As guitarists, we tend to play in a linear fashion by moving from one string to the next, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it can’t get somewhat limiting in sonic terms. To break…
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When Allan Holdsworth played chords, it could look downright bemusing and somewhat physically demanding; what’s more, how did he even come up with that stuff in the first place? Even before discovering Holdsworth myself, I…
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There are literally endless things you can do with pentatonic scales in music and especially on the guitar. We all love them, so why not milk them for all they’re worth? The idea of modal…
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If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge Allan Holdsworth fan, and have studied his approach to scales, chords and music in general for a number of years. Allan…
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In this series, we’re taking a look at what I like to call, ‘fretboard motion’, which is ways of moving around the fretboard that create musical motion and avoid obvious sounding scale patterns, licks and…
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In honor of the passing of one of my most influential guitar heroes, Allan Holdsworth, and perhaps one of the most innovative guitarists of all time, I’d like to look at his use of diminished…
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Every once in a while, it’s good to look at things from a different perspective, especially if you’re stuck in a rut. In this post, we look at the mathematics of melody, or rather we’ll…
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You’ve probably had the ‘pleasure’ of being in a guitar shop and hearing someone noodling in A minor or E minor pentatonic while trying out a guitar, so much so that you probably recognize those…
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I first saw this on Allan Holdsworth’s REH DVD where he recommends learning scales using four notes per string instead of three. While this is doable up at the dusty end of the fretboard, there…
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Altered tunings on guitar can provide a welcome distraction from standard tuning, if only to break free from patterns, shapes and well-worn paths for a while, and get those creative juices flowing. The possibilities are…
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