ALLAN HOLDSWORTH TAB PDF PDF

The idea is to understand his thought process with regards to the chords he is playing over. It was impossible to do the great man any kind of justice here, so I just transcribed a few short licks of his and put them into a very short solo. Play the chord with the pedal back and then gradually swell it in, combined with chorus and delay gives a very haunting, beautiful sound, and again Holdsworth uses this effect all the time. This time I have used a volume pedal to “swell” in the chords. The second batch of voicing’s come from D Dorian (C major). This is a very big part of Holdsworth’s sound, and gives the chord’s a lush depth to them. He uses a smaller scale neck guitar, but it is still achievable on a normal one, just take it easy! The first audio example I have played all the E major shapes acapella (I did not transcribe the exact phrasing that I played just the chord shapes so you can try your own way of phrasing them), using a clean sound with plenty of chorus and delay. This is another trademark of Holdsworth, both in his chord and lead playing. The first bunch are all from the key of E major, beware some of them contain wide stretches.

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH TAB PDF PDF

On the “Lead Lines” PDF page below, I have transcribed some of the chord shapes that he uses. Again you can do this using any scale shape any where on the fretboard, making the intervals as wide (crossing between scale positions), or as close (staying in one shape) as you wish.

You can get some really cool new sounding voicing’s for your standard chords. Try it with any scale shape you know, stack some note’s on top of each other and see how they sound. Allan stacks scale notes on top of each other in various intervals apart, 4 th‘s 7 th‘s etc, and it’s this approach that gives him an instantly recognisable sound. When I first watched him I didn’t recognize any of the shapes he was playing. You will never see him play a conventional A major chord in the open position. Incidentally this is also how he constructs chords. I have also circled the root notes as a reference point, and mapped all the examples in A major. There is a lot of information on that page, but try to break it down and visualise each of the 3 note per string shapes, some of which I’m sure many of you will know. I have mapped out some of the main shapes he uses, Major, minor, Harmonic minor, Melodic jazz minor and Whole tone. He can see any scales/modes/arpeggios in every area of the neck, and prefers the use of 3 note per string shapes as this is easier for legato playing. If you look at the sheet below titled “Scale Shapes”, I have taken the concept that he talks about on his instructional video. Check out his website to read his bio and get hold of his albums: Putting this lesson together was quite a task, as figuring out what he is doing was a challenge to say the least! I have broken it down into three parts I’m sure it’s that vision that has been a big influence on his sound, especially that silky smooth legato. He said that he never wanted to be a guitarist, but always a sax player. He is a modest man who gives himself a hard time and gets uncontrollably nervous before the start of a show. It gives us all hope that you can make it if you actually work hard and become good at your instrument! I think its fair to say that he probably appeals more to the hardcore guitar fans out there, Simon Cowell is not going to be knocking on his door anytime soon! However, by sticking to his guns, becoming an incredible player and writing great tunes, he plays all over the world to sell out audiences. He has been, and still is at the very forefront of jazz fusion playing, and is often referenced as being an influence to many famous guitarists. A master of chord voicing’s, and in possession of the most frightening command of the legato technique.

He is utterly unique in his approach, tone, phrasing and composition. Mr Holdsworth is in short a phenomenal player.

Allan Holdsworth Tab Pdf