Holdsworth's Popularity in Prog Circles

Holdsworth's name is well, more popular in fusion circles really, heh, and he also tends to get a very regular mention on metalguitarist.org, sevenstring.org, and petrucciforum.com (John Petrucci's official forum board).
It's unfortunate not as many people as should be recognize Holdsworth's influence and talents around here.
Personally I think he's a far more expressive solo guitarist than Lifeson, Gilmour or Hackett

villastrangiato wrote: I routinely see people mention the influences of Hackett, Fripp, Gilmour and other well known names in prog rock in general - but rarely see Alan Holdsworth's name come up even though people like Lifeson have readily acknowledged his influence - do people know who this guy is or is the work he did with Bruford too obscure? Also, what's up with the apparent disparity in recognition given to Fripp over Belew. I've been a Crimson fan since Levin joined and I can't understand why Belew hasn't received more attention for both his technical skills and vivid imagination from an acoustical standpoint. I've admired both Fripp and Belew's contributions and the amazing skill they bring to an exciting interaction in live performances - but why doesn't Belew seem to get the respect he deserves as an innovator and inspiring musician?

Nah, I think his work with Soft Machine and Gong are too obscure, not to mention his solo career.
I'm a little with you on Belew not getting the recognition he should have.  But then again popularity in prog circles isn't all it's cracked up to be.

any 'prog circle' [sounds like something you'd discover in a corn field] that doesn't know or appreciate Holdsworth is no prog circle worth its weight.. I mean c'mon, he was on the first U.K. record fer cryin out loud







   

Edited by Atavachron - November 30 2009 at 22:03

yes it's me..no good?

I don't think I'm that popular (at least I hope not )

I found the pear had a soothing effect. I don't know if I can bear this aggressive chaos.

villastrangiato wrote: I wouldn't say  Holdsworth is  "more expressive" - especially more expressive than Gilmour. After all, that is what Gilmour has been known for throughout his career. Holdsworth technically could probably run circles around Gilmour like Di Meola or McLaughlin. Frankly, in terms of "expression", my biggest problem with Holdsworth over the years has been the lack of structure and coherence in his playing. He tends to take a more freeform jazz oriented approach to soloing - obviously - his focus has been largely jazz.  But some of the sounds he's produced and the execution has been mesmerizing. And Lifeson is no slouch at breathing soul into his playing - anyone who's heard Necromancer  or seen the live version of Bravado from Rio can vouch for that.

Fair enough, but I personally don't consider that "soulful" style of playing to be necessarily more emotive.
Holdsworth may be technically accomplished, but I listen to phrasing, note choice and nuance first and foremost and as far as I'm concerned, Holdsworth has all 3 in spades.
That being said, I'm not particular a huge fusion nut and prefer rock guitarists as such. Think more Guthrie Govan and you're on the money of the stuff I particular enjoy the most when it comes to solo electric guitar.
Guys that can play that Gilmourish slow stuff, but also have the sheer technical command of "shred" techniques are the pinnacle of expression on electric guitar for me personally
And anyway, part of good technique is good vibrato, intonation and bending, and Guthrie IMO is even better than Gilmour in both the bending and vibrato department, although both are equally in tune.

villastrangiato wrote: I routinely see people mention the influences of Hackett, Fripp, Gilmour and other well known names in prog rock in general - but rarely see Alan Holdsworth's name come up even though people like Lifeson have readily acknowledged his influence - do people know who this guy is or is the work he did with Bruford too obscure?

Strange nobody above has acknowledged the term 'Holdsworthian' being accepted in the guitar shred lexicon, i.e. for guitarists who adopt Holdsworth's legato, playing at a tangent to a tune's main theme(s), and those fast runs. We've done it before at PA, listing a couple of dozen guitarists who have or still are Holdsworthian, both in the prog and jazz fusion fields, ranging from Francis Dunnery to Frank Gambale .

There was a period in time when he was really pimped on this forum. Things go through trends and bands rise and fall as the centerpieces of discussion.