful.

On the second example , the A harmonique major matches also well the line

So interesting thanks for doing this

Nice work, Can you explain in a future video one analysis of the intro of the first song of metal fatigue?

AmMaj7 line - I hear it more like a series of "pat metheny-esque" (i.e., Bartok) chromatic licks which can represent some sort of vague CMaj7#11 ish chord

Very Very cool! The 1st 3rd Messiaen mode lick could be also read as a diminished scale, however he uses the 3rd Messiaen mode quite a lot!

AH's music, like any music we call complex or _difficult_ (to behold), was surely not only intended for those capable of breaking it down with theoretical knowledge - instead, it was to those polished enough to be able to sense aesthetic pleasure on listening. I don't think AH himself could have had been able to analyze his own stuff: he relied on his talent and hearing rather than proper knowledge. Giving his own names to scales (improper from an academic point of view), he made it clear he had been self-taught as opposed to classically trained. Now, as listeners unaware of the theory, we can really only distinguish between what is consonant and what is dissonant to our ears - and this depends on how developed we are as listeners. On a less polished level I could not sense aesthetic pleasure being irritated by seemingly errant and ugly sounding successions of notes, whereas being more mature a listener I could be able to hear this fits within a broader structure and has sense (logical but also aesthetic) in some context. Let me put it this way: when somebody plays simple stuff, you can immediately spot a mistake - any wrong note is painfully jarring the ear. On the other hand, with such a complex stuff, it may seem all errant (and somehow consistent as the whole) but few could spot an actual mistake (if one was done) because to an untrained ear it is all sort of dissonant. A question is: assuming you could easily put a finger on a wrong note played live by Pete Townshend* , could you just as well spot one played live by AH? (I used an example of Pete as he once hit a wrong note - a sour _neighbour_ while playing live and, with class, he immediately asked the audience: Are you not laughing at me? Of course you should be :-) Another question is: when something obviously does not fit within a structure, you say: It's a strange note. AH must have followed his intuition here_ - because it cannot be explained using rules of harmony. However, on a _strange note_ like that a student would have blown an exam in a conservatory and an audience would have winced and grimaced in a philharmonic hall. It really isn't easy to fit in between: be a beholder experiencing an aesthetic pleasure on this stuff, without being perfectly competent theoretician fluent in Lydians, Aeolian, 11ths, augmentions, suspensions etc.

Great lesson. Could you maybe do a lesson on Julian Lage at some point?That would be awesome!

Very nice!

With regard to the last example you analyzed, I know that I use the "tritone trick" (that's what I call it, anyway :-P) and various shapes/fingering patterns to introduce color and movement. As long as the player is thoughtful about other elements of music (phrasing, dynamics, rhythm, etc.) it can be quite effective! Great analysis and commentary, sir.

Hi, i am not mono scale and i know others than diminished ;-)) I suspect that allan was using specific chords and progressions (notably "open" harmony in which the fifth was considered as a flexible note/concept, this can also be validatef by traditional jazz bop hatmony) but he was more soloing line driven my suggestions in effect do not match some secondary notes , like the fifth, of some chords but in his harmonic system the chords itself is not behaving as a resolving function, so he was creating a context hatmonically in which he can use and explore, with virtuosity and smart digital paterns (that cannot be reached by the typical guitarist with normal fingers and/or too much static on the neck), many delicious dissonances (either in a flow of notes or when concluding a line with a surprise (relative to the chord which is in essence an open chord , not major fully, not minor really , not dominant/resolving either In other words his harmonic system is thought and suited to his incredible sense of building moving melodic lines I was recently , actually yesterday in my cat, trying to sing the bass lines of some of his tunes and i realised that the basses movement is everytging but not/never based on V to I relation, this is an element that make me think that his harmony is in the back office in some ways I hope i was a bit clear ?

Subscribed!

I need to warm up my hands for those stretches. :)

From Andrew(BOB)Yates.Allan had a marvellous musical brain wonderful memory and dexterity having played guitar many years off and on with few of the above qualities I believe part of his music is based on target notes linked by the timing and underlying harmonic movement chromatically I believe Allans unique skill to be almost genius listening to his development is interesting I am no expert but he seems to be in experimental mode a lot of the time from the earliest fast fingered but less musically accurate 70s till the later more honed playing .I prefer the more guitarish sounds but love this mysterious non definable music

Hi Jens, I have a question, you know the song "city nights" by Allan Holdsworth? I was listening to this song and I really like the solo/arpeggios parts, but I'm not able to understand what is the scale that Allan uses on this Solo, I really like that scale

thanks for the hard work Jens. One note * - tablature at 4:56 you have F written as 4th note in the run.. should it be F# ? Thanks

Also my favorite holdsworth album

Thank you :)

I’m curious if the Holdsworth legato technique can be applied to rock/metal style playing, or if it’s only useful for jazz/infusion style? Thanks.

Awesome!

very interesting video, thank you. At 9:20 you differentiate between parts with moving chords and more modal parts in the solo. But since the moving chords are not from the same scale, wouldn't you think of them as modal too?

That’s the only Holdsworth I have. I saw him in concert and honestly, I got bored about half way through. He’s an amazing, innovative guitarist, but he just doesn’t appeal to me much. I do listen to him occasionally, though, just to change things up. Great lesson, too, by the way.

I think that Holdsworth himself in his instructional video called the "Messiaen Mode" the half-half-whole scale or something. That's just the way he thought about it I think in intervals rather than modes. Great lesson, this is why I'm subscribed for content like this. I don't really have anything else to add other than to say you are probably right in the way you analyze it! Haha I don't know if there's any other way to analyze it other than to give one interpretation. I really think you are on to something with the augmented sound though, its definitely one of the out-there sounds he played with. The outside scales I think he utilized the most that other people don't even touch are the Messiaen modes and the whole tone scale. Do you know anyone else who even comes close to using those scales other than classical composers?

Example N.3: Allan relates everything to the closest minor (Dorian), so over C Lydian he's VISUALIZING A dorian. In the seventh position you'll easily see the A minor arpeggio (the "D" shape of the CAGED system) so everything in this line cover the shape of a Amin6, except the notes at the 11th fret that must be considered chromatic interpolations, in Slonimsky's terms.