You're essentially watching Jordan in his prime on guitar. There's simply no one better - ever. Not just technically, but Allan's musicality and sense of harmony is otherworldly.
Holdsworth is the outstanding guitarist of his era. He created his own language for the guitar: influenced many, impossible to copy (though some have tried). The ultimate legato technique.
Saw Allan opening for Al Di Meola in the 80's in NYC and it was unforgettable. Heartbroken when he died but very grateful for his music and his influence in music.
Good call. First heard his playing on Brufords “Feels Good To Me” and it blew my tiny little mind. It still does does over 40 years later! Totally unique.
Check out his early work with Tony Williams in Lifetime, particularly, Fred. His work with Bruford, Jean-Luc Ponty, and in U.K. are essential listening.
I disagree. I think anybody who knows guitar , knows that he is arguably one if the best , if not THE best electric guitarist (s ) ever. Not as widely known --- probably -- but not under rated.
@@jimhardiman3836 sorrt to hear that. I stad by my statement. Under rated , By whom ? Not by people who know anything about guitar. Not popular and not widely known . There's a difference.
When I first started listening to Allan about 3 years ago during my Freshman year of university, I was blown away but didn’t quite “get it”. But there was something there, something in his music and his approach to improvising and composing that kept me coming back. Now, he’s my favorite guitarist/musician of all time. It was gradual, but as I “acclimated my ear” to his unique style, I began hearing more and more things in his music that I missed on first listen, and I began to absolutely fall in love with his music. One incredible thing about Allan is that he was constantly pushing himself and expanding his knowledge/technique without sacrificing the “soul/feel’ of his music. You can listen to a live recording from pretty much any year of his career, and you’ll hear many things completely unique to that particular performance. I didn’t come from a jazz background when I first listened to Allan, but his music has made me fall in love with jazz and fusion. Allan was completely free within music, one of the few musicians to ever achieve that level of improvisation in my opinion. There are so many great live Holdsworth performances on TH-cam, and I’m glad to see people experiencing them for the first time. If you choose to explore Allan’s music further, I hope you enjoy your journey down the endless rabbit hole that is Allan Holdsworth. 😁
Thank you :-). Holdsworth is the greatest electric guitarist that has ever lived. Coltrane level. And he plays jazz violin too, but it was just an "intimate hobby" to him, as he said.
Fantastic musicality!! Killer ensemble. Thanks for sharing. Saw Allan with UK in Vancouver in '78, and in Toronto with Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira and a few other guys in the mid-late 80s. ✊🏼😊🎶❤️🍁❤✨️🕊
Allan Holdsworth is one of my favorite guitarists that most non-musicians don't know about. I remember in a rare interview back in the day that Eddie Van Halen made a comment that he loved Holdsworth's playing.
I saw Holdsworth live, sometime back in the early 80's. The band and audience squeezed in a tiny cellar that held maybe 50/60 people at the most. I sat right at the front in a vain attempt to see what it was he was doing. It was incredibly loud in that small space and he was just mind boggingly brilliant.
Steve Via was hired to transcribe this guy and couldn't believe how complicated he played yet he's all improv. He doesn't really know what he's playing he just plays it. Natural magic.
He didn't compromise his art. Once he was through playing in other people's bands he never looked back. Eddie Van Halen offered him a chance to record using an LA producer and hopefully get well paid for a commercially oriented record, but he chose his own path instead. He never made any money but produced music that will last and be studied well into the future.
Allan was amazingly talented, love his playing. Seen him at the Winchester in Lakewood, Ohio with Joel Taylor on drums, can't remember who was on bass (?). Great show & Joel Taylor was on fire that night!
I can relate 100%. I sratrted my musical jopurney 30 ys ago, listening to The Beatles, Santana and Eric Clapton´s unplugged, then a friend handed me a cassete of "the road to you" and I didin´t get it, andgave it back top him, after a year or so, I watched More travels vhs at school thanks to a cool teacher, and I borroed that same casette from him again, and I was hooked ever since! 5 years later I met a friend who introduced me to all the electric guitarist, and lent me his copy of Atavachron and also Metal Fatigue, and said to me, I" like this guy because I don´t understand him". And after a few seconds, I was an fan forever. His REH video is a must see, and then go on your own, I don´t want to spoil your Allan journey. This version of Looking Glass, is indeed amazing. Have a nice one!
Just look up Allan's video on YT explaining his approach to scales. Dude is Cyborg. He was a big bicycle nut here in LA too, so I can relate because I used to have a Cannondale addiction here in LA too. Fellow SG player (check him out when nobody heard of him on Soft Machine's Bundles- woof) but that's about all we had in common. RIP Allan . Today the closest thing we have is young Matteo Mancuso - getting the same comments from old farts like DiMeola as they gave Holdsworth 🎸.
Frank Gambale has his moments and Pat Matheny - obviously. I've got a lovely oversize-tube Cannondale frame from the mid 90's that is waiting for a budget. Discovered Frank G. when I bought his sig Ibanez.
@@dancarter482 I was shocked women's Gold in cycling was brought home by USA on a Cannondale frame. Yours and obviously mine were designed in USA and Made In USA something that stopped a LONG time ago. And yep, Frank is a bad bad guy. I still have my '83 Ibanez Roadstar II that looks like the Lukather model but with only one cream bucker on it - figured blue maple cap, maple neck. If you want to hear it punch up the '83? trailer of the Lind* Blair Chained Heat on YT - that's me and that guitar (and Oberheim drums and Roland Bass machine lol) - gonna sell it soon ! thin the heard !!! 👀 🎸
Having discovered Allan you are now at the beginning of an incredible musical journey🎸🤘🏻 Allan is truly the greatest of all time, but please be aware he went through amazing musical development over his career so you would do well to start from the beginning and listen from there. Allan didn’t use modes but instead created his own unique harmonic language. Also this is not free form, Allan was a stunning composer and there was a definite framework within which the musicians then improvised. In fact Allan was a pure improviser and sought never to play the same solo twice. He could have had greater fame and money if he had gone more commercial, but he was true to his muse and never sold out. Enjoy your journey of discovery 🙏
First discovered Pat Matheny on Bruce Hornsby's _Harbour Lights_ then I bought a Frank Gambale signature Ibanez without knowing Frank's music - don't know if you're familiar with them.
I would be interested to see you react to Joe Pass playing with Oscar Peterson... 'Just Friends' is a perfect example, and there are many examples freely available here on TH-cam. He also does many solo chord-melody arrangements of popular standards that are divine... I enjoyed this, newly subscribed. Anyway, back to practice... 😂
Allan’s musical facility and his ability to create essentially by ear (as opposed to thinking in terms of music theory) is astonishing, otherworldly, and incomprehensible to me after years of playing, teaching, and performing. That said, this style of fusion just “meanders” too much for my tastes, and lacks the structure of other types of music that appeal to me much more, even though I know that music is being performed by vastly inferior musicians. My point is that if someone doesn’t jibe with this it shouldn’t draw the vitriol that the fans hurl at its detractors, and similarly anyone who thinks it’s just noise simply doesn’t understand enough about music to argue with them about it. This guy is amazing in every sense of the word, and after 45 years of playing I still couldn’t haul gear for someone with his talent. I just don’t find a lot of it appealing, which is okay, and I can almost guarantee that Allan would have agreed that it’s okay. RIP Allan, you otherworldly beast.
@@frannyp46some people never get there. And that’s ok, we need players that work inside of certain limitations. You’re as much of a product of the things you embrace as you are of the things you ignore
I'll admit it, I don't get it. The virtuosity is so over the top, I can't identify with the music at all. It sounds like a whole lot of notes that don't really resolve.
This may not be the most accessible performance, (I love it though) Try listening to Metal Fatigue, the I.O.U album, Sisteen Men of Tain, his music is an acquired taste, once you get used to it, I´m sure you will be fond of his playing. As a friend said once "I like him because I don´t understand him". He uses weird voicings, weird chords, inside and outside playing, he´s really the goat. If you try learning the head section of this tune, you will have some fun. Check John Vullo´s channel, and also my latest youtube shorts video.
Understandable! If you wish to try some of his studio albums, there will be chords under the solo. It will help understanding his harmonic and melodic ideas make more sense.
Want to see the latest guitar accessories that are popular right now? Check the link below! amzn.to/3QMB2om
You're essentially watching Jordan in his prime on guitar. There's simply no one better - ever. Not just technically, but Allan's musicality and sense of harmony is otherworldly.
This version of Looking glass still blows my mind till this day. The phrasing in the first part of the solo is insane! RIP GOAT.
Celestial, isn't it!?! Allan with Dave Carpenter (Bass) and Gary Novak (Drums - his dad was the jazz pianist, Larry).
This man was a beast on guitar his phrasing and melody were like no other
Holdsworth is the outstanding guitarist of his era. He created his own language for the guitar: influenced many, impossible to copy (though some have tried). The ultimate legato technique.
Praised by Fripp, Eddie Van Halen, and Zappa. 🔥💙🔥
Of his era? Of our generation maybe? All human kind?
Saw Allan opening for Al Di Meola in the 80's in NYC and it was unforgettable. Heartbroken when he died but very grateful for his music and his influence in music.
Holdsworth era un genio. Nunca habrá otro como este guitarrista.
Check out his work with Bill Bruford of Yes in U.K. and his solo albums they did together.
,and Enigmatic Ocean, with Jean Lucas Ponty. Amongst other listening pleasures.
Good call. First heard his playing on Brufords “Feels Good To Me” and it blew my tiny little mind. It still does does over 40 years later!
Totally unique.
Sounds like saxophone runs, cause he always wanted to play sax. Epic.
Check out his early work with Tony Williams in Lifetime, particularly, Fred. His work with Bruford, Jean-Luc Ponty, and in U.K. are essential listening.
Every guitar god's favorite player...That's how f*ckin' good he is!
I saw him in the early 80’s, it was at My father’s place, on Long Island, what a show!
you witnessed the king of kings. All hails to Allan!❤
One of the best live performances of any song, ever. Love your positive vibes man. 👍
maybe the most underrated guitarist of them all - Allan Holdsworth was Frank Zappa's favourite player.
My first time hearing any of his playing. I completely understand why Frank Zappa said that
I disagree. I think anybody who knows guitar , knows that he is arguably one if the best , if not THE best electric guitarist (s ) ever. Not as widely known --- probably -- but not under rated.
@kennybluet5527Allan Holdsworth died poor. If that's not underrated, I don't know what is.
@kennybluet5527Allan Holdsworth died poor. If that's not underrated, I don't know what is.
@@jimhardiman3836 sorrt to hear that. I stad by my statement. Under rated , By whom ? Not by people who know anything about guitar. Not popular and not widely known . There's a difference.
Shawn Lane's favorite guitarist
When I first started listening to Allan about 3 years ago during my Freshman year of university, I was blown away but didn’t quite “get it”. But there was something there, something in his music and his approach to improvising and composing that kept me coming back. Now, he’s my favorite guitarist/musician of all time. It was gradual, but as I “acclimated my ear” to his unique style, I began hearing more and more things in his music that I missed on first listen, and I began to absolutely fall in love with his music.
One incredible thing about Allan is that he was constantly pushing himself and expanding his knowledge/technique without sacrificing the “soul/feel’ of his music. You can listen to a live recording from pretty much any year of his career, and you’ll hear many things completely unique to that particular performance. I didn’t come from a jazz background when I first listened to Allan, but his music has made me fall in love with jazz and fusion. Allan was completely free within music, one of the few musicians to ever achieve that level of improvisation in my opinion.
There are so many great live Holdsworth performances on TH-cam, and I’m glad to see people experiencing them for the first time. If you choose to explore Allan’s music further, I hope you enjoy your journey down the endless rabbit hole that is Allan Holdsworth. 😁
Alan Holdsworth, Yorkshire's finest and an absolutely unsung master of his instrument who inspired so many famous guitarists, unique
Holdworth was seriously, really, not from here. No one was on the same level as him. One of a kind.
sixteen era Holdsworth is the apogee of guitar fusion. That trio with Carpenter and Novak was simply divine.
Try Nevermore from his album with the band UK. Terrific guitar there.
Alan had been called the John Coltrane of the guitar. Jazz is a wide net of styles.
Holdsworth played with Jean Luc Ponty and UK, among many others.
Check out the first U.K. album. He's great on that one.
My favorite. Changed my life.
Thank you :-). Holdsworth is the greatest electric guitarist that has ever lived. Coltrane level. And he plays jazz violin too, but it was just an "intimate hobby" to him, as he said.
One of my favourite pieces from Allan and band. I will never tire listening to it.
Fantastic musicality!! Killer ensemble. Thanks for sharing.
Saw Allan with UK in Vancouver in '78, and in Toronto with Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira and a few other guys in the mid-late 80s.
✊🏼😊🎶❤️🍁❤✨️🕊
Allan Holdsworth is one of my favorite guitarists that most non-musicians don't know about. I remember in a rare interview back in the day that Eddie Van Halen made a comment that he loved Holdsworth's playing.
Eddie was asked "how does it feel to be the best guitarist in the World" and he said "I don't know, ask Allen Holdsworth"
I saw Holdsworth live, sometime back in the early 80's. The band and audience squeezed in a tiny cellar that held maybe 50/60 people at the most. I sat right at the front in a vain attempt to see what it was he was doing. It was incredibly loud in that small space and he was just mind boggingly brilliant.
A very nice and humble reaction.
Steve Via was hired to transcribe this guy and couldn't believe how complicated he played yet he's all improv. He doesn't really know what he's playing he just plays it. Natural magic.
iirc vai was hired as a transcriptionist for zappa, not holdsworth…
I got to see him twice, in concert. Two small clubs in New Orleans. Very intimate setting. He opened for Steve Morse the first time I saw him.
You just hit the gold standard Jone Ruiz !
He didn't compromise his art. Once he was through playing in other people's bands he never looked back. Eddie Van Halen offered him a chance to record using an LA producer and hopefully get well paid for a commercially oriented record, but he chose his own path instead. He never made any money but produced music that will last and be studied well into the future.
So creative. Saw him several times. His hands are the size of dinner plates haha!
Allan was amazingly talented, love his playing. Seen him at the Winchester in Lakewood, Ohio with Joel Taylor on drums, can't remember who was on bass (?). Great show & Joel Taylor was on fire that night!
Ok that WAS amazing. I've struggled with Alan's music in the past. More of a Metheny fan. But I'm might be ready now.
I'd really recommend his album 'the sixteen men of tain', especially the title track. all his 80s and 90s albums are incredible too though
I can relate 100%. I sratrted my musical jopurney 30 ys ago, listening to The Beatles, Santana and Eric Clapton´s unplugged, then a friend handed me a cassete of "the road to you" and I didin´t get it, andgave it back top him, after a year or so, I watched More travels vhs at school thanks to a cool teacher, and I borroed that same casette from him again, and I was hooked ever since! 5 years later I met a friend who introduced me to all the electric guitarist, and lent me his copy of Atavachron and also Metal Fatigue, and said to me, I" like this guy because I don´t understand him". And after a few seconds, I was an fan forever. His REH video is a must see, and then go on your own, I don´t want to spoil your Allan journey.
This version of Looking Glass, is indeed amazing.
Have a nice one!
Allan 😃🙏❤️
Alan was in XXII century...
Good stuff, amigo ❤
Dave Carpenter on bass! Wow!
Just look up Allan's video on YT explaining his approach to scales. Dude is Cyborg. He was a big bicycle nut here in LA too, so I can relate because I used to have a Cannondale addiction here in LA too. Fellow SG player (check him out when nobody heard of him on Soft Machine's Bundles- woof) but that's about all we had in common. RIP Allan . Today the closest thing we have is young Matteo Mancuso - getting the same comments from old farts like DiMeola as they gave Holdsworth 🎸.
Frank Gambale has his moments and Pat Matheny - obviously. I've got a lovely oversize-tube Cannondale frame from the mid 90's that is waiting for a budget.
Discovered Frank G. when I bought his sig Ibanez.
@@dancarter482 I was shocked women's Gold in cycling was brought home by USA on a Cannondale frame. Yours and obviously mine were designed in USA and Made In USA something that stopped a LONG time ago. And yep, Frank is a bad bad guy. I still have my '83 Ibanez Roadstar II that looks like the Lukather model but with only one cream bucker on it - figured blue maple cap, maple neck. If you want to hear it punch up the '83? trailer of the Lind* Blair Chained Heat on YT - that's me and that guitar (and Oberheim drums and Roland Bass machine lol) - gonna sell it soon ! thin the heard !!! 👀 🎸
@@cuda426hemi _Cool A.F.!_
Roy Marchbank
Aha so it isn't just me who loves 'Bundles' which I bought when it was released.
I think he likes it.
Having discovered Allan you are now at the beginning of an incredible musical journey🎸🤘🏻
Allan is truly the greatest of all time, but please be aware he went through amazing musical development over his career so you would do well to start from the beginning and listen from there.
Allan didn’t use modes but instead created his own unique harmonic language. Also this is not free form, Allan was a stunning composer and there was a definite framework within which the musicians then improvised. In fact Allan was a pure improviser and sought never to play the same solo twice. He could have had greater fame and money if he had gone more commercial, but he was true to his muse and never sold out.
Enjoy your journey of discovery 🙏
First discovered Pat Matheny on Bruce Hornsby's _Harbour Lights_ then I bought a Frank Gambale signature Ibanez without knowing Frank's music - don't know if you're familiar with them.
GOAT
I'd have expected more comment on the harmonic flow of the song, analysis of characteristics of AH's playing .
Holdsworth is incredibly imaginative. I saw him with Nucleus and was blown away. ps I would love to know what you think of Derek Bailey's playing!
I would be interested to see you react to Joe Pass playing with Oscar Peterson... 'Just Friends' is a perfect example, and there are many examples freely available here on TH-cam. He also does many solo chord-melody arrangements of popular standards that are divine...
I enjoyed this, newly subscribed. Anyway, back to practice... 😂
Haha. Allan looked pissed off with his own solo.
Allan’s musical facility and his ability to create essentially by ear (as opposed to thinking in terms of music theory) is astonishing, otherworldly, and incomprehensible to me after years of playing, teaching, and performing. That said, this style of fusion just “meanders” too much for my tastes, and lacks the structure of other types of music that appeal to me much more, even though I know that music is being performed by vastly inferior musicians. My point is that if someone doesn’t jibe with this it shouldn’t draw the vitriol that the fans hurl at its detractors, and similarly anyone who thinks it’s just noise simply doesn’t understand enough about music to argue with them about it. This guy is amazing in every sense of the word, and after 45 years of playing I still couldn’t haul gear for someone with his talent. I just don’t find a lot of it appealing, which is okay, and I can almost guarantee that Allan would have agreed that it’s okay. RIP Allan, you otherworldly beast.
turn back.... lol youre about to take a lifelong journey trying to understand this music
You should redo this video where you just watch them play- you missed a lot of astonishing playing by talking to the camera over the top of it.
Come on, He is not even on the Rolling Stones list of the best guitarists of history. He must be terrible.
Pribably because they were rating musically illiyerate guitarists which doesn't inclide Alan Holdsworth..
😂
I had never heard Holdsworth before today. I hope to keep that up for the remainder of my life; that was just a horrible noise.
ok you sad lttle troll with no life
Hang on in there fella. It’s like when your a child and you don’t like adult food , but you get there in the end.
@@frannyp46some people never get there. And that’s ok, we need players that work inside of certain limitations. You’re as much of a product of the things you embrace as you are of the things you ignore
Your choice!
The old cliche, it's better to to keep silent than to speak and and remove all doubt certainly applies here.
I'll admit it, I don't get it. The virtuosity is so over the top, I can't identify with the music at all. It sounds like a whole lot of notes that don't really resolve.
This may not be the most accessible performance, (I love it though) Try listening to Metal Fatigue, the I.O.U album, Sisteen Men of Tain, his music is an acquired taste, once you get used to it, I´m sure you will be fond of his playing. As a friend said once "I like him because I don´t understand him".
He uses weird voicings, weird chords, inside and outside playing, he´s really the goat. If you try learning the head section of this tune, you will have some fun.
Check John Vullo´s channel, and also my latest youtube shorts video.
@@efficientguitar Thanks for the input. I'm gonna go check out Metal Fatigue tonight.
Understandable! If you wish to try some of his studio albums, there will be chords under the solo. It will help understanding his harmonic and melodic ideas make more sense.