Allan Holdsworth — A Guitarist’s Guide
My first guitar teacher introduced me to Allan Holdsworth in the late 90s and I’ve been on an apprenticeship ever since. Not trying to learn his licks — the thought of dissecting his music that way was always unappealing — but trying to get inside his head. To understand the way he thinks about chords, scales and improvisation, and figure out exactly how he was able to come up with lines that sound so impossibly intricate yet flow so naturally.
What I eventually discovered is that the approach behind Holdsworth’s playing is far simpler than it looks. So simple, in fact, that most people who’ve attempted to describe what he does completely miss the point. Once it clicks, you don’t just hear his music differently — you have a new framework for thinking about the guitar that opens up harmonic territory most players never find.
That framework is what Allan Holdsworth — A Guitarist’s Guide is about.
What the book covers
- Holdsworth’s core approach to chords and scales — how he thinks about them, why it works, and why it’s simpler than it appears
- The 4NPS (four notes per string) scale system that underpins his fluid, legato lines — and how to apply it to your own playing
- How Holdsworth approaches chord-scale relationships differently from orthodox theory — and why his way makes more intuitive sense on the guitar
- Diatonic chords, diminished scales and outside playing approached the Holdsworthian way
- A framework for developing your own voice rather than copying licks — the way Holdsworth himself would have wanted it
Who it’s for
Guitarists who’ve always been fascinated by Holdsworth but never known where to start. Players who’ve hit the ceiling of conventional scale systems and want a genuinely different way of thinking about the fretboard. Anyone who wants to understand one of the most original musical minds the guitar has ever produced.
Further reading on the blog
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