I had no idea the previous two posts existed when I found this on YouTube today: Lesson 1: Allan’s 10 Most Useful Scales, but I know some of y’all are also fans of Mr. Holdsworth. I also thought it would be great to hear some comments from y’all who are much more musically educated (and capable) than myself.
I think I kind of get his approach to scales and the guitar neck. I learned a lot by studying similar charts as what he shows that I found in various books and magazines, some better done than others and some better explained than others some so seemingly infuriatingly complicated that I never could quite figure out what the hell was going on. I made what sense of them I could, played around with them until I figured out what worked for me, etc.
He was on a whole other level, tho. To hear him so causally explain the process that he used to figure out this stuff on his own and then how he used the knowledge in his playing is amazing. To hear his playing is, of course, like a distinctly exotic brain massage, IMO, one that very few others can even try and deliver.
I wonder if anyone knows any more about “the booklet” that he mentions several times?
Yeah. Hoo boy, I remember seeing Holdsworth play up close in a small venue, and coming away even more confused than before I went in. I’m still reminded of what John McGlaughlin reportedly said to A.H.: “If I knew what you’re doing, I’d steal all of it.”
Stealing a bit of it might be a reasonable goal though, and that booklet he’s referencing was a part of the Allan Holdsworth VHS instructional video package distributed by REH in 1992. That original package might be hard to find now, but this one, on CD, looks to contain either the same or similar material:
Well, crap. I swung by the local guitar/pawn shop last week and they have an item that I am now going to have to figure out how to sneak past the wife. Behold, Yamaha Transacoustic. Gimmicky? Yep. Playable? Yep. $700? Yep. I played this thing for about a half hour. I really, reallyam GASsing bad right now. Dammit!
Click the link and you’ll see Ace. It does so much more than a pickup, it has a reverb and chorus built-in but it’s an acoustic guitar and it works when it’s not plugged in to an amp! I haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet but I really, really want to. I just can’t afford it right now which is the source of my frustration.
No need for a high $ reverb amp. A regular channel is all that’s needed.
Let us know if you buy. I know all too well the frustration of justifying the expense. My last Amp purchase was from Sweetwater. They were running a 3 year, no interest, finance promotion. That helped some with my SO.
Wordy’s been around, I think - I noticed he posted at least once on The Gear Page recently, but I’m (only) guessing that he got tired of being drawn repeatedly into battle with some of the more orc-like characters hereabouts, and decided to take a break. Can’t say I blame him, but WM, when you want to come back, we’ll be waiting.
Meanwhile, for everybody’s enjoyment, I’ll post a link to a video I stumbles onto yesterdee, namely
which purports to compare the sounds of a zillion different electric guitar pickups, but in reality - since seemingly no effort was made to control for certain other variables - is also comparing the guitars that they live in. No matter, it’s still a really useful comparison.
You obviously will have your own favorites, but for me this video serves as further proof that nothing tickles my ear quite like a Stratocaster, though some others come pretty darn close.
I hate to admit that I hear very little difference between the pickups.
Maybe because he’s playing the same thing? Some guitars/pickups work better for a specific style of music.
Teles for example have that twang so many country players love. Especially when chicken pickin.
I don’t hear that tele twang in this demo because he’s not playing that style of music.
It is a cool demo. I didn’t know there were so many types of pickups. I am familiar with the lipstick, p90’s, soap bar etc. But this vid had many others new to me.
Yeah, so you’d agree with the guy who commented that they all sound alike? I do think the differences are pretty subtle in some cases, but bear in mind that the first four guitars were all Leo Fender creations, and he did tend to prefer a clean, bright sound - I’ve heard he was a country music fan, and catered to country players.
I do think if we’d heard more chordal work in the video, the differences would’ve become more apparent, but I heard the most differences in the various bridge pickups.
Some things I noticed:
The Jazzmaster and Jaguar bridge pickups sound awfully thin clean, and without the chime of a Rickenbacker, so not in a good way. But the Jaguar really comes alive with some gain.
The Telecaster bridge pickup deserves every bit of acclaim it’s gotten, and made the Strat bridge sound anemic by comparison. I thought the much-maligned Telecaster neck pickup acquitted itself very well, but my ultimate guitar might be a Strat with a Tele pickup in the bridge. Or maybe a Tele with a Strat neck pickup.
A P90 is a powerful pickup! A Les Paul neck humbucking pickup has a reputation for a deep, ballsy sound, but it’s got nothing on a P90. Too bad a P90 is so prone to picking up extraneous noise - which is why Gibson invented the humbucker in the first place.
Those cheap Goldfoil pickups sound really good in every situation. No wonder slide players love them.
Your Rocket has the original DeArmond Gold Foils, then? Those were the bomb! They used a rubberized magnet, like a thicker refrigerator magnet, and they get this really juicy grind when you push them. Only drawback is that they tend to be pretty microphonic when turned up loud. Still, they’re great for reasonable volume settings and for recording.
I’m looking for a recreation of that pickup, but it seems that (all?) the reasonably priced ones use a ceramic or alnico bar magnet instead of rubber, which - given that the magnet was the truly unique aspect of their construction - almost certainly means that they’ll sound only approximately authentic.
Hmm, I have quite a few of these pickups in my guitars (heck, one has four of them). Some are in Teiscos, some are cannibalized from them. I’ve got gold foils, some with silver foil, and some with black vinyl tape (the black vinyl ones are my favorites, keep it under your hat (he said on the internet)). They all sound pretty much the same. It’s the ultimate pickup to put through high gain, just devestating. I kind of consider the pickups’ microphoinic qualities one of its primary charms, but it can be a bear live. With a Super-Fuzz, you have to be quick with the pedal. If you stop playing and don’t want feedback at live volumes, stomp simultaneously.
I’ve had a couple of them apart, and now that you mention it, the magnets are the same as those strip magnets you buy to make refrigerator magnets! Now I’ve got another project on the heap.
Yep, that’s what it has. It’s the H54 version so it has two of them. And they are microphonic. You can yell into them and be your own version of Bob Log III
