Awhile back, the gang over at Music Radar sat down with guitar legend Steve Vai and asked him to name "the 10 guitarists that blew his mind." You can check out this full list right here; but if you wanted to get right to the meat of the list - Vai's fave guitarist - read on.
"I very rarely agree with the term 'best guitar player'," Vai says. "It just seems so obscene to put something so subjective into a best category. But if I had to say there was one, I would pick Allan Holdsworth. He was unique in ways I don't think have been discovered yet."
Holdsworth, who graced the cover of Guitar World magazine in its early days, died April 16, 2017 at age 70. Following his death, GuitarWorld.com shared several Holdsworth-themed lessons and videos, many of which continue to baffle viewers, especially "Allan Holdsworth's 10 Most Useful Scales."
It features the following Holdsworth quote:
"As the chord changes go by, I don't so much think about a static chord voicing changing. I just see the notes on the neck change. For me, the only thing that makes one scale different from another is not the starting note; it's the separation of the intervals. For example, if it's a D minor major seven scale, the name I give the scale is only a means of identification. It's for no other purpose. So when I think of that scale, I don't think of it as starting on D; I think of it as starting on the lowest-available note on my instrument, which would be an E, and the highest-available note, which would be another E. That's basically how I think of scales."
I'm not ashamed to say it makes my brain sting when I start thinking about that paragraph; luckily, Vai puts it in perspective and makes me feel a little better:
"Many musicians can be considered ahead of their time, but usually - they're not," he says. "They're mainly ahead of everyone else at that time. For example, Jimi Hendrix wasn't ahead of his time; he was perfect for his time and ahead of everyone else. Allan Holdsworth was definitely ahead of his time because it's hard to realize how great he is - not many people actually understand. It takes time for us to catch up with those that are ahead of their time.
"The way he uses the whole tone scale is like his own baby shoes - it's so easy for him," Vai adds. "His thought process was phenomenal."
