Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Holdsworth: more or less annoying if he were a drummer?
Hmm, he's not the least bit annoying as a guitarist, so the question makes no sense. Next!
I hate to answer a question with a question, but...
What causes a person to desire infamy?
Jeez, and I'm still trying to work out why Yes didn't become Katy Perry's boobs.Originally Posted by Kavus Torabi
And, considering the post's author, not surprising in the least...
I like drums.
I like Holdsworth.
Is it annoying if I like both? Would I be more annoying if I played guitar, but still liked Holdsworth? Oh...wait...what if Bruford played violin for UK? Would Holdsworth have played drums, therefore making Jobson less annoying?
Deep thoughts. Glad I have a weekend to think them out.
"I want to be someone, who someone would want to be." Marillion
Holdsworth is the greatest electric guitarist who has ever lived.
Music Comprehension + You= FAIL
He was introduced in a thread about UK, I guess that makes it relevant. A lot of people would have loved if the original line-up had done a reunion.
He was brought up in the Yngwie Malmsteen featured album thread as a point of comparison and the OP took a swipe at Holdsworth there in response but I guess his butthurt needed its own thread.
Equally delusional.
Ah, I haven't heard Holdsworth in a while. Time for Metal Fatigue. Thanks!
It is in so far as there's no such thing as "greatest" when it comes to the arts; it's completely subjective. But any guitar player that knows his ass from a hole in the ground knows that Holdsworth does many things that are close to impossible to do with a guitar... and has created a style so individualistic that you can't find another guitar player's influence anywhere within it. That still doesn't make him the greatest, but it makes him pretty great, regardless of what you think of his music.
I agree.
And I don't disagree. But I'm not much of a fan of his music. He always plays the same solo, regardless of the song.
Goatpenis thread,here i come(so to speak)....
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
If Allan were an asteroid, the OP would be a small non-stick kitchen utensil.
This is absolutely not true.
His solos are improvisations based on the song. He is not just noodling the same solo, every note he plays has purpose within the context of the piece he is playing.
Here's a bit of what a friend of mine, a grad from Berklee (now top LA session musician), said concerning AH:
...his innovative, unique approach to improv is unmatched. The greatest jazz soloists (McCoy, Brecker, Freddie, Coletrane, etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. There clearly is no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonics, bop, post-bop...NOTHING.
And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell
That thread has more validity.
I agree completely, but I can understand how it would come off as sounding the same to somebody who's not into what he does. To me, it's high concentration listening and not something that can be appreciated from a distance; you can't multi-task to it. If you don't dig something, you're generally not going to go into deep investigation of it. Which is fine. Personally, his music resonates with me in a huge way, but I'll be the first to admit it's not for everybody. And apparently, it's definitely not for the OP!
Especially when some like Frank Zappa says he digs Holdsworth's playing... and that man did not compliment anyone lightly.
Okay, I'm not a guitar player so now you have piqued my interest and I really wanna know. What is it, exactly, that he does which is so hard?
Note choices?
Speed?
Length of phrases without taking a breath?
If Jimmy Page played with Genesis, it would sound better than if Holdsworth played with Dream Theater.
Allan was motivated by Jazz trumpet lines, then figured out how to transfer that to the electric guitar. If you look at it from this perspective, then you can start to understand what he was going for.. then and now.
Model Railroading is annoying.
Yes. His harmonic vocabulary is extremely sophisticated. Much of it comes from jazz, but also from modern classical. His speed and fluidity is way up there too, but he doesn't have a monopoly on that sort of thing; there's a fair share of exceedingly speedy guitar players out there these days. It's the content that makes him stand out. Also his chordal concept; he came up with a bunch of chord voicings that are pretty much unprecedented. Many of his chords are tendonitis inducing for anybody with normal size hands... and he shifts from one to the other with ease. All of that is impressive, but what does it for me is the emotional content; much of it is very intense, but his compositions often have an intriguing melancholic bitter/sweetness.
Saxophone, actually. He wanted to be a sax player, but his dad bought him a guitar. Holding the belief that a musical instrument is just a tool for getting a job done, he stuck with the guitar... but he plays it like a sax. Two of his biggest musical heroes are John Coltrane and Michael Brecker.
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