Allan in Young Guitar

Young Guitar is a Japanese magazine. Allan was featured on numerous occasions. Most of the stories were originally published in regular issues of Young Guitar, but some stories were originally published in special editions by Shinko music. I’ll try to give an overview of all these articles, primarily focusing on the interviews.

Allan’s first interview with Young Guitar was published in February 1984. Allan explains that he started guitar at 17 without lessons, drawing on jazz, Coltrane, and McLaughlin. He builds speed by practicing slowly, avoids rote patterns, and plays by feel. He's about half-satisfied with "Road Games", and urges young players to prioritize originality over copying.

The second interview was published July 84. Allan discusses his Japan tour gear: handmade solid-state Hartley Thompson amps, Seymour Duncan pickups, and Eventide and AMS effects for piano-like stereo chords. He explains his pianist father's influence on his unusual voicings, his horn-inspired legato, and his trio preference. He advises readers to filter influences into their own style.

The third interview was published in July 1990. Allan discusses preferring intimate live-house venues over large halls, rejecting commercial music demands, and managing his own album mixing. He also explains his mathematical, self-taught scale system, offers candid thoughts on Yngwie Malmsteen, and details his gear setup.

The fourth interview was published February 1993. Allan discusses his album "Wardenclyffe Tower". He explains retiring the unreliable SynthAxe, outlines his soft picking and classical vibrato techniques, and details his mathematical practice method of treating the entire guitar neck as a single unit.

The fifth interview was published August 1993. Allan discusses Wardenclyffe Tower's Japanese bonus tracks, including a re-recorded "Tokyo Dream". He defines his music as "jazz"—viewing jazz as creative improvisation rather than commercial "fusion"—and explains his unique harmonic approach. Inspired by piano voicings, Holdsworth treats chords as derived from scales, rejects standard linear guitar shapes and pentatonics, and announces a comprehensive scale instruction book.

The sixth interview was published July 1995. Allan details his custom gear, including a hollow-body Bill DeLap guitar, thin-gauge strings, and his custom "The Harness" interface. He also discusses his Mesa/Boogie amp setup, tour plans, and an upcoming jazz standard album plagued by equipment failures and erased tracks.

The seventh interview was published May 1996. Allan discusses his jazz standards album “None Too Soon”, suggested by Gordon Beck to clarify Holdsworth's jazz roots to listeners. He highlights his saxophone-inspired, smooth picking, distorted lead tone via "The Harness," collaboration with Beck, Gary Willis, and Kirk Covington, and his beer pump invention.

The eighth interview was published January 2000. Allan Holdsworth discusses “The Sixteen Men Of Tain”, returning to original compositions with acoustic bass and trumpet. He details his Carvin "Fatboy" signature guitar's floating-frame construction, vintage-wire pickups, Yamaha DG preamps, parallel delay processors, and 96kHz/24bit recording process.

The ninth interview was published in “Jazz Guitar Book”, volume 11 or 15?, in 2007. This is a special “mook”, a combination of magazine and book. This mook apparently contains high-resolution photos of his gear, a collection of previously published interviews, gear breakdowns, and detailed transcribed scores of his songs, much of which was later also used in the “Legendary Guitarist” mook in 2014 and 2017. In the interview, Allan discusses personal updates, practicing habits, and a custom Yamaha guitar. He reflects on his early career with bands like Soft Machine and U.K., views the guitar strictly as a tool for musical expression, and addresses his upcoming recording projects.

The tenth interview was published in Young Guitar March 2008. Allan addresses his recording hiatus following a 2000 divorce, revealing two nearly completed albums, including “Snakes And Ladders”. He explains his mental approach to practice, his preference for headless guitars for their tightened sound, and his gratitude toward Ned Steinberger's innovations.

The eleventh interview was first published in a Young Guitar special issue mook in 2014 called “Legendary Guitarist”. Allan reflected on his career spanning from early influences like Charlie Christian to bands like Soft Machine and U.K. He discussed frustrations with his debut solo album, his creative process, and his ongoing work on unreleased studio albums. The mook also includes high-resolution photos of his gear, a collection of previously published interviews, gear breakdowns, and detailed transcribed scores of his songs. Some material may have been recycled from “Jazz Guitar Book”.

In addition to the regular solo interviews, Young Guitar published a conversation between Allan and Japanese guitarist Akira Wada in July 1991. They discuss playing intimate venues like Roppongi "Pit Inn". Holdsworth shares insights on collaborating with Frank Gambale, abandoning the SynthAxe for touring due to unreliability, recording tech, and his ongoing struggle between commercial demands and artistic realization.

https://youngguitar.jp/

Date	Title	Publication	Writer
1 July 1990	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 July 1991	Allan Holdsworth x Akira Wada	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 Feb 1993	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 Aug 1993	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 July 1995	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 May 1996	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 Jan 1999	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 Jan 2007	Unknown Title	Jazz Guitar Book 15	Unknown Writer
1 March 2008	Unknown Title	Young Guitar	Unknown Writer
1 Jan 2014	Unknown Title	Legendary Guitarist	Unknown Writer