Holdsworth

I had my musical world shocked this week. I wrote about music shocking people over twenty a while back, and how rare it is. This isn’t any different. I listen to wide range of stuff, a lot of it is eclectic, but Allan Holdsworth has left me almost speechless. He’s the first guy since I discovered Metallica twenty years ago that made me ask, “What the f*ck is he doing, and how the f*ck is he doing it?” Holdsworth is a geeky, space age, jazz fusion, guitarist who’s taken all the rules of music and said, “That’s all a load of tripe. We’ll do it this way.” I imagine he talks that way because he’s from Yorkshire, England. I don’t know if I like his music or not. I also don’t know if I’m upset that I’ve just found out about him. He’s sixty-three and he’s been releasing music since 1969. I’d heard Yngwie Malmsteen mention him as one of his favorite players but Yngwie speaks with a pretty thick Swedish accent and only mentioned him by his last name. About a week ago I was listening to an interview with Eddie van Halen from 1982, and Eddie gushed about Holdsworth for almost ten minutes, so I checked him out. I had to know exactly what the hell could be done with an electric guitar that would shock Eddie van Halen. I was expecting Steve Vai style “tricks” and a bunch of weird sounds, but it’s none of that. The music is undoubtedly weird, but it’s straight forward. Holdsworth just “sees” the guitar differently than anyone I’ve ever heard. I had to search YouTube for a video so I could see what he was doing because listening to it; I had no idea what chords he was playing. After watching him give a lesson and demonstration on how he approaches scales and how he builds chords I still have no idea what he’s doing. I don’t know if he’s ever been here before, but I’m going to see if I can get Riverside Fine Arts to invite him for one of our shows for the 2010-11 season. I know there are plenty of guitar geeks here that would be excited.