For what it's worth I happened to be walking by the SynthAxe booth at the Feb 1985 NAMM show when Allan Holdsworth walked up, strapped one on and began to play. I had never heard of it and barely knew who he was. The few people around me seemed in awe. It wasn't until decades later I began to appreciate what the heck he was up to.
18:34 I had this exact issue of "Gitara i Bas" magazine as a teenager. It contained extensive interview with Allan. I read this interview countless times, depite not knowing any of Allan's music. I was jut fascinated about how he talked about his musical development, about the music that he liked, about his own music, about his approach to playing the guitar. Few months later he was performing live (trio with Novak on drums and Carpenter on bass) during Warsaw Summer Jazz Days festival, and polish television broadcasted this event. I recorded this gig on my VHS, and watched it countless times. It was like a music from another planet to me. Something completely different than anything I had heard before.
Hey John, thanks for the video, and thanks for the shoutout! To anyone visiting my site: The current domain will shut down later this year, but a good friend has offered to host the site and take care of technical maintenance. I'll try to get the info on the site updated soon. To John: I'm so glad that my collection is being put to good use. But you've gone way beyond my sources, digging so deep into the material, and created such a comprehensive story on this topic that is beyond anything ever done before and probably for many years to come. This is a remarkable achievement. I need to watch this again, since it was so packed with information. I doubt that this will generate as many views as your five hour video, but as they said about Spinal Tap: This is for a select audience!
Ah you're crazy! 95% of it is from your sources, I just organized it haha. But thank you very much. I dunno why its not being seen as much in the group, but that's just the algorithm for you! The right people will enjoy it and thats all that matters!
I am staying up all night(25tth-26th) listening to his earlier works and now I ended up here! As a guitarist I feel kinda stupid for not knowing about his life and all.. but also it's very exciting to accidentally discover the time and effort he paid to his work.
Thanks for this incredible story, John! You always study the history meticulously and tell the real story. I can't thank you enough for all your work! When you told the story about Allan recovering the stolen Synthaxe, one of my close friends who introduced me to Allan and my older brother drove Allan to the pawnshop to retrieve it. My older brother knew the pawnbroker, but the pawnbroker stubbornly refused to release the Synthaxe without recovering what he paid for it. It was wrong that Allan had to pay anything to retrieve his instrument but at least he got it back.
Thanks so much for the kind words and for that little bit extra to the story! I used to work for a store similar to a pawn shop and letting go of stolen gear was a risk you took. At least Allan was lucky the store owner bought it cheap!
Thank you very much for this Video..I sure do Miss Mr. Holdsworth. I met Allan back in Roslyn, NY @ a club called "My Fathers Place"...Him Gary Husband and i forgot who was on the Bass..lol...but this was back in the 90's....These Memories will sure be treasured
@@TurrigenousOfficial Thanks for your response . Appreciate it. i'm from West Hempstead btw...I also so Jeff Berlin-John Clark & Dark Steward & Bruford back in 1979? i believe it was...it was Aired on the Radio too...That was a great concert..
If you've played the videogames Secret of Mana or Trials of Mana, their soundtrack composer Hiroki Kikuta is a major Holdsworth fan, named him as the artist he'd most want to collaborate with, and named Atavachron as one of his 5 favorite albums.
@@TurrigenousOfficial Man, the SynthAxe "plastic guitar" story is just too good. I had never heard this before. Is that something that just came out recently?
Steve's story? Yes! Literally like last week!! I asked an unrelated SA question and he said he couldn't help but added that story! The full quote is at the end of the vid
Wow! That was very interesting. I always thought he had only two, but obviously he had quite a few of them through the years. I was always impressed by the stuff he did with the SynthAxe. Distance vs Desire and Pud Wud are amongst my favorite Holdsworth pieces. Man, that Oberheim matrix 12 sounded glorious.
2:40 correction Fairlight is a digital audio company based in Sydney. In 1979 they created the Fairlight CMI, one of the earliest digital audio workstation with digital audio sampler. Used by Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Jean-Michel Jarre. -Wiki .. 19:40 "Wardencliff Tower" ( a fave of mine)
Very cool research. For us AH fans this is very interesting to watch. It's amazing how much work he put into adding this instrument to his writing. It's gotta be the best application of a Synthax anywhere in the world. I mean who stretched this thing to this extent? Certainly didn't stretch their fretting hand to this extent. lol.
I spent the afternoon with Allen when he just got the Synth Axe delivered. I was recommended by Chris Hoard with whom knew Allen well. I am a sound designer, I worked on music with Chris. I had already met Allan prior.I spent a fair amount of time involved in Electronic music in the 1980’s. Being mainly a guitarist, synthesizers were less familiar to him. The afternoon between pints was discussion about synth basics. I am talking about ultra basics like oscillators and filters, basics are as integral to all sound generation. Allen was an ultra humble genius with a personality that was warm , friendly and accommodating. He tolerated my gushing over the first UK album on a boat reception for Chris Hoards wedding. 11:5611:57
Thanks as always for another tremendously enlightening deep dive into AH's music. I'm particularly struck by his interest in fifths tuning, and how pragmatic that tuning architecture is for a player working with four-note-per-string scales. It must have been tremendously liberating for him to be able to access that so directly with the SynthAxe. I wonder if Allan would have taken to modern extended-range/multi-scale instruments which could really maximize the potential of fifths tuning on guitar!
thanks for this man! i really enjoyed it. Interesting and entertaining, keep the good work,...hopefuly in your music. It's very enjoyable too. Are you familiar with the norwegian band Spiral Architect? your band kind of reminds me of those guys (kind of,...at moments)...tnx again, be well....are you aware of the Brett Stine book? seems very interesting and inspiring,...the deep dive into that language, right? Anyways, good luck, bye.....P.D: love the Romero's zombie movies ,..day of the dead is my favorite
Thank you so much, and also for checking out my bands stuff! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂. I've heard of Spiral but don't know much about them. Day is great too!
@@TurrigenousOfficial I couldn't tell you. When I moved to LA from the bay area, I became antiquated with a guy called Wes Patterson, who I've since lost touch with. Wes had 2 music stores in Orange County that he started out of his garage. He had equipment stacked floor to ceiling in his garage. He knew famous acts that would come back from tour and sell off equipment thru him. I would frequently rummage thru his garage and see road cases with names of bands stenciled on the side. It was Wes who introduced me to Allan. Allan was always selling stuff...guitars, synths..etc. He would come back from tour and sell things to pay bills. I bought the Expander...I had to sell that piece years later to pay my mortgage...hated doing that. I still own 2 Ibanez guitars that I bought from Allan. Wes called me one day to tell me that Allan was selling 2 of his SynthAxe's. He wanted 3k for each of them. I spoke to a friend of mine, a jazz player, to see if he was interested. We drove from LA to Allen's house that night and picked them up. My friend bought the green one and I the red. We had him autograph the backs of them. I came in 5 road cases. Each piece had a road case. Not all pics of SynthAxe's show the step up step down pedal...it two had a small case. I used mine to write music for about twelve years before I sold it...I believe thru Wes, to someone in NY. I don't know who. You find it difficult to rely on it so much when you realize everything about it proprietary and you would have a very, very difficult time getting it repaired. You can't just run to a hardware store to buy a cable for it. The heat it produces makes it uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. Having said all this, I've yet to find an instrument that is it's equal. dan
Excellent video John. Love the story about the homeless man nicking one and selling it to a pawn shop for $30. Fun fact; I helped Chad and Allan with a load in at a dodgy bar in Sausalito in 1993. I didn't ask for payment...
I saw Allan play in Washington DC around 1987. He played a synthaxe but I didn’t notice an Oberheim xpander. I was standing closer to the keyboardist though. I did notice a Matrix 1000 on the stage, which is a preset 6 voice Oberheim synth having the capability of the same basic tones preset as the much more expensive Xpander. I don’t necessarily have a photographic memory so it’s possible that there was an xpander somewhere on the stage but I just didn’t notice it. I was standing on the side of the stage near the keyboardist during the show. Also I had to spent some time studying the Xpander synthesizer just a year prior to that so I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed it. By the way, this was an incredibly loud show. Gary husbands drumming was almost ear piercing!
Excellent overview and information. Also, a bit of a cautionary tale as using "specialized gear" can make it difficult or impossible to play material written for said gear when a company stops making it or was only sporadically available in the first place. I myself run three different guitar synth systems which use specialized cables to connect the guitar to the electronics and ethernet to connect to the floor control pedal. I totally get why Allan went for the Synthaxe setup since this "specialized gear" let him make the music he heard in his head. Which is the goal. Same with my own "specialized boondoggle gear".
Totally! But it's also very thrilling when you can play these tunes that hardly anyone else could ever play. But in reality, it's not totally impossible if you played keys. I don't and it's more exciting trying to do it the same way Allan did haha
The first Allan Holdsworth album I bought, was Sand. It was first time I was hearing SynthAxe from that album. It sounded very nice, like nothing I had heard before. Back then I did not know anything about how easy Allan plays those "impossible" chords. Very good story about SynthAxe, and breath controller.
I've seen Holdsworth with the Synthaxe a few times in the late 80's, basically any time he was in NY area. Definitely remember him using it October 1986 and 1987 at the Bottom Line on the Atavachron and Sand tours. Definitely remember seeing the chopped Matrix and Expander. I'm sure the TX7 was there also but I think stuffed in the rack. I remember an '89 show at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. Definitely no Synthaxe at that show, at that point he was using the white Steinberger. The DeLap baritone may have been used in that show also. I also remember a show opening for Chick at the John Harms Center in Englewood, NJ but I'm fuzzy on the date, possibly 88. Gambale was playing with Chick at that point, so I'm not sure if its that actual tour you mentioned. Pretty sure no Synthaxe at that show. I know I saw shows from the Secret tour at the Bottom Line also, had to be '89 at the Bottom Line and I'm pretty sure he had the Synthaxe out for that. Seemed like every year he'd end up playing there in the autumn. '86 was just the trio, Gary Husband if I remember properly, after that Steve Hunt was in the band. It seemed to alternate between Wackerman and Husband on the drums, I guess whoever was available for the tour. Those Bottom Line shows were legendary. There was just a certain energy in NY and it was common to see big metal guitarists in the back. He got a lot of attention from the shredders in those days. My buddy and I used to camp out with lawn chairs hours before the doors opened so we could sit right in front and marvel at his rig and his playing. After he'd finish sound check, the band would come out on the street and he was always approachable and we got to know him a bit and joked around. One time we bought him some six packs of Samuel Smith ale and he had his roadie go out to our car between shows to get them. Second show he had a bottle of oatmeal stout proudly displayed. Another time I was talking to him and mentioned the Jon St James record he played on. He said he hadn't heard it. I happened to have a cassette copy in my car and in between shows, his roadie came out with me to my car to get the tape. I was not a huge fan of the Synthaxe era,.Atavachron, Sand and to a lesser extent, Secret are great records., I'd say Allan's best compositional period. I know for Allan it was his dream to be unshackled from the limitations of the guitar. I'm not a guitarist, I play keys and my interest in Holdworth wasn't about the shredding, I was a big jazz fusion freak and Allan was just on another planet musically. The level of emotion he wrung out of the guitar was unmatched. For me, the synthaxe just fell a bit flat and fell short of what he was able to do with a guitar. It seemed like all those layers of digital tech just stripped something out of his expressiveness. I'm sure he'd disagree and say that the limitations of the guitar held him back. Perhaps if the tech were better and the breath controller was integrated he could have been more expressive but it was still limited with 80s era tech. Funny how much tech has improved in the last 30+ years, but the go-go '80s churned out things like the Synthaxe and the EWI. Now the EWI is a different beast. I saw Michael Brecker with Steps Ahead using it once at the Bottom Line. That was a fantastic show with Mike Stern on guitar. Oh man, Brecker could make that thing sing.
Good memory and some nice stories. I wish I was old enough to have seen those gigs! The Chick Corea gig was the fall of 86, using the Black Steinberger. The band was a three piece with the Synthaxe and backing tracks. 87 he had Steve in the band and was full steam. 88 they had Vinnie C on drums for most of the tour. 88 and 89 are weird years for Allans live stuff. I can't find much aside from a few July/Aug 88 shows. 89, Allan absolutely used the SA in Dec over in the UK, and in Japan in April/May but I THINK he had borrowed one. I have no idea if he toured the US in 89, and if he did, if he brought the SA out. There arent any shows that surfaced and thats all I can go by. But I would assume he DID tour and used the SA. By 90 he was using a double neck and the Baritones were never used live except "Gonan" which he got on tour and that was only used for "Zones" improvs in 1992.
Great videos! I love learning about Allan. Question: I believe you mention, in this or another video, that Allan used a double neck with 5ths on one neck and standards on the other. Do you happen to know the exact tuning Allan use for the 5ths neck? I can't seem to find that info. My own experiments with are a bit frustrating. Thanks!
Thanks! The 5ths neck is the same tuning he always used. F C G D A e. The only difference is, because of the scale length, the F wasn't pitched down but the same F as a 1st fret low E. Then, once he got the longer scale he moved the pitch an octave down
I found this more relatable than I thought I would. I use a midi keyboard along my strings in a sort of fingerstyle technique. My strings are doubled and tuned in fifths as an octave mandolin and I settled on a scale length of around 20 inches and 1.5 nut width for the sort of playing and chords I use to be ergonomic and super functional.
Nice History. Now I know why Allan was thinking of going to Strandbergs, the 20 degree radius neck, it is a tappers best weapon for sure. And Shredders too. I used one to rehab. my left hand and it worked. Ergonomics, now I can play my regular instruments again.
It is and works pretty well! I can't use it for Allan's stuff really, but if you want to get a sax sound or organ sound easily, it's a good alternative. Also some of the Fishman stiff. Can't remember the exact name. I think it's the triple something
It's always incredibly interesting to learn more about Holdsworth's tenure with the Synthaxe...but maybe I haven't drunk my coffee today - the background music is a bit too loud (and familiar) for me to concentrate on listening to your narrative!
Thanks for the feedback. Are you on your phone? I reuploaded it again after lowering the music so it could be youtubes compression and what you're listening to it on. I should upload closed captioning haha
@@TurrigenousOfficial Usually my phone for YT these days because a 15 year old Mac doesn't cope very well. Thanks for being open to the feedback! I'll take another listen.
Allan was a genius. I think he should be called the Father of modern fusion. We know GG is only good because he copied a lot of what Allan played even before Guthrie was born!
Great video! I for one hated Allan Holdsworth's synthaxe period. He had such a unique and wonderful guitar tone and the synthaxe just took that away. With Holdsworth I want to hear guitar, not keyboard sounds.
ALLAN , MI GENIO PREFERIDO , LE FALTO TIEMPO PARA MOSTRAR TODO LO QUE EL TENIA PARA NOSOTROS ....ES EL GRAN MUSICO DE DOS SIGLOS ....BASE PARA FUTURO , ADORO SU MUSICA .
While many people may not know who Holdsworth is, many have heard endomorph without knowing. Playboi carti sampled it on his track Location. That’s how I found out about Holdsworth.
That was so cool ty. Those sounds very similar to John Mclaughlin solo sound too. Any chance you could do a video on recreating the sound at the end of video? Best Jay
Thank you so much! The distance vs desire solo tone? I'm really not good at that stuff. It's also a mixture I believe of a tx7 and xpander so it's really hard to know what's doing what.
@@TurrigenousOfficial well you pointed me in the right direction! There are all these vst reissues so we'll see! ty That sound is one I'm hunting. John Mcglaughlin uses it, Al Dimeola on "Soaring Through A Dream" of note. Its like a smooth digital horn...I met Allan at one of those Namm Shows you mentioned I stood right next to him as we watched a private expo of Michael Mann Synthesizers (86) Chicago. I remember glancing at him as Michael played, and he was locked in it looked like he was downloading everything Michael was doing into his brain right there and then.
@4:59 YEAH ! ! ! ! 💥☀🔥🎉🎊 I was at that show ! ! ! NAMM '85, Disneyland Hotel ! ! ! Al Di Meola went on first. The concert was for JBL speakers. Midway through the gig Allan debuted the SynthAxe when nobody was expecting it. That show was A W E S O M E !!!! ! ! ! !*%#$@ ! ! ! ! ! ! ♠🪅🎉🎸🎸✳✴❇🏴☠🔆🔔🔥🔥☀🌞🌠🌋🦁💥
@@TurrigenousOfficial No, it was 1985. A little follow up story. I was able to get into the '85 NAMM show with some of my G.I.T. classmates. AH was scheduled to play a concert for JBL speakers. Al Di Meola opened with an acoustic set then Holdsworth came on with IOU:Chad Wackerman, Jimmy Johnson, Paul Williams and the keyboard player from Jeff Berlin's band whose name I can't remember. Then three weeks later I saw AH again with IOU (with Gordon Beck on keys) at the Beverly Hills Theater, however, minus the SynthAxe. That show was even more AWESOME ! ! ! ! ! !
Yea but it can do some incredible things a guitar can't. And that tube is aftermarket so Allan can have more control over his volume like a horn player.
@@TurrigenousOfficial Love the video. I just don't get jazz. I am quite smart (not trying to be arrogant) and musical(ish), but I just can't get it. That is not a slur on jazz (4 blokes playing 4 different instruments at 4 different time signatures in every key.) If I had 3 wishes, one might be jazz, not the first wish ,but anyway, I'm tangenting...
For what it's worth I happened to be walking by the SynthAxe booth at the Feb 1985 NAMM show when Allan Holdsworth walked up, strapped one on and began to play. I had never heard of it and barely knew who he was. The few people around me seemed in awe. It wasn't until decades later I began to appreciate what the heck he was up to.
That's awesome!
18:34 I had this exact issue of "Gitara i Bas" magazine as a teenager. It contained extensive interview with Allan. I read this interview countless times, depite not knowing any of Allan's music. I was jut fascinated about how he talked about his musical development, about the music that he liked, about his own music, about his approach to playing the guitar. Few months later he was performing live (trio with Novak on drums and Carpenter on bass) during Warsaw Summer Jazz Days festival, and polish television broadcasted this event. I recorded this gig on my VHS, and watched it countless times. It was like a music from another planet to me. Something completely different than anything I had heard before.
Hey John, thanks for the video, and thanks for the shoutout! To anyone visiting my site: The current domain will shut down later this year, but a good friend has offered to host the site and take care of technical maintenance. I'll try to get the info on the site updated soon. To John: I'm so glad that my collection is being put to good use. But you've gone way beyond my sources, digging so deep into the material, and created such a comprehensive story on this topic that is beyond anything ever done before and probably for many years to come. This is a remarkable achievement. I need to watch this again, since it was so packed with information. I doubt that this will generate as many views as your five hour video, but as they said about Spinal Tap: This is for a select audience!
Ah you're crazy! 95% of it is from your sources, I just organized it haha. But thank you very much. I dunno why its not being seen as much in the group, but that's just the algorithm for you! The right people will enjoy it and thats all that matters!
Cheers:)
I am staying up all night(25tth-26th) listening to his earlier works and now I ended up here! As a guitarist I feel kinda stupid for not knowing about his life and all.. but also it's very exciting to accidentally discover the time and effort he paid to his work.
Great video John!
Hey thanks so much!! 🙂🙂
Thank you so much for making this. The Synthaxe inspired such great work from him.
Thank YOU for watching! 🙂
The best RUclips doc I've ever seen!
Too kind. Thank you!
Thank you very very much John for your effort to compile this brilliant video. This is a remarkable output.
Thank you my friend 🙏
This is superb. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put in to creating this. He was truly one of a kind.
My pleasure. Thank YOU for watching
Shout out to the De Leo brothers. That was hella sweet of you guys. I love hearing stories like this. We miss you tremendously Alan !
This is, by far, the best thing I’ve watched in years! 😍 Amazing work, my good man.. (He says after half an hour of tears).. Thank you, Sir! 🙏
I try! Thank you 🙏
Thanks for this incredible story, John! You always study the history meticulously and tell the real story. I can't thank you enough for all your work! When you told the story about Allan recovering the stolen Synthaxe, one of my close friends who introduced me to Allan and my older brother drove Allan to the pawnshop to retrieve it. My older brother knew the pawnbroker, but the pawnbroker stubbornly refused to release the Synthaxe without recovering what he paid for it. It was wrong that Allan had to pay anything to retrieve his instrument but at least he got it back.
Thanks so much for the kind words and for that little bit extra to the story! I used to work for a store similar to a pawn shop and letting go of stolen gear was a risk you took. At least Allan was lucky the store owner bought it cheap!
Thank you very much for this Video..I sure do Miss Mr. Holdsworth. I met Allan back in Roslyn, NY @ a club called "My Fathers Place"...Him Gary Husband and i forgot who was on the Bass..lol...but this was back in the 90's....These Memories will sure be treasured
As a Long Islander I've heard of that place plenty of times!
@@TurrigenousOfficial Thanks for your response . Appreciate it. i'm from West Hempstead btw...I also so Jeff Berlin-John Clark & Dark Steward & Bruford back in 1979? i believe it was...it was Aired on the Radio too...That was a great concert..
Great video. This was worth your energy.
Thank you 🙂
Thanks for all that you've done John!
My pleasure!
If you've played the videogames Secret of Mana or Trials of Mana, their soundtrack composer Hiroki Kikuta is a major Holdsworth fan, named him as the artist he'd most want to collaborate with, and named Atavachron as one of his 5 favorite albums.
That's awesome! I did not know that. I'll have to play thru it haha. My friend loves the game, I'll have to tell him
You nailed it! Sounds perfect. Great work, John! Thanks for sharing this. Definitely some stuff here that I had no idea about!
thank you!
@@TurrigenousOfficial Man, the SynthAxe "plastic guitar" story is just too good. I had never heard this before. Is that something that just came out recently?
Steve's story? Yes! Literally like last week!! I asked an unrelated SA question and he said he couldn't help but added that story! The full quote is at the end of the vid
Are you kidding me? This is amazing!
Thanks so much buddy 😄
this is for me one of the best channels on youtube, thanks for making these excellent videos!
Thank you! I just recorded something I'm excited to share soon
Wow! That was very interesting. I always thought he had only two, but obviously he had quite a few of them through the years. I was always impressed by the stuff he did with the SynthAxe. Distance vs Desire and Pud Wud are amongst my favorite Holdsworth pieces. Man, that Oberheim matrix 12 sounded glorious.
Oh that geezer will never stop amazing us. 🍻
2:40 correction Fairlight is a digital audio company based in Sydney. In 1979 they created the Fairlight CMI, one of the earliest digital audio workstation with digital audio sampler. Used by Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Jean-Michel Jarre. -Wiki .. 19:40 "Wardencliff Tower" ( a fave of mine)
"One dinosaur in love with another" Haha Allan made my day... again!.. Thanks for a great video!..
He seemed to be such a cut up haha. Thank you for watching!
Thanks for the Work you do to keep this remarkeble musicians memory in scape,-
Thanks ! You are so awesome to do this. You are the next best thing !!
My pleasure!
Thank you so much John, your work is invaluable and it really helps keeping the spirit of Allan alive!🙏
Very cool research. For us AH fans this is very interesting to watch. It's amazing how much work he put into adding this instrument to his writing. It's gotta be the best application of a Synthax anywhere in the world. I mean who stretched this thing to this extent? Certainly didn't stretch their fretting hand to this extent. lol.
Agreed!!
I spent the afternoon with Allen when he just got the Synth Axe delivered. I was recommended by Chris Hoard with whom knew Allen well. I am a sound designer, I worked on music with Chris. I had already met Allan prior.I spent a fair amount of time involved in Electronic music in the 1980’s. Being mainly a guitarist, synthesizers were less familiar to him. The afternoon between pints was discussion about synth basics. I am talking about ultra basics like oscillators and filters, basics are as integral to all sound generation. Allen was an ultra humble genius with a personality that was warm , friendly and accommodating. He tolerated my gushing over the first UK album on a boat reception for Chris Hoards wedding. 11:56 11:57
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I have heard Chris' name quite often
This is amazing. Thank you John!
Thank YOU for watching! :)
This was fascinating. Thanks for doing the research on Allan's use of the SynthAxe.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching 🙂
Great video. Thanks for the effort you put into making it.
Thank you!
Thanks, what a great story. Thank you for making this! (love the Michael Myers t-shirt, nice!)
My pleasure and thanks! Halloween has been one of my fav movies for as long as I've been playing guitar!
Thanks as always for another tremendously enlightening deep dive into AH's music. I'm particularly struck by his interest in fifths tuning, and how pragmatic that tuning architecture is for a player working with four-note-per-string scales. It must have been tremendously liberating for him to be able to access that so directly with the SynthAxe. I wonder if Allan would have taken to modern extended-range/multi-scale instruments which could really maximize the potential of fifths tuning on guitar!
My pleasure!
This is fantastic, sir! Thank you, D
So much information here. I now have even more respect for Alan.
Wonderful stuff. Thank you so much. :)
Really great. Is there really a live version of Spokes out there?? Wondering where that is.
Thanks! It's not online. You'd have to join the "Collecting live Allan" Facebook group and its in some of the online drives
Thanks so much for this - very fascinating!
thanks for this man! i really enjoyed it. Interesting and entertaining, keep the good work,...hopefuly in your music. It's very enjoyable too. Are you familiar with the norwegian band Spiral Architect? your band kind of reminds me of those guys (kind of,...at moments)...tnx again, be well....are you aware of the Brett Stine book? seems very interesting and inspiring,...the deep dive into that language, right? Anyways, good luck, bye.....P.D: love the Romero's zombie movies ,..day of the dead is my favorite
Thank you so much, and also for checking out my bands stuff! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂. I've heard of Spiral but don't know much about them. Day is great too!
Amazing content dude.
Thank you!
I bought the red one. My friend bought the green one. I eventually sold the red one (with Allan's autograph on the back) to a gentleman in New York.
Oh wow! That's awesome. Where in NY? I didn't know what happened to the green one
@@TurrigenousOfficial I couldn't tell you. When I moved to LA from the bay area, I became antiquated with a guy called Wes Patterson, who I've since lost touch with. Wes had 2 music stores in Orange County that he started out of his garage. He had equipment stacked floor to ceiling in his garage. He knew famous acts that would come back from tour and sell off equipment thru him. I would frequently rummage thru his garage and see road cases with names of bands stenciled on the side. It was Wes who introduced me to Allan. Allan was always selling stuff...guitars, synths..etc. He would come back from tour and sell things to pay bills. I bought the Expander...I had to sell that piece years later to pay my mortgage...hated doing that. I still own 2 Ibanez guitars that I bought from Allan.
Wes called me one day to tell me that Allan was selling 2 of his SynthAxe's. He wanted 3k for each of them. I spoke to a friend of mine, a jazz player, to see if he was interested. We drove from LA to Allen's house that night and picked them up. My friend bought the green one and I the red. We had him autograph the backs of them.
I came in 5 road cases. Each piece had a road case. Not all pics of SynthAxe's show the step up step down pedal...it two had a small case.
I used mine to write music for about twelve years before I sold it...I believe thru Wes, to someone in NY. I don't know who.
You find it difficult to rely on it so much when you realize everything about it proprietary and you would have a very, very difficult time getting it repaired. You can't just run to a hardware store to buy a cable for it. The heat it produces makes it uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.
Having said all this, I've yet to find an instrument that is it's equal.
dan
Great job!! ❤
Excellent video John. Love the story about the homeless man nicking one and selling it to a pawn shop for $30. Fun fact; I helped Chad and Allan with a load in at a dodgy bar in Sausalito in 1993. I didn't ask for payment...
Thanks! It's amazing that story was only first told by Steve just a week before I did the video!
Allan's engineer and friend Joe Berger introduced him to the SynthAxe. IIRC Joe was playing one in a booth at NAMM, and Allan really liked it.
Excellent job!!! Thank you 🙏
Thanks for watching!
dude, great stuff...thank you.
Really interesting video
Love this vid ! More like it would be great
Thank you! I wouldn't hold your breath though because i can't think of anything else. Allan was always changing guitars and gear.
@@TurrigenousOfficial any other gear or history subject is great in this documentary style, this is plenty of info on synthaxe , good job forsure ,
Thank you!
Thank you very much for this video, John.
Thanks!!
I saw Allan play in Washington DC around 1987. He played a synthaxe but I didn’t notice an Oberheim xpander. I was standing closer to the keyboardist though. I did notice a Matrix 1000 on the stage, which is a preset 6 voice Oberheim synth having the capability of the same basic tones preset as the much more expensive Xpander. I don’t necessarily have a photographic memory so it’s possible that there was an xpander somewhere on the stage but I just didn’t notice it. I was standing on the side of the stage near the keyboardist during the show. Also I had to spent some time studying the Xpander synthesizer just a year prior to that so I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed it. By the way, this was an incredibly loud show. Gary husbands drumming was almost ear piercing!
I'm not aware of any other synths Allan used live but I know in 86 he was def using both
Excellent! I am not a big fan of synthesizers, but this was captivating.
Thanks!!
Excellent overview and information. Also, a bit of a cautionary tale as using "specialized gear" can make it difficult or impossible to play material written for said gear when a company stops making it or was only sporadically available in the first place. I myself run three different guitar synth systems which use specialized cables to connect the guitar to the electronics and ethernet to connect to the floor control pedal. I totally get why Allan went for the Synthaxe setup since this "specialized gear" let him make the music he heard in his head. Which is the goal. Same with my own "specialized boondoggle gear".
Totally! But it's also very thrilling when you can play these tunes that hardly anyone else could ever play. But in reality, it's not totally impossible if you played keys. I don't and it's more exciting trying to do it the same way Allan did haha
The first Allan Holdsworth album I bought, was Sand. It was first time I was hearing SynthAxe from that album. It sounded very nice, like nothing I had heard before. Back then I did not know anything about how easy Allan plays those "impossible" chords. Very good story about SynthAxe, and breath controller.
Thanks!
I've seen Holdsworth with the Synthaxe a few times in the late 80's, basically any time he was in NY area. Definitely remember him using it October 1986 and 1987 at the Bottom Line on the Atavachron and Sand tours. Definitely remember seeing the chopped Matrix and Expander. I'm sure the TX7 was there also but I think stuffed in the rack. I remember an '89 show at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. Definitely no Synthaxe at that show, at that point he was using the white Steinberger. The DeLap baritone may have been used in that show also. I also remember a show opening for Chick at the John Harms Center in Englewood, NJ but I'm fuzzy on the date, possibly 88. Gambale was playing with Chick at that point, so I'm not sure if its that actual tour you mentioned. Pretty sure no Synthaxe at that show.
I know I saw shows from the Secret tour at the Bottom Line also, had to be '89 at the Bottom Line and I'm pretty sure he had the Synthaxe out for that. Seemed like every year he'd end up playing there in the autumn. '86 was just the trio, Gary Husband if I remember properly, after that Steve Hunt was in the band. It seemed to alternate between Wackerman and Husband on the drums, I guess whoever was available for the tour.
Those Bottom Line shows were legendary. There was just a certain energy in NY and it was common to see big metal guitarists in the back. He got a lot of attention from the shredders in those days. My buddy and I used to camp out with lawn chairs hours before the doors opened so we could sit right in front and marvel at his rig and his playing. After he'd finish sound check, the band would come out on the street and he was always approachable and we got to know him a bit and joked around. One time we bought him some six packs of Samuel Smith ale and he had his roadie go out to our car between shows to get them. Second show he had a bottle of oatmeal stout proudly displayed. Another time I was talking to him and mentioned the Jon St James record he played on. He said he hadn't heard it. I happened to have a cassette copy in my car and in between shows, his roadie came out with me to my car to get the tape.
I was not a huge fan of the Synthaxe era,.Atavachron, Sand and to a lesser extent, Secret are great records., I'd say Allan's best compositional period. I know for Allan it was his dream to be unshackled from the limitations of the guitar. I'm not a guitarist, I play keys and my interest in Holdworth wasn't about the shredding, I was a big jazz fusion freak and Allan was just on another planet musically. The level of emotion he wrung out of the guitar was unmatched. For me, the synthaxe just fell a bit flat and fell short of what he was able to do with a guitar. It seemed like all those layers of digital tech just stripped something out of his expressiveness. I'm sure he'd disagree and say that the limitations of the guitar held him back.
Perhaps if the tech were better and the breath controller was integrated he could have been more expressive but it was still limited with 80s era tech. Funny how much tech has improved in the last 30+ years, but the go-go '80s churned out things like the Synthaxe and the EWI. Now the EWI is a different beast. I saw Michael Brecker with Steps Ahead using it once at the Bottom Line. That was a fantastic show with Mike Stern on guitar. Oh man, Brecker could make that thing sing.
Good memory and some nice stories. I wish I was old enough to have seen those gigs! The Chick Corea gig was the fall of 86, using the Black Steinberger. The band was a three piece with the Synthaxe and backing tracks. 87 he had Steve in the band and was full steam. 88 they had Vinnie C on drums for most of the tour. 88 and 89 are weird years for Allans live stuff. I can't find much aside from a few July/Aug 88 shows. 89, Allan absolutely used the SA in Dec over in the UK, and in Japan in April/May but I THINK he had borrowed one. I have no idea if he toured the US in 89, and if he did, if he brought the SA out. There arent any shows that surfaced and thats all I can go by. But I would assume he DID tour and used the SA. By 90 he was using a double neck and the Baritones were never used live except "Gonan" which he got on tour and that was only used for "Zones" improvs in 1992.
Great videos! I love learning about Allan. Question: I believe you mention, in this or another video, that Allan used a double neck with 5ths on one neck and standards on the other. Do you happen to know the exact tuning Allan use for the 5ths neck? I can't seem to find that info. My own experiments with are a bit frustrating. Thanks!
Thanks! The 5ths neck is the same tuning he always used. F C G D A e. The only difference is, because of the scale length, the F wasn't pitched down but the same F as a 1st fret low E. Then, once he got the longer scale he moved the pitch an octave down
@@TurrigenousOfficial Thank you so much for that!
I found this more relatable than I thought I would. I use a midi keyboard along my strings in a sort of fingerstyle technique. My strings are doubled and tuned in fifths as an octave mandolin and I settled on a scale length of around 20 inches and 1.5 nut width for the sort of playing and chords I use to be ergonomic and super functional.
Cool!
Nice History. Now I know why Allan was thinking of going to Strandbergs, the 20 degree radius neck, it is a tappers best weapon for sure. And Shredders too. I used one to rehab. my left hand and it worked. Ergonomics, now I can play my regular instruments again.
Check out Tory Slusher, she does a couple Allan pieces of music. She like Allan can see and do music Outside the Box.
A piece of info...Allan had modified his Expander with an audio input...presumably giving him access to the filter section.
Interesting! Thanks for the input!
Way over my head, but really well done John.
Sorry about that. But thank you!
@@TurrigenousOfficial I was thinking of getting the Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer with GK-3 Pickup. Not exactly ground breaking, but might be fun.
It is and works pretty well! I can't use it for Allan's stuff really, but if you want to get a sax sound or organ sound easily, it's a good alternative. Also some of the Fishman stiff. Can't remember the exact name. I think it's the triple something
Thank you very much!!!
It's always incredibly interesting to learn more about Holdsworth's tenure with the Synthaxe...but maybe I haven't drunk my coffee today - the background music is a bit too loud (and familiar) for me to concentrate on listening to your narrative!
Thanks for the feedback. Are you on your phone? I reuploaded it again after lowering the music so it could be youtubes compression and what you're listening to it on. I should upload closed captioning haha
@@TurrigenousOfficial Usually my phone for YT these days because a 15 year old Mac doesn't cope very well. Thanks for being open to the feedback! I'll take another listen.
Ok, thanks! I don't expect to ever make another one of these but I'm certainly going to take that into consideration in the future!
12:43 DX7s cost about $400 today, not $6,000. Matrix-12's sell for more like $12,000, not $18,000.
Theytr adjusted for inflation to reflect what they would cost today
Gracias por compartir, ahora entiendo mejor el sonido único de Allan pero su genio fue único hasta con una guitarra española...
Allan was a genius. I think he should be called the Father of modern fusion. We know GG is only good because he copied a lot of what Allan played even before Guthrie was born!
Great video! The background music is too loud, though.
Thank you! I have heard that and lowered the volume before uploading this one. It may be louder on what you're listening to it on, like a phone.
Snow Moon by Allan Holdsworth is so beautiful...
Allan was a modern WIZARD
Great video! I for one hated Allan Holdsworth's synthaxe period. He had such a unique and wonderful guitar tone and the synthaxe just took that away. With Holdsworth I want to hear guitar, not keyboard sounds.
Funny cuz I think of some of it is the MOST Allan. But then again I don't think of Allan as guitar player, but as a composer
I hear you. I appreciated it but some of those sounds aged poorly. And that tone on electric was so smooth and soft on the attack.
I do agree. I'm not a huge fan of some of them, but all the string stuff and electric piano stuff I think is great
@@TurrigenousOfficial I get it, but what drew me to Holdsworth at the first was his tone. Same thing for me with John Coltrane.
Cool to see Allan used an Atari Stacy!
Distance vs desire ... ❤
awesome
Video fantastico!
Edgar Froese didn't use it. He used Roland guitar synths.
I'm sorry, where did I say this because I had to look up who you were talking about heh
Good vid with interesting info. But the music in the background is distracting. Even if some is AH
I've heard that but I didn't think it was too bad. Plus it would be too silent without something behind it
ALLAN , MI GENIO PREFERIDO , LE FALTO TIEMPO PARA MOSTRAR TODO LO QUE EL TENIA PARA NOSOTROS ....ES EL GRAN MUSICO DE DOS SIGLOS ....BASE PARA FUTURO , ADORO SU MUSICA .
While many people may not know who Holdsworth is, many have heard endomorph without knowing. Playboi carti sampled it on his track Location. That’s how I found out about Holdsworth.
I knew that, but that's great you found out about Allan from that!
That was so cool ty. Those sounds very similar to John Mclaughlin solo sound too.
Any chance you could do a video on recreating the sound at the end of video?
Best
Jay
Thank you so much! The distance vs desire solo tone? I'm really not good at that stuff. It's also a mixture I believe of a tx7 and xpander so it's really hard to know what's doing what.
@@TurrigenousOfficial well you pointed me in the right direction! There are all these vst reissues so we'll see! ty That sound is one I'm hunting. John Mcglaughlin uses it, Al Dimeola on "Soaring Through A Dream" of note. Its like a smooth digital horn...I met Allan at one of those Namm Shows you mentioned I stood right next to him as we watched a private expo of Michael Mann Synthesizers (86) Chicago. I remember glancing at him as Michael played, and he was locked in it looked like he was downloading everything Michael was doing into his brain right there and then.
Haha great story!
Allan Holdsworth - не обсуждаемый, как и Шопен с Дебюсси и Бетховеном. А уж на чём он играл и как - дело десятое😊
@4:59 YEAH ! ! ! ! 💥☀🔥🎉🎊 I was at that show ! ! ! NAMM '85, Disneyland Hotel ! ! ! Al Di Meola went on first. The concert was for JBL speakers. Midway through the gig Allan debuted the SynthAxe when nobody was expecting it. That show was A W E S O M E !!!! ! ! ! !*%#$@ ! ! ! ! ! ! ♠🪅🎉🎸🎸✳✴❇🏴☠🔆🔔🔥🔥☀🌞🌠🌋🦁💥
Yknow I have the flyer for that show but I wasn't confident if that was the actual first show. It was Feb 5th 1986 I believe
@@TurrigenousOfficial No, it was 1985. A little follow up story. I was able to get into the '85 NAMM show with some of my G.I.T. classmates.
AH was scheduled to play a concert for JBL speakers. Al Di Meola opened with an acoustic set then Holdsworth came on with IOU:Chad Wackerman, Jimmy Johnson, Paul Williams and the keyboard player from Jeff Berlin's band whose name I can't remember. Then three weeks later I saw AH again with IOU (with Gordon Beck on keys) at the Beverly Hills Theater, however, minus the SynthAxe. That show was even more AWESOME ! ! ! ! ! !
OH! You meant the NAMM show. That's really cool! I saw a flier and thought that was for a show. Awesome!
The SynthAxe is not a dinosaur - it's a unicorn 😃
😆
SynthAxe. The only guitar you can play and drink. (13:15)
Incredible player. Absolutely brilliant.
The Synthaxe is a terrible thing though. Looks like a vacuum cleaner and the tube you blow is ridiculous.
Yea but it can do some incredible things a guitar can't. And that tube is aftermarket so Allan can have more control over his volume like a horn player.
Alan is as great guitarist, but I've seen him suck at the SynthAxe... (17:37)
Well we all can't be perfect
@@TurrigenousOfficial Love the video. I just don't get jazz. I am quite smart (not trying to be arrogant) and musical(ish), but I just can't get it. That is not a slur on jazz (4 blokes playing 4 different instruments at 4 different time signatures in every key.) If I had 3 wishes, one might be jazz, not the first wish ,but anyway, I'm tangenting...
How did the homeless man get into the club to steal the Synthaxe without being noticed
🤷♂️ could have just snuck in the back where the band was loading in. But that's just the story as I was told
I would love to see Behringer remake the SynthAxe.
🤞
If the demand was there. I love the fact they are cloning the Yamaha CS80 poly synth. Thing is HUGE.