Chitarre 1991: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Chitarre5-1991.jpg|450px|right]]Allan Holdsworth: Secrets | [[File:Chitarre5-1991.jpg|450px|right]]Allan Holdsworth: Secrets | ||
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== Original Italian version == | |||
CHITARRE - N. 62 - MAGGIO 1991 | CHITARRE - N. 62 - MAGGIO 1991 | ||
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- Sperare sempre per il meglio... ma essere anche sempre pronti ad aspettarsi il peggio.. | - Sperare sempre per il meglio... ma essere anche sempre pronti ad aspettarsi il peggio.. | ||
== Machine translated version == | |||
Q: First of all let's talk about your new recording work with Frank Gambale, how did this project come about? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Actually the idea came from Mike Varney, the co-producer of the album, who asked me and Frank if a collaboration was possible; Frank chose the songs and the musicians and I later added my solos playing on the recorded backing tracks. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Why did you use this procedure in the recording phase? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Unfortunately in the days when Frank and the other musicians were recording, I was busy with other jobs and it was impossible to reconcile the two! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Did you have to spend a lot of time studying the material, learning the solos before recording them? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: No, not much to tell the truth, Frank gave me the written parts, the chord progressions, and I immediately recorded the solos on the backing tracks based on the notes given to me by Frank. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: A question that many ask about your guitar style and your extraordinary technique concerns your approach to each song when you have to improvise: how do you build a solo and are there some scales or harmonic modes that you prefer, and on which you base yourself? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: First of all I don't have a method for improvising, and even less do I prefer any scale or harmonic mode in particular: in reality I tend to follow the chord progression, the harmonic construction of the piece, the melodic line, and then later I normally apply the scales related to the chords, however, choosing those that in my opinion seem to work better than others; I would say that my approach is somewhat different than that of other musicians. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: And how exactly does it differ? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: The idea is to be able to improvise well on anything, I mean: it doesn't matter what kind of chord sequence it is, more or less difficult, I like being able to play and improvise well but at the same time I don’t want my improvisation to look like something that can be linked to 'bop' or 'be-bop', and therefore I try to find an originality, a precise identity in the musical language; analyzing the sequence of chords, I choose only some of the notes contained in the scales related to them until I get phrasing that I like. This is what I call 'harmonic sensitivity', but obviously everyone has one: it varies according to the person himself and it is for this reason that one is sensitive to certain harmonic lines rather than others; I am essentially concerned with obtaining musical figurations that satisfy me. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: How much do you think your guitar style, your musical language has evolved over the years? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: I think it's improved, at least I hope so, but that's all you can ultimately do, study, learn and play to do better and better. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: One of the aspects that has always distinguished your offerings and musical direction is the continuous updating of sounds; You constantly change guitars, amplifiers, but how important is all this in relation to your artistic evolution? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Also in this case it is an experiment, neither more nor less than the search for other harmonic directions. I try to evolve continuously by experimenting with new sounds and this also helps to broaden one's technical and compositional horizons. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: And how do you manage to reconcile, within this discourse, the transition from the guitar to the one with the SynthAxe, ultimately a totally new instrument... [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: I really don't think much about this type of transition from one instrument to another as you say, also because I never think «now I'm playing the guitar, now I'm playing the SynthAxe»; actually it's not important at all, I'd say it depends on how I feel if one instrument can work better than the other within a composition, I mean that often I play the SynthAxe a lot as well as I don't play it at all, and the same thing goes for the guitar too. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: To return for a moment to a strictly technical subject: you have always preferred the legato on the guitar. Why this choice, what is your theory about this technique in terms of not only instrumental but also harmonic expression? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Well, at the beginning when I started playing using the 'legato' technique it seemed to me that it could be very limiting; but today I no longer think so, indeed I would say that it is possible to play anything using this type of technique, and in this sense I still study a lot to obtain phrasings in which it is not possible to distinguish which notes are obtained by picking with the right hand and which are the ones that I obtain later by touching the strings only on the neck with the left hand. For this reason, it is very important to seek a very precise balance between the touch of the picking with the right hand, which must be as delicate as possible but at the same time with a very effective volume attack, and the touch of the left hand on the keyboard so that it is in perfect harmony with the movements of the right hand during the execution and choice of notes. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: How important is the use of the vibrato arm in your phrasing? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Today it is no longer very important, indeed compared to the past I play very little with the vibrato arm; the use of it was something that distinguished my style at the beginning, but when everyone started using it a bit then I felt the need to move in other directions and gradually stopped using it. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: You have played with rhythm sections and in particular with drummers who all have a personal style and touch, as have bass players: what do you like most and what do you look for in a rhythm section? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Well, actually I was lucky enough to play almost always with people I liked and this is actually the first thing I look for in a rhythm section; I would say that the most important thing is that everyone can express themselves and contribute their own imagination and technical preparation to what we are playing. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: However there is a big difference, I suppose, between people like Tony Williams, Gary Husband, Vinnie Colaiuta, just to name a few... [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Yes, but for me it's as if this difference didn't exist, as long as they play creatively, the only thing I worry about, I repeat, is that they play in a way that I like and that can be creative and useful within a piece. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: In recent times you have been particularly active in the field of recordings, your name appears on the recording works of various musicians, the most recent I think is the one with Steve Tavaglione (saxophonist who also collaborated with Frank Gambale in his recent 33 'solos') in his new album, there's that track 'shuffle', once a bit unusual for you. [Machine back translated] [Note: The track is called “Tsunami”.] | |||
AH: Well...unusual because that's certainly not the kind of material I'd write for myself, but actually playing on that track was a lot of fun; originally I was supposed to play only the SynthAxe on the whole song and I had also written some chord sequences to improvise on, but then I ended up playing the guitar too because in the first part I wasn't too convinced of what I had played with the SynthAxe, and so we divided it into two parts, first the guitar and then in the middle of the song my SynthAxe solo. | |||
Q: And what do you remember about your collaboration on Stanley Clarke's album If This Bass Could Only Talk? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Also in that case it was a very friendly participation: Stanley asked me to do some totally improvised little guitar parts on that piece and I had a lot of fun. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: But what exactly happens when you're called for recording sessions, do they leave you completely free to improvise or does it even happen that someone has specific parts in mind for you to perform right from the start? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: The people we've talked about so far have given me all the space and freedom to record what I wanted, in the utmost tranquillity, but sometimes they call me for recordings in which they ask me to play things already done by others or similar to the style of others ... and this is not exactly the type of work I like, so I avoid it! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: If I'm not mistaken you also participated in some recordings by Alex Masi some time ago. | |||
AH: Yes, I don't remember exactly the title of the song, however I didn't like at all how they mixed my solo, I remember that when I recorded it here in my garage, the sound quality was much better; however with this I don't want to say that I don't like Alex and his music, on the contrary, he's very good, I just didn't like the final mixing of that recording. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Instead, your very recent collaboration with Andrea Marcelli on his album Silent Will seems to me to have gone far beyond a simple guitar contribution, can you tell me about it? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: First of all, I really like Andrea as a musician and as a composer, I liked his musical project and how he was working on it, despite the many difficulties, so it was a great pleasure for me to be able to record and play with him: I later helped mix the album, as he had also recorded stuff in other studios; we worked here in my garage, as well as my solos also looking for sounds; I really like the final result! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: A few hints about your transition from Ibanez to Steinberger? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: The Steinberger represents for me the best guitar ever at the moment, before that I spent a lot of time working with Ibanez, but in reality only some of the models on the market are really good, I would say one out of fifteen, there are never any two really equal to each other and so it seemed to me that all the work was becoming inconsistent. When the first Steinbergers were made, I thought I'd never like them because they were plastic; then I happened to try one out a few years ago on the Namm Show and fell in love with it, ordered one and haven't played any other guitars since. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: It seems to me that even the amplifiers you are using now are new, I was used to seeing you playing with the Lab-series. | |||
AH: It's true, I've also used the Pearces for a long time and before that the Hartley Thompsons, the Marshalls; now I've landed on the Boogie and I must say that I'm very satisfied with the models I use now, the sound seems fuller to me, more full-bodied, I think that all this is part of that evolution process I was talking about before, in my opinion rather natural; also regarding the effects rack, it's quite difficult to describe it because I am constantly changing its layout - however I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Rocktron for the construction of my new Holdsworth-Juice-Extractor. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: What brand of strings are you currently using? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: La Bella, as far as string gauge is concerned, I change it continuously, generally it oscillates between 008 and 009. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: What kind of music do you listen to in your free time? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: I like to change styles so I listen to a great variety of music: Keith Jarrett, Michael Brecker, I recently heard among the guitarists Wayne Krantz who seemed to me to be very good, and then again I would say Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale, Carl Verheyen, John Scofield. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: I remember you liked Steve Topping... (a young English guitarist who played with Allan many years ago, and with a very personal style). [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: And I still like him, unfortunately it's been a while since I heard him and so I don't know what he's doing. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Let's move on to another topic: many people define your music as too rock to be jazz, and many think it's too jazz to be rock, I know that these continuous controversies have created many difficulties for you in terms of promotion, but in reality you how would you describe your music? Do you think it can be defined as jazz? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: In its essence I would say yes, because all the pieces written by me or by the musicians I collaborate with are vehicles for improvisation and this is exactly what the term jazz means to me; but sadly for other people my music isn't jazz, because it doesn't equal or resemble what they know as jazz! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Do you find differences between the American and European musical environments, I'm talking not only about the audience but also about the musicians. [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: As for the musicians, I think there are some very good ones all over the world, as for the audience, I prefer the American one: here they are much more open to any form of creativity, while at least in my case, in England , for example, they do not give space to new musical situations at all, and this is not so much the fault of the public, but the fault of the media, of all those people who work in the music field and are more involved in the business, which revolves around this environment, they are very not serious! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: In your latest LP Secrets you gave a lot of space to the compositions of the other band members, Gary Husband, Steve Hunt. [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Yes, and the reason is that I really liked their compositions, I have to say that they all wrote excellent material, for example «City Nights» written by Gary, as soon as I heard it I immediately thought of inserting it as an opening piece for the record, I also liked «Joshua» written by Steve Hunt immediately, among other things they recently published a transcription of the solo I performed in that piece on the monthly Guitar Player and I must say that it seemed particularly accurate to me. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Can you describe the working method you use with Rowanne Mark, the author of your lyrics, but at the same time also a very good vocal interpreter. [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: You're right, Rowanne as well as being a very good singer has the power to write lyrics that manage to express exactly what I would like to be able to say in words. However our work is usually quite normal: I make her listen to the melody of the song, I explain the intention, the type of feeling that I would like to describe and Rowanne is very good, she is able to intuit and write texts in a very short time that are very close to my state of mind, to the spirit of the composition. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: At this point I would like to ask you a couple of questions about some publications that have recently been released on the record market where your name appears and about which there seems to be some confusion: the first is about a collection of recordings curated by "Guitar For Practicing Musician" in which there is a piece where you appear alongside Jeff Watson. [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Ooooh (sighing with a totally sorry tone) I didn't have the slightest idea that something like this could happen, actually I went to the studio to try my juice-extractor and Jeff told me about a demo-tape that he was working on to collaborate with Randy Coven, the bassist: while I was playing on that demo-tape to test the effect, someone recorded my guitar and transferred it to the tape without telling me anything, I still don't understand how they did it, and if I had known or had informed me that they were recording I would have never, ever allowed such a thing, and in fact that's not my solo, it's simply me feeling an effect and nothing more... and then it all ended up in this publication without me knowing anything about it. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: The other question concerns the recent CD release of your old album Velvet Darkness: it contains five songs presented as unreleased, but you already told me at the time that this LP actually contained nothing more than jam recordings -sessions. What do you think of this new publication? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: I think it's totally disgusting, this is a typical example of how often the record industry has no form of respect for an artist's work, and I hope nobody ever buys that record, in fact please write it down: if anyone truly likes my music, my work, don’t buy that record because it's just a step back from the work I've been trying to do all these years! [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Ok, you will surely be satisfied, now let's talk about pleasant things. Your last musical adventure, decidedly unexpected, in Level 42, how did this unusual collaboration come about? [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Simply, Mark King & Co. asked me to participate in the recording of their new album because they needed a guitarist, I must say it was a totally new and fun experience; on their new LP I played on four or five tracks; at the same time Level 42 had a series of concerts planned in England and so they asked me to stay with them for that occasion too, I gladly accepted; there will probably be a sequel because I think Level 42 also has a series of world concerts planned these days... we'll see. [Machine back translated] | |||
Q: Allan, one last question... good advice for our readers and for all beginning musicians... [Machine back translated] | |||
AH: Always hope for the best... but always be prepared to expect the worst.. [Machine back translated] | |||
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