This is my favourite solo, I’ve spent many Saturday nights with a bottle of wine listening to Alan but this one always gets to me. The technical ability is mind blowing but that’s not the point, it’s the emotion coming through. Alan you are a genius, we miss you and hope you’re doing well in guitar heaven 😢
The story of this track is Holdsworth returning to the UK to visit family and he used to take the 4:15 Bradford Executive from London to of course Bradford. The melodic changes and timing is to signify the passing countryside, streets, roads etc that you would see on a journey until its end. This is a beautiful piece of music.
i can't stop listening to this....speechless...it's like a whole new galaxy has been discovered with its own planets, myriad species and limitless destinies...
Yes, I bought all these albums as a teen- Believe It, UK 1, and the Bruford solos and I would cry my eyes out at the beauty of his solos-and then would play and replay them. I was a self-taught drummer but I knew that I was hearing something transcendent. I still have the same response at 62. Genius.👍
I had a guitar less with Greg Howe many years ago. Greg asked me what I was into and what I wanted to do and I told him , loved his stuff but I really wanted to try to understand Allan Holdsworth. It was like the record screeched to a stop. He said "listen, Allan Holdsworth is from a different solar system! A different solar system!" I think he was trying to tell me something lol
I love Greg Howe and I've heard him channel Allan on occasion, though in very small sample sizes:) I got to see Allan once on the Road Games tour. He played so brilliantly that night and his tones seemed other worldly! So glad the fake I.D. I used that night got me in or I would have never ever witnessed that level of greatness:)
Being a guitarist for nearly 40 years, I was not as exposed enough to his style throughout my years, but seeing his enormous impact now is a beautiful thing. I have the greatest respect for him as a true musician. His style very much mimics a sophisticated horn player, only he takes it to another level. HIS level. I see it now. It's beyond words. What an enigma he shall remain. Incredible, humble genius he was. May he R.I.P. while we all continue to try and catch up. His music will always continue to be here. He was one of a kind. Play from your heart, mind, and soul. That's all he did. Don't expect everyone to completely understand what you are doing. We're all kinda weird. He knew that much for sure. No other words to describe that talent!
I think Allen was an Alien; he never really cared what anybody else thought; he did his thing with unwavering attitude. The only people that played in his groups were ultra master musicians that set the standard. It was amazing to hear each new album, year after year, these guys set the standard.
This is the only comment I've seen yet where someone compares him to a horn player and I remember flipping through an AH book I found at a music store that asserted when he started out he wanted to play sax but was not good so he picked up the guitar and that's what he was trying to do was make the guitar sound like a sax, and you can really hear it with his synth-axe shit
Yngwie Malmsteen: "I had to take my hat off to him." If this was anyone else this compliment would seem pretty underwhelming but given Yngwie's infamous ego this statement is equal to him stripping naked,setting himself on fire and running down the street with a megaphone proclaiming Allan's genius!
@@Samsgarden - Because the opinion of someone who has achieved something in a given field is worth more than that of a regular guy who has accommplished very little.
Ha ha I agree. Malmsteen usually slates Satriani and other great guitarists, when he reviews their music without knowing the artists performing. There's another interview with Malmsteen on UA-cam talking about Legato. Malmsteen mentions Holdsworth as the master of this, and is almost lost for words (lol) stuttering . Yet another amazing compliment from Malmsteen I'd say. haha.
Allan Holdsworth...such incredible beautiful emotional expression .feel the pain ..feel the joy...there is a god after all...and there is love ...in this cathartic music....sublime...play it again..
What I find most amazing about Allan Holdsworth (and I've been a huge fan since the late 70's), is that his playing was already incredible in his early years 72-77, i.e., Tempest Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime, all albums I owned and loved. He was already IMO the Greatest Guitar Player in the late 70's. But Allan's playing NEVER STOPPED PROGRESSING, through I.O.U., Metal Fatique, this GEM (Thank You, Amazing Solo), etc.. to my all-time favorite AH period when he did "The 16 Men of Tain." in 2000. AH is a singularity, there will never be anyone like him again. I feel blessed I got to see him play live in NYC in 1982 during the I.O.U. Tour. Thank You for sharing this astonishing work from Allan Holdsworth, "The John Coltrane of Guitar."
Yes, exactly. It's like Jaco who had his fully developed sound already in his teen years. It confirms my suspicions that Jaco and Allan were space aliens who came to earth to show us what was really possible with our instruments.😊
No one can play sax lines, mingled with the occasional chime-waterfall tone like Allan. Saw him in 1980 or 81 at the Ripley Theater in Philly. Small club that held a few hundred while he was on his I.O.U. tour. The place was filled with nothing but guitar players with their jaws wide open. His tone that night was like shimmering glass. I still remember........
Seen him perform live in NYC, and got to chat with him at the bar. Super nice, humble, low-key gentleman - but an Absolute Monster on Guitar. R.I.P. Legend. There will never be another.
This is an object lesson in how to construct an extended improvisational solo. Al's touch, inspirational note choices and rhythm changes are masterful. This is technique and soul combined to make great music.
Human beings are amazing. Be sure when one does it another will. And continuing to take it farther faster harder higher to be unbelievable until another comes to complete something more amazing. It seems like it is totally unbelievable just as the first time I heard Allen Holdsworth to conceive where it all could go, yet never end. Every note he played is my favorite solo.
Words barely speak to the man, the technique, the tone, his fellow band members, compositional and improvisational skills and, the most astounding of all, the sheer will, hard worked and dedication to creating one of the most uniquely personal voices in contemporary music. And this solo is, in my opinion and with the utmost reverence for, a singular example of emotional logic as it applies to improvisational music.His music was and continues to be what comes from surrendering to the Muse. True giving.
Beautiful work, beautiful sound. I have enjoyed his playing for decades. What a wonderful talent, always associated with my most treasured memories. So good it makes me cry, a reaction usually only occasioned by Jeff Beck. Wow.
This track is my personal favourite. It is a brilliantly constructed musical odyssey evoking a journey from London to Bradford. His expressiveness and tone is extraordinary and it has a deeply emotional effect on me. For me he's touched heights and gone places no other guitarist has ever been. RIP Maestro.
This solo moves me a lot emotionally. Similar to "Low Level, High Stakes" by same genius. No idea why and how, but Allan reaches parts of my brain like nobody can.
utterly stunning, other-wordly guitar playing and composition. One of those performances where you think: 'oh, so that's where everyone else got it from...' Makes me proud to be British :)
Yo no sé si a ustedes les pasa, pero a mí, cada vez que escucho éste solo , me entra un escalofrío por todo el cuerpo que conforme el solo avanza el escalofrío es tan intenso que acabo con los ojos empapados de lágrimas de felicidad y éxtasis.🙏🙏🙏❤
Love that song. Just epic.... It takes you to another dimension. Many of his songs do.. With the help of Wackerman, Johnson, Husband, etc. his music made you dream that you were performing like him... Or flying..or space travel. Just incredible.
Only had the opportunity to see Allan once. His guitar prowess was always far above human. I was devastated when I heard of his demise. Thankfully, he left us with so many mind-blowing recordings.
ive seen lifeson young montross benson c.atkins zappa srv utopia crimson devo ohno its vai 1984 guy malmsteen z.wild max websters guy pat metheny frisell west from mountain was loud...garcia daniel lanois umphrey magee bb king 1986 holdsworth....best i had a chance to see hear...unreal. effortless beauty and sounds not replaced with noise since ah..sweet filth and precesion....nasty with taste. memorable ..thanks for the work
Frederik Thordendal brought me here. Also, a colleague of mine who is a guitarist. This, to me, is an example of why Holdsworth was great. I hear, jazz, fusion, and metal, all here. And the blues.
@@OskarSylwester many like Catch 33. That's one of my least favorite. Chaosphere and Nothing are my top two. I like the brutality in the sound of those records, lol!
@@holygroove2 I definitely agree, the sound is full, deep, later albums sound a bit flatter, this is not a disadvantage, but it has a different specificity and compression.
When I first heard this song with its themes, I was sitting with my eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. The emotions you feel that seem to hit you as you listen….! Awesome solo!!
I also always thought that the only one of this track taken from "Sand" is incredibly beautiful. Allan .. in the 70s you were at least 30 years old ... and today what you wrote at the time is still true. Rip
Such an original language. What an amazing musician. Great loss for the world but his legacy lives on. Keep on shredding in the worlds beyond our material earth, Allan.
Incredible solo and tone... from this side-profile image of him we can see he was a descendant of the "Bell Beaker" civilisation that created great works of pottery in the Neolithic age of Europe 5,000 or so years ago.
@@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE I’m responding to you, I googled what the bell beaker people were and their history and was interested and a bit surprised at the comparison between them and Allan, what are the odds of that?
@@We-all-watched-the-video I just think that Allan (the best guitarist of all time in my mind) looked exactly like the Bell Beakers. Might be coincidence.
I have little time for this "best" nonsense when anything artistic is the subject. Forced to classify what I know of Holdsworth prior to this album, this is simply more of the same. My fanboy attraction to his music faded about the time of "Atavachron." That damn SynthAxe led him deeper into what some prog musicians call "noodling": Playing endlessly with insufficient variation in the content. There was even more of that "keytar" for axe slingers on "Sand" with little else to break the monotony. My preference is for his group work and first four solo albums. Allan's transition from band member to band leader allowed for more experimentation, but not necessarily innovation. I know he eventually ditched the SynthAxe, which did not catch on enough to reduce its cost: upwards of $13,000 U.S. in the year after its introduction in 1985. For that, I am grateful. Holdsworth remained primarily a solo artist until his untimely departure in 2017. While my appreciation of his approach to the guitar may have changed, my admiration of his search for the "Impossible Chord" has not waned.
@@jefferyroy2566 I know what you mean. A lot of his synth-ax stuff I can either take or leave, and often would just as soon leave. I liked him best when he was one of a group who played together (although I would agree with you on his first four solo albums). Paired with a bassist, pianist and drummer/percussionist who matched his expertise on his instrument, I've heard some really great Jazz Fusion.
@@BillHeIsRisen Thanks for the reply. Most folks aren't so open to variation in their admiration. I don't reject what Holdsworth attempted through the 90s and beyond, I just didn't enjoy it as much as his previous work. I'm less forgiving of my original guitar hero, the recently departed Jeff Beck. While Allan sharply headed towards the deep end with that MIDI facsimile of a guitar, Beck gradually undertook a similar path with the whammy bar on his Strat. No longer content with the limitations imposed by frets, which Holdsworth sought to breach as much as possible, Beck explored sounds with tremelo most guitarists couldn't imagine. My problem was that's too much of what he seemed to seek. The odd vocal thrown in here and there was where also the direction Holdsworth took, except he finally abandoned them altogether. Live long enough, and your heroes could disappoint somewhere down the line. And maybe they should, because when they create strictly to please their fans, their decline as artists is just about guaranteed.
@@jefferyroy2566 You're welcome for the response. Yeah, I kind of got sick of the tremolo bar in Jeff Beck's later work, too. To me, he never did come back to being close to his cover of Stevie Wonder's Superstition - that was epic. He was amazing with that whammy, but too much is too much. A guitarist that also uses the whammy alot but keeps from going overboard with it is is Gilmour, formerly of Pink Floyd - he uses it to accentuate his bends a lot (like those crazy distorted bends on Echoes). You know, every artist and group I've ever listened to has done something I didn't like - even Pink Floyd (but they probably come closest to satisfying the most over the huge body of their work). Vai goes pretty crazy with his whammy, too - more than most shredders, and that's saying a lot. At least on UA-cam, I get to find artists I would never have heard of before, which is pretty cool.
@@BillHeIsRisen UA-cam gave me the opportunity to see and hear the late Ali Farka Toure, a magnificent guitarist I'd heard about a couple of years before actually hearing his albums on this platform. Look him up if interested and not previously exposed to his talent. His live Drifting Spirits album includes Ry Cooder interviews where he's trying to nail down what makes Toure so special. Cooder's admitted failure to do so only enhances the exotic nature of his "Saharan Blues," my potentially failed attempt to put a name on his style. Someone tried to label him the "Django Reinhardt of Mali," a title any player should humbly reject, which he did. Not that Reinhardt is untouchable, just unique in his way as Toure is in his own.
A great loss. I got to see the great man in NYC a couple of times. Like many of us, he became one of my main inspirations. In fact I bought the guitar he's playing in the above picture, it's an Ibanese AH-10. His approach to guitar was so singular and unique, creating sonic landscapes that you wouldn't have thought could come from a guitarist until he arrived. God bless you Allan. You were truly one of a kind. History will treat you well.
After all these years I am still trying to learn this. I can sing it but man its difficult to play! Holdsworth is one of the main men! Sand in my opinion is the best Holdsworth album.
That was mind-blowing. Great guitar solo Alien 👽 Holdsworth. I'm telling you Allen Holdsworth was just too good. I wish I could have met him. Allen Holdsworth seemed shy, reserved and very humble to the point I don't think he thought he was that good. In the interviews I heard him talk it seemed the things he cared for the most was his Family,Music and then Beer and a smoke. A very simple guy in general. But, as soon as he picked up a guitar it was all the opposite. Allen Holdsworth is greatly appreciated and most of all missed.
That part that begins at 3:01 is epic. He's still my favorite since the 80s and yet to be dethroned! Playing in metal bands back then, I was introduced to Allan's playing and instantly left Malmsteen and all others behind as I heard no rock guitarist who could touch Allan. I started playing his type of ideas and was called a virtuoso by the other guitarists on the scene. No UA-cam to out me back then. Now everyone knows🤣🤣
I did a couple Holdsworth licks in performances in the 80s as well. But a few guitarists in that scene knew of Allan, we were all trying to get a piece of his magic. It was a great scene.
Quote: Originally Posted by Frank Gambale "I saw Allan play last night at the Baked Potato and I must say that, without a doubt, he is truly The Grand Master..." Quote: Originally Posted by Shawn Lane "I saw Allan Holdsworth when I was about 14 in 1978. I never dreamed a guitar could be played like that and that really changed my whole life. If I hadn't had seen Holdsworth I may have just continued to play some blues and rock music and might have even given it up later or something, but when I saw him at 14, that really inspired me to try to play guitar in my own way at another level." Quote: Originally Posted by John McLaughlin "I recall a concert of Allan in London some years ago, and after the performance I went to see him backstage only to tell him that if I knew what he was doing, I'd steal it!" Quote: Originally Posted by Yngwie Malmsteen "Allan Holdsworth also has a strong style. A long time ago, Jens took me to see him in a small club in New York. I had to take my hat off to him." Quote: Originally Posted by Pat Metheny "I totally agree that Allan is one of the greatest guitarists ever - his work on the mid-70's Tony Williams records was revolutionary and changed everything for guitarists everywhere. It is a real mystery to me why he is not a household name. but it really doesn't matter, his contribution is large and i think all musicians know it. Quote: Originally Posted by Steve Morse "His influence is just that he's such a drastic unyielding individual. You know, 'I'm going to do my thing and I'm going to do it the best I can." Quote: Originally Posted by John Petrucci "There's so many great guitar players. Al DiMeola, Alan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, John Scofield, so many great players..." Quote: Originally Posted by Carlos Santana "He has something totally beautiful..." Quote: Originally Posted by Joe Satriani "You know, I should say at the beginning, a big difference between me and Allan is that I built on stuff that Allan pioneered, and in a small way (chuckles) I tried to assimilate a lot of what he did on the guitar technically. So it's very different. His musicianship was so far ahead of mine when I was starting out, looking at books and picking out scales and stuff; Allan was in a stage where he was constantly reinventing guitar, and I was a fan in the audience, you know what I mean? So I'd have to say in all honesty, I've taken from Allan Holdsworth, and tried to figure out, "How can I use what this guy has done to further what I'm trying to say?" Quote: Originally Posted by Steve Vai Steve Vai did an article entitled "Guitar Secrets" - "Pull off and Hammer-on" in Guitar Power magazine in May 1986 and explaining the "legato" technique with examples he says ... "Allan Holdsworth is a master of playing this style." Quote: Originally Posted by Eddie Van Halen "Holdsworth is the best in my book. He's fantastic. I love him." Quote: Originally Posted by Frank Zappa Q: Was there ever a practitioner of the guitar - Hendrix say - that blew you away in terms of being a total original? FZ: "One of the most interesting guys on guitar on the planet is Allan Holdsworth. I really respect his playing."
I feel i am in the twilight zone !!!, I don't understand all the praise, he is boring to me, just playing fast repetitive notes with an iritating and without nuances sound. The guitar player in my band has more personality, carachter than Holdsworth I am going back to listen to some more "real" stuff, like Wayne Krantz, i think you should all do the same !
Best part of loving music in general - No less guitar driven - is when you find Holdsworth, it's something you've never experienced, totally mindblowing, fresh, and has infinite replayability. Mozart on an axe.
someone commented on a crazy line that he played and said, "sounds like a space-butterfly just took off on venus." that couldnt be a more apt description... plus this is one of the best photos i have seen of the man. i wish i could get a poster.
I’d say on most AH albums you can pick out 3-4 of his greatest solos ever. Became an instant fan after hearing Fred. Picking out Allan’s greatest solo is like a Lay’s potato chip...you can’t have just one.
His playing was very unique I couldn't yet master the technique of how he plays the guitar. The way to put it he was truly outstanding. RIP Allen, we all love you and your music.
It doesn't matter how many times I hear this, I still get misled by the melody. I can hone in on phrases, and the tonality, but I never get totally familiar with it. What a gift to the listener.
1 of the gr8s!!!!! Most emotional player ever!!!! That whammy trick he's doing was a huge influence on Brad Gillis, Oz Fox, Gary Holt, the list goes on & on!!!! Alan is very missed by us in the GTR community!!!!!! RIP Alan!!!! RIP!!! Pun intended!!!!! He indeed RIPPED!!!!!!..... His notes r still sustaining 2 this day!!!!!!
If i didn't read the title, i'd think that this is something from Shawn Lane... and then, it reminded me Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects - Z1 - Reticuli . And i thought that this is something new from them. So these guys just knew about Allan... Great. Great. Great.
Such a man. Such a genius - to have lost him so soon. It just makes me cry. He went from being alive … and vibrant … to an old man, in a very short time. I honestly don’t know the story, but you don’t just slay Beethoven and waltz away like it never happened. I’d like to know what soulless fuck did this to him. I’d like to know why - so they can get the fame they so richly deserve. If you don’t believe me, just look at the films, even 2 years before he got sickly and feeble. This was one of the most important and inventive players that ever lived. One doesn’t just throw that away. Some evil, and probably jealous, asshole comes along and takes it from him - takes his joy, and his will to keep going. Anyway, that’s my painful two bits. Please, somebody tell us what happened. He wasn’t a private citizen. He came on the scene and changed our lives forever. We have a right to know.
there has been some talk about AH 'over-reliance' on legato. then comparison made to the alternate picker, sweep, fretboard tapping, staccato, etc. AH makes a unique and complex musical statement that apparently nobody else who is in possession of those other techniques can or does make.
***** I remember one day listening to KRE AM in Oakland/Berkeley CA 1310 on the dial (I am sure they don't exist anymore) I was in the kitchen , it was 1977, and it was one of those AM radios with a 3 1/2" speaker, behind a plastic grill, where you turned a dial, and the little red line told you what channel it was. I was into music like Billy Cobham/George Duke, John Schofield, John Ambercrombie, Chick Corea and Return to Forever, The Mahivishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Santana, all the jazz greats, Parker, Davis, Coltrane, etc. I was ... 17 at the time. I hated the usual s* that came over the radio, and KRE was a random station that from time to time played some good stuff. Then I heard it. This amazing guitar player. "dah dah duhh ..... dah dah duhh ... duhn duhn dah da ... duhn duhn dah da - aaaaa" By now it is a classic, Fred. Nothing like it in the universe in those days. Still better than 99% of any guitar player since or living today (although a few guys have caught up at least in technical proficiency). I could not believe what I was hearing! It was by far the coolest jam I ever heard. Pretty awesome. I've seen him live in small venues a couple times, right in front. leaves an impression. super cool.
In 1984 I was at NAMM. he was on the cover of Guitar Mag that year. I saw him leaning across from the Dean Guitar booth watching hot girls model guitars ( pre #mettoo ) I was a young Van Halen wana-be and asked him where I might see him play ( never heard him ) he told me where to get tix and I saw him at the old Disneyland Hotel that night ( Solo Al Di Meola opened ) as if that wasn’t enough to mind fk me for the next 35 years Alan then came on to blow my mind. ( he had the original Road Games crew )And like a drug to this day I can’t listen to him very much or the disease of wanting to try the unobtainable goal of playing like him will plague me. I immediately start reaching for my midrange knob like an addict. R.I.P.
When I listen to Allan play a solo like this, all I hear is a dynamic, expressive and emotional disembodied voice. Usually when I hear a guitar solo, I can visually picture fingers moving on a fretboard or at least notes moving on a fretboard. I can hear the moments when the player moves from one technique to another (legato to alternate picking for example), or when there is a particular "guitaristic" element being displayed such as whammy bar usage or sweep picking. But Allan manages to detach the music from the instrument to me.
Unique musical mindset he didn’t think guitar much of what he plays is phrased in a unusual way think violin trumpet or sax some stuff he did with marcelli imitates the brass solos Tokyo dream solo sometimes like violin
On the other hand, I think I'm lucky to be a layman to musical theory so that Allan's music always has been very strange and inapprehensibe for me and reminded me of the universe and nature that human being woundn't understand ever. I really wonder what he wanted to deliver to us through his guitar.
Every guy who listens to enough AH ends up choosing his ‘best ever’ solo... and no one ever picks the same one!
Ha ha you're right. But i should have pick this one too !
@@florentinballot4155 Same !
I can't blame 'em. Every solo was a masterpiece.
Um, no ....this is the best solo played by anyone on any instrument.....
Devil Takes the Hindmost : )))
This is my favourite solo, I’ve spent many Saturday nights with a bottle of wine listening to Alan but this one always gets to me. The technical ability is mind blowing but that’s not the point, it’s the emotion coming through. Alan you are a genius, we miss you and hope you’re doing well in guitar heaven 😢
For me too! I love this song so much I allways come back to it.
There is a lot of emotion in Allan's playing and composition. Listen to AH is always a transcendental experience that seems to grow everyday
Me too..this one gets me
Love how he's been superimposed over a shopping bag.
+Mac One of the best comments ever!!!!
It was like, "Allan, paper or plastic?"
If only it could be recycled
he isnt the small deal type of guy
Jerry Parker - ?
The story of this track is Holdsworth returning to the UK to visit family and he used to take the 4:15 Bradford Executive from London to of course Bradford. The melodic changes and timing is to signify the passing countryside, streets, roads etc that you would see on a journey until its end. This is a beautiful piece of music.
Thanks :-)
Happy Me I didn't know this and I grew up in Bradford! How inspiring, thanks for sharing 😊
Wow that is awesome!
What is the story behind his other songs? Mr. Berwell?
Happy Me Painting with the ears. He is to m
Music like Bob Ross is to Art.
john m Did you have to write that?
i can't stop listening to this....speechless...it's like a whole new galaxy has been discovered with its own planets, myriad species and limitless destinies...
Hahaha.
Amazing right your description resonates deeply !!!
I think he left his entire soul in that solo. RIP..
Who else hears Allan's sound and starts crying ? Especially this solo or ANY of the UK stuff ! I am so sad he is gone! So under fucking appreciated !!
I just cry and cry and cry, because he puts me in touch with my unlimited soul, and I know that.
Why are you so upset?
Did you know him on a daily basis?
His family & close friends might be upset.
Be glad he lived
And for his music that lives on
Yes, I bought all these albums as a teen- Believe It, UK 1, and the Bruford solos and I would cry my eyes out at the beauty of his solos-and then would play and replay them. I was a self-taught drummer but I knew that I was hearing something transcendent. I still have the same response at 62. Genius.👍
@@pobinr He's not crying because Allan died but because of the emotional impact of the music - his playing can move me to tears also
R.I.P. Allan! Gone to the stars where he belongs!
Amen to that
I use to travel to NYC to watch him play in small venues. NOBODY could make a guitar sing like Allan.
He earned an entire planet like Chick Corea.
R.I.P. Allan. I met him during a break at the Baked Potato. What a gentleman, master guitar player, and beautiful human being.
I had the same experience in the same place. Wonderful !
I had a guitar less with Greg Howe many years ago. Greg asked me what I was into and what I wanted to do and I told him , loved his stuff but I really wanted to try to understand Allan Holdsworth. It was like the record screeched to a stop. He said "listen, Allan Holdsworth is from a different solar system! A different solar system!"
I think he was trying to tell me something lol
Lol. He was trying to tell you he had no insight into Allan's processes and couldn't teach them to you.
I love Greg Howe and I've heard him channel Allan on occasion, though in very small sample sizes:) I got to see Allan once on the Road Games tour. He played so brilliantly that night and his tones seemed other worldly! So glad the fake I.D. I used that night got me in or I would have never ever witnessed that level of greatness:)
Being a guitarist for nearly 40 years, I was not as exposed enough to his style throughout my years, but seeing his enormous impact now is a beautiful thing. I have the greatest respect for him as a true musician. His style very much mimics a sophisticated horn player, only he takes it to another level. HIS level. I see it now. It's beyond words. What an enigma he shall remain.
Incredible, humble genius he was. May he R.I.P. while we all continue to try and catch up.
His music will always continue to be here. He was one of a kind. Play from your heart, mind, and soul. That's all he did. Don't expect everyone to completely understand what you are doing. We're all kinda weird. He knew that much for sure. No other words to describe that talent!
I think Allen was an Alien; he never really cared what anybody else thought; he did his thing with unwavering attitude. The only people that played in his groups were ultra master musicians that set the standard. It was amazing to hear each new album, year after year, these guys set the standard.
Check out a new kid named Matteo Mancuso! Revolutionizing guitar technique. Unreal! And he does a couple of tunes from Holdsworth as well
Fantastic comment sir
This is the only comment I've seen yet where someone compares him to a horn player and I remember flipping through an AH book I found at a music store that asserted when he started out he wanted to play sax but was not good so he picked up the guitar and that's what he was trying to do was make the guitar sound like a sax, and you can really hear it with his synth-axe shit
@@robbyrob0723 he's not a holdsworth
Yngwie Malmsteen: "I had to take my hat off to him." If this was anyone else this compliment would seem pretty underwhelming but given Yngwie's infamous ego this statement is equal to him stripping naked,setting himself on fire and running down the street with a megaphone proclaiming Allan's genius!
Why people quote other guitarists to offer commendations bemuses me
@@Samsgarden - Because the opinion of someone who has achieved something in a given field is worth more than that of a regular guy who has accommplished very little.
@@JohnPrepuce accomplishments are garbage. Music is everything. Allan needs to learn music not wanking.
@@vanguard4065 Looks like is you the one who needs to learn music
Ha ha I agree. Malmsteen usually slates Satriani and other great guitarists, when he reviews their music without knowing the artists performing. There's another interview with Malmsteen on UA-cam talking about Legato. Malmsteen mentions Holdsworth as the master of this, and is almost lost for words (lol) stuttering . Yet another amazing compliment from Malmsteen I'd say. haha.
The true master of Legato. His picking is so economic and noisefree, amazing. It is truly unique.
This music comes from outside, outside of space and time, it's like some sort of basic compound that glues reality together.
Allen was an Alien sent to show us how to develop our musical dreams and destiny in a way few others can be described. Prince too.
@@surfyogiPrince? Nah…
Utterly magnificent! No flashy playing for it's own sake, instead beautiful unusual scales and chords, immense feel. THank you and RIP Allan.
Allan Holdsworth...such incredible beautiful emotional expression .feel the pain ..feel the joy...there is a god after all...and there is love ...in this cathartic music....sublime...play it again..
What I find most amazing about Allan Holdsworth (and I've been a huge fan since the late 70's), is that his playing was already incredible in his early years 72-77, i.e., Tempest Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime, all albums I owned and loved. He was already IMO the Greatest Guitar Player in the late 70's. But Allan's playing NEVER STOPPED PROGRESSING, through I.O.U., Metal Fatique, this GEM (Thank You, Amazing Solo), etc.. to my all-time favorite AH period when he did "The 16 Men of Tain." in 2000. AH is a singularity, there will never be anyone like him again. I feel blessed I got to see him play live in NYC in 1982 during the I.O.U. Tour. Thank You for sharing this astonishing work from Allan Holdsworth, "The John Coltrane of Guitar."
Yes, exactly. It's like Jaco who had his fully developed sound already in his teen years. It confirms my suspicions that Jaco and Allan were space aliens who came to earth to show us what was really possible with our instruments.😊
7 year Anniversary of his passing and his music still sounds so fresh and way ahead of anyone else!
No one else like him, the definition of originality and inspiration. Thank you Allan.
No one can play sax lines, mingled with the occasional chime-waterfall tone like Allan. Saw him in 1980 or 81 at the Ripley Theater in Philly. Small club that held a few hundred while he was on his I.O.U. tour. The place was filled with nothing but guitar players with their jaws wide open. His tone that night was like shimmering glass. I still remember........
Seen him perform live in NYC, and got to chat with him at the bar. Super nice, humble, low-key gentleman - but an Absolute Monster on Guitar. R.I.P. Legend. There will never be another.
For how great and unique Allan was, he could quite possibly be the most underrated musician on any instrument in the history of music.
He lived in a totally different world of harmonic intervals that only he could define them to us mere mortals.
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼R.I.P. 🎼🎵🎶🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🎶🎵🎼
This is an object lesson in how to construct an extended improvisational solo. Al's touch, inspirational note choices and rhythm changes are masterful. This is technique and soul combined to make great music.
+Fontsman " This is technique and soul combined to make great music. " that's right
One of the simplest and best explanations of AH I have ever read.
Simply beautiful....
Outstanding skills,but a lot of soul too... Rip Alan. The greatest guitar player of all times....
Human beings are amazing. Be sure when one does it another will. And continuing to take it farther faster harder higher to be unbelievable until another comes to complete something more amazing. It seems like it is totally unbelievable just as the first time I heard Allen Holdsworth to conceive where it all could go, yet never end. Every note he played is my favorite solo.
Words barely speak to the man, the technique, the tone, his fellow band members, compositional and improvisational skills and, the most astounding of all, the sheer will, hard worked and dedication to creating one of the most uniquely personal voices in contemporary music. And this solo is, in my opinion and with the utmost reverence for, a singular example of emotional logic as it applies to improvisational music.His music was and continues to be what comes from surrendering to the Muse. True giving.
Beautiful work, beautiful sound. I have enjoyed his playing for decades. What a wonderful talent, always associated with my most treasured memories. So good it makes me cry, a reaction usually only occasioned by Jeff Beck. Wow.
This track is my personal favourite. It is a brilliantly constructed musical odyssey evoking a journey from London to Bradford. His expressiveness and tone is extraordinary and it has a deeply emotional effect on me. For me he's touched heights and gone places no other guitarist has ever been. RIP Maestro.
This solo moves me a lot emotionally. Similar to "Low Level, High Stakes" by same genius. No idea why and how, but Allan reaches parts of my brain like nobody can.
I mis him...Allan Holdsworth was great and unique as well..r.i.p. dear friend..🙏🙏❤
I saw him live at a small club in NYC when I was a teenager, but it was like trying to drink all the water coming from a water hydrant.
Love the way he uses. Tremolo
Adding such subtle accents with the whammy bar sounds great probably a Floyd Rose
utterly stunning, other-wordly guitar playing and composition. One of those performances where you think: 'oh, so that's where everyone else got it from...' Makes me proud to be British :)
Yo no sé si a ustedes les pasa, pero a mí, cada vez que escucho éste solo , me entra un escalofrío por todo el cuerpo que conforme el solo avanza el escalofrío es tan intenso que acabo con los ojos empapados de lágrimas de felicidad y éxtasis.🙏🙏🙏❤
Love that song. Just epic.... It takes you to another dimension. Many of his songs do.. With the help of Wackerman, Johnson, Husband, etc. his music made you dream that you were performing like him... Or flying..or space travel. Just incredible.
Only had the opportunity to see Allan once. His guitar prowess was always far above human. I was devastated when I heard of his demise. Thankfully, he left us with so many mind-blowing recordings.
" Amazing feel and outstanding technique " excellent and accurate definition
Allan was the reason I began playing guitar 25 years ago. He's still thrilling every time I listen.
I have love Allan's playing for 40 years. His lines are fluid, inventive and have that characteristic musically called "e misterioso".
Great composition ....Allan lives in his music..
World class genius..Rest in Peace
ive seen lifeson young montross benson c.atkins zappa srv utopia crimson devo ohno its vai 1984 guy malmsteen z.wild max websters guy pat metheny frisell west from mountain was loud...garcia daniel lanois umphrey magee bb king 1986 holdsworth....best i had a chance to see hear...unreal. effortless beauty and sounds not replaced with noise since ah..sweet filth and precesion....nasty with taste. memorable ..thanks for the work
Frederik Thordendal brought me here. Also, a colleague of mine who is a guitarist. This, to me, is an example of why Holdsworth was great. I hear, jazz, fusion, and metal, all here. And the blues.
same here, you can hear a lot of Holdsworth influence on the "Sol Niger Within" album
@@OskarSylwester you can hear Holdsworth on the Nothing album as well... basically anything after Nothing.
@@holygroove2 my personal fav from meshuggah, also catch 33. Good obserwation:)
@@OskarSylwester many like Catch 33. That's one of my least favorite. Chaosphere and Nothing are my top two. I like the brutality in the sound of those records, lol!
@@holygroove2 I definitely agree, the sound is full, deep, later albums sound a bit flatter, this is not a disadvantage, but it has a different specificity and compression.
As guitarist we should be grateful!!
When I first heard this song with its themes, I was sitting with my eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. The emotions you feel that seem to hit you as you listen….! Awesome solo!!
came here due to the comment from fb- very beautiful.......I don't know what I'd do without Allan's music. Seriously.
I also always thought that the only one of this track taken from "Sand" is incredibly beautiful. Allan .. in the 70s you were at least 30 years old ... and today what you wrote at the time is still true. Rip
We miss you Allan....Thanks for your guitar,your hands and music....R.I.P. ..Isee you between clouds playing for the Universe....
Absolutely love this solo.
Such an original language. What an amazing musician. Great loss for the world but his legacy lives on. Keep on shredding in the worlds beyond our material earth, Allan.
Loss to the world lol
Why?
Has his music dissapeared?
Lol
Incredible solo and tone... from this side-profile image of him we can see he was a descendant of the "Bell Beaker" civilisation that created great works of pottery in the Neolithic age of Europe 5,000 or so years ago.
Holy crap
@@We-all-watched-the-video Yes. Don't know what you're responding to. :P
@@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE I’m responding to you, I googled what the bell beaker people were and their history and was interested and a bit surprised at the comparison between them and Allan, what are the odds of that?
@@We-all-watched-the-video I just think that Allan (the best guitarist of all time in my mind) looked exactly like the Bell Beakers. Might be coincidence.
@@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE I can’t help but feel like you’re arguing with me here, we’re on the same side, I agree with what you’re saying
Allan has leveraged blues and Wammy.
Horn gestures and unisons. in the most personal unique unexpected way - freakin amazing as usual.
I don't know if there IS a BEST solo for this guy - all his stuff was out of this world great.
I have little time for this "best" nonsense when anything artistic is the subject. Forced to classify what I know of Holdsworth prior to this album, this is simply more of the same.
My fanboy attraction to his music faded about the time of "Atavachron." That damn SynthAxe led him deeper into what some prog musicians call "noodling": Playing endlessly with insufficient variation in the content. There was even more of that "keytar" for axe slingers on "Sand" with little else to break the monotony. My preference is for his group work and first four solo albums. Allan's transition from band member to band leader allowed for more experimentation, but not necessarily innovation. I know he eventually ditched the SynthAxe, which did not catch on enough to reduce its cost: upwards of $13,000 U.S. in the year after its introduction in 1985.
For that, I am grateful. Holdsworth remained primarily a solo artist until his untimely departure in 2017. While my appreciation of his approach to the guitar may have changed, my admiration of his search for the "Impossible Chord" has not waned.
@@jefferyroy2566
I know what you mean. A lot of his synth-ax stuff I can either take or leave, and often would just as soon leave.
I liked him best when he was one of a group who played together (although I would agree with you on his first four solo albums). Paired with a bassist, pianist and drummer/percussionist who matched his expertise on his instrument, I've heard some really great Jazz Fusion.
@@BillHeIsRisen Thanks for the reply. Most folks aren't so open to variation in their admiration. I don't reject what Holdsworth attempted through the 90s and beyond, I just didn't enjoy it as much as his previous work. I'm less forgiving of my original guitar hero, the recently departed Jeff Beck. While Allan sharply headed towards the deep end with that MIDI facsimile of a guitar, Beck gradually undertook a similar path with the whammy bar on his Strat. No longer content with the limitations imposed by frets, which Holdsworth sought to breach as much as possible, Beck explored sounds with tremelo most guitarists couldn't imagine. My problem was that's too much of what he seemed to seek. The odd vocal thrown in here and there was where also the direction Holdsworth took, except he finally abandoned them altogether. Live long enough, and your heroes could disappoint somewhere down the line. And maybe they should, because when they create strictly to please their fans, their decline as artists is just about guaranteed.
@@jefferyroy2566 You're welcome for the response.
Yeah, I kind of got sick of the tremolo bar in Jeff Beck's later work, too. To me, he never did come back to being close to his cover of Stevie Wonder's Superstition - that was epic.
He was amazing with that whammy, but too much is too much. A guitarist that also uses the whammy alot but keeps from going overboard with it is is Gilmour, formerly of Pink Floyd - he uses it to accentuate his bends a lot (like those crazy distorted bends on Echoes).
You know, every artist and group I've ever listened to has done something I didn't like - even Pink Floyd (but they probably come closest to satisfying the most over the huge body of their work).
Vai goes pretty crazy with his whammy, too - more than most shredders, and that's saying a lot.
At least on UA-cam, I get to find artists I would never have heard of before, which is pretty cool.
@@BillHeIsRisen UA-cam gave me the opportunity to see and hear the late Ali Farka Toure, a magnificent guitarist I'd heard about a couple of years before actually hearing his albums on this platform. Look him up if interested and not previously exposed to his talent. His live Drifting Spirits album includes Ry Cooder interviews where he's trying to nail down what makes Toure so special. Cooder's admitted failure to do so only enhances the exotic nature of his "Saharan Blues," my potentially failed attempt to put a name on his style. Someone tried to label him the "Django Reinhardt of Mali," a title any player should humbly reject, which he did. Not that Reinhardt is untouchable, just unique in his way as Toure is in his own.
A great loss. I got to see the great man in NYC a couple of times. Like many of us, he became one of my main inspirations. In fact I bought the guitar he's playing in the above picture, it's an Ibanese AH-10. His approach to guitar was so singular and unique, creating sonic landscapes that you wouldn't have thought could come from a guitarist until he arrived. God bless you Allan. You were truly one of a kind. History will treat you well.
Been a fan of AH ever since the '80's, ever since, ' I.O.U. '.
The man never ceases to amaze! :-)
Amazing Allan … miss you 💎💎💎💫
After all these years I am still trying to learn this. I can sing it but man its difficult to play! Holdsworth is one of the main men! Sand in my opinion is the best Holdsworth album.
That was mind-blowing. Great guitar solo Alien 👽 Holdsworth. I'm telling you Allen Holdsworth was just too good. I wish I could have met him. Allen Holdsworth seemed shy, reserved and very humble to the point I don't think he thought he was that good. In the interviews I heard him talk it seemed the things he cared for the most was his Family,Music and then Beer and a smoke. A very simple guy in general. But, as soon as he picked up a guitar it was all the opposite. Allen Holdsworth is greatly appreciated and most of all missed.
R. I. P. Allan Holdsworth (15 de abril de 2017).
Gran guitarrista, sin duda...
That part that begins at 3:01 is epic. He's still my favorite since the 80s and yet to be dethroned! Playing in metal bands back then, I was introduced to Allan's playing and instantly left Malmsteen and all others behind as I heard no rock guitarist who could touch Allan.
I started playing his type of ideas and was called a virtuoso by the other guitarists on the scene. No UA-cam to out me back then. Now everyone knows🤣🤣
I did a couple Holdsworth licks in performances in the 80s as well. But a few guitarists in that scene knew of Allan, we were all trying to get a piece of his magic. It was a great scene.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Gambale
"I saw Allan play last night at the Baked Potato and I must say that, without a doubt, he is truly The Grand Master..."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn Lane
"I saw Allan Holdsworth when I was about 14 in 1978. I never dreamed a guitar could be played like that and that really changed my whole life.
If I hadn't had seen Holdsworth I may have just continued to play some blues and rock music and might have even given it up later or something,
but when I saw him at 14, that really inspired me to try to play guitar in my own way at another level."
Quote:
Originally Posted by John McLaughlin
"I recall a concert of Allan in London some years ago, and after the performance I went to see him backstage only to tell him that if I knew what he was doing, I'd steal it!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yngwie Malmsteen
"Allan Holdsworth also has a strong style. A long time ago, Jens took me to see him in a small club in New York. I had to take my hat off to him."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Metheny
"I totally agree that Allan is one of the greatest guitarists ever - his work on the mid-70's Tony Williams records was revolutionary and changed everything for guitarists everywhere. It is a real mystery to me why he is not a household name. but it really doesn't matter, his contribution is large and i think all musicians know it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Morse
"His influence is just that he's such a drastic unyielding individual. You know, 'I'm going to do my thing and I'm going to do it the best I can."
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Petrucci
"There's so many great guitar players. Al DiMeola, Alan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, John Scofield, so many great players..."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlos Santana
"He has something totally beautiful..."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Satriani
"You know, I should say at the beginning, a big difference between me and Allan is that I built on stuff that Allan pioneered, and in a small way (chuckles) I tried to assimilate a lot of what he did on the guitar technically. So it's very different. His musicianship was so far ahead of mine when I was starting out, looking at books and picking out scales and stuff;
Allan was in a stage where he was constantly reinventing guitar, and I was a fan in the audience, you know what I mean?
So I'd have to say in all honesty, I've taken from Allan Holdsworth, and tried to figure out, "How can I use what this guy has done to further what I'm trying to say?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Vai
Steve Vai did an article entitled "Guitar Secrets" - "Pull off and Hammer-on" in Guitar Power magazine in May 1986 and explaining the "legato" technique with examples he says ...
"Allan Holdsworth is a master of playing this style."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddie Van Halen
"Holdsworth is the best in my book. He's fantastic. I love him."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Zappa
Q: Was there ever a practitioner of the guitar - Hendrix say - that blew you away in terms of being a total original?
FZ: "One of the most interesting guys on guitar on the planet is Allan Holdsworth. I really respect his playing."
That's a pretty cool compilation. Thanks for that!
No problem. I felt obligated to post it on a Holdsworth video after i found it. He is my favourite guitar player after all.
I feel i am in the twilight zone !!!, I don't understand all the praise, he is boring to me, just playing fast repetitive notes with an iritating and without nuances sound.
The guitar player in my band has more personality, carachter than Holdsworth
I am going back to listen to some more "real" stuff, like Wayne Krantz, i think you should all do the same !
No thanks
ur not ready yet. i hope one day you will appreciate the genius. wayne krantz too
Best part of loving music in general - No less guitar driven - is when you find Holdsworth, it's something you've never experienced, totally mindblowing, fresh, and has infinite replayability. Mozart on an axe.
Dam that's badass sounds like meshuggah🤘🤘🎸👌RIP Allen legend
someone commented on a crazy line that he played and said, "sounds like a space-butterfly just took off on venus." that couldnt be a more apt description... plus this is one of the best photos i have seen of the man. i wish i could get a poster.
Just heard the news that Allan Holdsworth passed away today RIP maestro. You can Jam with Hendrix, Miles and Coltrane now!
Hopefully they can keep up ;)
So wonderful..
Genio total las escalas mas diversas de todo el jazz ni una pentatonia logica Maestro del djent
I’d say on most AH albums you can pick out 3-4 of his greatest solos ever. Became an instant fan after hearing Fred. Picking out Allan’s greatest solo is like a Lay’s potato chip...you can’t have just one.
His playing was very unique I couldn't yet master the technique of how he plays the guitar. The way to put it he was truly outstanding. RIP Allen, we all love you and your music.
my dad saw him in the mid 80s. cool stuff wish I were there. at least I got to see Rush twice ;)
dude he still plays go to his website, and imho he's the best he's ever sounded
Ive seen Holdsworth live 4 times
Bridget King Alex Lifeson is a big Holdsworth fan.
Mr GShocker n
No one will ever be better in my book, the king
It doesn't matter how many times I hear this, I still get misled by the melody. I can hone in on phrases, and the tonality, but I never get totally familiar with it. What a gift to the listener.
Being new to Allen and a huge EVH fan this is great to hear because EVH always said Clapton was his biggest influence, i think not now
One in a Billion .,...
Loceba guitar that's an understatement
More like one in all of the human beings to ever exist in all of human history. A tad bit more than a billion, I'd say.
1 of the gr8s!!!!! Most emotional player ever!!!! That whammy trick he's doing was a huge influence on Brad Gillis, Oz Fox, Gary Holt, the list goes on & on!!!! Alan is very missed by us in the GTR community!!!!!! RIP Alan!!!! RIP!!! Pun intended!!!!! He indeed RIPPED!!!!!!..... His notes r still sustaining 2 this day!!!!!!
Very effective use of sparse notes. Similar emotions are explored in Atavachron, which came out in '86, shortly before Sand in '87.
AH was more than a guitarist he was an artist painting visual images with the instrument. Amazing solo 👏
If i didn't read the title, i'd think that this is something from Shawn Lane... and then, it reminded me Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects - Z1 - Reticuli
. And i thought that this is something new from them.
So these guys just knew about Allan...
Great. Great. Great.
R.I.P. Allan, so glad you shared your talents with us. Thank You.
Rest in peace. We've lost an IMMENSE talent today. :(
genius is the one who invents and creates a style that has never been used before. he and he has no fear to express it only to please a large audience
There's not one boring note in this solo everything is awesome, Superb Guitar Solo, May the Music of Allan H. live Forever.
My favorite solo of his still has to be Devil Take the Hindmost. Zarabeth and this one can be tied for second. :)
Great solo, has everything in it. I used to listen to it when I was a teen alot just before I got to sleep, the soothing end with Gary's drums. great.
This track has Chad Wackerman on drums :-)
@@RobConstantine well, I stand corrected Chad it was.
Still one of the best solo's from Allan ever...
Such a man. Such a genius - to have lost him so soon. It just makes me cry. He went from being alive … and vibrant … to an old man, in a very short time. I honestly don’t know the story, but you don’t just slay Beethoven and waltz away like it never happened. I’d like to know what soulless fuck did this to him. I’d like to know why - so they can get the fame they so richly deserve. If you don’t believe me, just look at the films, even 2 years before he got sickly and feeble. This was one of the most important and inventive players that ever lived. One doesn’t just throw that away. Some evil, and probably jealous, asshole comes along and takes it from him - takes his joy, and his will to keep going. Anyway, that’s my painful two bits. Please, somebody tell us what happened. He wasn’t a private citizen. He came on the scene and changed our lives forever. We have a right to know.
an extraterrestrial talent that landed on earth
It Feels like Traveling Through Our Galaxy...Earth Soul Blues RocknRoll...
there has been some talk about AH 'over-reliance' on legato. then comparison made to the alternate picker, sweep, fretboard tapping, staccato, etc. AH makes a unique and complex musical statement that apparently nobody else who is in possession of those other techniques can or does make.
*****
I remember one day listening to KRE AM in Oakland/Berkeley CA 1310 on the dial (I am sure they don't exist anymore) I was in the kitchen , it was 1977, and it was one of those AM radios with a 3 1/2" speaker, behind a plastic grill, where you turned a dial, and the little red line told you what channel it was.
I was into music like Billy Cobham/George Duke, John Schofield, John Ambercrombie, Chick Corea and Return to Forever, The Mahivishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Santana, all the jazz greats, Parker, Davis, Coltrane, etc. I was ... 17 at the time. I hated the usual s* that came over the radio, and KRE was a random station that from time to time played some good stuff.
Then I heard it. This amazing guitar player. "dah dah duhh ..... dah dah duhh ... duhn duhn dah da ... duhn duhn dah da - aaaaa"
By now it is a classic, Fred. Nothing like it in the universe in those days. Still better than 99% of any guitar player since or living today (although a few guys have caught up at least in technical proficiency).
I could not believe what I was hearing! It was by far the coolest jam I ever heard.
Pretty awesome. I've seen him live in small venues a couple times, right in front. leaves an impression. super cool.
***** maybe you're right ... i'll have to check up on that! thanks for the link
legato can sound a bit dull at times but holdsworth keeps it interesting with his phrasing
Agreed! This the finest AH solo. The whole solo is staggeringly good, but from 3:32 to 4:30 tears me up every time.
this is INCREDIBLE! what a genius!
Now I know from whom did Steve Vai get this unique style of playing.
J'y retrouve aussi le style par moments de Jeff Beck !
I saw Allan play with Jean Luc Ponty decades ago at the Rusty Nail in Sunderland,MA!!! His guitar playing blew us away!!!
In 1984 I was at NAMM. he was on the cover of Guitar Mag that year. I saw him leaning across from the Dean Guitar booth watching hot girls model guitars ( pre #mettoo ) I was a young Van Halen wana-be and asked him where I might see him play ( never heard him ) he told me where to get tix and I saw him at the old Disneyland Hotel that night ( Solo Al Di Meola opened ) as if that wasn’t enough to mind fk me for the next 35 years Alan then came on to blow my mind. ( he had the original Road Games crew )And like a drug to this day I can’t listen to him very much or the disease of wanting to try the unobtainable goal of playing like him will plague me. I immediately start reaching for my midrange knob like an addict. R.I.P.
genio , maestro ALLAN .......UN APLAUSO POR LA ETERNIDAD .....
When I listen to Allan play a solo like this, all I hear is a dynamic, expressive and emotional disembodied voice. Usually when I hear a guitar solo, I can visually picture fingers moving on a fretboard or at least notes moving on a fretboard. I can hear the moments when the player moves from one technique to another (legato to alternate picking for example), or when there is a particular "guitaristic" element being displayed such as whammy bar usage or sweep picking. But Allan manages to detach the music from the instrument to me.
Unique musical mindset he didn’t think guitar much of what he plays is phrased in a unusual way think violin trumpet or sax some stuff he did with marcelli imitates the brass solos Tokyo dream solo sometimes like violin
EVH looked up to this guy. Let that sink in.
Amazing untaped talent... The composition on this tune is amazing.
So long Allan... Thank you
He play guitar like it was a wind instrument.
On the other hand, I think I'm lucky to be a layman to musical theory so that Allan's music always has been very strange and inapprehensibe for me and reminded me of the universe and nature that human being woundn't understand ever. I really wonder what he wanted to deliver to us through his guitar.