Overview
Submitted by guitar-list on
musical style:
Holdsworth is noted for his advanced knowledge of music, through which he incorporated a vast array of complex chord progressions and intricate solos; the latter comprising myriad scale forms often derived from those such as the diminished, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, resulting in an unpredictable and "outside" sound. His unique legato soloing technique stems from his desire to originally play the saxophone, but having been unable to afford one he thus intentionally utilised the guitar in order to make it sound like a different instrument. He also become associated with playing an early form of guitar synthesizer called the SynthAxe, a company which he endorsed in the 1980s.
Aside from many solo albums, he has performed with Bill Bruford (both in his band and in UK), Soft Machine, Gong, Tony Williams, Jean-Luc Ponty, and many others.
He is known for his unusual technique, which is filled with unusual chord voicings and legato melodies of great harmonic sophistication. Many guitarists, including Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai have lauded him as a master. He has also been a pioneer in the use of guitar synthesizers like the Synthaxe which was used extensively on his albums Atavachron and Sand . Holdsworth was also Frank Zappa's favorite guitarist. Read more about Allan Holdsworth on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Gear used by Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth electric guitars
Allan Holdsworth links
Allan Holdsworth
1946-08-06 to 2017-04-15
member of band
- Soft Machine
- The New Tony Williams Lifetime
- U.K.
- Bruford
- Soft Works
- Planet X
- Holdsworth Pasqua Haslip Wackerman
- Gongzilla
- Gong
- Tempest
- 'Igginbottom
- Allan Holdsworth Group
supporting musician
allmusic
BBC Music page
discogs
free streaming
image
IMDb
official homepage
other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases
- Allan Holdsworth other databases